Another Newbie - pigeon story and question

[Miss Willis]

Hi.  My name is Dawn, I'm in Connecticut USA.  My avatar picture is "Miss Willis".  Her name was originally Willis but my male friend said it's a girl, he can tell by her neck (??? don't ask me how).  I didn't know I'd be a pigeon fancier but I have a pigeon now.  Miss Willis was born in 2007 according to her leg band.  She came to me this past summer, when I was at a retriever event at a state wildlife management area with my golden retriever and this pigeon kept flopping around the field in front of the dogs and guns.  Someone scooped her out of the way and was going to leave her at the wildlife management area at the end of the day, but I noticed she couldn't fly so I decided to take her home till she could fly or else she would be hawk food (because she's light colored).  After I got her home, I noticed she had a leg band on, and was wing clipped.  She didn't appear otherwise injured except for a puncture hole in her wing feathers that looked suspiciously shaped like a dog fang.  I suspected Miss Willis had been used for dog training at the WMA and got left behind.  I asked my male friend why anyone would use a registered pigeon for dog training; he said she probably flunked out of pigeon racing and got sold for dog training.  I searched on line for what I should do.  The recommendation was let them go to fly home, but she couldn't fly then, and even if she could, I wasn't sure I wanted to send her back for more dog training.  I looked up the leg band and contacted her registry to see if I should return her to home or keep her.  They said if I really wanted her I should probably keep her because my male friend's explanation was most likely plausible, the only reason she would be wing clipped would be a) so she wouldn't return to a previous home or dog training, and given being found at the WMA, dog training was most likely.  So I got a big cage and built a roost in the closet, after a month Miss Willis' feathers grew back and now she can fly around.  I think she's really smart; when I want to clean her cage she flies to her roost, and when I'm done, she flies back to the cage.  I don't think she has any great love for me or the dog, but she doesn't seem too scared and I think she's reasonably happy.  Sometimes when I work from home we all sit together all day and she just watches us.  The dog doesn't bother her, he would never go after her unless I told him to, which I would never do.  Miss Willis is really a lot of fun and gives pigeons a good name.  

So that's the story of Miss Willis.  Here's my question: I bought pigeon feed at the feed store and I put some sunflower seeds and grits in it.  Miss Willis picks out the sunflower seeds and the tiny birdseed but leaves the big corn and grain.  Should I just buy birdseed from now on so she can just have what she likes, or does she need the big corn and grain seeds?  Like is pigeon mix a nutritional requirement?

I probably won't post about racing or fancy show stuff but I wanted to join to get advice to take good care of Miss Willis.  Thank you for reading about her and thanks in advance for any advice you can give me about feeding her.

P.S. check out Miss Willis' picture, she has a feather that sticks out the back of her head like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals - I love it!

[grizzal]

HI Dawn great story,the pigeon food you bought will be ok .It may be you are putting to much food at one time

and all Miss Willis is doing is picking what she wants. take the food out for 1 day and next day put a smaller amount in

and see if she eats it.Adjust as need to.

 

All ther best

Paul &diane

[just ask me]

i would say ure feeding a little to much too much i would say feed roughlly about a ounce and a quater of corn a day fresh water and pigeon grit and u wont go too far wrong

[THE FIFER]

welcome to the site Dawn, you  are in the right place to get any pigeon related info.

[kirky]

hi dawn by the picture of the pigeon it is a fancy breed not a racing bird, so it will only eat small seed it looks like a short faced tumbler to me due to the small beak thay are unable to eat large corn,

[Roland]

Seems I heard the story before... So I take it that that wasn't recent? :-/

[blaz]

i have 2 dogs which like to play with dogs that bite live pigeons well done on saveing her you should get her a male ie cock bird for har then she will be vert happy

[OLDYELLOW]

Welcome to the site ,Miss Willis ,some poultry corn and some smaller beans ( dari or mung beans ) no more than 18% of the feed as kirky says it wont be able to eat the bigger bits due to its mouth size it looks like a tippler / tumbler to me

[blaz]

i have 2 dogs which like to play with dogs that bite live pigeons well done on saving her you should get her a male ie cock bird for her then she will be very happy

 

 

[Miss Willis]

Hi everyone, thanks for the welcome and food advice.  I'll try what Paul and Diane said and see if she eats the bigger grains and corn; but only for a day or 2 in case she's not physically capable like Kirky said.

  

Roland, I looked in my calendar and it was October 12 2008 to be exact because that was the date of my retriever club field trial when it happened.  It was still hot and sunny so that must be why I thought it was summer.  The only other place I wrote the story of Miss Willis was to the president of the pigeon registry to explain and ask what I should do.  Maybe someone else has a similar story.  It doesn't seem too outrageous that training pigeons would escape or get left behind after dog training.

 

Blaz, my male friend offered to either take Miss Willis and put her with others or bring me a friend for her.  I thought it would be least selfish to send her to live with others, but now that she's been inside, I don't want to send her outside, it's about 10 degrees w/ a few inches of snow out there now.  I also worried if he brings another of the same sex they will sit there and coo at each other all day and night.  

 

Thanks again for the advice and comments everyone.  I was a bit nervous you would all hate me for being a dog person with a bird dog.

[Roland]

wan't knocking you Miss, nor the story, but had read somewhere, so perhaps someone else picked it up and ran with it. Gordon Chalmbers rings a bell.... But any a loverly story and like so many others glad you posted it!

Roland

[Peckedhen]

Hi Dawn and welcome to the site.   It is indeed a lovely story, Miss Willis was very lucky that you found her.

 

Sue

 

 

[Guest]

Hi Dawn welcome to pigeonbasics, hope you enjoy the site. good luck with Miss Willis................amanda

[Miss Willis]

Thanks for the nice welcome and kind words everyone.  I never knew there were so many pigeon fanciers, it's kind of beautiful.  I'm finding out for myself what nice docile birds they are.

[Lennut Tar]

Thanks for the nice welcome and kind words everyone.  I never knew there were so many pigeon fanciers, it's kind of beautiful.  I'm finding out for myself what nice docile birds they are.

 

Dawn, welcome to our site here etc, "Yes" they certainly are docile birds & I wish you much enjoyment, in your new found hobby in the near future. "Unfortunately" One cannot quite say the same "Docile" about certain particular pigeon flyers (wink wink) here at the moment. Now !!!!!!!!!!, hang in there thou (smile smile) with the new year just around the corner etc, things just might change for the better ??????????????????????????????.

Enjoy.

 

 

[Miss Willis]

Wow you guys are geniuses.  I fed Miss Willis like you said, and she ate more different kinds of grains and seeds in her mix.  She still left the big corn pieces, but I know she ate more different kinds of seeds.

 

I'm going to look up short faced tumbler and see if it looks like Miss Willis.

 

Thanks again you guys, have a good weekend.

[DJ]

hi dawn  well done for taking this pigeon in and looking after her miss willis looks like a tippler   i have a stray one that visits my loft and it eats the smaller grains due to it having a small beak i presume    debbie