My pigeon chose me as a mate!

a pigeon i rescued as a fedgling who has pecked and wing slapped me all its life suddenly decided it wants me as its mate... shes suppose to be released as soon as the weather gets better (didnt want to release her during that horrible winter!!) shes about 6 months now, was around 1-2 months old when i found her. i hand fed her for only a week but she has always been very scared and hostile towards me. but one day i noticed shes been acting nicer towards me and today i tried "ooo-ing" to her because she was doing it and she got all excited so i opened the cage and she hopped onto my shoulder. now whenever i "ooo" she comes right to my shoulder and tries to preen my cheek. when i pet her she kneels down n her wing twitches. this is really weird but also cute! i saw the video about how birds can get violent when they become mated towards human because they cant "vent" their hormones correctly, will that happen with her? there are other pigeons i have but they are mated to each other and she wasnt reared by humans. i hope our new connection will make releasing her easy since after i let her fly outside shell come when called so i can let her out more and more each day, she can learn to be more wild, and hopefully one of the wild pigeons who live on my roof will catch her eye. if she doesnt want to stay permantly in the wild im not going to make her! shell always have a home with me and ill let her fly free whenever she wants :) but any advice on any of this??

Hi Ann Marie,
It's great to hear from you.
It sounds like your little rescue has imprinted on you.
This may make releasing her a little more difficult than one who is very defensive.

Please keep us posted on how things are coming along.

its such a big change yesterday she attacked me and today she threw a tantrum when i put her back into the cage after we hung out. i wont put my heart into releasing her but i use to let one of my previous pigeons fly free on nice days and he would put himself away in the cage when he was done. im thinking whenever i want to bring Lexxi (my imprinted bird) inside i can "call her to the nest" or just let her make her way back into the house or the coupe on her own. if she doesnt come back to either then thats her decision but shes the first out of my 3 pigeons to spot a hawk and is the most cautious, deffinately wild at heart i would hate to not give her the decision.

I think you're making all the right decisions by her. It's not unusual for hand-reared birds to transfer their affection to their carer, but as you say that's not a very satisfactory solution for the bird, whose life will necessarily be incomplete.
By letting her fly free and come back when she wants, she gets the chance to mingle with the feral pigeons and learn their survival skills, and hopefully one of these days she will find true love with another pigeon! But until that happens, she has a home to come to.

All the best, and please keep us posted.

She's BEAUTIFUL!

deffinately a cutie but i still have a biased love for muffins! (the blackish one)

zomg fishies wrote:

She's stunning, Ann Marie.

zomg fishies wrote:

deffinately a cutie but i still have a biased love for muffins! (the blackish one)

What a beautiful trio you have there.

thank you! i wouldnt trade them for the world!! I my 's

zomg fishies wrote:

thank you! i wouldnt trade them for the world!! I my 's

You are indeed a 'sweet 16' .

They are ALL beautiful!!! Muffins has a very cheeky look, like a pigeon who can change from little angel to little handful in the blink of an eye...
The one in the middle is a ringer for my visiting feral Valentine.

Teresa wrote:

They are ALL beautiful!!! Muffins has a very cheeky look, like a pigeon who can change from little angel to little handful in the blink of an eye...

The one in the middle is a ringer for my visiting feral Valentine.

It sure is.

you got her right! she can be the sweetest little ball of feathers one second, and the next she is planning world domination

zomg fishies wrote:

you got her right!

she can be the sweetest little ball of feathers one second, and the next she is planning world domination

well i guess she wasnt that imprinted on me, when i let her into the chicken run she saw my dad in it and turned around and flew out before i could shut the door and was fine until a male came down and danced to her. they mated 5 times so far and shes following him everywhere. this i guess could be her chance to be wild but he has a mate on a nest so i think devil just leave lexxi when hes done fooling around. anyone think she will come back to me?im worried and very sad i got quite attached to her over the last few days.

zomg fishies wrote:

well i guess she wasnt that imprinted on me, when i let her into the chicken run she saw my dad in it and turned around and flew out before i could shut the door and was fine until a male came down and danced to her. they mated 5 times so far and shes following him everywhere. this i guess could be her chance to be wild but he has a mate on a nest so i think devil just leave lexxi when hes done fooling around. anyone think she will come back to me?im worried and very sad i got quite attached to her over the last few days.

We have pigeons that were placed here that once were handfed pets, their former owners requested that we try to place them in one of our loft flocks.

These pigeons have found mates and are very happy living in the loft & still remain tame, they greet me every morning & if we are working around their flight they come to see.

I myself prefer to have a pigeon find a mate or at least another pigeon to be with, when possible.

She could be a pigeon that greets you or one that would rather get on with being a pigeon... only time would tell.

If she has a favorite treat and you do decide to let her live in the loft, just make sure everytime you go to the loft you bring her special treat for her. This should help keep her coming to you.

the boy she was mating with went back to its nest and she tried to follow so he attacked her. also a hawk almost got her she flew off as it came down and then it chased her. after 3 hours she came down and landed on my head so i brought her back into the run and she seemed content with my other 2 pigeons. she still acts the same towards me, cooing and poofing up when i talk to her and pet her. also i dont really have a loft just a chicken wire covered area where they can fly around safely when i bring them out and they spend most of the time in their cages in my room.

Boy, I'm glad the hawk didn't get her.

zomg fishies wrote:

the boy she was mating with went back to its nest and she tried to follow so he attacked her. also a hawk almost got her she flew off as it came down and then it chased her. after 3 hours she came down and landed on my head so i brought her back into the run and she seemed content with my other 2 pigeons. she still acts the same towards me, cooing and poofing up when i talk to her and pet her. also i dont really have a loft just a chicken wire covered area where they can fly around safely when i bring them out and they spend most of the time in their cages in my room.

I don't think I would let her fly loose if you have hawk activity around your place, Sooner or later the hawk is going to get her.

Since you have a flight that the pigeons can fly in they get the needed excercise in safety.

zomg fishies wrote:

the boy she was mating with went back to its nest and she tried to follow so he attacked her.

* also a hawk almost got her she flew off as it came down and then it chased her. after 3 hours she came down and landed on my head so i brought her back into the run and she seemed content with my other 2 pigeons.

she still acts the same towards me, cooing and poofing up when i talk to her and pet her.

also i dont really have a loft just a chicken wire covered area where they can fly around safely when i bring them out and they spend most of the time in their cages in my room.

That's a little scary. I'm glad she didn't get caught.
I'm sure it put a fright into her though.

im not letting her fly loose any longer, there are so many hawks around here 2 years ago my flock consisted of about 40-50 pigeons then last year 20 and now there are only 4 pigeons left :( right now she is laying on fake eggs i gave her in her nest and she looks very cuddly and happy. when i stick my hand in to pet her she preens my fingers and twitches her wing while oo-ing. i think she'll do fine as a pigeon pet. safety, food, shelter, and a warm bed during the coldest nights.

zomg fishies wrote:

im not letting her fly loose any longer, there are so many hawks around here 2 years ago my flock consisted of about 40-50 pigeons then last year 20 and now there are only 4 pigeons left :( right now she is laying on fake eggs i gave her in her nest and she looks very cuddly and happy. when i stick my hand in to pet her she preens my fingers and twitches her wing while oo-ing.

i think she'll do fine as a pigeon pet. safety, food, shelter, and a warm bed during the coldest nights.

I totally agree, AnnMarie.
Living the Life of Riley.

zomg fishies wrote:

you got her right! she can be the sweetest little ball of feathers one second, and the next she is planning world domination

This is what I was referring to when I said "it was funny." Sorry, I didn't realize there was another page to this. I'll delete the other response, as it came out in the wrong place. Duh!

zomg fishies wrote:

im not letting her fly loose any longer, there are so many hawks around here 2 years ago my flock consisted of about 40-50 pigeons then last year 20 and now there are only 4 pigeons left :( right now she is laying on fake eggs i gave her in her nest and she looks very cuddly and happy. when i stick my hand in to pet her she preens my fingers and twitches her wing while oo-ing. i think she'll do fine as a pigeon pet. safety, food, shelter, and a warm bed during the coldest nights.

I think that's a great decision. And I think she'll Make a fine pet.