# Looking for rescues or breeders in Oregon



## OCDPigeon (Jun 2, 2018)

I've been heavily considering getting a companion/pet bird for a long time now, and had just never really put a ton of thought into what KIND of bird I'd wanted. Recently though I've decided that I want to get a pigeon, I've been doing as much research as I possibly can. And I am currently collecting resources for when I do decide to make the big purchase; if anyone is or knows of a breeder or rescue in Oregon (The closer to Portland the better) I'd really appreciate any information I can get!
I really don't want to resort to having one shipped :/
Thank you all in advance.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Single pigeons don't really make the best house pets. They are very messy in a house, and they do prefer to be with other pigeons. So unless it is a disabled bird or some reason why it cannot be with others, than I don't think it is really fair to the bird to be kept as a pet.
They are programmed by nature to want to find a mate, build a nest and raise babies. Without being able to do that than I don't think they are really happy. It is going against nature.

A cockatiel would be a better choice for you I think. If you check out the Oregon Humane Society or Northwest bird Rescue, I'm sure you could find a good companion bird.


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## Howard Nye (Oct 14, 2009)

Lots of rescue birds need homes, and I think that it would be great if you could, as Jay3 suggests, consider adopting a cockatiel in need of a home if there is one in your area. But there also might be disabled / non-releasable pigeons in need of homes and available for adoption in your area. Palomacy in California (http://www.pigeonrescue.org/) does great work and has lots of resources on adopting disabled / non-releasable pigeons in need (they often adopt out mated pairs). Their rescue map (http://www.pigeonrescue.org/resources/some-pigeon-dove-friendly-rescues-in-the-us/) shows three organizations right in the Portland area (one of which is the Northwest bird Rescue that Jay3 mentioned) and a few others elsewhere in Oregon.

My eight companion pigeons are all rescues / non-releasable (6 of whom were found with disabilities and two of whom are the oops babies of disabled rescues). They're all wonderful and they live indoors with me but in terms of the droppings issue I had to make a serious commitment to them in terms of the giving them a large area of my house where they can have droppings and I can clean them up. I've seen pigeon pants / diapers mentioned (e.g. here http://www.rescuereport.org/2008/09/why-have-pigeon-for-pet.html) as an alternative way to control droppings, but I've never tried using them myself. 

So I do think that rescuing disabled pigeons (ideally more than one, and really ideally mated pairs, with whom one does birth control via replacement of eggs with plastic ones immediately after laying) is a great way to have companion birds. But you should know what you're getting into and, if there are other birds like cockatiels in need of rescue in your area, it would also be just as great and important to adopt them and give them a home.


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