# Releasing Wild Caught Pigeons



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

Hello all, I currently own 3 juvie rock pigeons.

My neighbor caught these guys as a favor to a person who had to many, he was using them for training his dogs. Anyways, he let me take 3. They are all juvienile based on the sounds they made when I first got them. Anywho, I'm starting to feel more and more guilty about keeping them, and are interested in releasing them. I have had them for around 4 months, and have been feeding them chicken food. They have nice plumage (one is missing some back neck feathers, the other is missing some general head feathers, and the beautiful black male just looks royal right now), and seem healthy. I clipped their wings when I first got them, however they seem to be able to fly pretty well. So my question is, how would I go about releasing them? I know a place where a GOOD established flock is, however being in public I don't think I could do it there, since I am not sure on the legalty of releasing them :/ I don't have any other pigeons around the place, so if I just released them, they couldn't come back for food if starving, yet I want to release them around a established flock around.... help??? Thanks so much


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*you can follow these guidelines and get some ideas for feral pigeons only, not babies who were loft raised: 

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f23/to-release-or-not-to-release-10874.html 

All these birds need to be released, and those who caught them, held responsible. We do not CONDONE the capture of feral pigeons for any reason but especially for dog training. *


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

It would be better to release them into a flock. Pigeons aren't safe outside of a flock. If these guys were raise in captivity or very young when caught, they probably won't know how to survive in the wild, as they have always been fed and not had to look for food.
The feathers missing doesn't sound good. Can you post a picture of them?


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

I agree with Jay3, and as said, if they were hand raised since young then they cannot just be set free, they need to go through a soft release regimen so that they can learn to avoid predators and fend for themselves.
If they cannot do that, they will not last very long at all.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

These young birds are domestic pets right now. Dumping them out would be cruel IMO. ESP winter in Alaska! Pigeons are from domestic stock, unlike true wild birds like mourning doves.


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

I think that jay3 is right.


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

I agree, its cruel to release juvenile pigeons who have been in captivity for their entire life. And the beginning of winter is probably the cruelest time of all to release any rescued bird.

They may do better in the wild when they reach breeding age, say in the next spring. When they find a mate, the mate will take them back to their roost and show them where to eat etc. This is the only way I've found to break their homing instinct to roost at the house they were raised in.

I released about 10 juvenile pigeons this year myself, all who had an extended stay with me for 3-4 months while they recovered from pox virus. None of them wanted to roost elsewhere until they had a mate; they all roost with the local flock now. I supplied food & shelter for them all for as long as they needed, and they found mates in the flock that eats in my back yard. 

But the process took approximately 4 weeks for most of them, and some of the hens longer. They could come back inside when they were afraid, sick, or exhausted- I don't think they would have made it if they were just dumped . They had on days and off days, and sometimes just needed to rest for two days before trying to live outside again. And in spite of all this, I still lost one..she never got the hang of roosting some place safe at night and got beaten up once, and then just disappeared one night never to be seen again. (I miss her) 

Also, when they are first released they get exposed to a lot of disease and other hardships. So if they are struggling to find food on top of all that stress, they probably will not make it.

PS. There's no chicken food in the wild, so if you plan to soft release, they need to identify things like bread and scraps as food, so start giving them some.


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

They knew how to eat and forage on their own when I got them. They simply made sounds of a juvienile pigeon, according to you guys. I was also told that pigeons are constantly shedding feathers and growing new ones and not to worry about the missing feather, because the male had been missing a few feathers a while ago but grew them back in (he came with all good feathers)
This is one of the females...








The other one..








They are growing back in, which is why I never really thought anything of it. I mean, they have bright eyes, shiny feathers, nice amount of energy, freakin' terrified of me and does all they can to get away
Their wing feathers are growing in, but not all the way, however they can fly well, and it doesn't seem to phase them. I can post pics of that to, as well.
Oh, and this is the males head, about a week ago he was missing some feathers but they are nice now,

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content









Oh, and these birds have been living outside, no heat, and we've had a warm winter so far (NO SNOW !! :O Only a bit of frost)
Thanks for the link  


They, were NOT squabs when I got them! If they were, I would've said squabs. They have not lived in captivity their entire life ! They have lived outside, and I simply have provided foot, shelter, and water. But they are in a covered area so they can't just 'fly off'.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

I must of missed something...lol..I can't find the mean post. I think you got good advice with putting the birds well being first. If you want them to be feral then I would wait till spring at least., it is great you did care enough to ask how to release them.


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

I misinterputed something Spirit, you're right,I was crazy xD.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Why do you call yourself crazy.? You asked a good question with caring about releasing the birds. I'm not sure what you mean. Sorry.


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

About a mean post, not releasing the post.

But in honest trueness in generalness, I am a wee bit crazy, lol.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Hey, me too!...lol..


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

You are doing a great job BTW, and its excellent that you rescued them from the dog trainer. They are nice looking birds too. I'd say they are at breeding age, but best to release in the Spring when theres more food about.



RockPigeon<3er said:


> They have not lived in captivity their entire life ! They have lived outside, and I simply have provided foot, shelter, and water. But they are in a covered area so they can't just 'fly off'.


Not sure if I'm understanding you, but providing food, shelter, water and having them in a situation where they can't fly off IS effectively captivity Its not about being caged, its really about whether they can survive in the wild without what you provide. In any case, taking their food away & putting them somewhere else at the beginning of winter will hurt them a lot, and some would probably die.


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

Bella_F said:


> You are doing a great job BTW, and its excellent that you rescued them from the dog trainer. They are nice looking birds too. I'd say they are at breeding age, but best to release in the Spring when theres more food about.
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I'm understanding you, but providing food, shelter, water and having them in a situation where they can't fly off IS effectively captivity Its not about being caged, its really about whether they can survive in the wild without what you provide. In any case, taking their food away & putting them somewhere else at the beginning of winter will hurt them a lot, and some would probably die.


Well you said 'I agree, its cruel to release juvenile pigeons who have been in captivity for their entire life.', and I was simply saying that they haven't been in captivity their _entire_ lives, ya I understand its considered captivity. Not sure if their breeding age or not, but the black guy has paired up with the splash girl, leaving the other splash girl a bit lonely. 

I'll release them in spring, until then I'll start feeding them on the ground (so they have to scratch and such) and feed them some junk in between to teach them the a bit on foraging. 
Thanks  I'll re-post in spring on terms on releasing. Maybe I'll e-mail creamers field, see how they feel on releasing some pigeons


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

> They are all juvienile based on the sounds they made when I first got them.


Just regarding their age, you said when you got them they made a certain sound (ie in the above quote), which I assumed is a squeaking type sound? I assumed that because juvenile pigeons don't make different sounds to adults , but `squeakers' will make a squeak type sound. This indicates they have only just left the nest and this `squeaker' phase doesn't last long.

That would put your pigeons at about 5 months of age, so this effectively would mean they were in captivity for virtually their entire lives, and would be dependent on human care to survive. ..I'm just trying to explain where I'm coming from , not trying to antagonise you, sorry if it came across that way. 

There's a difference between dumping a pigeon in the wild that has grown up dependent on humans, and soft releasing from a location that they can return to for food while they adapt.

If its any indication, most lost racing pigeons die and can't adapt to living in the wild. In fact its very rare for them to make it in a feral flock; they have too much to learn in too short a time. Your pigeons would be in the same position if you put them in the wild without food. If this is the only option you have, then would it be possible to leave food for that pigeon flock every couple of days for at least 2 weeks? That way they would at least have food while they tried to learn how to survive?


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

The spring is a good time to release them.They are lucky that you have tken such good care of them.


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

Bella_F said:


> .
> 
> There's a difference between dumping a pigeon in the wild that has grown up dependent on humans, and soft releasing from a location that they can return to for food while they adapt.
> 
> If its any indication, most lost racing pigeons die and can't adapt to living in the wild. In fact its very rare for them to make it in a feral flock; they have too much to learn in too short a time. Your pigeons would be in the same position if you put them in the wild without food. If this is the only option you have, then would it be possible to leave food for that pigeon flock every couple of days for at least 2 weeks? That way they would at least have food while they tried to learn how to survive?


I wonder if even wild pigeons in the city learn to survive when food from pepole is not provided. It reminds me of the thread of B. Henderson in England, where there's signs not to feed the birds. Since then, the pigeons are starving over there. My point is that unless they go out of the city to the lands and farms area, the city pigeons cannot survive without us throwing some bread or seeds. And most likely pigeons won't go anywhere else to far from the place they live.


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

Bella_F said:


> Just regarding their age, you said when you got them they made a certain sound (ie in the above quote), which I assumed is a squeaking type sound? I assumed that because juvenile pigeons don't make different sounds to adults , but `squeakers' will make a squeak type sound. This indicates they have only just left the nest and this `squeaker' phase doesn't last long.
> 
> That would put your pigeons at about 5 months of age, so this effectively would mean they were in captivity for virtually their entire lives, and would be dependent on human care to survive. ..I'm just trying to explain where I'm coming from , not trying to antagonise you, sorry if it came across that way.
> 
> ...


No no, its fine. I got them when they were squeakers (I like the term 'peepers' better though, suits the sound better  ), yes. That was roughly 2months ago (I'm so bad with time....) so their around the 7-8month age. 

Yes, and I would plan on doing a soft release, given the place I have in mind is OK with it. They used to be a dairy farm, but now are a migratory bird haven, (although they let people hunt the cranes / trap there, lol) 

Even if I 'dumped them', the place they'd be at has a flock of about 50 pigeons and reguarly people go there, and they live off that stuff, and the bugs in the field. I plan on a soft release in spring when the bugs are most abundent, however I e-mailed one of the people that works there and asked them if it'd be OK if I released 3 pigeons there, they havent responded :/ I didn't plan on it :/


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

RockPigeon<3er said:


> ................
> 
> Even if I 'dumped them', the place they'd be at has a flock of about 50 pigeons and reguarly people go there, and they live off that stuff, and the bugs in the field. I plan on a soft release in spring when the bugs are most abundent, however I e-mailed one of the people that works there and asked them if it'd be OK if I released 3 pigeons there, they havent responded :/ I didn't plan on it :/


they need to be integrated into a flock as a flock may just reject them & they would still be on their own.
Also, they dont eat bugs, they are grain eaters, but spring is certainly better as it is warmer.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

RockPigeon<3er said:


> Even if I 'dumped them', the place they'd be at has a flock of about 50 pigeons and reguarly people go there, and they live off that stuff, and the bugs in the field. I plan on a soft release in spring when the bugs are most abundent, however I e-mailed one of the people that works there and asked them if it'd be OK if I released 3 pigeons there, they havent responded :/ I didn't plan on it :/


*They need grains/seed to be healthy, they do not eat bugs at all.*


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

Yes they eat grain, and pet pigeons eat a `pigeon mix' that is a grain mixture that also has extra protein added via pigeon peas, legumes, or pellets. I suggested a spring release for the warmth, as keeping warm in the snow burns a lot of calories and the snow may cover food sources like wild seeds and scraps left by people. and water may be hard to come by as well if its frozen.

Pigeons breed all year around, so the presence of a wild pigeon flock alone doesn't necessarily indicate that the birds are healthy or living any longer than a year or two. 

I know you want to get rid of these pigeons. But dumping them will probably kill them, slowly & painfully. Not saying this to be depressing, but like I said, tens of thousands of racing pigeons are released and lost in the wild every year. Where are they then? If it was easy for a domesticated pigeon to just join a feral flock, then these pigeons would do that and we'd see tons of pigeons with leg bands in the feral flocks. But these inadvertently dumped pigeons are dying instead, for the reasons we've tried to explain to you. Not only do they need nutritional support & time to adapt o the wild, pigeons also have a powerful homing instinct and will try to go back to where they came from rather than stay in a new place they don't know.

If you only plan to dump them without giving a proper soft release (ie supplying food they recognise for 2-4 weeks), then could you look for someone else to soft release properly? I know its hard, but you may find someone willing. People on this forums have found homes for ferals before, and yours are pretty with a backstory that tugs the heart. I would take them, but I'm in Australia


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

what was the reason to accept the three pigeons in the first place?, maybe they could find a home with a pigeon keeper?


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

I don't know of any pigeon keepers here. Despite dog trainers.... 

Bella - I'm not planning on dumping them off. Do you think they'd be OK to be relocated in another state, because I'd be willing to ship to a 'proffesinal' pigeon releaser, but I doubt I could find one here.


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

Its a tough question..I suppose it depends on the person and their skill with soft releasing. In theory it could work out just fine. Did you have someone in mind that you heard of?


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

No, not really. I know of a lot of people on here who release wild pigeons however unsure on their usernames.
I feel so bad for them :-( Their water keeps freezing so I have to rush and re-fill it when I get home, and they look so sad in the snow, but luckily they stay out of it and in the non-snowy parts.


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

You're so good to them I was wondering today, is there any possibility of you soft releasing from your place? Do you reckon there would be any other wild pigeons in the area they could join up with and mate with etc?


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