# Loving Home Available for Non-Releasable Female Pigeon (Edmonton AB, Canada)



## Howard Nye (Oct 14, 2009)

Hi all,

I have two male companion pigeons, Bird-Bird and Philly, both of whom were found with broken wings that left them permanently flightless. They live with me in the master bedroom of my apartment, the floor of which is covered by plastic runner (they always have free run of the room and they are never caged – although the room is currently partitioned between them by a baby-gate; see below) I love them both dearly and I am looking for a mate for Bird-Bird (and possibly also a mate for Philly, although there is a local non-releasable pigeon who may be female who we are going to try to pair up with Philly). We live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, but I would be willing to drive or fly to pick up a suitable female (at least if it’s within a reasonable distance – hopefully a place in North America not too far from Alberta), or pay for her airfare. Here is our story and details:

I found Bird-Bird with a broken wing in October 2009. My vet (Dr. Steele, of South Side Animal Hospital, an excellent pigeon rehabber) determined by X-ray that his wing was too badly damaged for him to be releasable, so I adopted him and treated him while his wing healed. We bonded closely, but since I wasn’t around all the time (and I think that companion animals should in general have another conspecific as a companion) I put a request in with my vet to let me know if there were any other non-releasable pigeons who needed a home. In June of 2010 someone found Philly, who was also flightless due to a broken wing, and took him to my vet, after which I adopted him.

At first we didn’t know if Philly was male or female (we knew Bird-Bird was male, not just because of his general aggression and dancing, but also because of the way he tries to mate with inanimate objects). They got along reasonably well, although they never bonded closely. Bird-Bird was dominant, and Philly would keep his distance. Since they didn’t bond closely and would occasionally scuffle, we began to suspect that Philly was also a male (this was also confirmed by someone who said that he used to race pigeons and could determine their sex on sight). Starting last summer Philly started to act very lethargic, and I took him to the vet. X-rays and an ultrasound revealed an enlarged liver, which we suspected (in part because of wonderful help from the Pigeon-Talk Forum) might be a result of parasites. After a good round of worming (more powerful than the routine course he got when I first adopted him), Philly made a 100%+ recovery. In fact, Philly started to act spunkier than he had ever acted before. We suspect that he had had a parasite that was keeping him down the entire first year I had him (poor guy!).

Given his increased energy, Philly has, over the last 10 months, been acting progressively less and submissive around Bird-Bird. This was great at first, but their testosterone-fuelled scuffles started to get bad. A few months ago Philly overtook Bird-Bird as the dominant pigeon, evicting him from most of his favorite territories (including his main nest box in a converted dog-carrier). Philly started bullying Bird-Bird, to the point at which Bird-Bird could not leave his nest under my dresser without Philly driving him back. A few days ago the bullying got so bad that I had to separate the boys by partitioning their room with a long baby-gate. The consensus among my vet and members of the Pigeon-Talk Forum seems to be that it isn’t safe for Bird-Bird and Philly to interact UNTIL they’ve found mates and calmed down. 

Thus, I am looking for mates for Bird-Bird and Philly, so they can each have companion pigeons, and so hopefully one day they (with their mates) can both share the room without partition. As I said we have a possible mate for Philly, but I would like to find a mate for Bird-Bird (and we aren’t sure it’ll work to set Philly up with the other bird, because we don’t know the other bird’s sex). Bird-Bird is a very sweet and outgoing boy. He is very curious, likes cooing and dancing, and I think that, by male pigeon standards, he isn’t too aggressive (e.g. he didn’t over-bully Philly when he was dominant). 

Like my boys, I will love and cherish any female pigeon I adopt as a member of my family. She will have a safe, clean, indoor forever-home. She will have access to top-notch veterinary care at our primary vet (South Side, where Dr. Steele is experienced with pigeons) and specialist and emergency vet (Western Veterinary Center) – in consultation, of course, with the amazingly knowledgeable people here at the Pigeon-Talk Forum. I do not want to add to the population of pigeons (either of non-releasables who need homes or of those in the wild who have to compete for resources), so I will practice the only safe method of pigeon birth-control I know of - replacement of eggs by false ones before they can incubate. I take the lives of pigeons (i.e. mental individuals with feelings and desires) very seriously, so would never kill sentient babies, but I have no problems with destroying early embryos before they develop into sentient individuals who can be literally harmed and benefitted in a morally relevant sense. 

You can e-mail me at [email protected].

Thank you so much!
Howard


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