# Found Pigeon - how to socialize?



## Mockingbird (Sep 2, 2015)

Hi everyone! I have a pigeon here that was found in the road a few days ago unable to fly. It was fairly easy to capture and handle, and seems to be a color that is unlikely to occur in the wild (white, with a greyish ring on his neck and light brown spots on his wings). I took him to the vet, and his injury seems to be a fractured bone (the equivalent of our collar bone) that will cause him never to fly again. Also the vet says the muscles in the area are atrophied, so its not a new injury. The pigeon has no leg band, but he agrees that it seems to be a domestic bird (note: just calling it "him" for no good reason, we haven't run the dna test to find out gender or anything). The pigeon is on the thin side, but otherwise healthy.

I haven't been able to find any ads for lost birds, and as I said he has no tag, so it looks like I have a new pet. I have him in a small animal cage for now with food, water, and a perching-dowel. His appetite is just fine, and he seems curious but not stressed while in the cage, preening and watching me. If I reach my hand in to change the food or water though, he puffs up, makes a sort of huffing or honking noise, hits me with his wing, and hops away. Should I stay out of there while he settles in at first? How should I make steps to handle him?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Don't take steps just yet, pigeons take a while to settle in, perhaps a month or more. Your best bet is to get his accommodations right first, make sure it is set up right just for a pigeon, food water etc...

He will not do well in a small cage so change that asap. 

And FYI, wing slapping is normal, they are pretty territorial of their space , it has nothing to do with taming . If he was wild and freaked out in the cage then that would be an issue of taming but ,your pigeon , is acting normal.


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## Mockingbird (Sep 2, 2015)

spirit wings said:


> Don't take steps just yet, pigeons take a while to settle in, perhaps a month or more. Your best bet is to get his accommodations right first, make sure it is set up right just for a pigeon, food water etc...
> 
> He will not do well in a small cage so change that asap.
> 
> And FYI, wing slapping is normal, they are pretty territorial of their space , it has nothing to do with taming . If he was wild and freaked out in the cage then that would be an issue of taming but ,your pigeon , is acting normal.


Thank you! I'm planning to go cage-shopping after the weekend, the current cage is just what I happened to have in the house at the time. Its not super tiny, but certainly I can do better. As big as possible is always best for birds, yes? I'll see what the local store has that will be spacious but still fit in my house ^_^

And will he/she need a buddy in the future or is it fine to keep a single pigeon?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

A companion does improve quality of life for a lone pigeon. Research cages, you can google pigeon cages and look at the ones that are open for wing movement and have shelves for perches, pigeons normally do not branch perch , they are from cliffs, so flat perches do better for them, they like to eat on the floor so a uncluttered big cage that is open with some flat perching on each side works well. A solid floor , not a wire one, a long and wide cage instead of a tall and narrow is best.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Brand new from the store is expensive. Cheaper cages are available on Craigslist or new online various places which just need simple assembly.


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## kiddy (Feb 5, 2015)

Mockingbird said:


> Hi everyone! I have a pigeon here that was found in the road a few days ago unable to fly. It was fairly easy to capture and handle, and seems to be a color that is unlikely to occur in the wild (white, with a greyish ring on his neck and light brown spots on his wings). I took him to the vet, and his injury seems to be a fractured bone (the equivalent of our collar bone) that will cause him never to fly again. Also the vet says the muscles in the area are atrophied, so its not a new injury. The pigeon has no leg band, but he agrees that it seems to be a domestic bird (note: just calling it "him" for no good reason, we haven't run the dna test to find out gender or anything). The pigeon is on the thin side, but otherwise healthy.
> 
> I haven't been able to find any ads for lost birds, and as I said he has no tag, so it looks like I have a new pet. I have him in a small animal cage for now with food, water, and a perching-dowel. His appetite is just fine, and he seems curious but not stressed while in the cage, preening and watching me. If I reach my hand in to change the food or water though, he puffs up, makes a sort of huffing or honking noise, hits me with his wing, and hops away. Should I stay out of there while he settles in at first? How should I make steps to handle him?


Can you pls post a pic of him. Seems good that you thought for a disabled bird to adopt. Want to thank you for that. 
Thanks a ton.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Sounds like a lovely bird, thanks for adopting him! I think injured birds are especially grateful and loving. Phoebe the Wonderbird showed us that. Be patient and hand feed and you will have a wonderful friend for life!


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## RamseyRingnecks (Jun 18, 2013)

Mockingbird said:


> Thank you! I'm planning to go cage-shopping after the weekend, the current cage is just what I happened to have in the house at the time. Its not super tiny, but certainly I can do better. As big as possible is always best for birds, yes? I'll see what the local store has that will be spacious but still fit in my house ^_^
> 
> And will he/she need a buddy in the future or is it fine to keep a single pigeon?


That depends on the age and temperament of the bird and your lifestyle.

The younger the bird, the more easily it will bond with you.

It is possible that its a feral. All feral pigeons are descended from lost performance breeds like racers, carriers, rollers, and tumblers. So they will throw colorful young on occasion.
The problem is that color stands out and makes for an easy target, which is why most feral flocks mostly consist of blue checks and bars.

Disabled birds are more likely to bond to people, but, if yours is already an adult, it may never come any closer to tame than tolerating you.
Time will tell. If it doesn't turn out to enjoy human companionship, a mate will give it a better quality of life.


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## Mockingbird (Sep 2, 2015)

Thank you everyone for the information! It seems impossible to tell the gender without the DNA test of course, but is there anyway to roughly guess the age? As I said, the vet thought there was very little chance he would have reached adulthood as a white bird if he were wild/feral (we live in a rural farm valley with a high density of hawks and bald eagles). Also, his droppings were a dark green from the time we found him, which apparently indicates he was eating a seed-dense diet already (for what that information might be worth).

As for getting him a friend - we should wait awhile I would guess, to "quarantine" and make sure he didn't pick up anything outdoors right? And let him settle in before introducing more changes? Does the gender matter for getting a buddy (we can get the test if it does) and would a flightless bird prefer a flightless friend? We can always leave a note with local bird rescues to alert us if a flightless adoption comes up.

Here are pictures of him, right after we found him and just after he first settled in to his temporary cage:


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Beautiful bird! Thanks for helping him! We are quarantining the pigeon we got to be friends with Fiona and had the vet check her poop, as she had coccidia. The best way to tell the sex of a pigeon is to watch their behavior. The definitive test...if it lays eggs, it's a female!


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

He looks low weight, his seed mix needs to look like a wild bird mix with added dried peas , you can add upopped pop corn too. To get some weight on chop some unsalted peanuts and give him that as a treat. When getting another pigeon get a hen, that way if your is a hen both will get along , two males may not .


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## Mockingbird (Sep 2, 2015)

spirit wings said:


> He looks low weight, his seed mix needs to look like a wild bird mix with added dried peas , you can add upopped pop corn too. To get some weight on chop some unsalted peanuts and give him that as a treat. When getting another pigeon get a hen, that way if your is a hen both will get along , two males may not .


Yeah, the vet had noted he was thin. That food -did- have peas and corn in it, but he picked them all out right away! =P He knows what he likes. I've picked up a better food since then too, that was something the pet store gave us a few handfuls of when we weren't yet sure if he was domestic, injured, or what was going on. 

Now that we know he's here to stay we've picked up a bag of proper food, a hanging water dish (he kept stepping in the bowl I put on the bottom of the cage for him) and a little feed-tower to dispense seeds more neatly. Still need to get a bigger cage and flat perches. Do they need a nest-box of any kind?

And thank you for the tip about picking a friend, we will do that then unless we get "him" gender tested before then.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

We use ceramic crocks and ceramic water dishes that the pigeons can't step in. Hope you find a great cage and friend for your new friend!


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