I seem to have adopted 2 pigeons? Help please?!

[Monkey]

Evening all,

 

I don't know the 1st thing about pigeons but seem to have temporarliy adopted 2 so could do with some advice?  

 

Just over 5 weeks ago the 1st turned up on my balcony (which is covered & on the 4th floor so there's no danger from predators).  I looked at a couple of websites for advice & on their recommendation gave it some dry rice & water for a couple of days.  I managed to read the ring on it's leg & reported it to the NEHU. They notified the owner but when I spoke to him he wasn't interested in having the bird back (my girlfiend named him Piston @ this point)?  He told me to stop feeding & it would mingle with local wild birds & be OK? I carried on feeding for a couple of days as at that point I'd been out & bought some wild seed.  It seemed a waste to throw it away when the bird was obviously hungry.  

 

About a week later I noticed a second pigeon (with a GB ring) was starting to follow the 1st around & eventually it too came onto the balcony.  I put some more food down as this one was also hungry & didn't look too good (she's now been named Pie).

 

The 2 of them have now paired up, are inseparable and have been mating on the rooftop here?  I'm still feeding them a little food every day, they come & go and sleep in the eaves on top of the building.  I find them intriguing and although they make a mess on my balcony I don't mind cleaning it regularly. My neighbour downstairs doesn't agree though and is starting to complain so I need to do something.  I have the ring number for the second bird but haven't reported it as the owner of the 1st doesn't want him back so it seems unfair to split them up?  My questions therefore are:

 

1. Should I report the second bird?

2. If I did report her would the owner take both of them?

3. If I stop feeding them will they find their own food or am I condemning them?

 

Any advice much appreciated.

 

Paul.

 

p.s I've been thru the Lost section of the forum since finding this site today & the GB number isn't there.

 

[Guest]

:'(Hello Monkey , sorry to hear you had such a bad response from the owner of the first bird ! We are not all the same , please post both ring numbers up and give us an idea where you are ? Hopefully we can find the owner of the second bird , and or a pigeon fancier (keeper) who lives close to you who can help you out !  very best wishes     andy

[carl]

My advice....build yourself a loft and anjoy the birds

[kev01293]

HI

IM SORRY TO HEAR THAT THE OWNER OF THE FIRST BIRD WASNT INTERESTED IN HAVING IT BACK-WE ARE NOT ALL LIKE THAT.TELLING YOU TO LET IT MIX WITH THE LOCAL FERAL BIRDS WAS TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE, NOW THAT YOU ARE FEEDING THE 2 BIRDS THEY ARE UNLIKELY TO GO FAR AND WILL PROBABLY CARRY ON VISITING YOU DAILY FOR FOOD, I WILL SEND YOU A PRIVATE MESSAGE WITH A CONTACT TEL NO IN CASE YOU NEED FURTHER HELP/ADVICE. THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME AND EFFORT TO CARE FOR THE BIRDS

                           KEVIN

[Guest]

The birds probably belong to different owners, so they will be seperated anyway.

 

Report your experience with the NEHU bird's owner back to the NEHU.

 

Report the GB pigeon to the RPRA.

 

These birds have paired up, have a food source [you  ;D ] will eventually breed and become a nuisance to you and your neighbours. Best to have them removed by their owners before it gets that far.

 

My thanks for your interest in these birds and their welfare.  

[Monkey]

Thanks people. The advice is much appreciated.  The flat is rented so unfortunately a loft is out of the question as I don't think my landlord would be too impressed (but strangely we've become quite attached to them & my girlfriend now wants pigeons when we eventually move).

 

I'll give the RPRA a call tomorrow and see what they say about the female.  That unfortunately leaves the male on his own though and me still with a problem as his owner has already disowned him? Could he be retrained by a local fancier (I'm in Eastbourne)?  

 

Piston (the male) on the day he arrived:

 

 

.... and then this afternoon (5 weeks later, does he look any different? He's certainly livelier?):

 

 

Pie (the female) this afternoon:

 

 

Paul.

[ALF]

MONKEY SHE LOOKS IN GREAT NICK(BOTTOM PICTURE) WHAT YOU FEEDING HER ON??

[Guest TAMMY_1]

MONKEY SHE LOOKS IN GREAT NICK(BOTTOM PICTURE) WHAT YOU FEEDING HER ON??

 

MONKEY NUTS

[ALF]

 

MONKEY NUTS

 

:P ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

 

[Guest gordon]

REPORT OWNER BACK TO N.E.H.U SPECK TO MR D POWER SECRETARY.

[Sean]

IF YOU REPORTED THIS BIRD TO THE NEHU OFFICE DID YOU GET THE OWNER'S DETAIL THROU THE POST OR WAS YOU GIVEN THIS ON THE PHONE ? IF SO THEN CAN  YOU PLEASE PUT THESE DETAILS UP ON HERE TO NAME AND SHAME HIM/HER AS THESE PEOPLE DONT DESERVE TO RACE BIRD'S NOR KEEP THEM IF THEIR CANT BE RESPONSIBLE OF CLAIMING LOST BIRD'S.

AS STATED IN  ANOTHER POST ABOVE PLEASE RE CONTACT NEHU OFFICE AND STATE WHAT YOU'VE TOLD US ON HERE.

 

I AM REALLY SORRY YOU'V HAD A BAD EXPERIANCE WITH REPORTING THIS LOST BIRD.

[cemetary]

Looks a lovey hen bird you have there monkey, watch the girl isnt getting jealous of you haveing another bird around you.

 

If you can catch them both and get the ring numbers of the ring leg and report them both to whoevr it may be, and let the owners get the pigeons picked up at there expence.

 

Dont get into bother with the neighbours on feeding the pigeons mate, especially being in rented accommodation at present.

 

If the guy with the NEHU ring number dosent want anything else to doo with the pigeon, get back onto the NEHU and complain to them about the owner.

 

Come on, if the pigeon belongs to you, i dare say monkey will catch it for you and send for it, there is enough ringed pigeons going about with feral pigeons in the areas.

 

Youve done your best on feeding them etc, now its up to the owners of these pigeons. :o :o :o

 

 

[Monkey]

He, he - no monkey nuts but they do like to nibble @ my toes given half a chance.  She's been eating wild bird seed once a day for about 2 weeks now.  

 

The NEHU sent me a letter which I still have. I haven't let them know he's not interested though?  I'll drop them a line to update them.  I was surprised someone would just abandon a bird like that but he said he's lost a few young birds already this year?!

 

I could no doubt catch them both fairly easily if need be.  If I leave the door open they wander in until I see them off (they're not my carpets ).  If I leave it open & leave the room Piston is usually under the desk by the time I get back (is that what you'd call coming home to roost?) & Pie is in the hallway!

[mac1]

hi monkey im from near the nehu can you give me its ring number it looks like one of my pigeons i lost,are if its not i can maybe able to help you thanks mate

[jimmy white]

hi monkey ,, it looks as if you have made a good job of looking after them , and some great photos as well , im sorry to here of that response from the first fancier , but you can be assured thats not the norm, it seems you have got quite attached to them maybe in a short time youll have a place to keep pigeons, which im sure you would enjoy , as youll find them very fascinating , good luck to you anyway and hope all works out :)

[Sean]

well, well thanks for my post been deleted once again. I can not win no matter what i do:  :'( :'( :'(

if i post something stupid  ;Dthen it's gone if i post something sensible then it still go's. :'( :'(

i know which mod as took my post   :oand that mod better put it back if not then im complaining to the web master . >

Their was nowt wrong with my post i contacted my barrister who confirm this and said he could clearly read what i wrote.

[carl]

I dont think any posts have been deleated have they ??.Only the webmaster can do that i think.

Sean what post was deleated ?

 

 

well, well thanks for my post been deleted once again. I can not win no matter what i do:  :'( :'( :'(

if i post something stupid  ;Dthen it's gone if i post something sensible then it still go's. :'( :'(

i know which mod as took my post   :oand that mod better put it back if not then im complaining to the web master . >

Their was nowt wrong with my post i contacted my barrister who confirm this and said he could clearly read what i wrote.

 

 

[Sean]

its cos i wrote it in large but to me it should'nt have been removed  their was nothing wrong with the post apart from that.

iv sent an pm to the mod that removed it letting them know how i feel and that i want it back on here.

if the mod dosnt then im complaining to the web master.

it's ok for other's to write in large but i can't  :othe mod better remove everyone ele's that's done this if not then get ready.

[Guest slugmonkey]

I think this is terrible ALL fanciers should be responsible for their birds I have personally handled over 20 birds from out of area fanciers that have been found in our area most have been returned a few destroyed because they were injured and even a few commies, the local animal shelter has my number, this is EXACTLY the kind of thing that gives ALL of us a bad image when ANYONE contacts you about a banded bird you should CLAMOR to get it its not so bad telling one of our own that we have one of thier birds ( not that that is ok either !!! ) but for someone outside the sport to get saddled with the responsibility of caring for these birds is an ABOMINATION TO US ALL !!! I think this person should be told in no uncertain terms the affect that this type of behavior will have on us all as these types of stories lead to investigation and eventually all of us being labeled as abusive or irresponsible or worse as time marches on we are under more and more scrutiny and people like this should be removed before we can be associated in the same class as  them, if we don't govern ourselves someone WILL do it for us

[Guest]

Hi Monkey, just like to add to what others have said about how well the birds look.  

 

The two birds you have are what are known as blue chequer. Blue = feather background colour, and chequer = feather background pattern. You'll also note from the second pic that the juvenile feathers are moulting out and being replaced by adult ones. This is a good sign, and shows that the bird is in good health.

 

I'm sure you'll soon get help to re-home the birds.

[Monkey]

Thanks for that, I was wondering why he was starting to look a bit bald & rough around the head (although he has been a bit territorial with the local birds and has had a couple of "incidents").

 

I've had an offer by PM to re-home them both which is good to know. We'll have to see what the owner of the second one wants to do first though.

 

Many thanks for all the advice. I've only discovered internet forums this year and have found them to be a mine of info whatever the topic. You lot are obviously passionate about your sport/hobby which as an outsider is great to see.  

 

[Monkey]

I thought I'd better update my thread as I've had a couple of mails asking what happened?  The answer is so far not much. I've reported the second bird to the RPRA.  They have passed me the owners details and sent him notification.  It appears he's on holiday for a couple of weeks and so far there's been no response to the messages I've left on the landline/mobile numbers I was given.  I'm therefore sitting tight until he gets back to see what he wants to do about the female.  

 

I've also had a very kind offer to re-home them from a member of this forum who is local to me.  I'll be taking him up on the offer if her owner isn't interested.  Updated pic for you all.  

 

 

Cheers

 

Monkey.  

[Guest]

;D Youve done a great job looking after the birds Monkey . They are a credit to you . Lets hope if you relocate in the future you can keep a few birds of youre own ?         andy             ;D

[paul l]

they look in great shape mate well done and keep good work up

 

                    paul

[gangster]

THEY LOOK LIKE A BONNY PAIR OF BIRDS PITTY THE OWNERS  DONT CARE