# Pigeons & Doves



## codgi96 (Oct 8, 2011)

I am a long-time pigeon and dove enthusiast located south of Boston. If anyone relatively local needs assistance with a tame, misplaced pigeon or dove and cannot locate its owner - or if you need to rehome one you already have - please contact me. I would provide a loving environment with my others. Thank you.


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

Have any pics of your setup?
Dave


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

That's very kind of you. Yes, do you have pics you could share? How many birds do you have?


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

codgi96 said:


> I am a long-time pigeon and dove enthusiast located south of Boston. If anyone relatively local needs assistance with a tame, misplaced pigeon or dove and cannot locate its owner - or if you need to rehome one you already have - please contact me. I would provide a loving environment with my others. Thank you.


Do you race/fly your birds? I'm always interested to know about other pigeon people who are near me.


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## codgi96 (Oct 8, 2011)

At this writing, I have 4 pigeons and 4 doves (as well as 2 parakeets); 2 more pigeons await adoption at a local shelter, so they may be joining my family soon. I do not race them or fly them outdoors (they are not homing), but they have plenty of fly time inside my home. They are housed in large dog crates - 2 pigeons per crate, with daily open door fly time, and always returning on their own to their respective "home" cages. 

Great to know there are other pigeon people in the area!! Will get pics up as soon as possible.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome to PT  Looking forward to seeing you pictures.


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## codgi96 (Oct 8, 2011)

Thank you for the welcome! I love your setup! I recently asked my carpenter about building an outdoor aviary for next spring -the pic of yours gives me a good idea of what might work well.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

An outdoor aviary would be great for the birds. Fresh air and sunshine is important. They need the sunshine for Vitamin D3. I have one bird who stays in the house with us, but we try to get her outside as often as possible to get the sun. Also she has an avian light set up over her cage, and vitamins. If birds don't get vitamnin D3, they can not utilize calcium. I think you and they would love an outside aviary. Do you have them set up in a bird room or something? I know some do that.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

codgi96 said:


> Thank you for the welcome! I love your setup! I recently asked my carpenter about building an outdoor aviary for next spring -the pic of yours gives me a good idea of what might work well.


Thanks, That big 'white pine' between the 2 lofts is coming down TOMORROW!
That will give my birds full sun all day now. With all the storms we've been having in the past couple years, it looses LARGE branches........I don't want it falling on my birds  The hurricane we just had was the last straw, I don't want to worry about it any more!


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> An outdoor aviary would be great for the birds. Fresh air and sunshine is important. They need the sunshine for Vitamin D3. I have one bird who stays in the house with us, but we try to get her outside as often as possible to get the sun. Also she has an avian light set up over her cage, and vitamins. If birds don't get vitamnin D3, they can not utilize calcium. I think you and they would love an outside aviary. Do you have them set up in a bird room or something? I know some do that.


They can also get D3 from pellets meant for indoor doves, as my birds do.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Libis said:


> They can also get D3 from pellets meant for indoor doves, as my birds do.


Yes, it can be given in pellets or vitamins, just easier and more natural if they get good sunlight. Besides, they love sunning themselves. I know you would, but many do not add it to their diet.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> Yes, it can be given in pellets or vitamins, just easier and more natural if they get good sunlight. Besides, they love sunning themselves. I know you would, but many do not add it to their diet.


Yeah, it just hasn't worked for me to give them direct sun daily. Ringnecks aren't suited to homing/free outdoor flight and the hawks here are very impressive and watchful. It makes me nervous to bring them outside even in their cages and so I hover by the cage for as long as possible and bring them in when I go in. They do find the sun patches indoors like little kitties though. :3

It's weird that a lot of people don't add it to the diet (though I come from a parrot ownership background--so I'm used to the idea...) It makes sense with people who are used to outdoor birds I s'pose though.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I hear ya. I have a house pigeon, and I wish I could get her outside daily, but I do work, and we are also in New England. So of course in the colder months she can't go out. That's why in the warmer months we try to get her out a lot. She does enjoy watching the songbirds, chipmunks, and feral pigeons that come to feed. I also use the avian lights for her inside and give her vitamins with D3. I have a little perch in one of my windows as well, but that doesn't really help, as the UV rays of the sun don't pass through window glass, and most are filtered out through a screen. I'm sure the warmth of the sun does feel good to them though. 

A little aviary would be good for your birds, where they would be safe from hawks. I made Scooter a little playpen that I put her in while outside. Covered the whole thing with hardware cloth so nothing can get her. Too bad winter is coming, as she will be stuck in til next spring.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> I hear ya. I have a house pigeon, and I wish I could get her outside daily, but I do work, and we are also in New England. So of course in the colder months she can't go out. That's why in the warmer months we try to get her out a lot. She does enjoy watching the songbirds, chipmunks, and feral pigeons that come to feed. I also use the avian lights for her inside and give her vitamins with D3. I have a little perch in one of my windows as well, but that doesn't really help, as the UV rays of the sun don't pass through window glass, and most are filtered out through a screen. I'm sure the warmth of the sun does feel good to them though.
> 
> A little aviary would be good for your birds, where they would be safe from hawks. I made Scooter a little playpen that I put her in while outside. Covered the whole thing with hardware cloth so nothing can get her. Too bad winter is coming, as she will be stuck in til next spring.


Yeah, I've been trying to figure out if there's an affordable way to make a small portable aviary. I don't live in my own place, and the city is pretty touchy about "permanent structures."


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Libis said:


> Yeah, I've been trying to figure out if there's an affordable way to make a small portable aviary. I don't live in my own place, and the city is pretty touchy about "permanent structures."



Yes, that does make it hard.


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

Libis said:


> Yeah, I've been trying to figure out if there's an affordable way to make a small portable aviary. I don't live in my own place, and the city is pretty touchy about "permanent structures."


Someone on this site had posted a picture of an aviary they had made out of net material stretched on a PVC pipe frame. It could be made pretty cheaply, and would be fine to let your birds have some "outdoor time". If I were to make something like that, I would only have the birds in it if I was right there with them.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

ptras said:


> Someone on this site had posted a picture of an aviary they had made out of net material stretched on a PVC pipe frame. It could be made pretty cheaply, and would be fine to let your birds have some "outdoor time". If I were to make something like that, I would only have the birds in it if I was right there with them.


Yeah, and if I'm going to stay there with them, I might as well let them sun in the cage while watching them and then bring them inside to fly around more safely. (with the kitties put away in the basement.)


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Yes. It's hard to give them much time outside, when you have to be there with them the entire time. And hard to make something to put them out in when it isn't your yard. Don't think it needs to be large enough for them to fly in. Just to get fresh air and sunshine. Scooter's isn't large enough for flying. Just for relaxing and getting sunshine. She gets fly time inside. But rather than put her outside in a cage, which I wouldn't feel safe leaving her in, as predators have grabbed birds through the bars of a cage, I just made a small enclosure that I covered with hardware cloth. Nothing can get her through the hardware cloth, and we don't need to be right there with her. Also, we don't need to lug cages back and forth. She can enjoy the sun and watch the birds and chipmunks that scatter about. Just a large cage covered with hardware cloth would work. Something you can leave outside. Do you let the birds fly inside? They wouldn't be flying much out there anyway. They just perch and watch everything going on around them. Gives them a change too.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> Yes. It's hard to give them much time outside, when you have to be there with them the entire time. And hard to make something to put them out in when it isn't your yard. Don't think it needs to be large enough for them to fly in. Just to get fresh air and sunshine. Scooter's isn't large enough for flying. Just for relaxing and getting sunshine. She gets fly time inside. But rather than put her outside in a cage, which I wouldn't feel safe leaving her in, as predators have grabbed birds through the bars of a cage, I just made a small enclosure that I covered with hardware cloth. Nothing can get her through the hardware cloth, and we don't need to be right there with her. Also, we don't need to lug cages back and forth. She can enjoy the sun and watch the birds and chipmunks that scatter about. Just a large cage covered with hardware cloth would work. Something you can leave outside. Do you let the birds fly inside? They wouldn't be flying much out there anyway. They just perch and watch everything going on around them. Gives them a change too.


Yeah, they fly inside--especially the babies (4-month olds, but still babies to me because of who they are), the older birds have a much much larger flight cage, but my dominant male has taken it over and won't tolerate the other birds. 
I might be able to let them sun in a converted guinea pig cage that I added netting to that I use for a quarantine/hospital cage. *pondering...* There's also a big old parrot sleeper cage laying around.
The guinea pig cage might work better b/c I can bring it inside for safe bird transport. (I don't trust the ringnecks to stay on my hand if frightened.)


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You know, the guinea pig cage would probably work just great. I can leave Scooter's little play pen outside, as it is made with wire that is covered in plastic, and then covered in 1/2" hardware cloth. I got kind of tired of lugging the cage in and out. I have thought of building one off of the back window, so I could just put her out the window into it, but haven't gotten around to it. You know...........like the small aviaries you see on some lofts.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> You know, the guinea pig cage would probably work just great. I can leave Scooter's little play pen outside, as it is made with wire that is covered in plastic, and then covered in 1/2" hardware cloth. I got kind of tired of lugging the cage in and out. I have thought of building one off of the back window, so I could just put her out the window into it, but haven't gotten around to it. You know...........like the small aviaries you see on some lofts.


In the 1930's they actually made a window cage like that for human babies. It was thought that giving them a ton of outdoor daytime air would keep them healthier, and in that product it was taken to the extreme lol. http://www.life.com/gallery/25371/image/3136964/30-dumb-inventions#index/5

Anyways, I think a window cage would be really cool for the birds, and might be the safest way to go for ringnecks.  All our windows here are screened and don't belong to me to be altering, but in the future I'll try and remember that.

What I'd really really love to do in the future is make a waterproof sunroom/aviary/greenhouse thing some day that is attached to the house but set up so that I can hose it down for easy cleaning. I could grow nontoxic shrubs in there for the birds to play on and to give some shade. Then, I could even go so far as to make an attached outdoor aviary for summer.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Libis said:


> In the 1930's they actually made a window cage like that for human babies. It was thought that giving them a ton of outdoor daytime air would keep them healthier, and in that product it was taken to the extreme lol. http://www.life.com/gallery/25371/image/3136964/30-dumb-inventions#index/5
> 
> Anyways, I think a window cage would be really cool for the birds, and might be the safest way to go for ringnecks.  All our windows here are screened and don't belong to me to be altering, but in the future I'll try and remember that.
> 
> *What I'd really really love to do in the future is make a waterproof sunroom/aviary/greenhouse thing some day that is attached to the house but set up so that I can hose it down for easy cleaning. I could grow nontoxic shrubs in there for the birds to play on and to give some shade. Then, I could even go so far as to make an attached outdoor aviary for summer. *


*
*




Now that's a great idea. Wouldn't that be pretty with all the different plants and things to make it look like a natural environment. Think they'd love it. I know I would. I have thought of putting different lettuce plants growing out in the aviary for them. I can just imagine how long they'd last with the birds. LOL.


As far as that window thingy for babies, that was maybe in the era when rickets were common among kids that weren't getting enough viamin D. They needed more sunshine. Works the same for the birds, as far as getting vitamin D from the sun. so I think it would be great for Scooter. Some of the things on that link you posted were interesting.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> [/B]
> 
> Now that's a great idea. Wouldn't that be pretty with all the different plants and things to make it look like a natural environment. Think they'd love it. I know I would. I have thought of putting different lettuce plants growing out in the aviary for them. I can just imagine how long they'd last with the birds. LOL.
> 
> ...


Yeah, and I'd make the floor all colored cement with a drain somewhere little toes wouldn't be hurt by it so cleaning would be quick and easy and so would birdy showers.  And I'd add a sitting bench so it'd be like a little secret garden to hang out in with the sun and warm and plants and birds even through the winter. 

That does make sense with the baby cage. lol


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Libis said:


> Yeah, and I'd make the floor all colored cement with a drain somewhere little toes wouldn't be hurt by it so cleaning would be quick and easy and so would birdy showers.  And I'd add a sitting bench so it'd be like a little secret garden to hang out in with the sun and warm and plants and birds even through the winter.
> 
> That does make sense with the baby cage. lol


My loft is like that minus the plants. All large windows with the sun streaming in, and shrubs that hold berries through the winter just outside. I can sit in the loft with the birds and watch the songbirds at the feeders outside, and all the winter birds climbing through the branches pulling berries. I also heat it, so it's comfortable to be in there with just a sweat shirt jacket on. Nice to spend time in there with the birds on a snowy day. I don't have a bench in there, but the big wooden chest where I store their straw and pine needles serves as a bench. LOL.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> My loft is like that minus the plants. All large windows with the sun streaming in, and shrubs that hold berries through the winter just outside. I can sit in the loft with the birds and watch the songbirds at the feeders outside, and all the winter birds climbing through the branches pulling berries. I also heat it, so it's comfortable to be in there with just a sweat shirt jacket on. Nice to spend time in there with the birds on a snowy day. I don't have a bench in there, but the big wooden chest where I store their straw and pine needles serves as a bench. LOL.


I was even thinking that, assuming a daydream unlimited budget, it would be cool to have a shallow set of pools waterfalling into eachother and continuously moving so the birds could play in the water and drink and it would stay very clean because of the motion and filter. 

Dang, your loft looks like a tiny house *browsing your albums* Awesome!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Libis said:


> I was even thinking that, assuming a daydream unlimited budget, it would be cool to have a shallow set of pools waterfalling into eachother and continuously moving so the birds could play in the water and drink and it would stay very clean because of the motion and filter.
> 
> Dang, your loft looks like a tiny house *browsing your albums* Awesome!


Thanks. Wish we had a walk in aviary, but would have had to take out the entire clothes line, instead of just cutting it back. And it would also block the next back window. Couldn't have that. LOL.

The waterfall sounds nice. Someday you may be able to do all that. Sounds like a lot of fun just planning.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> Thanks. Wish we had a walk in aviary, but would have had to take out the entire clothes line, instead of just cutting it back. And it would also block the next back window. Couldn't have that. LOL.
> 
> The waterfall sounds nice. Someday you may be able to do all that. Sounds like a lot of fun just planning.


lol. You know what though, at least your birds have their own place. My birds use the house as a walk-in aviary. XD


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Libis said:


> lol. You know what though, at least your birds have their own place. My birds use the house as a walk-in aviary. XD


LOL. Well we do Scooter in the house. And we had a dining room full of cages while we built the loft. This all started with 6 baby ferals I came home with one day when someones old porch had been torn down and there were baby pigeons strewn all over the yard. A couple of them about 2 days old. Now that was an interesting time. So yes, I have had birds using my house as an aviary too. LOL.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

Jay3 said:


> LOL. Well we do Scooter in the house. And we had a dining room full of cages while we built the loft. This all started with 6 baby ferals I came home with one day when someones old porch had been torn down and there were baby pigeons strewn all over the yard. A couple of them about 2 days old. Now that was an interesting time. So yes, I have had birds using my house as an aviary too. LOL.


It's so nice to watch the babies grow up.


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