# So i think i did something stupid



## billijen (Jan 4, 2013)

Okay this may end up a little long winded, 

So ever since my first rescue baby I`ve been a little on the obsessed side with having a tame pet pigeon. I`ve rescued 2 babies in the last year that both went to a rescuer and have since been released. So after allot of thought and what I thought was sufficient research I get in contact with a breeder, and headed out to their very cool hobby farm. they have about 15 breeds of pigeons and countless other animals. So I was going out there thinking I wanted to buy a king squeaker that I could hand raise seeing as all my research was saying that if you want a tame bird you have to hand raise them. Anyways they talk me into a young pair of giant runts, telling me that they are young enough to train. So I bring them home, I set up their large cage and proceed to attempt to tame them, now I have two very cool birds (named sonny terry and brownie McGee) who know im the source of the food, where they are okay to hang out during living room time (they get allot of out of cage time) and will occasionally let me touch them and have totally different and interesting personality's. Alas they are not the tame birds I had hoped for, but what did I expect really. 

So they begin mating, and lay eggs. I had given them a bowl, so oops okay I had better order some fake eggs I really should have ordered them as soon as I got them. the wood eggs came and the real eggs had already been incubated for a week and a bit. I didn`t want to change them out. now I have two babies one is two days old and one is one day old. So now I have some questions

1. I need to put more underneath the babies, the bowl is plastic and Im worried about splayed legs. Can I move them? is straw okay? My girl is very protective 

2. Would it be possible to hand raise these babies? pet I'd like to keep one as a pet and have found a loving home for the second baby. is this foolish? If not when should I take them out? with it negatively affect my adults? So far they have been fantastic parents. 

3. My boyfriend and I are planning an outdoor aviary it's very cold here in the winter, what considerations do I need to make for the heated part?

4. any advise that I haven't thought of?

Anyways I feel pretty dumb about the whole thing and for sure got a ambitious and jumped the gun in several ways, so now I'd like to make the best of things. Maybe I can end up with the tame pet I wanted in the first place. 

Anyways thanks in advance.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

They shouldn't have talked you into taking two if you wanted a tame baby
What about contacting mickacoo out in California to see if they have an friendly bird that needs a home


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

Even raising them there is no guarantee they will be friendly
Had one once that I raised and intended on keeping as a pet because he had so many health problems 
He turned into a beast! Had no fear of humans and would land on us and peck us 
He was such a jerk!! Lol


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

Could hand raise both babies an see which one is the friendlier one


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

I think the females tend to be sweeter


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

So are you going to put the adults outside, and keep the youngster inside as a pet?


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Get some nesting material under the babies right away, please. As you know, we don't want them to get splayed legs. Your birds are quite large ones so the nesting material is really important right away.

Don't really know what to tell you about the rest. Any outside enclosure needs to be predator proof, water, and wind proof, and as you are in an extremely cold climate needs some source of at least mild heat available. 

Yes, you could remove one or both babies and hand feed them from about day 7 on and they would be quite tame. I kinda think you just need to rethink this whole situation though. 

JMO

Terry


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## RockPigeon<3er (Aug 2, 2012)

altgirl35 said:


> They shouldn't have talked you into taking two if you wanted a tame baby
> What about contacting mickacoo out in California to see if they have an friendly bird that needs a home


They won't ship to anywhere, why would they ship out of the Country? 

I'd say hand raise one, and keep it as a pet. Then you could find a good home for the other. If you do hand raise, I'd pull at a week old, or a bit older. Just want to make sure that they're doing good.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

They can't be kept in an aviary in the cold months. They would need a loft or some sort of enclosure with an attached aviary. They need to be kept out of the cold and wind and weather as Terry has already said. An aviary is open.


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