what to do?

External Since: Sep 11, 2003 Posts: 1

Hi all,
The wife and I have a femal pigeon that we have raised from a very small
ugly looking thing to a lovely 5 month old bird, The thing is we know
nothing of pigeons and have come very attached to it, it has the run of
the house and our little dog (Chuhuahua) doesn't mind it either, in the
begining, the wife did all the feeding of it and it would always be with
her, and would have a bit of a go at me when I tried to get near to it,
but the wife could do almost anything with her. But now it all has turned
around, Homer as we called it, as we didn't know what it was
(male/female) has come to me, and is my constant shaddow all day, no
matter what I am doing she is on my shoulder snugling up to my neck, I
don't mind it except for the poop, and now when the wife tries to pat or
get near her, she trys to peck her, I know she is in season, if that is
what you call it, as if I kind of scratch her neck at the back she has
her head down and bum up and her neck is all puffed out, so I stopoed
doing that but she still keeps on being my shaddow. A frien said he would
bring a male the same age over to see if they would mate and settle down,
the trouble is we don't want any more birds, as we have our hands full
with all the local native birds feeding here, and it would be hard to let
her go with someone else as she only knows us. So what would be the best
for us to do for her, and will it get worse as she gets older, and do
they come into season a lot of times in a year, or only once a year.
any suggestions welcome.
I live in queensland Australia,

--
Regards
oldfart.

External Since: Jun 29, 2005 Posts: 2

Hi Owen

Wow talk about De Je Vu

Let me see....I also live in Queensland (Brisbane), I have chihuahuas
(3).........and a rescued ferral pigeon (well actually 6, but only one that
lives in the house with us and is considered part of family).

My little guy is 2 years old now.....and he is bonded totally to me....he
doesnt get along with my husband at all....but we accept that. He is being
a bird...he has picked his "mate" (me)....we arent trying to force him into
being another dog so he gets along with everyone in the house.

Im not sure how you know its a female at this point (its a bit difficult to
tell untill they eggs......or dont).

If it is a female...and you dont want her to breed....give her access to a
nest (a bowl with nesting material in it)....and just replace her eggs with
fakes and let her brood those for however long she wants. If you take her
eggs away and dont replace them with something...she will keep laying eggs
and deplete her calcium reserves.

If it is a male....just get used to his behaviour.....if he has access to
the outdoors...be prepared for him to bring in sticks for a nest....and
humping anything in sight.....my dogs have a plush frog toy that bares the
brunt of my pigeons "urges"....he also takes a fancy to any shoes left
around the house.

If you would rather the bird go to a new home (depending where you are)...I
could take him/her off your hands....I take in lost and injured pigeons and
have a growing number of them that I care for.

Best of luck with your little treasure.

Lorraine

"Owen" <oldfart.RemoveThis@dodo.com.au> wrote in message
news:Xns93F3CCD942C22oldfartdodocomau@203.194.27.1...
> Hi all,
> The wife and I have a femal pigeon that we have raised from a very small
> ugly looking thing to a lovely 5 month old bird, The thing is we know
> nothing of pigeons and have come very attached to it, it has the run of
> the house and our little dog (Chuhuahua) doesn't mind it either, in the
> begining, the wife did all the feeding of it and it would always be with
> her, and would have a bit of a go at me when I tried to get near to it,
> but the wife could do almost anything with her. But now it all has turned
> around, Homer as we called it, as we didn't know what it was
> (male/female) has come to me, and is my constant shaddow all day, no
> matter what I am doing she is on my shoulder snugling up to my neck, I
> don't mind it except for the poop, and now when the wife tries to pat or
> get near her, she trys to peck her, I know she is in season, if that is
> what you call it, as if I kind of scratch her neck at the back she has
> her head down and bum up and her neck is all puffed out, so I stopoed
> doing that but she still keeps on being my shaddow. A frien said he would
> bring a male the same age over to see if they would mate and settle down,
> the trouble is we don't want any more birds, as we have our hands full
> with all the local native birds feeding here, and it would be hard to let
> her go with someone else as she only knows us. So what would be the best
> for us to do for her, and will it get worse as she gets older, and do
> they come into season a lot of times in a year, or only once a year.
> any suggestions welcome.
> I live in queensland Australia,
>
> --
> Regards
> oldfart.
>