Wow, who would have thought the day would actually come that I became a pigeon owner! I had toyed with the idea when I first bought my place, but I didn’t want any old pigeon from a random seller. Then, by some stroke of luck, I found some up for adoption at the RPSCA, and I felt like that was a sign!
So on the 11th of September I brought home two cuties (out of 7), not knowing their history or how they came to be at the shelter, but they were very well maintained and quite large! I mean, I knew pigeons were big but seeing them this close was crazy!
On the way home though, the two of them fought a lot in the cage. Henry, the plain one, seemed to be attacking Harri, the white wingtipped one. I thought it was just a matter of being in close quarters and travel stress, so I just told them off regularly and that was it.
Ok, let’s wind back a bit. I saw the advert on Tuesday, agonised Wednesday, bought a Kmart dog cage Thursday, and got the birds on Saturday. Yeah, it was that fast.
This was the first iteration of the cage. It had cat toys (the two chickens) and a plant, because I wanted their home to be as plant-y as mine!
They were so nervous when I first introduced them!
I always planned for them to sometimes be in the sun too, since they need sun to stay healthy! They love the view!
Here’s me not realising that baths are a messy activity! They soaked the newspaper!
And this is a super cute pic of them chillin!
Look at all that poop… and it always fascinates me that they can stand on one leg and not fall…
A cute pic of Henry in his crazy moments when he tried to fly and clung to the cage. I think at this stage he was missing his home and trying to head back. Or, he was bonded and I stole him from his mate :(
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing as they fought a lot, and pretty violently too – I was afraid one day I’d come home and they would have lost an eyeball. So, I ended up getting a second cage and separating them. I figured, they must be two boys to fight like that. Funny thing is, even apart, they still try and attack each other through the cage but also they copy each other! So like, they like each other’s company but only from a distance. This is their current setup and they seem happy with it.
When I first got them, the RSPCA people said that the birds were skittish around humans, and they wouldn’t go near my hand. Over time though, Henry got used to me (Harri is a bit traumatised and shy still because I had to manhandle him twice… once to stop him fighting and the second to move him to the other cage), and now he flies onto my hand to eat! But only to eat. No food, no hand. lol. And of course, my phone camera is so bad and can’t focus so this was the best shot I had.
And now for picture spam!
Pigeons are so cute!