# keeping feral pigeons



## Mark Cole (Apr 8, 2012)

Hello everybody, I'm new to pigeon talk and i am interested in knowing more about keeping feral pigeons. I am a stonemason and I have worked on Truro Cathedral many times. The last time was on the central tower twelve months ago. I found a young pigeon on the ground in a very poor state of health so I decided to take it home where we bonded extremely well and his health improved and he is now an amazing bird 12 months on. I then ended up with 4 other young birds who, along with ****** my first bird have taken up residence in my shed which i have converted into a loft for them. I have bred them and now have 17 birds in total, they fly from the loft and return well. My question is, is there anybody else who has started keeping feral pigeons or have i made a mistake by starting my loft with wild birds, they seem to be a lot smaller than racing pigeons and they would'nt win any shows but i get great enjoyment from watching them fly. Is it ok to keep these birds? Many thanks Mark.


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

Hi Mark welcome to PT

I keep 5 different breeds , they all live together and for the most part it works well .
I have at least 1/2 dozen ferals , that have called my loft their home and I enjoy having them just as much as I do my other breeds , they all love to get out and fly with my other homers and like you...... I just get great enjoyment watching them all tear up the sky !

I should probably point out in my opinion I don't think you've made a mistake . It sounds like you gave a few birds a home which otherwise could have ended badly for them . I guess in the long run it really depends on what you wanted to do , race perhaps ??
- but if it's just for fun and enjoment ......why not ?


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## Mark Cole (Apr 8, 2012)

Many thanks Whytwings, I just enjoy flying them from the loft, although recently I've been thinking about taking them further afield and flying them back to the loft to give them a little enrichment. I notice your from Australia, the master mason that taught me to carve stone was the construction manager at Brisban Cathedral until a couple of years ago.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If you enjoy them how is it that you feel it may be a mistake? If you don't plan on racing, I don't think it matters what kind you keep. You gave a home to some birds who needed one. I would however, purchase wooden eggs from a pigeon supply to keep the numbers down, as you can soon have too many for the size of your loft. When they lay eggs, replace them with the fake ones. If you just take them, the hen will just lay right away again, and eventually will be depleted of calcium, which can be very bad for her. So you replace them, and they will sit the eggs for the time they would have sat the real ones. Gives her a break from laying. Do you have any pics you could share?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

sounds like a nice scenerio to me. even though there are different breeds of domestic pigeons, they are all pigeons and are kept the same way as ones from feral parentage. pictures of your flock would be great!


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

Mark Cole said:


> Hello everybody, I'm new to pigeon talk and i am interested in knowing more about keeping feral pigeons. I am a stonemason and I have worked on Truro Cathedral many times. The last time was on the central tower twelve months ago. I found a young pigeon on the ground in a very poor state of health so I decided to take it home where we bonded extremely well and his health improved and he is now an amazing bird 12 months on. I then ended up with 4 other young birds who, along with ****** my first bird have taken up residence in my shed which i have converted into a loft for them. I have bred them and now have 17 birds in total, they fly from the loft and return well. My question is, is there anybody else who has started keeping feral pigeons or have i made a mistake by starting my loft with wild birds, they seem to be a lot smaller than racing pigeons and they would'nt win any shows but i get great enjoyment from watching them fly. Is it ok to keep these birds? Many thanks Mark.


If you have rescued these original birds & they stay with you that is good.
They will have more chance of a longer life as they have a safe home, with food & water, and someone to look out for them if they do get ill.
I have rescued many ferals, a few of whom stay around the area, although I am not in a position to be able to provide them with a permanent loft as such.
I do have 2 "permanent" rescues at the moment, Charlie - who has been here for 8 months, he was found with an injured wing, which although has now healed, he cant get full use of it so cannot fly, and Bouncer - who was hit by a car, his legs were paralysed & had internal head injuries. Ive had him for 5 weeks now. He now has full use of his legs, but the head injury has left him partially blind in one eye so flying & landing isnt all that great and he wouldnt last long if released.
As Jay3 says, if you enjoy them & they enjoy being around your loft then youre all happy. I would keep in mind the fake eggs though, as breeding too much will very quickly overcrowd your loft & as well as risk to them becoming sick, you may also have problems with neighbours etc as regards the number of birds flying around the area. Sadly not everyone is as pigeon friendly as everyone here.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Good comments thus far.

Do keep in mind a few things...perhaps you have already considered them and perhaps not. 

If there are any birds of prey in your area, even seasonally....they may well eventually target your loft of free-flyers. So do be vigilant about this because it is an eventuality in most instances.

I agree with the population control suggestions. 17 Pigeons in a shed. I dunno how large the shed is...but you said 'shed' and not 'garage'..so I am assuming it's smaller than a garage. In which case....you are nearing critical mass as far as space...and overcrowding leads to both a diminishing of quality of life and can also lead to health/sanitary issues (even if they are flyers). So, I think fake eggs are a good idea, and try to prevent 'oops' babies by paying careful attention as to who is sitting at a specific time.

Lastly...you should keep on file an Avian Vet near you. Pigeons and all companion birds will eventually need one.

I am sure you have done some research on how Homers are trained, so use that as a guide should you decide to start taking some of your pals a bit further afield. Keep in mind, also, that there is a fair chance that not all will return...and if they do not, do you think they are properly prepared for segueing into a Feral existence successfully (particularly regarding foraging and predation) ?

Just some things to think about. How about a few pics ?


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## pigeon-lover0 (Apr 1, 2012)

I have two feral pigeons of my own. They are a joy to watch (I love watching the males). As long as you take care of them and make sure you don't overcrowd the loft I don't see why not! Just watch out for for problems, make sure they are medicated, because if they are feral they could have diseases that could spread to the rest of your flock.
Lucas


I'm sorry Jaye as I did not see your post. But, yes be careful.


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## honeyrobber (Apr 28, 2011)

I rescued some feral from a horse barn. I plan on using them as pumpers for other breeds in time. I do not want to breed them. If you wish to go into racing get you a few homers. If you have proper nest boxes that you can lock the pairs in so you can be sure of parrents it would make it easy. 

You enjoy them and they are no longer ferals even though you bred them from ferals. I would not want to make more from your ferals. There are so many real breeds out there I am sure you would find some breed you would love and they would be easy to find homes for your extras. Now your feral bloodline you have the responcability to take care of until you can find them homes and if you read enough on here you will see how life pops up where you have to get rid of your birds from time to time. So make sure their numbers stay with in your means to take care of them as these will be hard to find homes for.


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## nycpigeonlady (Jan 22, 2012)

Hi Mark,

The "enrichment" that you want to offer your birds will be enrichment for you, not for them. When you take pigeons and release them away from their home - which is where they want to be and are therefore trying to make journey back home - there is inherent danger in that journey: they may be intercepted by a predator, they may get lost, injured, etc. Loosing birds is part of racing, so if you consider each a pet, then also consider if you are ready to deal with loss. Free-flying pigeons get plenty of enrichment from ranging as far as they themselves choose to, but if you are after the excitement of seeing when and who will get home - that's a different story.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

nycpigeonlady said:


> Hi Mark,
> 
> The "enrichment" that you want to offer your birds will be enrichment for you, not for them. When you take pigeons and release them away from their home - which is where they want to be and are therefore trying to make journey back home - there is inherent danger in that journey: they may be intercepted by a predator, they may get lost, injured, etc. Loosing birds is part of racing, so if you consider each a pet, then also consider if you are ready to deal with loss. Free-flying pigeons get plenty of enrichment from ranging as far as they themselves choose to, but if you are after the excitement of seeing when and who will get home - that's a different story.


You have an excellent point there. The birds won't look on that as enrichment, as they are already out flying and going as far as they want. This would be for your enjoyment, not theirs, and you could lose some.


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

Hi Mark,

Yes, its totally ok to keep the ferals; they make awesome pets/companions and live well with racers. I personally keep both rescued ferals and racing pigeons (a dozen in total) together, as well as a pair of King pigeons. They are all beautiful natured and wonderful. I hate having favourites but I do have an especially soft spot for my first feral `Budda Squee' above the others. Probably because I raised him from a baby and he is so attached to me. He is little, proud, and very round like Budda. He competes well with the huge racing pigeon males even though he is short.. 

I mated the racing pigeons with older coloured feral hens from my wild flock because I figured if they ever got out and got lost, the hen would be street wise enough to find food for them both and know where to roost. I was probably just being paranoid but I was so worried about the way racing pigeons don't know what to eat if they get lost, having grown up on pigeon seed mix.


PS. I agree with Eva and the others about thinking a bit more about things before taking your ferals away from the loft to try to make them fly home. They are not really built for homing in the way your racing pigeons are. If I remember my stats correctly,I believe ferals can home up to 30 kms versus something like 1500km for top racing pigeons. And there would be a flight speed difference between these two types as well (the ferals would obviously be at a disadvantage if pursued by hawks)


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## Mark Cole (Apr 8, 2012)

Many thanks to everyone for the helpful comments, I have been using plaster pot eggs for a while now as they ars such prolific breeders and I'm at my max with numbers now. I have also taken on board the comments on taking the birds for a longer fly and i feel if they are happy flying from the loft then that is what they shall do.


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## nycpigeonlady (Jan 22, 2012)

Sounds like your birds are doing great in your care. 
Good luck and enjoy!

Eva


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