to feed the racing pigeon that is camped out on the bench in my garden

[YeahItsMe]

its been there for a couple of hours, showing no intention of leaving, even when we went and stood 6 feet away in the garden to have a fag get some fresh air.

AIBU to put out some food? Water?

DP says just leave it but I want to help it somehow

Has it got a tag, or a number stamped on it's wing?
We had one, rang the number and the bloke said it was a duff racer and he would come and dispose of it
He lived with us at the farm for a long time!

Some food and water won't hurt, poor thing!

A duff racer?!

Its got a yellow tag on its leg but I cant really see what it says. Was the number on the tag?

If its there in the morning, ill see if I can see a number. I hope its just resting and not injured.

Thanks landrover, Im going to put some water and google what they can eat and just leave them on the bench before I go to bed.

Its quite cute for a pigeon

I did this as a kid. Every morning I fed it a custard cream. Turns out pigeons are clever little buggers and it knew when I opened my curtains. This progressed to it tapping on my window after a few weeks every morning on the dot at eight wanting his biscuit.

I was so proud of myself and my pigeon training skills and my parents largely left me and pigeon to it. All was well until one summer afternoon it waddled into the lounge and sat on the back of the sofa behind me. I can still hear the squawk now (from my mother, not the pigeon)

Anyway, it was captured and despite my pleas taken to the nearest racing pigeon breeder.

3 months later, 8am.... tap, tap, tap

We had one visit us for a few weeks. He'd lost all his tail feathers and wasn't up for much flying. Fed him corn and gave him water until he flew home.

Hope he wasn't dispatched as a too slow bird :-( I miss that one it's probably why I occasionally feed the local pigeons

Sister - thats a great story, my DD would love it to stick around.

Wayward - I was thinking the same. Read a lot of stuff online that says the owner wouldn't bother keeping it if it couldn't find its way home or if they think they are too slow

Its still here, I have fashioned a bird table and placed water and rice in front of it, about an inch from its beak but it doesnt seem interested

I want to keep it

He's probably got lost and is tired. Give him some food and water and he'll be on his way once he's reorientated himself.

Mind you, I had one that camped on the corner of my roof for nearly 2 weeks. I rang the racing pigeon people and they told me the above advice. Sodding thing only moved to eat then it would be back, shitting bucketloads down my back door, annoying the cat and glaring at me through the window as I fed DS3 in the bedroom. Then one day it was gone.

I never found out where it came from as I couldn't read the band on it's leg, but I found out several months later that the bloke across the road kept pigeons. Wished I'd known that earlier.

My parents took it back a couple more times yeah, amusingly in one of those Ali baba style laundry baskets. It kept coming back.
Finally after return number three or four it never returned. Always had a soft spot for pigeons after that.

I was a seventies child and owning wild birds was a big thing back then. The lad a few doors up from me had a tame rook and I knew another with a crow. You don't see that anymore.

Keep it
Ours was eating (horse) food out our hands after a week. Thought it looked rather fat and sleek to discover it had been nicking oats and barley

Going to have to go to bed, hope its still here in the morning. If its a racer will it be used to being held? I want to check what it says on the tag to see if I can contact the owner.

Wish I could post a pic from the app, its a cute little thing