How to take care of a pigeon?

Question

I just bought a pigeon of a farm and I want to know details on how to care for it. right now i put it in a pet carrier i use to take my dogs to the vet. I bought wild bird feed and put a bowl of water in the cage.

is this enough? What else should I do? How do I get it to be less scared?

Answer 1

well i have two doves..so closest thing i can say is get a pig cage and thick perches. the food should not be wild food. It should be a mixture or peanuts.sunflower seeds.. and oats and little bread crums. Adding dove food is also good. a pigeon is almost like a dove.

get active toys.,.not too much.

Answer 2

birds, by nature are naturally scared, they wont fully get over this, but you can keep your hand around them, and get them used to you more. for the cage, you should probably either make one, or buy a bird cage... a dog carrier is hard to clean, and it will disturb the bird to take it out and clean the cage. either buy some wire, small wire, and some clips to put it together, nothing fancy, just enough to hold it. if you are going to keep the cage outside, put something on top of it, or at least something to keep the weather out. if it is inside, either put something on the bottom of the cage, to catch all its trash worthy droppings, or put something under the cage, where you can pick it up and take it away. if you intend on letting it out eventually, dont let it out before at least one month has passed in your care. make sure it stays in one general area of where it will live, and after at LEAST one month, preferable a little longer, you can let it out. my pigeons are outside, and i can let them go for up to 2 days at a time, but each night they will return to their nest... then again, i live in the country, so it may be different where you live. for the bowl of water, it would probably be easier to get a bird waterer. it has a bottom where the water can go into, and the bird cant dump it out. the feed is okay too, but they can eat just about anything, but do NOT, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT put rice in its cage. the rice would swell in its stomach, and it will DIE. with pigeons, their favorite food is sunflowerseeds, with the shell on. to get it used to you, maybe you could put some sunflowers in its cage, and let it eat them. after a few days of that, set your hand, unmoving, into the cage, close to the food. after a few days of that, move it closer, until you can put the food into your hand. it should grow used to that, and it will eat from your hand. my birds will fly to me and drink water that i have in a bowl from my hand... and they do that with food if they are tired of eating off the ground... i have black and white fantails. after a while, if you want to, you can give your bird a friend. you could buy another pigeon or 2 or 3 if you want to have a family of birds. once they have a mate, they will be mates for life. if you want them to have eggs and a nest, you need to either buy or make a nest. what i did is i got some boards and made a box without a top, and it was only about 4 inches deep. it needs to be tall enough for the eggs not to fall out, but for the baby not to accidentally fall. you should either fill the box with some straw or some old rags you dont mind not having. for the eggs, they will lay one egg the first day, and then another the next day. both parents will sit on the eggs, they will alternate. (oh, and before you get too many birds, make sure they have proper room. if you want 4 birds at once, give them as much room as you think they would be comfortable in.and, you will have to think of the eggs for when they hatch too.) normally, from what i have learned from my birds, the first egg laid will be male, and the second female. they also, (for MY birds) are color coded. with mine, the males have the most black, and the females are the most white. i dont know how it works, but that is what mine do.

i hope you enjoy your new bird!!! have a great day!

-Angel

Answer 3

Is your bird a young one or fully grown bird ? first things first,right now it is a question of adjusting to new surroundings , all things are new,cage,food & handler,given time your pigeon will accept all & hopefully the two of you will be like old friends .

A pigeon would be most comfortable in a well ventilated sturdy cage with a strong perch,food receptacles need to be kept off the floor boards ,cleanliness is of utmost importance as with all pets .A movable cage can be a great help adjusting to weather conditions .Experience with my fantail pigeons tells me that they soon overcome hesitancy born of fear /mistrust & then can be handled with ease .