# Oldest "tameable" age?



## CooCooBird (Dec 1, 2016)

I've been looking for a pair of pigeons to adopt and tame as indoor pets. There are many to choose from where I am, of various ages. Currently the ones I'm most interested in are 2015 birds, is this too old to think of taming them? I'm pretty sure they're in a loft right now. I'm not sure how much they're handled. They are English fantails, by the way.


----------



## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

We have tamed adult homers and rollers and ferals. They were probably at least 1/2 to 2 yrs old.


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

It's individual with pigeons. They all have their own personality. Fantails are usually fairly calm birds. It all depends on how they were handled, or not handled, and how patient you are with them, and the time you put into them. As I have mentioned before, in a cage, they will mess up their tail feathers, and they do need a larger cage than do other pigeons, so will take up more room. They need room to move around easily. Also, they don't really fly much, so would be on the floor most of the time. If you have dogs or cats, and I think you mentioned a dog before, not sure. Anyway, they wouldn't be safe with them around as they are usually on the floor. I would find them more boring as pets than many other breeds. I would more want something that will fly to me when out of cage, but that's me. We all like something different.


----------



## CooCooBird (Dec 1, 2016)

Jay3 said:


> It's individual with pigeons. They all have their own personality. Fantails are usually fairly calm birds. It all depends on how they were handled, or not handled, and how patient you are with them, and the time you put into them. As I have mentioned before, in a cage, they will mess up their tail feathers, and they do need a larger cage than do other pigeons, so will take up more room. They need room to move around easily. Also, they don't really fly much, so would be on the floor most of the time. If you have dogs or cats, and I think you mentioned a dog before, not sure. Anyway, they wouldn't be safe with them around as they are usually on the floor. I would find them more boring as pets than many other breeds. I would more want something that will fly to me when out of cage, but that's me. We all like something different.


I had thought of a way to minimize tail feather damage by lining the cage with smooth plastic mesh that's used in house gutters to keep leaves out. But since I've never seen a fantail up close, I don't really know how big they are or how much space they'd need in a cage. I just finished setting up the biggest wire dog crate I could find, 45 inches I think. Still, it may not be big enough for two of them, as it's not quite as tall as some of the other dog crates. 

Re flying and other pets, I do have a chihuahua but she's never shown any sign of going after birds. She's old, arthritic and incontinent now and spends most of her time in a pen lined with puppy pads. I also have two cats. They were all "trained" by my rescue African Grey who passed away last year after 11 years with me (he was in other homes before mine). He spent most of his time outside of his cage. He refused to fly despite my vet's best efforts to figure out why, so he walked and climbed around. None of the other pets would go near him. The odd time that someone decided to poke their nose too close to him, they'd get screamed at or told to "Get down!" in my voice. The same went for his cage, it was off limits to them despite being within easy reach. 

I don't expect things will be completely the same with a pigeon. I'm setting up the new cage in the same corner where the Grey's cage used to be. Ironically one of the reasons I was looking at breeds that don't fly well was that I thought the other pets would ignore a larger bird walking around. I would have very closely supervised the bird while out, and for the first while I'd shut the cats away during "out of cage" time. The cats are very attracted to the sight of wings flapping and birds flying, they see busy budgies and a canary every day. I was concerned that a cat would be attracted by a pigeon's wings flapping, especially the way they clap together. 

My concern about a bird that flies well is "how do I tame it, if it just flies off and I can't catch it?" I don't want to end up spending more time chasing it back into its cage than anything else. I guess other people manage to train flying birds. And I like the idea of it flying to me, and flying would allow it to keep away from the cats. I do have a parrot playstand, I know they prefer to perch on flat surfaces but I can swap the perch out for a piece of board with two holes drilled in it. I work from home so I have plenty of time to spend with the new pigeons for taming and training. 

(Sigh) I guess I will forget about fantails for the time being. The same breeder also has a bunch of Birmingham Rollers she's selling for pretty cheap. There are many other breeds available to me from other breeders, mainly homers and "stunt flying" breeds.


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Of course the easiest to train would be very young birds, and sometimes you can buy those from breeders.


----------



## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

Pigeons love their food so find what they like the most and use those as treats to get them to come to you. Peanuts, thawed frozen peas, hemp seed, sesame seed - grains that aren't a usual part of their feed mix so as its special and once they start to get over being shy of you they'll come for the food. Wild pigeons readily come close for food once they know a person so it shouldn't take too long for yours to get used to you. 
I've seen an experiment on the net showing that pigeons recognise people by their face, they're capable of facial recognition. So there were two men, one dressed all in red and the other all in blue. The one in red regularly fed a flock of birds while the one in blue regularly chased them away. Consequently they pigeons steered clear of the guy in blue - so then the guys swapped clothing. The birds then flocked to the guy in blue, recognising his facial features and steered clear of the guy in red. The guys even stood in each other's places to try to confuse the birds but they knew still knew which one was the good guy. 
Never chase your pigeon to catch it, if you can't catch it calmly wait til after dark, or draw the blinds to make a half light so as its more difficult for the bird to see you and gently pick it up and place it in the cage - then open the blinds again. I have to do this with my young tumblers and they are nice and calm when I put them in their cage, they won't trust you if you act like a hunter but given time they'll get to know you and will come to you. 
There's a lady in the US on a group I'm on and wild pigeons are all over her, they're on her head, her shoulders, arms and right up in her face because she feeds them every day and they trust her. It's absolutely stunning to see how trusting these lovely birds are if you're patient with them.


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

FredaH said:


> Pigeons love their food so find what they like the most and use those as treats to get them to come to you. Peanuts, thawed frozen peas, hemp seed, sesame seed - grains that aren't a usual part of their feed mix so as its special and once they start to get over being shy of you they'll come for the food. Wild pigeons readily come close for food once they know a person so it shouldn't take too long for yours to get used to you.
> I've seen an experiment on the net showing that pigeons recognise people by their face, they're capable of facial recognition. So there were two men, one dressed all in red and the other all in blue. The one in red regularly fed a flock of birds while the one in blue regularly chased them away. Consequently they pigeons steered clear of the guy in blue - so then the guys swapped clothing. The birds then flocked to the guy in blue, recognising his facial features and steered clear of the guy in red. The guys even stood in each other's places to try to confuse the birds but they knew still knew which one was the good guy.
> Never chase your pigeon to catch it, if you can't catch it calmly wait til after dark, or draw the blinds to make a half light so as its more difficult for the bird to see you and gently pick it up and place it in the cage - then open the blinds again. I have to do this with my young tumblers and they are nice and calm when I put them in their cage, they won't trust you if you act like a hunter but given time they'll get to know you and will come to you.
> There's a lady in the US on a group I'm on and wild pigeons are all over her, they're on her head, her shoulders, arms and right up in her face because she feeds them every day and they trust her. It's absolutely stunning to see how trusting these lovely birds are if you're patient with them.


^ Very good advice


----------



## CooCooBird (Dec 1, 2016)

Jay3 said:


> ^ Very good advice


Yes, it is good advice! I'd forgotten the way even feral pigeons can learn to trust people who feed them regularly. I've tamed many parrots of different species over the years, usually using a food treat like millet spray. At least with pigeons you don't have to worry about being screeched at and bitten! Partially tamed parrots can be quite diabolical, "making nice" to get your hand close enough for a chomp. 

Re young bird, I've been asking the age of the birds when I contact a breeder, and letting them know I prefer the 2016 model.  I know the younger birds are more trusting and will tame faster, however even a slightly older bird would work. I wrote to the Birmingham Roller breeder tonight, waiting to hear tomorrow. If she doesn't have any suitable birds, I found a Giant Runt and King breeder and I'll write to him. I wish I'd found him sooner, as I like the idea of rescuing a meat breed. That's why my rabbit is a Flemish Giant.  Most animals/birds bred for meat are pretty docile and friendly.


----------

