# California Pigeons need Help!



## cindyv11 (Jul 26, 2008)

I need to find nice people that live near West Sacramento, California that can give a home to a few feral pigeons. I have a flock that hangs out in my back yard. Some of them have been here for 12 years and it is home to them. I rent and recently a new owner bought the house and wants the pigeons gone! She is sending a pest control man to put traps in my yard tomorrrow afternoon..... 

I am hoping to find people that like pigeons that can take a few and help me save them. I am pretty sure you will need to keep them in a cage or coop for a while because they will just fly home if you do not. Once they settle in you can let them loose and hopefully they will stay at your house. A couple of cups of pigeon/ wild bird seed every day will provide you with hours of entertainment as they fly over your house for hours. As long as you take their eggs the flock will remain small. Letting a few eggs hatch is fun too! Nothing is cuter than a baby pigeon! 

Some of them are racing pigeons that stopped to visit one day and never left. The is one BIG old male that is that reddish grey color with the white puffy skin over his beak. Someone found him with a broken wing and did not get it fixed soon enough to allow it heal properly. They brought him to me when they realized he was not goping to fly away ..... His wing droops and he can't fly, but he has lived in my back yard for years. He is huge, very smart, a great father if you want to breed baby racing pigeons with him. He is special to me and I hope to find him a good home to finish out the rest of his life where he can be safe and happy. 


If you have plenty of room and a big heart please email me for more information. I don't want emails from anyone that wants them for food or anything else other than being able to offer them a nice loving place to call home.

Thanks, Cindy

[email protected]


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

If any of them have bands we can find the owners. Thanks for saving these birds.
Dave


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

the banded ones are domestic so they can be found homes..but the ferals may not do well caught and caged.... the best thing is to try to feed them in a different place..or gradually stop feeding them...they will move on elsewhere.. and won't be around to get killed or trapped.. this is probably a good example of what not to do..if one lives in a nonpermanant situation.. attracting them with feed only to move...and then be destroyed.. finding a pigeon friendly spot like a park or something to feed the ferals is better..


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## cindyv11 (Jul 26, 2008)

*A few do have bands...*

once they are trapped I will be able to look at their bands. I was a wild life rehabilitator for 10 years. When a banded pigeon came in injured usually the owners did not want them back. Usually they said "keep it". Some said it was because they did not want their birds around a bird that had been exposed to feral pigeons. I would hate to send them home if they would be euthanized. Do you know if that feeling is common for racing pigeon owners. PS. Once a man drove 400 miles to pick up his bird from me....


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

cindyv11 said:


> once they are trapped I will be able to look at their bands. I was a wild life rehabilitator for 10 years. When a banded pigeon came in injured usually the owners did not want them back. Usually they said "keep it". Some said it was because they did not want their birds around a bird that had been exposed to feral pigeons. I would hate to send them home if they would be euthanized. Do you know if that feeling is common for racing pigeon owners. PS. Once a man drove 400 miles to pick up his bird from me....


the proper thing to do is call the owner..if you can... then go from there..if they do not want the bird or do not respond within a few weeks..then the bird can be adopted out..


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## cindyv11 (Jul 26, 2008)

I actually do live by a park and a field full of wild grass. They forge there and I only feed a few that do not leave my yard. If I have seen sick ones or injured ones I have put seed at the park and tried to capture them. The only thing they do is sleep in my yard. I did not attract them.... they painted a bridge near my house and I guess because it was a 2 story house near thei bridge they started hanging out there. Cleaning up after them wasw a chore at first, but I think everything needs to have someplace they feel safe. Especially poor pigeons ...they never get to relax because something is always after them....people, hawks, owls, cats,.... I asked that anyone helping relocate them feed them because they will be someplace thay are not familiar and need the extra food. 

Living in a " non permanent situation" I have planted plants, trees, and shrubs that will provide year round food and shelter for wildlife....long after I am gone. My house stands out in winter because my yard is filled with lots of green and not just bare branches. thanks for your input.... but if you do not have anything helful to say...don't say anything.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

cindyv11 said:


> I actually do live by a park and a field full of wild grass. They forge there and I only feed a few that do not leave my yard. If I have seen sick ones or injured ones I have put seed at the park and tried to capture them. The only thing they do is sleep in my yard. I did not attract them.... they painted a bridge near my house and I guess because it was a 2 story house near thei bridge they started hanging out there. Cleaning up after them wasw a chore at first, but I think everything needs to have someplace they feel safe. Especially poor pigeons ...they never get to relax because something is always after them....people, hawks, owls, cats,.... I asked that anyone helping relocate them feed them because they will be someplace thay are not familiar and need the extra food.
> 
> Living in a " non permanent situation" I have planted plants, trees, and shrubs that will provide year round food and shelter for wildlife....long after I am gone. My house stands out in winter because my yard is filled with lots of green and not just bare branches. thanks for your input.... but if you do not have anything helful to say...don't say anything.


This is a public forum so I will post my opinion.. esp if it helps ferals.. you need to ask them not to destroy the pigeons..as if they are relocated they just my return..esp if you planted food out for them.. sometimes it is best not to attract them for this very reason..and I think that is a topic some need to learn so these innoccent birds do not get poisend or trapped and euthanized.


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