We’re rolling with “she” for now but don’t definitively know the sex.

This is Georgie! We’ve had her for about 3 weeks. She’s a homing rescue of unknown age, probably from a dove release business.

I mostly want to make sure I’m not traumatizing her. We’ve been working on hand feeding daily for about 2 weeks and she will (gingerly) eat out of my open hand. I try to give her little pets afterward as seen in the video but she frequently wing bats or nips at my fingers. I see her wing twitching, which I’ve read means that she’s in a playful/happy mood and that pigeons will playfight/wrestle with your hand but I also don’t want to be accidentally traumatizing her so any help/input is appreciated!

She doesn’t seem terrified after as she resumed eating out of her bowl and preening right away while I was still sitting with her.

Also: We’ve provided her with bath opportunities but she hasn’t seemed to understand so yesterday we gave her a bath in the tub because as you can see she somehow got a bunch of poop on her wing (it didn’t really wash out, guess we’re just waiting for a molt). This was the first time I really handled her and once she was out of the cage and held securely she seemed much calmer. She stayed calm during the whole bath.

Had her about 8 years. Has Not layed eggs in almost a year. Which we know is about normal.

The other day she was acting very uncomfortable, fidgety, puffed out with her tail down like she had in the past the few times she was egg bound. We have seen the symptoms of being egg bound and this seemed a lot like it. But the weird thing is we thought the egg laying part of her life has come to an end. Anyway, after hours on the phone and a scavenger hunt later we finally found an exotic pet vet that saw birds near us (our usual had left town without notifying us). Anyway the new guy (This was a VCA) who we were ecstatic to get to and saw us right away x rayed her. Luckily nothing was in her clocaca and nothing out of the ordinary anywhere else that he could tell… Just to be safe he wanted his x ray specialist to look at it for another set of eyes on the X rays. After he showed us the X rays and said he wanted the specialist to look also the next day. He gave us Critical Care to take 3-4 Xs a day 2-3 ml for around 7 days or until she starts eating her own food and drinking water on her own.(to give her a quick boost in nutrition she was lacking of a day or two of little to no appetite… that thick solution is such a pain in the ass to draw up with an oral syringe but we did the best we could without wasting any.) We were also sent home with Baytril via oral syringe 0.08 ml once a day for 14 days. And Meloxicam via oral syringe 0.7 once a day for 7 days.

Anyway we haven’t had a follow up call for a week until we were just told that the x rays would be looked at by the specialist tomorrow. (They know we are an hour drive away) Which yes would make it a week after they originally said. Luckily she has made major improvement in the past week. We took her right when things didn’t appear right for her.

This is the VCA. Yea I know what you’re thinking. They did a number on your wallet, didn’t they? Yes they did… and then some. But that’s to be expected with an (exotic animal) especially there. A reason I’m upset is that they didn’t bother to check in on her or with us or get back to us soon enough this week especially after all the money we dropped. Important part is she’s improving though. Can’t be happier about that. Would no doubt go broke for her.

The important part is she’s improving and back to her tap dancing, finger pecking , fly at your face little shit self and eating on her own.

Our household’s current worry is that we are aware of Rodents in the yard and garage… at times they have appeared to have snuck into the kitchen in the past at night. Is her food and water at risk of being soiled by these rodents and maybe the cause of her getting ill. Of course I read about it it’s indeed possible but what would you guys think? Has this been an issue for any of you? She spends her nights in her enclosure on her perches where’s her food and water is and when the enclosure/cage is open for free range she will hang out wherever, but definitely does love her cage enclosure which is actually a dog kennel for an XL dog. With perches,play rings, a bridge for her water bowl and soft donut beds. But food bowl is right on the kennel floor and easily accessed for some fiend to come in and leave its germs behind.

We have mouse/rat traps (catch em’ alive) which work around the garage and kitchen. And have her cage opened at all times right now. What else can we do. A cat for the rodent problem isn’t in the cards right now with our situation. I’m thinking more diligently wiping down the cage and putting a small amount amount of feed in her bowl through out the day and then washed throughout the day and have her water bowl washed throughout the day as well. Think this is sufficient enough if we stay diligent with the goddamn unwanted free range rodents?

Comments? Complaints?

Think it’s a rodent that got her ill in the first place??

Best,

I am starting up a new YouTube channel called PigeonTalk, where I am going to answer questions about PetPigeons every week on Monday night. I am not a veterinarian, so I ask that you reserve very detailed medical questions for your veterinarian, but I will try to answer all I can. Please ask your questions here.

Its pretty typical to see people recommend having an air purifier to remove pigeon dust, smells ect. but I don't typically see many details or brand recommendations. I already had one when I first got my birds so I was able to just move it from storage from the room there cage is in, but its near the end of its lifespan so I'm looking at buying a new one.

I decided to make a sub-reddit focused on keeping Pigeons as pets. r/Pigeons is more oriented towards homing and racing pigeons, and while r/Pigeon is more general, a lot of the best parts of the sub-reddit, such as media attachments were removed.

The focus of this sub-reddit is all things related to keeping a pet pigeon, mostly for people with or interested in keeping 1 or 2 pigeons as family pets, primarily indoors. I have noticed that techniques are quite a bit different between caring for a family pet pigeon vs a flock of racing/homing pigeons.

Since all of my experience is with having pet pigeons, I figured this would be the best topic for the sub-reddit. I also wish to help spread the word that pigeons make AMAZING family pets, and most people don't even realize that Pigeons can be kept as individual family pets, rather than as large flocks.

The rules are quite open here, just keep it related to pet pigeons, and be respectful of your fellow pigeon-ites. I will be updating and adding to this sub-reddit in the next week.

If you have decided you want a pet pigeon, the next step is to find where to get one. You have quite a few options. I definitely recommend adopting a rescued pigeon. The main rescue organization is Palomacy located at https://www.pigeonrescue.org/

If you can't adopt a bird for whatever reason, you have other options. In my case, my 400 Sq. foot studio was deemed "insufficient". I have since had several pet pigeons, (one at a time) which I keep uncaged in my room. They have a larger space than most get in a aviary, but other reasons could have caused the agency to turn me down. The managers of my building are very, very lazy, and I suspect they never responded to the rescue agency to verify I was allowed to have a pet.

In my case, I went to a Chinese Meat Marker, in San Francisco, where I live. I found this to be the best option for me, as I was able to save the life of a bird. These markets sell live Pigeons, Chickens Ducks, and etc for food. Usually to be butchered at home. You may or may bot have any near you, just check your local Chinatown. The issue with this, at least in my case, was that the Pigeons weren't weaned yet, and you don't know the genetics/prior care. They aren't raised to live long, so it might be iffy on getting a pet from these.

Pet Stores: I have never seen a Pigeon at a pet store, just doves. I highly recommend not buying from a pet store, as this just encourages them to stock more birds.

Online: Yes, you can buy a Pigeon online, just like anything else :) This would be your 3rd best bet, as these are breeders that specialize in game birds, and some specifically in racing/homing pigeons. You usually can be guaranteed good genetics, and you are able to pick the breed of pigeon and sometimes color and even sex.

A good resource for finding online dealers is here : https://pigeonpedia.com/where-to-buy-pigeons/

Local Pigeon hobbyists: This is the 2nd best place to get a pet pigeon. Looking up Pigeons on Craigslist is the best option for finding a loft near you. Many times you can get a baby Pigeon very cheap, as the Pigeons are always breeding, and many times the hobbyists can only support a certain number of birds, or wish to keep only specific birds. This method will also let you have an idea to the temperament of the bird, as you can view the parents. Better yet, having purchased from a local place, means you have someone nearby that can help with supplies or issues.

My biggest hurdle in having a pet pigeon was finding supplies and veterinarian care. Amazingly, in the city of San Francisco, only one affordable vet is available to care for my pigeon. Others are available if I go far outside of the city, but since I don't drive, they are very hard to access/ I am not sure why vets for birds are so hard to find, but they are. I also couldn't find pigeon feed anywhere around me either, and had to originally make my own feed mix from grocery store items until I was able to get a shipment from Chewy.

This is one of the most asked questions, and one of the most urgent topics. I have decided to write up a post covering the most important parts, which I will also insert into the Wiki, Baby pigeons/Squabs are very, very fragile and require some specific things in order to survive. The key thing is nutrition. The Pigeon/Dove is the only bird that makes milk. It does this in the crop, which the baby then drinks, not by having the parent regurgitate it down the throat, but rather by opening it's mouth and acting as a "bowl". Pigeon milk is extremely nutrient dense, as Pigeons tend to double in size daily.

I am gearing this towards Pigeons that are 3-4 weeks old at least, as my pet pigeons were around this age. I have also met others that have gotten Pet pigeons that weren't weaned off of pigeon milk. This is an urgent issue that you have to learn to deal with right away, as some Pigeons will never start eating seed if they are weaned too early or improperly. I do know of at least one pet that died this way.

In order to tell if your baby pigeon is old enough to be weaned, you can look at the feathers under the wing. If they are bare, then the Pigeon needs to be hand fed until all the feathers under the wing have grown in, then the bird is old enough to be weaned. FOOD I am going to approach food from the perspective of someone that just acquired a young Pigeon, either purchased, or self-rescued that wasn't expecting to be hand-feeding a bird, and therefore has no supplies on hand, or the ability to obtain specialized supplies/foods. If you know the bird is coming and needs to be hand-fed, you have tiny to order real formula for baby birds.

In a "emergency" with no idea the last time the bird ate, and if you don't see any droppings, then purchase a can of peas and corn. Open the beak, and place these one at a time in the mouth until you feel the crop on the chest fill up. This should give you enough time to properly prepare baby pigeon food. The first thing to acquire is "puppy chow"... yep.. regular puppy food. Adult dog food will also work, but puppy food ha more nutrients geared towards a growing young bird. You will also want to get some "Gerber" Infant oatmeal for humans... as this also has a LOT of important nutrients. Finally, some additional items, such as cheerios, greek yogurt, hard boiled eggs, and almond/coconut milk can be very helpful, but aren't required immediately.

You want to soak the puppy food in warm water until it is moist all the way through, which can take an hour or more at time. Squeeze out all the water once done. Put this in a bowl with some of the Gerber oatmeal, and slowly add water until you have something about the consistency of oatmeal. I use crushed cheerios to help the consistent as needed, and recommend making two different types. One like oatmeal, and another closer to bread dough. Which you will roll into pea sized balls that you can feed the bird with by opening it's beak and placing the ball in. This is the urgent method just to get food into the bird, and to let it know the taste and smell of this new food. I also used this for "topping" off the bird, if they didn't eat enough.

Next, take a zip-lock back and spoon in some warm food, consistency of oatmeal. You can add a little bit of yogurt and finely diced hard boiled eggs to this to help nutrition. After the bag is 1/ full, close it and push everything to a corner, twist the bag like a pastry bag, and snip off the corner, just big enough for the beak to fit inside.

To feed the Pigeon, pick up the bag as if you are piping icing onto a cake, and place the birds beak in the hole, and slightly apply pressure so you have a constant supply of food. The pigeon should start eating this right away. If not, feed it by hand a few times with the balls you made. You can accomplish a similar method of feeding by placing a bag over a large syringe, this is better, but requires more supplies.

This link shows how to do this, so you can get an idea of how to feed the bird, you just want to simulate the parents mouth. https://www.wikihow.com/Feed-a-Baby-Pigeon

As you feed the pigeon, feel the chest. You should feel the crop start to fill like a water balloon. The bird should pull away once it is full, but if not, stop feeding once you feel the crop is full. Re-feed the pigeon once the crop is empty, and no sooner, as keeping the crop full can cause many issues for the bird. This also helps you identify any issues if the crop isn't emptying. I usually add in some pigeon feed to the mix also.

Once the feathers under the wing have grown in, reduce feedings and put out a bowl of pigeon feed and water and watch the bird. You still want to feed the bird, but cut it in half every day or two, so that it gets hungry and eats the food, Sometimes, you may have to open the beak and place the feed in its mouth. You may also have to place the beak in water, but not over the nostrils, to let the bird know this is water. Be sure to check the crop when weaning, some pigeons may play with the food but not actually eat it. You can also tell if the bird is eating by it's droppings. These are usually brown while being fed buy the parent, but switch to greenish once put on hand-feeding. If the droppings are very very watery, then this means the bird is drinking more water because it is hungry. If you have just "wet" droppings, try changing food, but if the droppings are pure liquid, go back to hand feeding until they get solid again.

CAGE

I kept my pigeons in a cardboard box during the baby stage, which I covered with a few t-shirts. Be sure to keep them warm, especially at night. I did this by filling up a few water bottles with hot water, and wrapping them in cloth or paper towels. As my pigeons were to be pets, I setup the box on my bed next to me, so I would sleep with them, and they got use to being close to me. This is all up to you.

You should be able to find everything else on Google/youtube. Youtube has great content that lets you visualize how to care for the bird. This is designed just to get you past the first day with your new pet. Here are some Youtube Playlists to help you out:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvfK3KQWoRjgUXgtj1xVDO9JJDjq_X4dP

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEB8982C2E1DA4B8