Recently rescued a 2 year old lost racing pigeon. He has been with me for about a month now. He seems very happy in his cage! Lots of beak smacking, loafing, squinting eyes and will occasionally accept peanuts from my hands. He does not like any handling so I avoid putting my hands close to him. I sit in front of his cage and do my normal routine, like I eat my meals in front of him and watch YouTube ect. He is very comfortable with me, but still wont come out of the cage.

Im worried because he refuses to come out of his cage. Even when the door is left open. He is very happy in his cage, but I worry about his enrichment. I would like to continue trying to bond with him so I can harness train him and be able to take him outside. I feel bad that he stays in his cage all day.

What can I do to gain more of his trust?? And when he does eventually come out, how should I go about dealing with the poop? Since he wont accept handing I can’t train him to use Flypers. What else can I do?

I finally went to a vet, the vet told me there was nothing to do and to continue with the toothpaste and gave me vitamins. Thank you all for helping me take care of this little fella! I want be posting much because I’ll start school soon but I’ll try too keep y’all updated !

He’s a teenager so I figure he’s play fighting but I don’t want to annoy him. He will sometimes just bite my entire finger or nip it but not as hard as he can it seems like. His wings wiggle and I can’t tell if it’s a happy wiggle. He doesn’t wing slap. Also does anyone else’s pigeon nip their septum piercing? Excuse his messy carrier and food in the back

Hi everyone! I'm in NJ, Jersey Shore area & rescued a young racing pigeon that hasn't yet been trained. He was on my roof for 1-1/2 wks and I was finally able to catch him yesterday. I need to find a safe home for him, not in the racing community, for fear of culling. I cannot keep him. Is there anyone that can help, PLEASE ?

i have a visiting wood pigeon and he left this blue poop? any ideas on what this could be? do i need to help?

She does this every time I put her in bed for the night, there’s usually cooing involved, I assumed it was territorial / defensive as she’s just gotten situated in her new cage but just tonight the cooing and pecking was followed by wing twitches. Never wing slaps. Do you guys think this is just territorial behavior?

My poor boy is having quite the molt. I do have another pigeon (female) but he absolutely hates her and doesn't really let her near him :'). He's not showing signs of discomfort or hurt, but his head has hundreds of pins and I can't imagine that would be very comfortable for him. Is there anything I can do to help? Thanks! *He's letting me touch him in the pics, he's sat down happy to get pets and his wings are happy tapping. I promise he's perfectly fine 😭

My pigeon (Morrissey) is a teen, and I’ve had him for around a month? He seems to be molting, and getting those little white spikes on his head. it’s freaking me out, idk why it just looks so strange to me and it’s so uncomfortable to see. Why do they look like that? (I don’t have a picture so enjoy this one)

Haven't been able to find anything on this odd behaviour. What's she up to?

- Only does it when tired/comfortable, sometimes alongside beak smacking

- Sometimes ends with a sneeze or several sneezes but not always

- Checked her throat - I'm not expierenced but from what I found online everything looks fine; behaviour is normal (as far as molting + puberty allow)

- She doesn't do it regularly, but I can observe it about once a week I'd say, which just makes me more confused

Is this an exaggeration of beak smacking? Does she need to sneeze? Communication? Breathing issues? Dust in her nose? Hungry? I have no idea

Hi all, I'm looking into cage accessories/necessities and looking at two items in particular.

Pumice perches

Looking at pumice rock perches for keeping nails trimmed down. I'm seeing conflicting things online about them. The ones I see are made with parrots in mind, but Google AI (so take it with a pinch of salt) says that they are not good for pigeons as they have delicate skin on their feet that could be damaged by pumice perches.

Lava rock

Looking at a lava rock perch which, again, is made with parrots in mind. Says they are a good source of minerals and enrichment, Some sources saying not to use these for pigeons as they are sharp underfoot, but some people in Facebook pet pigeon groups saying they use lava rocks in plant pots to stop their pigeons throwing soil around and that the pigeons enjoy rolling the rocks around. My reading of this would be that perches wouldn't be suitable but smaller rocks might be fun for them.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with these items? My most immediate concern is getting something that can keep their nails trimmed down as they are not happy being handled for manual trims. I have a flat rock in there at the moment. I've heard bricks too but haven't found a suitable one yet, just ones that have cement chips on them that could break off which I wouldn't want them ingesting. I might be overthinking this, the rock I have could be fine. The lure of buying new shiny things for them is strong!

Would love to hear what kind of cage accessories you have for your pigeons other than these two things too! Anything that your pigeons love to play with? Or activities that keep their mind active?

Sporting a mohawk, DEMANDING to be fed, and when I got home last night, green band was chilling OUTSIDE of the nest, totally flipping his tail to any sort of curfew. Is almost 2.5 weeks when they start entering the tweens stage? 😂

Dove appears to be going with the "you know you're replaceable, right?" method of parenting--I found an egg on the first floor of their cage last night. It was chilling by itself. I picked it up and tossed it then noticed she was hunkered down in the middle of the cage. I figured she had another egg under her, confirmed by the wing slap she aimed at me when I picked up the bowl nearby. Dealt with food and water, picked up a paper towel tube sitting in there, and nudged her off her "egg". It was a cat ball. She had left the actual egg out on the cold and was brooding a plastic cat jingle ball. I was like, you know what, you can keep that one. Go for it.

Second to last photo is white band demanding I produce food from my nonexistent crop while sporting an adorable mohawk. So stinking cute ❤️ (was supposed to be the first photo... my photo order got screwed up somehow 😂)

Is there an easier way to secure traditional bird cage items to a dog crate? The bar spacing is so much more then a bird cage is. I've been abusing zip ties but that can't be stable long term.

One of my pigeons continuously makes this yearling-like movement, three to six times (mostly while grooming) , and then stops, only to start again later. However, I don't think she's sleepy. I took her to the vet a month ago and they both received medication for coccidiosis and trichomoniasis, as well as probiotics, due to a bacterial infection.

Does anyone know what this is? It took so much work to earn her trust, so I don't want to destroy that with a vet visit if it isn't necessary.

Hi! i have a one month old pigeon i bought yesterday and ive noticed every time he tries to eat the seed he drops it, and gives up, any tips? im worried hes not eating enough

UPDATE - he’s starting to eat! i found out he just struggled to eat the bigger seeds so we sprinkled the smaller ones around his cage and he’s successfully eating them, thank you everyone for the advice!

Finally caught my pigeon's LouseFly.

Did i overreact?

They're working on building a nest on the ground floor already with all the things. I guess they decided it was time to share between nests 😂

Around July I’ve got two pigeons from a breeder who insisted on making them free fly,since they could come back home. I was skeptical but since he’s the breeder I was like “he know better than me”. So I ended up getting these race pigeons,and after about a month of getting them he had told me to make them free fly. I listened and…they didn’t come back. Not even gonna tell you how much this effected me.
In a couple days I should get these two new pigeons,always from him,but I highly doubt I’ll ever let them free fly

What do you think? Think they can live a good live without being outside?

Hello, one of my friends rescued a pigeon off the street. He's keeping it as a pet but since it's very young he believes he might do something wrong imprinting-wise. The pigeon sometimes rubs its butt on him and he fears it might be trying to court him.

Edit: realised I didn't give enough details so: He found the pigeon in very poor conditions, slowly got it to eat some seeds and soft foods (all safe stuff) and got it checked out by someone who takes care of pigeons. It's grown a bit since then and is now between one or two months old. Behaviour wise it's very clingy, it wants to be around him all the time.

We don't have any experience with birds of any kind, he did some research but reading and doing are very different things. We could really use some pointers and help, thanks!

I am adopting this boy polo, and i want to order a ring once i’ve measured him, but due to the muffs on his legs where do i place it/measure from?
hes going to be an indoor pet mostly (hopefully working towards harness training and recall) but i want a ring just in case!

also trying to think of other names or shall i just keep polo? :)