Handling Birds

[lvlasked]

i would like to no any tips to make it easyer to handle my birds atm im feeding them outa my hand and spending time in the loft but when i go to pick one up to handle it they all just shoot off around the loft to advoid bein picked up so any advise be greatful

[OLDYELLOW]

best not to catch whilst feeding otherwise they wont get tame because they'll associate eating with been caught catch them in there boxes

[lvlasked]

lol i dont try and catch them when there feeding i just sit there and feed them outa my hand why i whistle

[OLDYELLOW]

it takes time to gain the birds confidence then you have to learn a technique where you catch them firm but gentily , rember the birds first thought is there been attacked by a pediter , all movements in a loft should be slow and you should always be calm

[lvlasked]

i try lol

[peterpau]

darken the pen mate

[JohnQuinn]

Spoke with a fancier recently who cannot abide wild or even nervous pigeons, so from when the Yb's are about 14 days old in the nest he very slowly and gently puts his hand over them and strokes their back, every day. When they leave the nest they are already tame to his hand and he picks them right off the perch no problems. When lifting them he moves almost in slow motion but the doos don't even attempt to get away from him. Have to say its a treat to watch.

 

Ps, no i don't do it, i've not got the time or patience, but i wish i had!!

[OLDYELLOW]

Spoke with a fancier recently who cannot abide wild or even nervous pigeons, so from when the Yb's are about 14 days old in the nest he very slowly and gently puts his hand over them and strokes their back, every day. When they leave the nest they are already tame to his hand and he picks them right off the perch no problems. When lifting them he moves almost in slow motion but the doos don't even attempt to get away from him. Have to say its a treat to watch.

 

Ps, no i don't do it, i've not got the time or patience, but i wish i had!!

alot of the continental fanciers do same thing they stroke and tease the birds on nest so by time they get moved there pretty tame anyway

[Guest IB]

Its a long time ago now, but when I was left to look after my dads pigeons they were all strangers and I did not know how to catch them. As an earlier post suggests, I went into the loft an hour before nightfall, and got quite close to the perched-up pigeons, talking to them getting them used to me being near them - held a hand out but didn't touch. Got steadily closer and bolder as week got on, inviting each pigeon to have a go at my hand, and when he did, I slipped other hand under his keel, thumb over his back, then did same with 'fighting' hand and lifted bird off perch.. Didn't try anything fancy like opening a wing, just got birds used to me one by one, lifted them and put them back on their own perch.

 

Nowadays I have my own birds, and as John Quinn suggests, I start in the nest box, which I clean every day. The youngsters take their early cues from their parents, if they see them relaxed about me being there, then they soon come to accept you too, and watch your every move. When they are bigger they get stroked chest / throat / 'chin', which usually starts them throwing a peck and snapping their beak, rocking back and forwards on their haunches.

[lvlasked]

they dont mind me petting them why there eating outa my hand haha ill try the petting them why in the nest when i get some little eggs haha

[yeboah]

some of the tamest birds i ever handled were at the local dances when i was a boy

where have the years gone