# What does it mean?



## shanty_284 (Dec 6, 2012)

I have a 7 week old homing pigeon named Lucky. In the last day or so he has started doing something very odd and I was wondering if you guys/gals may know what he is doing.
He pushes his beak between my fingers up to where they meet my hand and he closes his eyes and his whole body trembles. He seems to be enjoying whatever he is doing very much. He does it repeatedly and he gets more and more forceful with his beak by pushing harder if I don't stop him from doing it.
At first I thought he was trying to feed me but nothing is coming out of his mouth. His neck does seem to inflate slightly when he does it but his whole body starts trembling so I can barely tell. 
Any ideas?


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Seems like, at that age, he wants you to feed him. May be simulating the way they eat when young - pushing beak into parents mouth to receive food from crop.

You could try maybe using a wide tube, even a small jar, with some material (cloth, whatever) stretched over the end and a slit cut in it. Fill tube with seed (assuming he is eating seed) and let him shove his beak in to see if he eats from it.


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## shanty_284 (Dec 6, 2012)

*....*

You know, I wondered that myself the first and second time he did this. He has been weaned for two weeks though. I offered him his sippy cup I had for him when he was younger that I cut to fit over his beak. He wasn't interested in his baby food or the seed out of it. When he used to want me to feed him he pushed his face in my hand and sqealed while flapping his wings. What he is doing now seems like some sort of self stim activity. Like I said he seems to really enjoy it. 
I will try again with the sippy cup though just in case. Thank you for your response.


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## Pidgeys (Nov 18, 2012)

my house pigeon does the exact same thing to me and is roughly 4 months old. I think it is just a comfort thing to him. I don't think it is much to worry about :]


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

I would not worry about it.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

it's called nuzzleing, the squabs do a similar thing when they are fed by the parent birds..they nuzzle their way into the parents beak to be fed.


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## BlackClouds (Jan 8, 2013)

Well idk about this but it not really something you could worry about


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Even when they are weaned, they still want the parents to feed them. That's what he wants.


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## shanty_284 (Dec 6, 2012)

*Thanks*

Thanks everyone 
I wasn't worried its actually really cute, I was just curious as to what he was doing since it was a new behavior. I much prefer this to the time he spends stealing my things. lol


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## Siobhan (Dec 21, 2010)

He loves you! My pidge does that when she wants snuggles and attention. I take it to mean, "HEY! Notice ME! Put that silly laptop away and play with me."


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## pigeon-lover0 (Apr 1, 2012)

This has happened to all of the pigeons I raised. I used this as a way of petting them so when I came up to them they would fly to my hand and play and I would rub their beak and they would squeal away!


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## CosmicPigeon (Aug 10, 2012)

My Pigeon Cody does something similar but with my finger in his beak, he started doing that roughly after 1-2 years old, like he thinks i'm his partner i'm guessing
I posted a question called Moving House pigeon Cody


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## Garye (Feb 20, 2005)

I thought my Maggie was the only one doing this. But she mostly does this when she is ready to lay eggs. Like she's trying to feed herself from my hand. I can pet her more easily during this time.


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