# agressive/stressed pigeon



## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

Hello I have two 4-5 month old pigeons i rescued when they were both about a month old. One of them had a deep, almost graze under its wing, like all the skin was gone, but as it wasnt deep or had punctured the flesh I treated with wound powder and it healed. Because of this that pigeon is less tame than the other, he will take food from my hand and sit on my hand and allow me to carry him about like that, but hes really aggressive when im putting my hand in their cage. I can him to calm down a bit by hand feeding him in there, I also dont retract my hand if he attacks it so as not to appear submissive, however when I retract my hand he attacks it, grabs a beak full of skin and twists and tugs. Im guessing this is because hes "chasing" off the intruder, but Im worried how stressed he is to do this, and he suddenly turns, what threatening signals am I giving him. How can I help him relax and calm down.
Thank you


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Sounds to me like a healthy young pigeon  Probably but not necessarily male. The message he's giving is that he is not afraid of you, so KEEP OUT of my house! When I say 'you', it's really the invading hand perceived by him as some kind of creature. To him, it's not the hand he eats from or the hand he will perch on, but something alien. 

Of course, nobody really knows what goes on in those little heads, but it is very likely that pigeons do not generally see us as a whole being, but see a face that is familiar and non-threatening and do not relate it to a hand creeping into his house. 

How does the other pigeon behave towards you?


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## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

Thank you!
The other pigeon is tame for me, but growls at other people, its quite funny really, my mum can walk past their cage and it'll be staring and growling, training to be a guard pigeon. It is not overly affectionate towards me, but shivers and runs up and down their cage when it sees me, and will come look at me if I say hi. Its only ever attacked me when I first introduced it to the second pigeon, and it was so funny, it took one look at it and must have got jealous and wing slapping me and the other pigeon, but mainly me. Their the best of friends now, not fighting as far as I can tell.
However I am unsure of its gender, as it looks like a hen but wasnt exhibiting hen behaviour, and now the second pigeon has started to act like a male towards it, cooing and strutting which it hasnt done before despite them courting and mounting each other. Could the second pigeon maturing make the aggressive behaviour worse?
Can I lesson the behaviour as refilling the water and food can be quite difficult


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

I've noticed among our pigeons that hens usually wing-slap rather than a coo-and-peck attack. Have a good-sized rescue pigeon who we had isolated for weeks because it was unwell, and we thought it could be infectious. The only clue to gender was that the pigeon wing-slapped our hands instead of biting them. Sure enough, it is a she and paired up with one of our boys in the aviary.

They certainly are good at being quite bonded to one human and not others, too. I doubt you will be able to do much about your attack pigeon. Male will defend in the way he does and that's how it is with them. I get it if I put my hand in a pigeon's box and the boy is on the nest. One of them will square up ready if I'm within three feet of his box, and then try to get me when I'm tending to the box next to him. That's after eight years


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## pmasonsmith (May 21, 2015)

Thank you, your information and help is much appreciated!


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## kiddy (Feb 5, 2015)

Lol. Wow John after 8 years same behavior. They are great, for them territory is more important than us. My two cocks do the same. One pecks and pulls the skin so hard I have many scratches on my hand. Thinking to put on gloves to feed and water. Lol. So now what I do is, first of all I get him out of cage and then keep feed and water and then close him back in cage. Still he is such a brilliant, even from out of the cage he resists my hand going in there in his cage.


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