# New Pigeon Owner



## kayncli (Oct 20, 2016)

Hi there! I just rescued a white pigeon from my local shelter. I was informed he was confiscated from a hoarding case, and was left alone for who knows how long when the owner passed...and was kept in an exceptionally small cage.

I'm unsure of gender, but I'm going with male for the time being. He is healthy, inquisitive and looks around and bobs his head in his cage--for the first day he cooed angrilly when you would enter his cage to feed or change the water, but today and last night he's started biting (not painful, just annoying). When he's out of his cage, he flies around and attempts to avoid us. Once he's held, he tends to calm down after a while and will sit there without immediately flying away....

Overall he seems scared and unsure. What are the best tips for socializing him and helping him be alright with us? Currently I talk to him every day, and sit with him for a bit after I feed him. He's in the living room so he's always able to see what's going on. I also don't flinch when he bites, I make sure to maintain my composure and never yell or jerk my hand away. If he stops biting, I've been gently stroking his chest--he doesn't seem to like his back or the back of his head pet. Thanks in advance, it's hard to find any info on this!


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## Dotty (Nov 4, 2016)

kayncli said:


> Hi there! I just rescued a white pigeon from my local shelter. I was informed he was confiscated from a hoarding case, and was left alone for who knows how long when the owner passed...and was kept in an exceptionally small cage.
> 
> I'm unsure of gender, but I'm going with male for the time being. He is healthy, inquisitive and looks around and bobs his head in his cage--for the first day he cooed angrilly when you would enter his cage to feed or change the water, but today and last night he's started biting (not painful, just annoying). When he's out of his cage, he flies around and attempts to avoid us. Once he's held, he tends to calm down after a while and will sit there without immediately flying away....
> 
> Overall he seems scared and unsure. What are the best tips for socializing him and helping him be alright with us? Currently I talk to him every day, and sit with him for a bit after I feed him. He's in the living room so he's always able to see what's going on. I also don't flinch when he bites, I make sure to maintain my composure and never yell or jerk my hand away. If he stops biting, I've been gently stroking his chest--he doesn't seem to like his back or the back of his head pet. Thanks in advance, it's hard to find any info on this!


You can feed him food with your hand to help with bonding.

Pigeons love unsalted peanuts and bread as treats so that helps too.

Your doing a good job already =). Just take things slow and don't rush things.
Birds take time to come around.

Pigeons don't really like being petted btw. Also its normal for pigeons to bite =). He feels unsure right now so maybe once he gets to know you more he will allow you to pet him.


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

Hi kayncli,

Congrats on your pigeon and thank you rescuing it 

Be patient, building trust takes time. 

You are doing the right thing; by talking to him, it will make him(?) more familiar with you.

Does he eat from your hand? As Dotty mentioned, this can be a good step.

The 'biting' is a defence mechanism, it will stop with time. 

Good Luck


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## kayncli (Oct 20, 2016)

Dotty said:


> You can feed him food with your hand to help with bonding.
> 
> Pigeons love unsalted peanuts and bread as treats so that helps too.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply! We've been working together, I actually spoke with a breeder I found online and they are guessing this pigeon is actually a female! I've been giving her safflower seed treats daily, and just trying to get in some gentle lap time every day. I'm still not her favorite person, but I'm hoping we will get there.


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## kayncli (Oct 20, 2016)

I actually am guessing she is female now, even though she was originally identified as a male! So far she will eat safflower seeds from my hand, after attacking it! I think it will take time but I am hopeful we'll be the best of friends soon. The worst is when she gets out and flies around and won't come back, I hate having to catch her.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Then gender is not possible to tell till it lays an egg. LOL. If you put a large mirror in the cage for her, a female may sit near it, but won't bother with it much. A male will usually either fight with the bird in the mirror, or show off for it. 
If you chop up some unsalted peanuts into bite size pieces, they love them. But if they have never had them before, they won't know what they are, so you can mix some into their feed. Eventually they will try them, and once they do, they all love them. Once that happens, you can offer some in your hand when the bird is out, and he will come to you for the treat. 
They do not generally like being picked up or petted. They want to be able to fly to you when they want to. Chasing him around to get him back into his cage is not helping him to learn to trust you. If you let him out later in the day, when it gets dark you just turn the lights out and you can pick him up. Most pigeons don't see well in the dark, and so they normally won't fly off. It's so much better than chasing him, which only serves to scare him. Won't help. How difficult it is to tame him some, or for him to learn to trust you, will depend on how he was handled before you, or whether he was even handled at all. But he should come around some in time, with patience.
Pigeons also like safflower seeds, and hulled sunflower seeds as treats. But as with the peanuts, you don't want to over do with these things as they are high in fat and so too much isn't good for him.
Can you share a pic of your new family member?


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## kayncli (Oct 20, 2016)

Jay3 said:


> Then gender is not possible to tell till it lays an egg. LOL. If you put a large mirror in the cage for her, a female may sit near it, but won't bother with it much. A male will usually either fight with the bird in the mirror, or show off for it.
> If you chop up some unsalted peanuts into bite size pieces, they love them. But if they have never had them before, they won't know what they are, so you can mix some into their feed. Eventually they will try them, and once they do, they all love them. Once that happens, you can offer some in your hand when the bird is out, and he will come to you for the treat.
> They do not generally like being picked up or petted. They want to be able to fly to you when they want to. Chasing him around to get him back into his cage is not helping him to learn to trust you. If you let him out later in the day, when it gets dark you just turn the lights out and you can pick him up. Most pigeons don't see well in the dark, and so they normally won't fly off. It's so much better than chasing him, which only serves to scare him. Won't help. How difficult it is to tame him some, or for him to learn to trust you, will depend on how he was handled before you, or whether he was even handled at all. But he should come around some in time, with patience.
> Pigeons also like safflower seeds, and hulled sunflower seeds as treats. But as with the peanuts, you don't want to over do with these things as they are high in fat and so too much isn't good for him.
> Can you share a pic of your new family member?



Yea I did the mirror test, she lays next to it, and I located a breeder and asked them what they thought, and they agreed female. I guess there's no certainty of course until she lays but that's my best guess! The shelter I rescued her from was the one that guessed male, but I think they were just throwing it out there to list her.

Thank you for your advice on how to capture if they get out! That has helped immensely. I knew it was scaring her, but I had no other options to get her back in the cage since she is still scared! We tried that last night, by switching out the lights and scooping her up before she even knew what was happening and that seemed to help a lot.

I'm going to try peanuts tonight! She really likes Safflower seeds.

Here's the first shelter intake photo of her, much better than the ones I've been snapping: http://puu.sh/u4zFV/7a5dd6ff1f.jpg

You can see how her wing tips/tail tip are frayed, she was kept in a small cage before but I have her set up in an extra large dog crate currently, plenty of room to strut and fly.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Nice looking bird.
In the cage if you put a flat shelf for a perch, she will appreciate it. I usually run a 6 inch piece of wood on one side of the cage from front to back. They spend most of their time on this shelf. Pigeons like a flat perch. 
And if you put a towel or something to cover part of the cage to give it a quiet corner to retreat to, he will be happier. They like a feeling of being safe and private when they want to. I'm glad it's going well.


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

Beautiful bird! Good Luck


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