AIBU to ask for help - lost homing pigeon?

[Periperipissoff]

Help me!

A homing pigeon has been hanging around for days, it's dirty, tired and soooo friendly.

It's beautiful, white with what looks like paint under its wings.

I read on here a while ago that if you report a lost homing pigeon they are collected and destroyed because obvs they aren't good homing pigeons anymore.

Is this true? Reading mixed reports about this online.

Sorry for using aibu for this but I don't know what to do. I don't want the little guy to get pts 😔

Can you read the number on its wings? Or on a leg ring? Normally in my experience an owner will come to collect, I've not heard of them being PTS! You can ring the RPRA too if you want to report it.

Hello! Pigeon rescuer here 😊

Ideally you should contact the owner if it has a phone number on it, but you’re right, some “fanciers” WILL destroy the bird 😡

If you’re going to contact the owner, give them an out immediately- say you’re happy to keep it if they don’t want it, and often they’ll accept the offer if they’re not interested in the bird.

As for the bird - they make great pets if you want to offer it a home! They’re social though and it would probably want a mate. It could do with checking over by someone who knows what they’re doing to make sure it’s health etc.

Theres a few brilliant pigeon facebook pages that I’d highly recommend, assuming you’re UK based

Pigeon Rescue and Protection UK will help to find a rehabber in your area, and you may even be able to find a home for it with someone who has an aviary 💖

Also Pigeon Adoptions UK is also a great place to find it a home or ask for advice.

Good luck and keep us updated!

PS - can we have a photo? 😊

I found a homing pigeon once obviously exhausted. I managed to get it into a box and brought it home. I googled and found a forum for pigeon fanciers (is that the term). I posted and someone local came and picked it up. I never got the impression that it would be anything other than taken care of. I hope it was anyway. Sorry can't help more than that.

Also, to keep in mind, pigeon racing in general is not kind to the birds. Aside from them being forced to fly long and dangerous journeys, the methods of “homing” the birds so that they want to get back as fast as possible involves constant emotional manipulation of them. It’s genuinely cruel, especially when you learn what sweet and lazy birds they are when left to their own devices 😞

In the meantime, get him some wild bird seed and pop a bowl of clean water out for it. If you have a larger container, it might even have a bath. They love water and bathe regularly 💜

I've never heard of them being destroyed, my understanding is that the owner will be glad to have them back. He won't cope in the wild long term for sure. We had one in our garden last summer, we gave him water and fed him, he was very hungry, he settled down and has a bit of a rest, next day he flew away

Yea we'll offer it a home why not 🤣😍 I love pigeons!!

Will get a pic shortly its in a box just resting atm, I've already had it out cuddling it for ages its very very sweet ☺️

There is a number, starts with belg2022. I'll report it but like you say will give the owner an out. This little birby getting pts is not gonna happen!

Hes got bird seed and a shallow water dish and I've put a toy duck in for company.

Belg2022 - maybe from Belgium?

I'm looking on FB and there's people in Thailand selling pigeons with belg2022 tags so I have no idea!! Not how I expected to spend my only day off in 2 months searching the Internet for lost pigeon info but whaddyagonnado 🤣

I can hear it tapping about in the box, you have NO idea how hard it is to resist the temptation to just sit cuddling it all day long!!!

Agree, that’s not a British bird! Unlikely they’ll want to pay courier fees to take it back to Belgium…

Glad you’re going to offer a safe and loving home 🥰 they really are proper little characters!

I have a couple of disabled birds and also some of my rescues that moved in and won’t leave lol

Just in case......what would we keep it in? I can go out later and buy a big bird cage or would we need a proper aviary set up outside? We have a lot of cats around here.....starting to think my dream of having a pet pigeon is slipping away if we can't care for him properly 😔

Tbf we'd probably have him free-roam around the house a lot if the time if the dog is ok with that (I think she will be she's very chill with birds magpies land near her all the time in the garden and she gives no shits just watches them)

I'm aware they shit where they stand but meh, it's only poo. It can be cleaned.

How do you emotionally manipulate a pigeon?

It depends really - if you’re going to allow him to free roam the house, then a large parrot cage or a large dog crate would be sufficient as a bed and nest area. If he’s going to be confined for majority of the time then an aviary is more appropriate.

It’s possible to let them free fly outside, mine do because I had no plans to keep pigeons and it’s purely their choice to stay, but of course that may mean he disappears off again and doesn’t come back. If he has a mate and makes a nest, then it’s much more likely he will come home again (and probably spend a LOT of time with his mate, kissing and snuggling and just generally being very loving and cute!

You can buy pigeon pants if he’s going to be roaming indoors a lot, to help with the mess! I keep meaning to get some for my disabled birds so they can spend more time in the house.

Pigeon pants you say.......OK this pigeon is a step closer to moving in with us!!

I will try and track the owner though ☺️

I've just got to pop out but when I'm back I'll post a pic of my new buddy who shall be called Batman.

They mate for life, they have a very strong bond with their partner, and they’re caring parents. Both birds incubate the eggs, both birds feed their young.

The homing techniques are a mixture of

• getting a pair to bond, have eggs and sometimes even young, then taking one bird away so the other thinks it’s a single parent, then take THAT bird away and race it. The poor thing wants to rush back to the nest so it’s babies don’t die

• jealousy techniques - putting two cocks in cages either side of a hen so they both think she’s their mate. Then letting one cock see the other cock with the hen. Then taking him away to race, so he will rush back to his hen as he feels threatened

And other similar techniques that basically all involved constantly removing the birds from their mates and families, often only allowing them to spend 30 mins or so together as a “reward” for racing.

I have several bonded pairs and I know how much it would upset them to do this. One of my hens got stuck behind a tub of feed in my garage a few weeks ago, and I didn’t know. I thought she just hadn’t come back that night. Her partner was going mad and wouldn’t settle, I knew something was wrong. He was trying to tell us where she was so we could help her and he wouldn’t go to bed until she was safe. They love one another.

Brilliant!

If he’s moving in then you may want to upgrade his food to pigeon conditioner. There’s also lots of supplements and medicines available on pigeon fancier sites. See what his poo is like - it’s its forms and brown then you’re looking good, if not he may need a course of treatment. I’d probably get some harkers 4 in 1 and some moxidectin just to ensure he’s free of worms. And perhaps some ivermectin spot on for lice.

You’re lovely, OP 😃

This is so sweet. You're amazing, OP. Hope DDog loves Batman

I had mo idea how cruel the "sport" of pigeon is .
Using their maternal/paternal instinct
Jealousy over a mate
Drowning
And I will wager a huge % die in training or in flights

Looks like you have A Pigeon now and he will be ver' ver' confused that He Thinks You Think he's A Duck

Had one here last year it was a heartwarming story.
It just needed to recover, rest, eat and drink for a few days.
Spent a number of nights on a house windowsill elsewhere 400 metres away, and daytimes with me eating birdseed.
The pigeon safely got home - “back with her brothers” we heard from the owner…..she was only 5 months old 😊

You have yourself a coo-l pet now op....
Congratulations..

toy duck in for company.

This is the sweetest thing I've read fir a while, and genuinely made me giggle 😃

I think I love you Periperipissoff.