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My birdies :)

G

georgie_f

Mama Doe
I know pigeons aren't everyone's cup of tea but my whole flock were out in the sunshine a couple of days ago so I thought I'd share some pictures as I don't think I've introduced the whole flock before! :lol::wave:

Monty -


Catch (why bother flying when you can con your hoomin into carrying you about?! :roll:) -


Airbus, Monty, Doris and Fetch -


The coloured pidgies here are Colin, with Sanchez hidden behind him, Pilot and Ted. I'm not sure who the white ones are as I can't see their legs rings! :oops: -


Colin, Pilot and Ted. Ted looks really manky in this one! :lol: She's really old though so we'll forgive her ;) -


Alan, Milton, Roast, Witwicky, Dinner and Padstow -


Catch, Pilot, Sanchez, Milton, Colin and Ted (and Fetch hidden at the back!) -


And Doris and Airbus -


I do love my rather odd pets! :love:
 
They're really easy to look after. :)

On a daily basis - I let them out of the shed at about 9.30am, fill up their seed and water pots and their bird bath and then shut them back in again as it starts to get dark (they put themselves away so I just have to go and shut the door).

Cleaning them out is a bit grim. Their poo gets really dusty as it dries (and it sets like concrete! :lol:) and it's actually really bad for you if you breathe it in. I try and clean up as much as I can every other day or so and then wash the floor and perches with soapy water a couple times a month.

They also have worming stuff in their water once a month and I spray them and the shed with mite treatment every few months.

I really like having them, it's so nice to be able to let them out to fly free and know that they'll come back. :love:
 
So they can fly about and always come back to their roost at night, that's really cool.

I have parakeets and I know what you mean about the poo. One time one of my birds managed to poo down the wall and it had dried before I noticed. I wiped half the paint off the wall trying to get it off.:lol:
 
Gorgeous :love:

I had pigeons from when I was about 6 until 17. Absolutely loved them and it taught me from an early age about responsibility. Will have to have a root in the photo box and see if I can find some pix.

We used to remove/hard boil the eggs to keep numbers down, eventually nature took it's course and the flock gradually reduced.
 
Yep, they've always all come home again. :)

I lost one to a sparrow hawk at my old house and a couple have flown off and never come back - I've never really known what happened to them... but I figure three in six years isn't too bad.

The alternative is leaving them shut in all the time which isn't nice for the birds. They have a lot of natural instinct in them and if they spot anything they don't like the look of, they'll all dart back in the shed. The ones I lost were all newly out of the shed (the bird at the old house was one of my first pigeons and she got confused when I let her out for the first time and sat right at the top of a tree. She was white so she was an easy target :( The other two disapeared not long after we moved, they probably tried to fly back to the old house but got lost en-route).

The evening head count is always a bit of a nail biter but they're always all there these days. :)
 
Rykat said:
Gorgeous :love:

I had pigeons from when I was about 6 until 17. Absolutely loved them and it taught me from an early age about responsibility. Will have to have a root in the photo box and see if I can find some pix.

We used to remove/hard boil the eggs to keep numbers down, eventually nature took it's course and the flock gradually reduced.
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I'd love to see some pictures! :D:wave:

I give my birds plastic eggs to sit on although I had two new arrivals (Roast and Dinner) this year as their sneaky Mum rolled the plastic eggs down the back of the shed and I didn't realise. :oops::roll:
 
georgie_f said:
I give my birds plastic eggs to sit on although I had two new arrivals (Roast and Dinner) this year as their sneaky Mum rolled the plastic eggs down the back of the shed and I didn't realise. :oops::roll:
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Does that mean you have piccies of baby pigeons? :wave: What is 'really old' for a pigeon? I like the scruffy one particularly. :love:
 
Oh my god this is fantastic!!! How do you get them to stay with you and not fly away? Do you have to keep them in there shed for a day to get them used to it or anything? Is it the same with doves as well? Becuase I'm sure I recently spoke to someone who had doves and they said they let them out during the day...

Sorry. I sounds like an excited child... :oops:

Oh my, I would love to own some beautiful pigeons! This will be the dream!! :D
 
susie bun said:
Does that mean you have piccies of baby pigeons? :wave: What is 'really old' for a pigeon? I like the scruffy one particularly. :love:
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I do indeed! They're not very pretty though! :lol:

This is baby Catch -



I had to handrear Catch as I never realised her parents had even made a nest, much less hatched an egg and I accidentally moved her and her parents abandoned her. :oops::( It was the middle of November so I had no choice but to bring her in and warm her up on a hot water bottle! :lol:

ETA - I forgot to answer your age question! Doh! Ted is at least six. I've had her for six years but she was an adult bird when I was given her so she could be older. I think the average lifespan of a pigeon is about five (but they can live quite a lot longer, I think the average is low because of the amount that get caught by predators :()
 
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Terri_louise177 said:
Oh my god this is fantastic!!! How do you get them to stay with you and not fly away? Do you have to keep them in there shed for a day to get them used to it or anything? Is it the same with doves as well? Becuase I'm sure I recently spoke to someone who had doves and they said they let them out during the day...

Sorry. I sounds like an excited child... :oops:

Oh my, I would love to own some beautiful pigeons! This will be the dream!! :D
Click to expand...

Awwhh! It's nice to have them appreciated for a change! :lol: Most pigeon species have homing instincts so they'll always return to the place were they know they'll be safe and where there's food. Birds that are born here will fledge and be allowed straight out as they'll follow their parents back in again.

Moving house was a bit of a pain though - they're homing instincts would have taken them back to my old house if I'd let them straight out. I had to keep them shut in for six months until they'd learnt the shed was their new home and that's where the food is. :) I have to do the same with any new adult birds that arrive too (I've been given some unwanted birds here and there).
 
Oh my goodness, bless the little baby birdie! :love::love::love: I'm very impressed at your hand-rearing a pigeon. We have collared doves visiting our garden again after a huff that lasted several years following their favourite tree being cut down.
 
susie bun said:
Oh my goodness, bless the little baby birdie! :love::love::love: I'm very impressed at your hand-rearing a pigeon. We have collared doves visiting our garden again after a huff that lasted several years following their favourite tree being cut down.
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Baby pigeons are funny looking things! I find them quite ugly I must admit, but they have a certain charm! :lol:

I have a video of slightly bigger baby Catch on my Facebook -

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=709523573&v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=48731418573

I'm not sure if you'll be able to see it or not though, I can't think if I put privacy settings on it or not. :oops: (BTW, it says 'he' but she's definately a 'she' now! :lol:)
 
Drat, can't see it. Nevermind, I didn't think today would bring a picture of a baby pigeon when I crawled out of bed this morning, groaning as I remembered I had a training day to attend. I can just see my Dad's face if I started a campaign for pigeons - it took me 8 months to get 1 rabbit installed! :roll::roll::roll:
 
susie bun said:
Drat, can't see it. Nevermind, I didn't think today would bring a picture of a baby pigeon when I crawled out of bed this morning, groaning as I remembered I had a training day to attend. I can just see my Dad's face if I started a campaign for pigeons - it took me 8 months to get 1 rabbit installed! :roll::roll::roll:
Click to expand...

I've changed the privacy settings so try it again and it should work ;) Turn your volume down though as baby pigeon squeak is an awful noise! Like nails on a blackboard.

I just found a flight photo lurking in my imageshack folders too...



:love:
 
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