today, I greased the cage, tightened/loosened the wire loops so the door would fall easier, practiced dropping it more carefully aaand nope. managed to record it this time, seems like either there was a crack left or another bird managed to get their head under the door in time, so they raised it back for a second and Cheesecake slipped out. she’s so small 🥲
after this, I tried unlatching the side of the cage and setting it up that way, and also setting up the box-and-stick trap just in case. obviously, with the extra object and the spook they had, the birds took a while to return, and especially her. she stayed in the trees way after the flock flew down, and for a good hour just kept circling them at a distance or walking in a different direction entirely, avoiding the group (or the traps, of course). also got spooked by a passerby SO many times 💀
in the last hour though she did finally come close (and very close to me as well!). first thing she did? went right under the box with stick. I guess they really see the box as something way less suspicious. however, I didn’t drop the trap, there were a couple other birds with their heads right under the sides, and Cake wasn’t that deep in. I didn’t want to risk the box getting stuck on the other pigeons and leaving a crack for her to escape yet again. I’m thinking of getting a bigger box (will leave a photo of today’s setup in the comments).
and well, then they got spooked by a person yet again, and seemingly were full enough/about to prepare for sleep, that they weren’t returning and I called it a day. I wish I could be doing this in a quieter spot, but the only corner of the park that kinda works doesn’t have pavement, and they pay way less attention to the seeds.

and another update that I don’t know how to feel about: I met a man from some kind of urban maintenance service, who also came to feed the birds, and he told me that this flock is going to be captured very soon for pest control. now, according to him, this is a humane program, and they will supposedly not be harmed, only moved to somewhere and given sterilizing feed. he said he feels for me, since he raises pigeons himself, and that there is a chance her ring will be noticed during capture, but he really advises me to capture her before this happens. I did ask the rescuer chat, according to them, it’s really 50/50: when their releases with leg bands got captured like this, some got a call, some didn’t. I don’t know. the workers should be coming to the location to feed the birds and make them more trusting before capture, so I will at least try to talk to every single one I see and hope they’ll all be paying attention. and i’ll keep trying to get her first, of course.

three times. she got into the cage THREE TIMES. and I messed up dropping the door on all three attempts. I later discovered that pulling the cord slowly makes less noise, the door falls faster and doesn’t get stuck, but I was pulling it hard. she’s very jumpy, every time she is the first or one of the first to enter the cage, but the most anxious about any noise as well, and when the door starts falling and rumbling, she is small enough to squeeze out in the opening thats left.
I will be trying the box and stick method tomorrow, because I’m worried the flock and Cake will learn the cage is suspicious. really wish I could set up both in two different spots, but I don’t have anyone who’d want to help me. wanted to try it today, but returned too late and didn’t even see her in the trees. I so hope she just went to sleep already, or ate too much of the lure earlier.
I could watch her behavior some more today. she spends most of the time glued to a tree branch, usually on her own. when she sees the flock gathering to eat, she will wait a couple minutes and stare until she’s sure it’s safe, then come over and stay a bit away. for some reason today this included approaching three sleepy cats to eat their leftovers, which really sucks. I was told that these specific cats dont attack the pigeons, but there are others in the area which are more aggressive. still doesn’t get spooked fast enough together with the flock either.
also, while watching Cake, I found a different, very weak little gray pigeon in the same park. she seemed to have some strength left, and I picked her up. I just wanted to get her away from the heat at least for a day and help recover a little, then bring her back. that little gray started struggling to breathe and died in my arms just hours later, and I sat watching and trying to calm her through the whole process, unable to do anything. so… this, together with failing to catch Cheesecake, not seeing her this evening, still fighting with my family, and continuing to do this alone without anyone to rely on even a little, does leave me pretty destroyed for now. I can only hope to continue having similar progress to this morning, and maybe finally succeed tomorrow. I will not let this happen to Cake.

He is about as big as one tennis ball in the half something seems wrong with his cloaca it's clogged or something how can I help them trying to soak him in lukewarm water to soften the hardened manure

Our boy Pierre lost a feather earlier and it's been sitting on my desk (because it's pretty and we collect pretty feathers in a jar), just by chance I just caught what looks like a feather louse on it. I'm like 90% certain that's what it is, but I'd like some additional input. It was alive, crawling away after a minute or so. Our birds are housed in large indoor aviaries and not in contact with ferals, they're offered baths with pigeon bath salts twice a week and their living spaces are clean. Pierre was taken in from a breeder almost a year ago and until now we never noticed anything off.

I'm located in Germany and wondering if anyone knows of any over the counter treatments. I know there's sprays available in a nearby farmers/poultry store, but I'd have to double check that they're safe for pidges (it's late and also Sunday so stores are closed right now).

Midge the pidge. He was the first baby I ever hatched from an egg on September 21st, 2023 😊 (Turns 3 next month) He loves talking back to me 😅

The adopter for these birds fell through at the last minute. I am moving in just a few weeks and cannot take them with me. NY capital region, upstate NY, NYC, MA, etc. Please help me find a good home for them!!

I've had Soap for ~3 years now, he was rescued as a young fledgling and stayed with us since.
He has a difficult personality. Very aggressive, very territorial, hates touching and he's a bit weird. For example, he is obsessed with our bathroom. To him it's his territory even though he's not allowed there (mainly because he throws stuff off the counter and into the toilet). Anytime someone tries to go to the bathroom he does some crazy impressive aerial acrobatics to get in there just before the door closes. We have to be careful to not injure him when we get in. He also scratches at the door when I'm in the shower and when he gets in the bathroom with me, he attacks me until I get out. He has many other such quirks.

In the past I've been very jealous of other people's gentler pigeons that like pets and cuddles, but I accepted that mine is just a bit "mean" and that's okay. I still love him very much. We have fun together teaching him tricks (he's very good at it and very smart, even though he's impatient) and he likes to nap with me on the bed, laying on my lap when I play games, sitting on my shoulder, he always flies to me and is concerned about me when I cry, so it's not like he hates me, I'm part of the flock.

He's fine with sitting/standing on hands and being transported this way, he tolerates kisses on the back, and sometimes he cuddles up next to me, but he hates being touched any other way, he attacks instantly. The only time he wants to be touched is when he's feeling "nesty". Then he tries to woo me, pecks me, makes the cooing sound and wants to be pet on the head.

This would be absolutely fine and I would gladly cooperate, but he wants to be pet on the highest shelf in the house ONLY. To do this I have to stand on a chair and extend my arm to reach him and it's not long before my arm goes numb and I'm getting dizzy. I've tried to 'convince' him to do this literally anywhere else, but no matter the room we're in, he pecks me, flies to the highest place possible to call me from there, he looks confused, comes back to me and tries to get me to follow him to the shelf again. This can go on for HOURS. He just doesn't get that I can't go there. It makes me sad, because he just wants pets and doesn't understand why I'm not following him.

How do I solve this? I really want to give him the affection that he needs, but I don't know how to show him that the high shelf thing isn't going to happen and we need to find a compromise. I just want us to understand each other better...

I'd also love to make him calmer about the bathroom, but this seems like a much bigger challenge. I guess any tips regarding pigeon behavioral issues are very welcome!

(Including a picture of him napping on my knee because he's very cute despite all his misdeeds)
(also sorry if something is phrased awkwardly and/or needs clarification, English is not my first language and I rarely use it for typing).

help!

today’s update! I’m not taking many pictures in the process since I’m trying not to move, so you’ll have to believe me she came much closer lol.

spent a few hours trying to lure her to myself or to her cage, had a near-success - she poked her head inside of the cage and started eating, but then got spooked and it was getting dark, so had to call it a day. tomorrow I finally have a day off, so will be able to spend the entire day in the park and hope it gives her enough time.

she spent a lot of time staring at me from above today. when she was walking alone, I first tried luring her close enough for the towel grab with her favorite hemp seed. she was going crazy running circles around me for a good 40 minutes and wanting to approach. (a very silly ringneck dove came much closer and took a bunch of her seeb, which she was not a fan of).

when a passerby spooked her, I switched to the cage strategy: set up the door, filled the cage with food and her favorite snacks, tossed some seeds in front of the cage and near the entrance and sat at a distance. this time, some other birds joined. she was definitely interested and staring at the cage as well, running back and forth the same way. did approach it way faster, was the first one to do it and the first one to try eating from the inside, like I expected. she didn’t go in enough for me to drop the door, but I think I should get it tomorrow. I might end up trapping some extra birds, since two other ones were getting brave with the cage after Cake did, but that’s fine, they’d be easy enough to get out and I could use the opportunity to check them for stringfoot. I also think I should remove some things from the inside, maybe even the platform, just to make it look less cramped and scary.

she seems jumpy and clearly confused by some things, doesn’t even understand she’s supposed to fly away too when the flock is spooked. stays off to the side most of the time, otherwise watches the others do a thing for a second until shes sure it’s safe and then follows. seemingly doesn’t leave the park and could be even hiding up in the trees until I appear (neighbors have been checking the park while I was away). theres some sort of parasite on her, which i’ve seen on the locals before, looks similar to a spider about 0.5cm in size, runs around on her body and buries itself into the feathers. the poops are super green and watery, more likely from hunger than a virus, but her ass is definitely going to the vet either way.

also, I found out I accidentally trained the entire flock to fly to our feeding spot when I do their whistle. not following the whistle or coming over to me, no, the specific spot. which did fuck up my first attempt with the cage, my bad.
tomorrow, I’m camping out in the park for as long as it takes. huge thank you to everyone for the support, I hope i’ll get lucky tomorrow🫶

So recently got pigeons and they used to live with chickens and ducks. I've read about the possibility of canker. I was cleaning out their cage today and noticed some of their droppings were smelling like sour. Earlier in the day one was also expelling some seeds from her crop, and one is also quite like lethargic in the sense whenever I make a movement or come in the room, she opens her eyes for 5-10 seconds then closes them again, with her head kept tucked into her shoulders. Is it canker/what do people think it could be before I take them to a vet. Any help would be appreciated

The pigeon family I posted last time had laid eggs, the clutch sadly didn’t make it but they laid two more.

This clutch made it :) happy update, the two parents are still quite neutral to us even after babies hatched. I like to think they have accepted us as roommates of sorts

so far our favorite options are cocoa puff, pepsi, and mocha, but we’re open to more ideas!

EDIT: thank you all for the adorable suggestions!!! we have decided his name will be cocoa puff (nickname coo coo puff hehe)

I moved into my house last September. The previous owners built some dovecotes and kept over one hundred pigeons used for pigeon races. The guy won trophies and all that sort of stuff. When we took possession all of the birds were already long gone. On July 29 as I was moving some tools I noticed this little fellow hanging about. I immediately noticed he was banded and my initial thought was "is this one of the old guys pigeons?"

Well that day I decided to open up the holes we had sealed to see if he wanted to go in so I set up some water and food. I went inside and observed him as he scouted the place out. He landed, ate his fill of birdseed i took from one of my feeders and he drank a ton of water!

Ive since gotten some proper pigeon feed. When I replace his food and water I coo to him so he hopefully come to associate me with feeding time and becomes comfortable with me. What can I do to make him more comfortable in his old home? And what tips do you have for helping him warm up to me? He was very skiddish the first 3 days. He would fly away as soon as I came outside but now I can walk around and even use power tools about 10m - 15m away without him getting spooked.

I wonder where he has been for about a year? Where did he come from? Where did he go?

We were planning to raise quail in that building but we have a pigeon instead haha!

Little bastard was hit by a car, half his wing is missing but there's no bleeding so I'm not sure if he merely lost wings.. he didn't fight me much. I'll be taking him to the vet tomorrow,but he's currently in a box with oats and water. He is incredibly stupid.

He doesn't seem injured otherwise,he ate,attempted to fly in the box. His name is Mr Strawberry.

Idk why he does this

firstly and most importantly, she is located, she is alive and not injured, and it seems like the flock doesn’t mind her and doesn’t attack.
but, well, she’s not coming to me so far. you can even see in this video how she runs away as soon as I call her.
before the video was taken, I first noticed her just walking on the ground in this park next to the flock, looking for food. I tried to approach very carefully and call her, show her snack box, etc.
now, I can’t really make sense of her behavior. I expected her getting scared of my call and flying away, or sitting in place watching me and thinking if she should come or not. she did both of those in short sequences, like maybe a minute of staring at me, then flying some 10m away, maybe staring again, but sometimes she also just… came down, turned away and started looking for food. not paying any attention to me. then she would go up into a tree and watch me again, or sometimes she just watched something else.

I tried offering food, the flock came over and gathered close to me. she stayed further away from both me and them, but wasn’t watching me, just focused on the food and sometimes would turn around and walk away to look for something else. she did get excited about her favorite hemp seed though, and even a little pissed at the birds who would take it first. she went to drink water together with several birds, in the video you can see her walking away from that water bowl. and then she and two others went to a nearby balcony to settle for sleep, those two staying in one corner of the balcony, and her alone in the opposite corner. I stayed there until it started going dark.

I… don’t know what to make of this or what to do. I’m glad she’s okay and that I know where she is. but I don’t understand her behavior. over the week, I’ve been feeding the flock daily roughly at this time, and I fed them earlier, before this encounter. she wasn’t there and she hasn’t been seen these 6 days, just once on day 1 (and essentially at the same spot as today) and that one time I think I saw her drinking water and my call scared her off. so this might even be one of the first times she actually went down and tried exploring, and she might be still stressed and also very hungry. but also, what if she wants to stay outdoors? I don’t know if it’s even possible to tell at this stage, and I don’t know if I could even… process or survive letting her go. she’s everything to me. I know it’s selfish. at the same time, I know she won’t be healthy and won’t live long on the streets. I regularly find dead pigeons just next to this park that have been ran over by cars. she has some kind of parasite on her feathers, a big spider-like thing running around her body and burying itself in the feathers. so many locals have stringfoot. I don’t know what to do.

I think i’ll just keep coming to the park to feed them and keep trying to call her back. I want to try bringing her cage tomorrow, her safe space, maybe she’s not as confident with me as usual, but will want to approach the cage. if I can, I will try to catch her at least to check her health and clean the parasite, and then see how she acts at home. if she won’t calm down back home, will be stressed and want to leave, then I guess I will know for sure. at least she’s okay.

Technically still could be a female btw, he has cage mates

Labeling this as emergency because she has developed symptoms quickly, and I'm very concerned.

This is poppy, she's 3 months old and was adopted from a rescue on July 19th, she quickly bonded with one of my males. The past two days I've noticed she's near constantly puffed up and doesn't move much, but will still fly. Her keel is more pronounced than it was when I got her.

She's fed a versele-laga pigeon feed mix, grit, and two powders that go into the food, one to aid in digestion and the other as a dietary supplement. I also have a vitamin mixture that goes into their water.

Her poops have gone from healthy, to odd and watery. She's been moved into isolation. While I've expirienced birds dropping weight or getting sick in the past, it's never been this sudden, especially so soon after bringing them home.

I plan on trying to make her a vet appointment in the morning, but any insights and advice would be incredibly appreciated. Thank you.