# I’ve got myself in a mess



## Emeralds5668 (Sep 4, 2017)

I’ve taken in wild baby pigeons, and not knowing so much what Imwas doing I handled them a lot and made pets. But now they have become mates and I keep having more. Can I let them go? Not the pets, but the babies when they are old enough? I have had a rehabber tell me I could let them go, and they will hang around my house for awhile but eventually will leave...I also need help with controlling the population. It’s just now getting warm enough to let them go but I don’t want to throw them out to their death but I can’t keep them. I have my original male! The female I took in later....her brother and 2 sets of offspring with 2 more in eggs. I’m over my head and need help please.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Why are you letting them hatch eggs? Normally, we would take the eggs and exchange them for fake eggs, so they would sit on them for the 18 days or so and of course they are fake, so are not going to hatch. When that time is up they will start over again. You need to get some fake eggs at a pigeon supply online, or ebay, or even Amazon. For now, you can boil the eggs, cool them to just warm and put them back. You need to do this just after they are layed, so you are not boiling babies in the shell. 

If you just release the babies, because they have not been raised in the wild, with parents teaching them what they need to know to survive, and being part of a flock, they will probably not be able to survive out there.


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## Silverwings (Oct 27, 2017)

You could also make fake eggs out of air dry clay, but you need to wait a long time for it to dry. That's what I did and it worked out fine.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

We use fake eggs ...cheap on ebay and from amazon or pigeon sites like foys.


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## Emeralds5668 (Sep 4, 2017)

Jay3 said:


> Why are you letting them hatch eggs? Normally, we would take the eggs and exchange them for fake eggs, so they would sit on them for the 18 days or so and of course they are fake, so are not going to hatch. When that time is up they will start over again. You need to get some fake eggs at a pigeon supply online, or ebay, or even Amazon. For now, you can boil the eggs, cool them to just warm and put them back. You need to do this just after they are layed, so you are not boiling babies in the shell.
> 
> If you just release the babies, because they have not been raised in the wild, with parents teaching them what they need to know to survive, and being part of a flock, they will probably not be able to survive out there.


I did boil the last batch, and I tried putting fake eggs. Tried shaking them. They rejected the fake ones and the shaken ones hatched


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## Emeralds5668 (Sep 4, 2017)

So is there a way to teach them how to forage?


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## White Homers (Sep 22, 2016)

I have used golf balls lol


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## bootface (Jun 29, 2017)

Hand reared babies are released all the time, they’ll stand a better chance in the wild since they’ve been raised by pigeons. You want to provide a safe cage near an established flock. Keep them locked up for at least a week and continue providing food and water until they’re they’re part of the flock. 

You can also poke a hole in the eggs with a needle to prevent hatching.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Or save some older eggs and swap them for new ones.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

They may be raised by pigeons, but not in a natural environment. They are fed and watered and taken care of. Not at all the same as being raised in the wild, and already part of a flock. In a loft environment, they are not taught what it takes to survive out in the wild.
A soft release into a flock gives them a better chance, but not as easy as you are making it sound. You can't just leave a cage with young birds near an established flock and leave it there for a week. It takes a bit more work than that.


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## Emeralds5668 (Sep 4, 2017)

My husband built a small aviary off the room window where they are now. They e been going out in it a lot, there’s an opening so they can leave but they won’t....lol I don’t really have a flock nearby. There are plenty of pigeons around, they just don’t congregate here. I’m hoping if I make the opening bigger, they will start to venture out. I hope that by keeping food and water available they will be ok and learn how to be pigeons. My soft heart got me in this mess, but I vet got the population under control now....no more will be hatched, I just hope I’m not sending them out to their deaths. I love them, and feel responsible for them.


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## Emeralds5668 (Sep 4, 2017)

And I have juveniles and an adult who need to be released ASAP. I don’t have a large enough cage. They are 2 sets of babies and the siblings really stick together. So I could try putting each set of siblings out in the cage for a free hours each day? Do you think that would help or no? And should I set them right by my aviary so they know where to come back to for food and water when they are released?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Most likely the young birds you are allowing to go will not survive in the wild. They don't know anything, and are not part of a flock. They are going to get grabbed by a hawk or something and eaten alive. Pigeons don't survive out there that are not part of a flock.


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## Emeralds5668 (Sep 4, 2017)

Jay3 said:


> Most likely the young birds you are allowing to go will not survive in the wild. They don't know anything, and are not part of a flock. They are going to get grabbed by a hawk or something and eaten alive. Pigeons don't survive out there that are not part of a flock.


Well I don’t know what else to do. I can’t keep them and nobody here wants them as a pet. There are no wildlife rehabilitation centers here either. They don’t care about pigeons at all. They are seen as a nuisance. Kinda how I got in this mess because there were no options to take the original ones and hardly anyone to ask for advice. It really sucks because I love the little guys but I just can’t see a way to keep them. If I did they would be overcrowded and I can’t afford the feed.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I understand what you are saying, but I'm also trying to let you know that they will most likely die out there. The poor things didn't ask to be hatched. You maybe should have tried harder to figure out how to stop the hatching babies before now. There's always google.
Or you could have come on sooner and asked. There are many posts that talk about that very subject.


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## Howl (Nov 9, 2017)

Emeralds5668 said:


> Well I don’t know what else to do. I can’t keep them and nobody here wants them as a pet. There are no wildlife rehabilitation centers here either. They don’t care about pigeons at all. They are seen as a nuisance. Kinda how I got in this mess because there were no options to take the original ones and hardly anyone to ask for advice. It really sucks because I love the little guys but I just can’t see a way to keep them. If I did they would be overcrowded and I can’t afford the feed.



Have you tried asking on some pigeon rescue/adoption facebook groups, Palomacy for example (https://www.facebook.com/PigeonDiplomacy/)? Even if the rescue center is not in your city/state, there still can be some members of the groups who live there and who want to adopt your birds.


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