Attn: Camille (& everyone can read)

05-27-2007, 10:27 AM

I was going to PM you with this question but then I realized that the answer might be of interest to other members too. Forgive me if you've addressed this topic before. Basically, you are the only person I've heard of with pet pigeons! I'm just so interested in how you care for them. Where do they live? What do they eat? Can you handle and pet them? I see that you let them fly outside - I assume you have no trouble getting them back to you?

I am alone among everyone I know for admiring city pigeons. On my street, we have a pure white one who I often see. And at my local subway station (what we Londoners call 'the tube'), there are often pigeon nests in the spring in the steel ceiling beams. I've seen chicks (squabs?) and I've seen mom (or dad?) feeding the babies.

Basically anything you can tell me about you and your 2 pigeons and their care would be interesting! Your pictures of Mira are breathtakingly beautiful!

05-27-2007, 11:16 AM

Here is a thread that explains a little bit about them: Brokenwing.... I need to spend some time and put together one thread with their background and care with pictures. I'll try to get that done soon. Arty would be able to tell you a lot more about them!

Here is what I wrote somewhere else awhile back. We know Mollie is a male now, but I didn't want to go all the way through and change the she's to he's!

Quote:

I have already told the story of how Mollie came to live with me, but I thought I would share some pictures with commentary about her care and the kind of temperment she has. This is long, so if you're not interested in pigeons, than skip this thread. I just think they are such great birds, and not many people know much about them. BTW, sorry if these pictures are weird sizes- I still can't figure out what I'm doing wrong...

This is a picture of the shelterbelt of trees where her cage is. Our house is about 30 feet behind the camera. She lives outside year round, and gets out to fly around a few times a week.

Here is the tree house my dad, brother, and I built about 10 or so summers ago. It is starting to sag a bit, but you can see Mollie's cage underneath it. It used to be our rabbits cage.

This is just a close up of her cage. It is divided in 2 because we had 2 rabbits. However the divider didn't keep the rabbits separated, and it doesn't keep Mollie on one side exclusively. She can go over the top among a few other ways. She seems to love her cage. After she has been out for awhile (even as little as 5 minutes), she will follow me right back in there and hop back in her cage. (Now the divider has been fixed to allow Mollie and Mira to each have their own side). This is a rather old picture, so things have been fixed up a little bit.

This picture is a funny one, and actually very typical. Mollie has no known fears. The cats, save one, are rather indifferent leaning toward scared of her. My cat Simon will actually play with her- it's so cute. I wanted to get a picture of that, but he is still in the house nursing his broken leg. The dogs are petrified, and in this picture, she is chasing Sophie. Mollie thinks it's a game and gets so excited- the faster she runs, the faster her little head bobs and the louder her coos get. She is very playful, and very easy going.

Next is a picture of her flying to me on command. She usually comes when I call, especially when I am heading in the direction of her cage. She is very smart. A few years ago I let her out on a very windy summer day. She flew up and the wind caught her and carried her clear up and over the shelterbelt. We looked and looked and couldnt find her. It got dark, so we gave up. I was distraught of course, but wouldn't you believe it, the next morning she was walking up the sidewalk when I looked out the window.

Finally, a few pictures of the 2 of us. She is very sweet, but doesn't know the slightest about stepping up. It makes it difficult to handle her. However, she has gotten used to me wrapping my hands around her and carrying her that way. I don't know how much she weighs, but it's more than Ollie. Her wingspan we figure is about 20 to 21 inches. She (who is actually a He we believe) is a pretty chunky bird.

Mollie eats just wild bird seed, and whatever crop my dad has on hand that he throws in there- corn, milo, wheat, soybeans, sunflower heads. She is not a pet in the same sense that Dakota and Ollie are, but I love her to death. I think pigeons are great birds to own, and I am so thankful that I had the chance to raise her from a baby chick.

To add a little bit: Mira loves safflower seeds, and Mollie loves sunflower seeds. Mollie will eat just about anything. Mira is still a little leery of things.

They are very handleable (is that a word?). Neither of them enjoy being petted, but they both love to be on you somewhere...head, shoulder, arm, back... Mira feels more comfortable if I hold her close against me though. Mira does better about stepping up than Mollie does. Mollie prefers to come to me from flight. They both love all people. This weekend we're having a family reunion, so the pigeons had a crowd of about 15 people visiting them yesterday. They were both flying all around visiting people, landing on their heads and scaring them...

Mollie loves his cage, and I've never had any problems getting him back in there. When I let him out he'll follow me out of the trees (where their cage is), then when I walk back into the trees he'll be right behind me. So far with Mira we've been carrying her back and forth. Mira won't let you get more than 20 feet from her, and she prefers to be on you at all times.

I wrote this really fast- we have a family potluck dinner to get to and I'm being rushed along. I hope I answered all your questions! I'll work on getting a nice informational thread of my 2 guys put together sometime. Thanks for your interest Michele! Pigeons are such incredible creatures!

05-28-2007, 03:44 AM

Wow! Thanks Camille- that's so interesting, and exactly the kinds of things I wanted to know. I wish I lived closer so I could visit your pigeons.
Thanks for the post, and pics. I really enjoyed reading about their life with you and your family.

Btw - last night I took the subway and sure enough - two baby pigeons in a nest up on a steel ceiling beam, peeping. They were fully feathered but much, much smaller than adult pigeons. They also had that 'baby pigeon face' and beak, which I'm sure you know. They were so cute, and when people saw me looking up at them, it started drawing a crowd. So many people were saying, "are they baby pigeons? They are SO CUTE!!!" It was really nice because most people hate city pigeons.

05-28-2007, 03:56 AM

Speaking of saving baby pigeons, as you did with Mollie, I don't know if I ever told this story.

Last year I worked in one of the London Probation offices as Employment, Training and Education advisor. My job was to work with people serving their probation and help them find work or training - basically a career advisor. It was deep in the serious, hard-core bad neighborhood inner-city.

One day I was out on my lunch break, and I saw a little pigeon under an overpass, shivering. I approached him, and I got really close and he didn't fly off. He tried a little to move away, but it was evident that he couldn't move too well, and he was frightened to death.

I knew that there are really nasty kids and people around there, and I could just see someone kicking him for fun. So I went into a store to get a box. (Of course I choose a store that no one speaks English....eventually I was able to convey that I wanted a box for a bird, by acting it out...)

When I went to get him he was still there, and tried to run away from me in this pathetic way. Some young guy was walking down the street and I just kind of grabbed him and said, "help me get this pigeon into the box?" He didn't have time to object. Next thing you know, he's holding the box and I grab the pigeon. I get on the bus back to the office with my pigeon in a box.

When I got back to the probation office, all the probation officers were having lunch. I walked into the lunch room and said, "I have an injured pigeon in this box" People started saying, " get it out of here!!"

To make a long story short, he stayed under my desk and the RSPCA (like the SPCA but British so 'royal') came and got him. The man who picked him up said he had a broken wing. He also said he would take him to a wildlife rehabilitator. I hope he did.

05-28-2007, 06:30 AM

Camille, great story on short notice!

Smallonion, thank you for taking the time to help the injured pigeon.

05-28-2007, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smallonion

Speaking of saving baby pigeons, as you did with Mollie, I don't know if I ever told this story.

Last year I worked in one of the London Probation offices as Employment, Training and Education advisor. My job was to work with people serving their probation and help them find work or training - basically a career advisor. It was deep in the serious, hard-core bad neighborhood inner-city.

One day I was out on my lunch break, and I saw a little pigeon under an overpass, shivering. I approached him, and I got really close and he didn't fly off. He tried a little to move away, but it was evident that he couldn't move too well, and he was frightened to death.

I knew that there are really nasty kids and people around there, and I could just see someone kicking him for fun. So I went into a store to get a box. (Of course I choose a store that no one speaks English....eventually I was able to convey that I wanted a box for a bird, by acting it out...)

When I went to get him he was still there, and tried to run away from me in this pathetic way. Some young guy was walking down the street and I just kind of grabbed him and said, "help me get this pigeon into the box?" He didn't have time to object. Next thing you know, he's holding the box and I grab the pigeon. I get on the bus back to the office with my pigeon in a box.

When I got back to the probation office, all the probation officers were having lunch. I walked into the lunch room and said, "I have an injured pigeon in this box" People started saying, " get it out of here!!"

To make a long story short, he stayed under my desk and the RSPCA (like the SPCA but British so 'royal') came and got him. The man who picked him up said he had a broken wing. He also said he would take him to a wildlife rehabilitator. I hope he did.

I remember reading this story somewhere. I'm so glad you did what you did for him. The poor thing deserved a chance.