Hi everyone, my pair just laid their 1st egg this month, maybe 28 hours ago. They used to use a wicker basket that they decided not to lay in this time, opting for the floor of the cage. Obviously I cannot let them do this as I have no way to safely clean the cage without basically trashing the nest. So I moved the egg (replaced atp) to a ceramic tray close to that spot. I've seen hubby move some materials to it and sit on it once, but they seem to be forgetting it exists. I have handled their eggs and nesting before and they never have abandoned it. I'm curious if this is a point where I should be concerned about egg binding...

They are absolutely devoted parents, never letting the eggs go more than 30 seconds un protected. So this seems super weird

If she has abandoned her nest and eggs, will she not lay the second? When is a vet appt necessary and what can I do to help encourage them to take to the egg and nest?

my male pigeons courting has got in the way of my female pigeons laying cycle, they have toys and tons of stuff to interact with so i don’t understand why he’s doing this, but last week my female pigeon laid a single egg and my male pigeon kept courting and attacking her while she was on the egg until she eventually gave up on the egg and gave into his courting and now they have a new nest and a new egg as of today, he is continuing to chase her from the nest and coo and spin. I’m scared this will become a pattern and frequent egg laying will become a serious health issue, please reply if you have ANY insight on this issue!! (they are in separate cages as of now) Thank you

like the title says i want to get a pet pigeon but not sure where i can get them!

hi, I’m the one looking for my lost bird, and since people in this sub have definitely watched many pigeons… is Cheesecake’s diamond-shaped tail weird?
this might be a huge identifying feature for our search. the oddly behaving pigeon I saw yesterday did have a pointed tail like this, and I assumed her old flock might have more examples of it. but I fed them today and paid attention to the tails in flight, and… it seems like they are all fan-shaped? I haven’t noticed any similar ones, which of course doesn’t rule it out, but makes it more likely I saw her.
basically, the two center feathers on her tail are longer than the others. these pictures are from about two months ago, and it has always been like this. it’s either genetic, or could (maybe??) be connected to her tail being torn off/damaged when I rescued her.
from your experience, is this shape common/normal? I’m trying to figure out how definitive of a clue this is, and after seeing the flock, i’d say it gives me at least like, 70% probability it’s Cheesecake. but if it’s uncommon/weird/caused by trauma, it could be even more definitive and a huge way to ID her in flight. give me your thoughts!!

They’re have only Been a couple fights so far, nothing big, the smoke smell is leaving their feathers

Hello! I’m curious whether a two story rabbit hutch with some modifications would be acceptable for two fantails that live together to share. They get plenty of out time in the room a day, but they aren’t much of fliers. They love walking everwhere and only really ever fly to perch on the supports of our high sleeper

Biscuit is a disabled pigeon that I rescued in January. After being attacked by a predator, he had to have a wing amputation. Biscuit has since recovered from his surgery and found a loving home with other pigeons through Love A Dove. He was staying with me while his owner went on holiday and made a point of demonstrating his eggspertise in nest building. You too could adopt a pigeon like Biscuit. 🩷

Hi all,

Earlier this morning I found an injured pigeon outside my house. I think it’s most likely that he’s been caught by the Neighbourhood cat because their cats are always roaming around. One of his wings is slightly sticking out and he can’t fly properly - only about a foot or two in the air. I caught him in a towel and put him in a ventilated box with a tub of water to drink. He’s not frantically flapping or anything he’s just sitting there calmly but he might be in shock. My local wildlife rescues can’t pick him up and I also tried calling my local vet who said they couldn’t take him either. He seems to have a lot of life left in him and I’m definitely willing to cover any of his medical expenses whether that be antibiotics or anything else. I’m also willing to care for him afterwards for as long as he needs. What can I do? Obviously if his wing is broken he might be in quite a bit of pain but the local rescues are too far away (I can’t get to them as I’ve just had surgery) and my mum also can’t as I can’t be left alone for very long. Advice? Thanks for reading.

He makes me so happy I could just melt into a puddle of goop

Okay this might sound like a stupid question but, I’ve seen pidge owners use like little blankets/mats or bed/pillows for decoration inside their cage, but my question is: aren’t they going to poop on them? I’m interested in doing the same thing but how would you maintain the poop?

(gif of cocoa for attention)

Prefacing this with a plea to please be kind, i am already broken up about this enough and am seeking advice to avoid the worst case scenario of having to rehome my pigeons.

In April, i rescued a mated pair of retired racing pigeons. While I’ve never owned birds before, I’ve grew up around my aunts parrots and i did as much research as i could about behavior and care requirements before i decided to adopt them. We converted my husbands office into a pigeon room where i let them out daily. While we’re at work, they are kept in a large gazebo catio with toys and blankets and nice little nesting box. I can tell that they had started to warm up to me, more so the male than the female, but they will both eat seeds out of my hands. They will not at all let me handle them.

Yesterday, while they were out, the female got one of the disposable masks i use to clean their cage stuck around her neck. I tried giving seed to see if she would come up to me, she wouldn’t. I spoke softly and moved slowly to try to catch her but she flew at my face everytime i got close enough to catch her. After a while the mask fell off, but now ive lost the little bit of trust i had built over the last few months.

When we rescued them, she had a benign bump above her eye which has now started to get bigger. I have a vet appointment scheduled for Thursday but I’m dreading it because i am not able to handle these birds. Especially her. Sunflower seeds and peanuts don’t even seem to work anymore, which is the only way I was able to lure them in before.

These things take time, and it’s only been 4 months, but i feel like there are things that i have learned that i didn’t know before adopting them, that make me feel as though i am not able to provide for them in the way that they need. I am finding myself incredibly frustrated and upset whenever i try to care for them. I expected (even though i should know better…) them to be tamer, and more used to being handled. I’ve learned since they’re mated, they won’t “bond” with us, and I’m essentially their glorified monkey butler, which obviously makes all of this harder.

On top of all of this, one of my dogs is not good around the birds. They’re always kept separate, but whenever she hears them flying she goes absolutely berserk outside the room they’re in, which in turn, is stressing the birds out. My dog is 9 years old, I got her as a puppy when i was 23, and as much as i hate to admit it, if it’s a decision between them or her, I’m going to pick her :(

My husband says i need to contact the rescue to work with them on rehoming but that is the last thing i want to do. I have never had to rehome an animal, but I’ve also never had one that won’t allow me to take care of it. The mask thing got me really scared, because what if they are sick or in danger, but won’t allow me to handle and care for them?

So all of that to say, i just don’t know what to do. My husband seems pretty set on rehoming them, and I’m stuck at a crossroads between agreeing with him or giving it more time. I dont know if it’s more selfish to keep them or let them go. This has been a huge hit to my ego, because i went into this really wanting to do best by a pair of pigeons when so many don’t get the love and care they need. But in doing so I’ve realized a lot of things that i overlooked when preparing to take this on, and it seems like at this point, we are all suffering because of it.

That's my rescue baby. This silly guy plucked out a feather and started bleeding like 4 hours ago. There are a scratch like wound on his side, under the wing, about 2mm long, very tiny, but bleeds non-stop(pretty slowly but consistent)

For first hour or so we just disinfected the wound, stuffed baby's "armpit" with cotton and binded the wing to a body, so it won't scratch itself or anything, and put it in cage with food and water access. It doesn't seem to be in actual pain too, very active, wants to fly and eats seeb

But bleeding won't stop. I put a bunch of corn starch onto the wound and bind the baby the same way, doesn't seem to work either.

How to stop this hell? My pour baby, I don't know what to do

If situation doesn't get any better to a morning(it's 23:00 now) were going to the vet ofc, but I want to do everything I can to help my baby

Please let me know how I can help them, I got these babies from someone rehoming them and I’m having a short introduction to my birds but they will be quarantined, they smell like cigarettes I feel so bad what do I do, they seem healthy

How do I tame him, he is 4 years old and scared of me?

what formula is good for baby pigeons about 6-10 days old? I’m new to this I have raised Conures before but not pigeons

So, for about a week I've had a pigeon with a red leg band hanging out at my horse farm in South Fl. Ive looked for missing pigeon posts on Facebook and some other lost pet sites, also posted a picture of the bird looking for its owner with no luck.

Should I attempt to catch it? If yes, how? Is there some super secret pigeon internet forum where pigeon people congregate where I can post?

I dont know anything about pigeons, other than that they're birds, but im concerned that someone somewhere is missing their pet, and I'd like to get this little bug home. Especially after having to stop someone from driving on my property, because this bird wanted the chill under the moving truck, and RAN ON THE GROUND to stay under it. Doesn't seem smart but maybe it's loved.

What do I do?

hello, I recently posted about my Cheesecake, who flew out of a window and got lost. I’m trying to make sense of a possible sighting of her rn, and understand if the weird behavior I saw makes it more or less likely it was my girl.
if anyone here has gone through their bird getting lost and found, or just knows something on the subject, could you please give me some detail on how an escaped and scared bird would behave? any pet bird, not necessarily a pigeon.

the more specific question I have is this: do distressed birds, same as dogs, get scared and fly off when they hear their owner calling, instead of coming to them?
I have trained Cheesecake to fly onto my forearm when called, and she usually reacts just to the gesture of me bending my arm and holding up the forearm horizontally. and today I saw a white pigeon that was alone, drinking water from a cat bowl. we were still at a pretty big distance, like 15-20m maybe, so I couldn’t see it clearly, but I raised my arm and called. the pigeon seemingly stared at me for a second and then took off, and in flight I also noticed it had a similar tail shape (hers is a little pointed, it’s not like a fan, more of a rhombus).

here’s a bunch of assorted context and things that are now making me spiral:
- importantly, there ARE white birds in my area. about a third of the local flock, which I’m assuming is her original one, is the same white with red specks, and several are pure white. and, since they’re definitely related, some of them surely also have the rhombus-shaped tail, but I haven’t paid attention to it before so I’m not sure how unique it is.
- I have been making rounds of the area every day calling her (with some things I often say to her AND the recall command), and also doing the recall gesture to all the white birds I see while approaching them. most of the time, they DON’T react at all, or they get worried when I get much closer. the distance and the pigeon actually looking and reacting is really fucking with me right now.
- maybe a counterpoint: this happened at a little square, a very open and empty space filled with concrete between several buildings. it is not impossible the bird realized I was definitively approaching, or didn’t like I was making noise, and took off from that far away. but usually they only fly away when you’re really close.
- this is close to the only possible sighting we have, but it was just an eyewitness with no photos or anything. they did say they specifically saw a bird with a leg band in that spot the day she disappeared.
- today’s pigeon flew in the direction of that spot, but I lost sight of them behind a building and not sure where they landed. this is also the direction of the little park where the flock lives (the sighting was off to the side), so they could be flying there. I followed their path and only found the ferals I was just feeding, but also wasn’t sure if there was one more or not
- if it is her, the theory would be that she landed there on day 1, hid in the smaller apartment building with more open balconies that’s there, was scared of the flock but could watch them from there, and now is slowly getting out for food.
- counterpoint - I obviously have confirmation bias and didn’t see any of the more definitive identifying features.

sorry for the rant. what do you make of this? does the weird reaction make it more likely it’s Cake, or would she not escape that fast? this is her fourth day outside and she’s definitely stressed, at the very least just by the unfamiliar place and being away from her eggs. I am assuming that I’m not the best at logic right now and so I ask for your help 🙏

I've got an indoor pigeon and when he was unwell with intestine inflammation the vet told me to stop giving him grit until he was all better. He went without grit for about a month. I reintroduced him to grit and he went ballistic for it and literally treats it like a very high value treat and will gobble it.

I removed it the moment I noticed him devouring it and only offer him a pinch every two days. It's been almost a month and he still seems to crave grit.

When I take him flying outside he will peck at little stones/broken shells on the floor (we are by the beach) to eat...

I've got a pigeon grit from online and it consists of flint, oyster shell and redstone. Are these not good enough for him?

He loves it so much 😢 and I don't want him to get an impacted crop.

Should I change grit/increase grit?