# Will my pigeons return?



## Bematli (Jul 27, 2012)

One and a half years ago, my mom found a feral pigeon with a broken wing in the middle of the city. She took the pigeon home because she knew it wouldn't survive the night if it couldn't fly and and slept on the ground.

We did what we had to do. We called all the instances (I hope that's the right word, I'm Dutch) but they couldn't provide service for a wild feral pigeon so we were allowed to take her in. After a while we also got them to send a guy over to inspect the pigeon and possibly give us a female pigeon (We presumed the one we currently had was a male due to its looks). The pigeon we got from the guy was a homing pigeon (She looked like a seagull) that used to live on the other side of the country but got lost and got jumped by another animal yet somehow survived.

Both females were 1 year old (Give or take a month) when we took them in. We kept them inside a 75×75×200cm cage for about 8 months until we moved to another house about 3km away. We kept them inside there for about 7 months until we recently got a cage that was fit for our small front yard. We put them in that cage during the day for 4 days in a row, they still slept inside at night.

So today was the 5th day in a row we'd put them in the outside cage when our neighbour suggested releasing them (Which was our initial idea for purchasing the outside cage and letting them get used to it). He had some experience with pigeons so he knew what he was saying. We opened the cage and took them out apart. When they were out, we released them in front of their cage and let them fly back inside. After a while we went for the real deal and let them go where they pleased.

I laughed hard when the feral pigeon actually flew through our open front door and into her cage in the living room. She always managed to find her way to that cage, no matter where she was in the house. Anyhow, I placed her back in the outside cage and they both flew out of the cage and sat on top of it. The homing pigeon (The seagull-looking one) flew up, circled around a few times and sat on a nearby roof. Meanwhile, the feral pigeon flew into the other direction (Without circling) and I hadn't seen her since. The homing pigeon flew from roof to roof during the next hour and went out of sight after. We found her on a roof behind our house with a pigeon that looked extremely much like my feral pigeon but they both disappeared when it started raining very hard.

It has been 11 hours ago (It's currently 0:38 in the night) since they were released and I'm wondering if they'll ever come back. I spent a lot of time on them and I cared about them as pets.

*Additional information:*
- Both pigeons were females if you didn't understand that yet
- They had recently laid eggs but I took them away like we usually do since they're not fertilized
- This was their first time flying in the open since we got them 1 year and 3-ish months ago
- We did occasionally let them fly in our bathroom and they definitely had the room to spread their wings there
- The reason I don't think the feral pigeon I saw my homing pigeon with wasn't mine is because that one's legs had a much brighter tint of red. It was very warm so my mother thought that was because of the heat. Is that possible?

Please do not hesitate to ask me anything else, I'll be checking for replies often!

Day 2 - 28/07/2012:
The homing pigeon has been seen one street further this morning. My mom and a neighbour tried to catch her but she got away.

Day 3 - 29/07/2012:
The homing pigeon had been living with the flock of a man one street further. He caught her for us and she's back home 

If anybody's interested, here's a picture I took right before they flew away:
http://i.imgur.com/u1z1x.jpg (I told you the homing pigeon looked like a seagull)


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## mikeyg (Jul 11, 2012)

One thing my grandfather always told me, whenever I asked "when will they be back Papa". was, " Boy, If you could predict the return of any pigeon at any given time you would be a rich rich man". Now your issues are this A) you didn't raise the pigeons from babies or as YB's) B) You kept them inside more then outside (mistake if you want a homer to home, they need to see there outide surroundings) C) You absolutely let them out to early, and with any bird that's over a year or older, ecspecially feral your chances are slim to none to settle them. I truly am not being critical an any way I myself have learned the hard way..Hang tight they may or may not come back. 

Nobody on this forum can tell you without a doubt that they will or will not return.


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

Just keep your eyes up on the sky and on the roof. Leave the cage outside the way it was, and food handy. All you can do is hope for now. I feel sad, it brings me memories of my lost birds ...and i am sure most of us have been through it. If you had them as pets,ouch,that really hurts. I'll keep my finger crossed.


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## Bematli (Jul 27, 2012)

mikeyg said:


> One thing my grandfather always told me, whenever I asked "when will they be back Papa". was, " Boy, If you could predict the return of any pigeon at any given time you would be a rich rich man". Now your issues are this A) you didn't raise the pigeons from babies or as YB's) B) You kept them inside more then outside (mistake if you want a homer to home, they need to see there outide surroundings) C) You absolutely let them out to early, and with any bird that's over a year or older, ecspecially feral your chances are slim to none to settle them. I truly am not being critical an any way I myself have learned the hard way..Hang tight they may or may not come back.
> 
> Nobody on this forum can tell you without a doubt that they will or will not return.


Thank you for the explanation, I'll make sure I remember all of it.
All I can do now is hope they return...
If they do return, would it be wise if I'd let them fly out again?




Dima said:


> Just keep your eyes up on the sky and on the roof. Leave the cage outside the way it was, and food handy. All you can do is hope for now. I feel sad, it brings me memories of my lost birds ...and i am sure most of us have been through it. If you had them as pets,ouch,that really hurts. I'll keep my finger crossed.


We've been leaving the cage open and left food/water inside of it since they left. My neighbour said he saw a grey pigeon on top of the cage but he wasn't sure if it was mine or just a random outsider. We get lots of those in out front yard since my mom feeds them.

EDIT:
The homing pigeon has been seen one street further this morning. My mom and a neighbour tried to catch her but she got away.


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

I'm sorry you've lost your birds , somewhere sometime most of us have had to experience it 

If your neighbour knew they had only been outside for a few or so days and he suggested you release them I would certainly have raised an eyebrow .

Firstly ......it's not a good idea to keep taking away eggs unless you are replacing them with dummy eggs , producing eggs takes calcium and they will only lay again and problems like egg binding can occur when calcium levels are depleted . From my experience pigeons love sitting in the nest on eggs , seeing that there is another to share the sitting time ...it's all good and no harm done .....it's what they do !

I'm very curious as to why you had them in your front yard and not in your back yard ....I've never heard of that before .

A lot of people will tell you ......you can't release a homing pigeon not reared at the location they are presently resided at and that you keep them as prisoner birds , there is certainly a chance that they will take off and return to it's original loft or dissapear and I understand that , but I've had more success in having birds stay than I have lost . My current statistics are 

16 birds introduced to my loft not being raised here ........none of them youngsters .

3 lost & never seen again 
13 have remained 

In anycase .......your neighbour should have suggested to you ( having experience ) to allow the birds to orientate themselves from an enclosure where they have time to pick out land marks and know their surroundings as stated by mikeg . 3 or 4 weeks in their enclosure has worked for me .

I hope you get them both back and wish you well .


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Because they were adults when you got them, they should not of been let out..for this very reason. esp the homer.. ferals will fly back to the location she was captured probably and perhaps the homer may go with..but who knows she may go back to the loft on the other side of the country if she makes it.


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## ka_khan (Jul 23, 2012)

Dont loose hope they may return after some exploration if they didnt find the mate.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Hope they do come back, and if they do, don't take their eggs away from them. As they aren't fertile, it doesn't hurt anything for them to sit on them. If you do take them, although no reason to, you must replace them with fake eggs to give them something to sit on for the 18 days or so. If you don't replace them, then they will just keep having eggs to replace the ones you took. This depletes them of calcium, and can cause them a lot of problems. You don't want that to happen.


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## HappyXD (Dec 2, 2011)

If they come back tie the wings up so they can't fly away my uncle done this to mine and they could not fly until they could take the tie of there wings they were adapted to the surroundings it really helped a lot



After we took them off so they could fly


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

HappyXD said:


> If they come back tie the wings up so they can't fly away my uncle done this to mine and they could not fly until they could take the tie of there wings they were adapted to the surroundings it really helped a lot


This is horrible. Why tie the wings? So they don't fly? If one doesn't want them to fly ,might as well keep them in a large cage, at least they can exercise by flapping.


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## tipllers rule (Aug 2, 2010)

Dima said:


> This is horrible. Why tie the wings? So they don't fly? If one doesn't want them to fly ,might as well keep them in a large cage, at least they can exercise by flapping.


its for training it tends to settle birds faster for instence by placing them on the kit roof and have them trap


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

HappyXD said:


> If they come back tie the wings up so they can't fly away my uncle done this to mine and they could not fly until they could take the tie of there wings they were adapted to the surroundings it really helped a lot


OMG .........Don't do that , just give them a decent enclosure !


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## Bematli (Jul 27, 2012)

whytwings said:


> If your neighbour knew they had only been outside for a few or so days and he suggested you release them I would certainly have raised an eyebrow .
> 
> Firstly ......it's not a good idea to keep taking away eggs unless you are replacing them with dummy eggs , producing eggs takes calcium and they will only lay again and problems like egg binding can occur when calcium levels are depleted . From my experience pigeons love sitting in the nest on eggs , seeing that there is another to share the sitting time ...it's all good and no harm done .....it's what they do !
> 
> I'm very curious as to why you had them in your front yard and not in your back yard ....I've never heard of that before.


I meant it when I said he had SOME experience.
Thanks for the tip about the eggs, I never knew it could potentially be dangerous if you took the eggs away.

As for the front yard, our back yard is very small and unfit for pigeons.



HappyXD said:


> If they come back tie the wings up so they can't fly away my uncle done this to mine and they could not fly until they could take the tie of there wings they were adapted to the surroundings it really helped a lot


I'd rather not ._.

*Update:*
The homing pigeon has been returned! She lived with a flock of pigeons owned by a man one street further. He caught her and brought her back.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You know, because of the fact that you are constantly taking their eggs and not replacing them, I don't think they'd view your place as a safe place to nest. They may have gone off to find a safer place to build a nest. Taking eggs from nests is one way people try to discourage birds from nesting in places where they are not wanted. It is used to force them to go and find another place in which to nest. Of course the fact that they are dependent on you for food would be in your favor and maybe bring them back. I hope so, as they don't have a very good chance of making it in the wild.


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

Bematli said:


> I meant it when I said he had SOME experience.
> Thanks for the tip about the eggs, I never knew it could potentially be dangerous if you took the eggs away.
> 
> As for the front yard, our back yard is very small and unfit for pigeons.
> ...


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## Bematli (Jul 27, 2012)

whytwings said:


> Bematli said:
> 
> 
> > I meant it when I said he had SOME experience.
> ...


Don't worry, not upset in any way.
I don't live in a very good neighbourhood, but my neighbours happen to be very kind. There's pretty much always somebody sitting in their front yard from morning until evening, so if anybody ever were to try something funny with my pigeons they'd instantly take action. The pigeons go inside in the evening so no worries there.


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## HappyXD (Dec 2, 2011)

It does not hurt them the way I do it I do not tie the whole wing only some feathers. Only enough not too much so it doesn't pull any.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

HappyXD said:


> It does not hurt them the way I do it I do not tie the whole wing only some feathers. Only enough not too much so it doesn't pull any.


It is too hard to settle homers..when he has his wings he still will fly off. so may as well not make him hawk bait just to take him outside.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I agree with spiritwings. He will probably still leave when he can again fly, and keeping him from being able to fly is only making it easier for a predator to get him. Flight is his only protection.


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## hamza syed (Jun 22, 2012)

i agree with u jay3 & spirit wings, its really hard to train an adult homer. i know same ppl had done and would recommend u what to do with ur homer. with ur feral its hard thing because they are not domesticated bird and can live in wild. where they find other birds to live with.. u can train a feral but most of time when u release a feral pigeon/s its not likely to come home..(especially non-mated pigeon)


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