# Newbie flying in!



## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

Hi all! I'm a newbie ... to this site....to pigeons....to bird ownership, in general but VERY glad to have found you a few months ago when our first pigeon adopted us. 5 months later and we now have 5 birds, we've lost 2 eggs but had a new egg appear yesterday ... so expect another tomorrow. Here's our story.... (sit back & relax ... it's a long bedtime story) btw - photos are in my Gallery!

Back in Sept - the weekend that Hurricane Hanna hit New England - I let our 3 dogs out at 5am and was surprised to see a VERY wet pigeon huddled next to the house on the corner of the kennel porch. Hmmmm - - - not only do we not have pigeons here but a wet bird was a disturbing site. I let it be and figured I'd check on it later. The dogs went out again 2 hrs later (it was pouring!!) and the bird was still there. We were easily able to pick the bird up and put it in a box.....raising yet another concern that we had a sick bird. A call to the local Animal Officer and Safety Personnel provided no help so we spoke with our vet. Between her and the web, we were pretty sure the residents of Wolfwood (our home) were safe. (btw, that was our 1st intro to PT!!!) We moved the bird to a cat carrier, into the garage, and tucked in for the onslaught of the Hurricane. By that evening, Bird had dried off, had taken water, had at least looked at the seed, and was moving around the kennel. I was able to handle it to check for injury, cat damage, etc. and found nothing. Not a thing out of place. Further, she didn't object to me handling her - no wing beats, no racing heart, no jumpy eyes. No indication of fear. So now we were torn. Is this a "domestic" pigeon that has lost its way (if so, why isn't it banded?) or is it a wild bird (if so, why is it allowing itself to be handled?) We determined that, if it was still alive on Sunday after the storm, we'd give it the chance to leave and resume its journeys. Which is what we did...and it promptly WALKED back under the kennel porch. OK. We figured it can stay there ... at least the neighbor's barn cats aren't likely to get it there. I moved the box, food, & water out to the back porch just in case....and we went to bed. 

I got home at about 3pm on Monday, went out to the garage about an hr later and found the pigeon - in the garage - apparently looking for the box which had been its safe haven for 24 hrs. It was at that time that the bird was dubbed "Magellan". We brought the box back into the garage, removed the top, added some bedding, and set the seed & water next to it on a make-shift table created to keep it all off the ground. Magellan did fly out the next morning and was gone each time I went to check. Hmmmm... figures...name the thing and it leaves. Maybe it just needed a few days to get its wings back and now its gone. Oh well. It was really cool to be able to give it the respite it apparently needed and to know that we helped something in this way. Still hadn't seen the bird by dark and we agreed that it was just a special thing we had been blessed to do and the Bird was gone. We were glad that Magellan had found safety at Wolfwood. That's a good thing - that's what offering rest & rehab to our wild friends is all about. We've done it before and we'll do it again. But - - we missed her.

And....at about 7:00 that night, she was back in the garage - nestled in the box on the bedding material!! We then spent the evening speaking with 2 Pigeon Associations and searching the web - learning an amazing amount about these birds. And ... we were hooked!!

Well, Magellan chose to stay and we provided a loft (aka "Rabbit Hutch"), with food, water, & safely in our garage away from cats, hawks, fisher cats, and fox. He had free access in & out and usually took a flight or 2 around the fields each day, but generally stayed in the garage. We figured that if he was gonna become a resident, we had to find him at least 1 companion in order for him to be a HAPPY BIRD. So the search began. 

We then rescued 2 (2?) pigeons from an ASPCA. Well...yes....2 more. We were looking for 1 but the Shelter had 2, and we couldn't take just 1 and leave the other alone. Ends up that 1 was a 5y/o hen, banded but unwanted by the breeder ("Skye") and the other was a 3-4m/o unbanded male ("Calypso").....both Homers .... .and Magellan ends up being a Blue-Bar Homer cock. Magellan acquired the name "BIRDZILLA" as soon as he met Skye. He took *possession* of Skye and the 2 paired up (or maybe he kidnapped her ???) in a large wire dog kennel. Sooooo - we were back to having a solo male needing a companion. We found a NH Roller breeder who was dpwnsizing his flock and picked up a mother ("Polaris") & daughter ("Atlantis"). 

The day the 2 Rollers came home was the day that Skye & Magellan gave us our 1st Grand-egg (the 2nd came 2 days later).....which we decided to let hatch. Unfortunately, mom & dad stopped sitting them a week ago - - - Nature ALWAYS impresses me!!! - - - and - MAN!!!! Has it been COLD!!! Needless to say, we lost them. They were "scheduled" to hatch this weekend so, since they hadn't been kept warm for a week, we figured the eggs either never were fertile OR, at the very least, were now frozen. We did an egg-topsy yesterday and - sure enough - the eggs were fertile (that's really good news!!!) and the babies were about a week from "ready" .... tiny little wings & body feathers..... but definitely frozen. The cold was just too much for them. At least we found out that the pairis, in fact, fertile and, since Birdzilla certainly seems more than a little interested in HIS WOMAN ... we were satisfied that we'd have more eggs and decided that, whenever she laid again, we'd give them a second shot at hatching them out. Well - eggsactly as the books all say they'll do .... we had another egg appear yesterday afternoon.!!! That means the second one should be here tomorrow .... and then we'll see if we have babies... 

Our winged friends have gone from separate wire dog kennels stacked in our garage (along with buckets of seed, extension cords for the heated water bowls, & assorted other 'bird stuff' ) to a very nice, new 8L x 6W x 7H Loft with nesting boxes, feed bins, heated water bowls, perches, & a pond-liner lined floor. Once it gets warm again (it IS gonna do that, right??) - we'll build a fly-way for them so they can go outside. Birdzilla (aka Magellan) can fly free 'cuz we know he'll come back ... but we don't know about the others, yet....and, although I've been training dogs for 35+ years...I haven't yet got my arms around pigeon training.

So - there you have it - the tale of how 1 small bird won our hearts and we became "Pigeon people". We look forward to participating here, learning lots, and getting to know all of you!


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hello and Welcome to Pigeon Talk,

It doesn't take long for a pigeon to enter your heart, especially when you are nurturing them back to health..... and the more you love them, the more you want their needs to be met, including having friends. Then the rest is history.

Thank you for sharing your heartwarming story, and giving homes to the other needy pigeons.

Please share some pictures of your pets!


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

BRAVO!! That was a great story. I so enjoyed reading about all you little feathered buds............pictures please. And welcome to our forum. You'll love it here I'm sure. Don't EVER hesitate to ask questions, even if they may seem "silly" ones.....we've heard it all.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

again, welcome, and yes we do really like pics!


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

Nice story! Welcome and can't wait to read more of your post!


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

Trees Gray said:


> Hello and Welcome to Pigeon Talk,
> 
> It doesn't take long for a pigeon to enter your heart,


That's for sure!

Thanks so much, everyone, for the friendly welcome!!! Are you sure you're not all members of the _other_ Forum I'm a member of??? They're all wonderful folks and some have become VERY dear friends. They'll answer the same questions over and over and over ... 'till they're blue .... as long as they get photos!! Happy to oblige!

btw, the new egg has been pecked open! (BAD birds!!!) No one was near it so I replaced it with a plastic egg and, almost immediately, the older Roller ("Polaris") entered that nesting box, tucked it part way under her chest, laid down, and didn't move again. HAH! A 2nd breeding pair exists!!! Hoping for the 2nd egg tomorrow and then to learn who "Dad" is. I'm guessing it's Calypso - the young Homer, as Magellan is shamelessly flirting with Skye. Now we just need a partner for Atlantis - - - or do we? Do we?








Magellan (when he arrived)







Magellan & Skye, the happy couple







Calypso







Atlantis & her mother, Polaris


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## homeseeker (Nov 12, 2008)

Skye is a very cool looking bird. Thumbs up


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome to PT. Its a wonderful place and you'll learn alot - I did. I've had pigeons for 15 years and I've learned more here in this forum in the past 2 years than I have in 15! Like you, I started with 1 feral youngster found in a dog pen!
I notice your in southeast NH. I'm in Northwood (grew up in Portsmouth), and am a vet tech in Kittery, Maine.
BTW, nice looking birds!


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

your birds are nice, they look well loved!...glad you posted the pics of them...just wondering what is the green in the cage? hay or grass? looks cozy.


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

I love seeing happy birds like that!


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