# Taming an older pigeon (4 months)



## Morphkid03 (May 29, 2014)

Hello!

I have a one year old male pet pigeon (feral rescue) named Brady, and just recently got a 4 month old female (pearl eyed tippler) named Paisley to pair off with him. She's a very shy thing, and is wary of human contact. What are some good ways to tame her? I'd love to have her be like Brady (flies to my hand when called, loves to stick close to me) but I found him at 25-28 days and handled him daily whereas she was living in an aviary with comparatively minimal handling until I came into the picture so I know that's not probably realistic, however I'd like for her to at least tolerate or even enjoy being handled/interacting with me. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to be food motivated- I can't seem to convince her to eat anything, peanuts or otherwise, out of my hand.

Here's a shot of my two.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Our recently acquired squeaker, probably 3 or 4 months old, also was never handled. In three weeks she is gradually getting tamer. She is just starting to eat and drink pellets and water from my hand and a small dish. I feed her early after sunrise and at dusk. She is starting to let me pick her up and starts out biting but then starts putting her fingers between her beak which I call noogies. Think patience and kind interaction will tame Paisley. Lovely bird!


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## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

*taming*

When training pigeons you have one tool, the feed can. Begin by gradually removing available feed until she only gets what she will take from your hand. Move slowly when feeding her. It won't take long before she is climbing over your hand to get at the feed. Once she is accustomed to being fed by hand began touching her, but don't pick her up. She must get comfortable with the fact that she doesn't need to fear you hurting her.

I don't know if you will ever get her to the point of following you and flying to you. Your young feral does that because with no other pigeons around it imprinted on you. This one is beyond that stage, but she still become more tame.

Some breeds have a genetic predisposition to being wilder, and there are even differences within strains of the same breed. I have seen families of rollers that were docile and comfortable with humans, and I have seen them that were bouncing off the walls when people got near. Tameness is a trait that comes with breeding selection. The few tipplers I have seen seemed to be flighty by nature.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

You just have to keep at it for a long time, letting down their guard for a prey animal is hard , they are thinking survival so it usually does involve food, but it takes the high strung non hand raised pigeon to be almost starving to let guard down enough to be close to eat let alone eat out of your hand, to even think of eating out of your hand she has to be hungry, and it offerd in your hand every day, you could offer it every day for a few weeks and then reduce her feedings but leave feed in your hand till you no longer feed in a dish but just in your hand. IMO, personally I would not want my pigeon to let its guard down because it was so hungry it did something it normally would not do to survive. I don't need to have them "like" me to enjoy them.


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## Morphkid03 (May 29, 2014)

Well tonight was a success, I wasn't able to get Paisley to eat from my hand however I was able to hold her with one hand and hold her feed bowl with the other and she ate! This is the first time she's been willing to eat while being handled while in my care.  Hopefully this is a positive trend that continues....


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Glad to hear Paisley is making progress! Just takes patience.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Also you might want to offer a dish of water. Our pigeons always want a drink right after they eat and our squeaker eats out of my hand, then I offer a small water dish and she drinks.


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## Morphkid03 (May 29, 2014)

She did it! She finally ate out of my hand! 
Thank you all for your help!

She's still frightened of my hands but I'm hoping this is a step in the right direction...


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