Introducing two pigeons

Hi everyone

As you probably know, Janet is going to give Tweaty a friend and I was wondering about the best way to introduce them.

I know lots about dogs in this regard, but nothing about pigeons.

Also Tweaty has been a house bird since he was found and I don't know how to acclimatise him back outside? He cannot stay on the back of my office chair for ever!

Hope you can help.
W.

Little Fledgling wrote:

Hi everyone

* As you probably know, Janet is going to give Tweaty a friend and I was wondering about the best way to introduce them.

I know lots about dogs in this regard, but nothing about pigeons.

** Also Tweaty has been a house bird since he was found and I don't know how to acclimatise him back outside? He cannot stay on the back of my office chair for ever!

Hope you can help.
W.

* My suggestion would be to place them in separate cages, next to each other. Have their dishes facing each others cage so they can 'dine' together. That is how I introduced Mikko and Pij'ette and it worked very well.

** I would place his cage outside in a safe area and allow him to spend a few hours out there during the day. Making sure his cage is where you can keep an eye on it. That's what I would do when I used to get a bird ready for release.

Others will be along to offer their suggestions as well.

Thanks Cindy. I guess it's the night times I'm most worried about, but if I can leave him outside later and later each day, then he should be OK. It's just a shame that our weather here is getting colder now rather than warmer!

Little Fledgling wrote:

Thanks Cindy. I guess it's the night times I'm most worried about, but if I can leave him outside later and later each day, then he should be OK. It's just a shame that our weather here is getting colder now rather than warmer!

Or even every couple days at first, would be ideal, Wendy.

Wood pigeons are so much gentler than feral pigeons, so we have never worried about introducing them to each other gradually. In fact, both Littlewood and Tweetywood were thrown in at the deep end!

Littlewood arrived in June 2005 when she was about 4 weeks old, she had been found as a week old squab . She was our first woodie and went into a small aviary with Poppet, a hand raised collared dove, first of all. It was Poppet that taught her how to feed herself and how to have a bath. They both progressed to the aviary and as far as I can remember settled in immediately.

Tweetywood was found dragging himself across a road by his beak, but he was also hand fed for quite a while and wasn't weaned when he came to us. He arrived last summmer, as it was hot he went straight into the aviary. We had to hand feed him for a while but being with other pigeons helped him to become independent very quickly.

Woodpigeons seem to like each other more than ferals do. In our aviary we will usually find the woodies sitting together. The only time I have seen them show any aggression was this spring, when Littlewood started chasing everyone away from a certain branch. She kept that up for some days and we assumed that she was male until later on she mated with Tattywood and laid two eggs.

But when I introduced my first two feral to each other it was a different story. I had an ornamental birdbath in the aviary and Feefo started chasing poor Molly round it, beating Molly up if she got the chance. I had to take a chair and a book in and sit in there for hours keeping the peace. Molly eventually setteld into a small nesting box, where she had some peace, but one day Feefo found her and had trapped her inside and was suffocating her! Turns out Molly was male and they had paired up...twigs and eggs followed, much to my excitement!

Cynthia wrote:

Wood pigeons are so much gentler than feral pigeons, so we have never worried about introducing them to each other gradually.

That's very interesting, Cynthia. I didn't know that.
Although I'm quite sure I'll never have the occasion to introduce two Wood pigeons, that's good to know.

Quote :

That's very interesting, Cynthia. I didn't know that.

It doesn't mean they are aggression free, you often hear woodies wing slapping each other in disputes in the trees! And there may always be the . But, for example, I recently popped Summerwood, the juvenile with the splay leg, into the small aviary with March and Irakles with no fears that they would make him unwelcome, and he immediately went to them for protection. I also believe that March welcomed Janet's May and Irakles immediately, even though they invaded "her" aviary and she had a loving relationship with her rescuer, Maria.

I also believe that March welcomed Janet's May and Irakles immediately, even though they invaded "her" aviary and she had a loving relationship with her rescuer, Maria.[/quote]
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Yes that's quite right. I was amazed when I took them down to Maria, she put them in the aviary immediately. I had expected that March would re-act in some way, having two strange birds invading her living area, but absolutely no aggresion at all. She sat next to May on a branch and they stayed pals until May's passing.

However, only this morning I was watching a Woodie bathing in the waterfall and a juvenile came for a drink. The adult immediately chased it off, obviously wanted some privacy in the bath.

My little Woodie is quite timid with the other birds whereas the one I took to the rescue centre this week would stand tall and give any bird that came near him a sharp wingslap, BUT... he was fine with this youngster, and they pottered about together with no trouble.

I could be wrong, so don't throw this back at me if I am, but I really don't imagine they'll have a problem as long as one of them at least isn't aggressive and would back off in a confrontation, and I'd be very surprised if this little one started a fight!!

In all honesty this one is very meek and mild but did go stir crazy when kept in the cage and would flap and climb up the bars to get out, so it may just be that it turns out best to put her straight in. She's been living outside although under cover, so hopefully is fairly acclimatized to temperatures.
She still has fairly poor feathering although it's filling out slightly more now, so I hope she grows a nice thick coat before winter.
She doesn't like being caught and held so it might be more traumatic for her to be picked up and put in a cage at night.
You could put her in the aviary straight away with Tweaty in a cage in the aviary part so he can see her during the day until you feel he's ok to leave overnight.

As you have a corner under cover, you could kit that out with some branches at different heights, you'll probably find they shelter in there overnight once established permanently.

It'll be a great home for them.

Janet

When our woodies want to make a point in the aviary they stand really tall and look down their noses at whoever has offended them. Very comical!

We have a woodie that comes for his meals, he will chase off other birds, but they never get into a real fight or hurt each other, unlike feral "beak to beak" fights.

Cynthia wrote:

When our woodies want to make a point in the aviary they stand really tall and look down their noses at whoever has offended them. Very comical!

That is funny!

All these stories are awesome. I learn so much from you guys and am very grateful for you taking the time and sharing all these. I just love it

Petra.

Sorry I've not been on the forum for a couple of days - been busy sorting out Tweaty and Pip's new home!

Janet came today and we're going to start off another thread to tell you how they get on. Janet took a few photos so she's going to load them up later on when she gets a minute. It was brilliant to meet her and she's been such a help.

We let Pip (Janet's little one, named today by my neighbour's little girl who has cystic fibrosis) out of her pet carrier in the aviary and she came out fairly readily.

Yes, we did get Tweaty doing that long necked snooty look - it was funny. He was a little bit put out, but is getting used to Pip now.

Anyway, I'll save the story for the other thread!


Wendy.

Appreciate the update Wendy.
We'll be watching for Tweaty and Pip's story.