Birds? Scratch that... Pigeons?!

[FourRingCircus]

With our impending move to WV we will be leaving behind all but one or two of the critters. ODS's dog is going with, the cat might (he's an outdoor cat so not sure how that would work in a neighborhood). Our older dog will be 11 this year and is used to roaming - her hearing and eyesight are both going so the combination of a longer road trip, a totally new environment paired with confinement seems a bit mean. She'll have two animal lovers here to take good care of her (one is our neighbor/renter that she hangs out with often so it won't be a drastic change), still sad though . We won't have rabbits, pigs, or chickens, and I don't think the fish tank will make the move either. I am planning on an outdoor oasis for birds, bees, and butterflies (my son is asking for a small backyard pond for a few fish), but contemplating maybe an indoor bird? I used to have parakeets and cockatiels growing up (outdoors in an aviary type thing my dad built). We have friends with a lovebird that actually likes me - he evidently bites most everyone else (it was her son's bird, who was killed in a car accident of sorts last year). Lovey (bird) has me falling hard for the little feathered critters again. The brother let him out one day (Lovey doesn't like him though, bites him every time) and he flew around the room and landed on me, just hanging out on my shoulder while I washed up some dishes for them.

It's been a long time, so I need to brush up on the care and maintenance of a smaller bird. I know parrots have crazy long life expectancies, what about other breeds? What else would I need to know? I know they can be pretty messy, and LOUD - those are DH's two hesitations. Any recommendations for what to look at if we go that route? I would love color if I am going to have one... the brighter the better!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OK, so sound is a big problem for me... thank you, MaggieJ, for letting me know that for those that are sensitive, even a single bird can be an issue! BUT, pigeons? Never thought of those! Now I am reading and researching and am thinking it might just work! It can give me a piece of the farm in our new neighborhood, and something to watch and tinker with which seems to help my depression (sense of purpose I guess?). It seems I have to have a project of some sort... didn't think that was the case until all of this started and I started filling my brain with things to do once we got there since life as I currently know it won't be happening. Here's hoping I don't fall too hard in love with the place...

 

[MaggieJ]

I've never had a house bird, so my comments are probably not much help.

My sister has a cockatiel. It's very nice, but it is rather noisy, and when they come in from work, it likes some attention. They give it free range in a couple of adjoining rooms and sis says it is not very messy. I like Sunny, but s/he'd drive me nuts--I don't tolerate noise well. Whistles a few actual songs and has a range of phrases. Very nice bird, but then her guy has worked with it a lot, teaching it.

For your outdoor oasis (love the idea) you might want to consider a small, decorative dovecote to keep pigeons. Tiny eggs to pickle, squabs to eat (surprisingly meaty from what I hear), decorative adult birds and excellent manure for the garden. They will fly about the neighbourhood and find much of their own food. If you build the dovecote right, the droppings fall to the ground inside and can be easily shovelled or swept up.

Naturally you won't want a project like this right off the bat, but when laying out your oasis, you might want to leave space for it for the future.

Just a thought . . . I envy your fresh start and your energy/health to take on new projects.

 

[FourRingCircus]

I have a lot of sound sensitivity so you saying that definitely has me thinking twice about an indoor bird (it was a question mark for sure, you confirmed it) but I never thought about pigeons! I grew up in AZ where my parents always considered them rats of the air... it would take a little bit of a mental shift at first but it would be neat! And there sure are some pretty ones out there! I will have to do some more research - who was it on here that posted about them a little while back?

 

[2CrazyFools]

For your outdoor oasis (love the idea) you might want to consider a small, decorative dovecote to keep pigeons. Tiny eggs to pickle, squabs to eat (surprisingly meaty from what I hear), decorative adult birds and excellent manure for the garden. They will fly about the neighbourhood and find much of their own food. If you build the dovecote right, the droppings fall to the ground inside and can be easily shovelled or swept up.

Oh wow, that sure does sound nice! Now I almost want pigeons...

 

[MaggieJ]

Zass
maggie-j-t31506.html

SableSteel
show-pigeons-t30581.html

I get carried away sometimes, enabling other people now that I can no longer take on new critter projects. Please don't any of you dive into this without checking out the good and the bad about raising pigeons. There must be pigeon forums out there . . .

 

[FourRingCircus]

Zass
maggie-j-t31506.html

SableSteel
show-pigeons-t30581.html

I get carried away sometimes, enabling other people now that I can no longer take on new critter projects. Please don't any of you dive into this without checking out the good and the bad about raising pigeons. There must be pigeon forums out there . . .

I understand completely! I will research this to death before taking anything on, no worries on that. Like I listed in the update, I think I just need something to keep me occupied and that's going to be harder to come by with our move. It's not a super strict HOA neighborhood, but it's still neighbors I don't know that I don't want to upset. I'm not even sure how well gardening is going to go as rocky as the area is (where they are building the plant they have to blast for everything that's going under the surface... and one area had a 300 ft void :shock: :x ). Most likely I will be doing lots of containers and raised beds.

 

[MaggieJ]

What kind of rock do you have? Maybe you can use what's there to build those raised beds. I love working with stone. I once built a field-stone wall at our cottage (this was back in the 80s) and there is something so satisfying when you know the piece you just placed is stable and will stay there far beyond your lifetime. Limestone is even easier to work with . . .

Can you tell I'm feeling a little restless today? Most of the time I am very content with my writing, my Jenny-Cat, our remaining goose and chickens, and RT, but today I have the itch for something hands-on.

NO! NO! verreaction: Not that mountain of dishes in the kitchen! That's not what I meant at all! :lol:

 

[GBov]

Pigeons ROCK! Super fancy and fantastic flavor and really fast turn over. Plus if you put lots of gingerbread decorations onto your pigeon house, everyone just thinks "Oooo lovely!" instead of "What are they doin' with those birds, are birds allowed here?"

My poor 4H friend had his flock up to 30 but the kids let them fly all day long for the week he was gone. He is now down to 5 birds and the neighborhood hawks are fat and happy. An hour or two was fine for flight time but any more than that and the hawks just feast. Needless to say, he is not a happy camper.

I REALLY want pigeons but all I am seeing on CL right now are homers and I want a meat breed. Homers have lots of meat on them but they are feather weights to a proper meaty.

 

[Lowstorm]

I've had parrots. From parrotlets to a 35 year old blue and gold. I finally found a great home for my last bird. They are a LOT of work, a LOT of mess, a LOT of sound. The ones with the least sounds are parrotlets and love birds. But if you hate noise, I wouldn't get either of those.

Check out finches and canaries. Some of the canaries have the coolest songs eva! And they're cage birds, not pet birds. No need for interaction, but they will entertain you!

Don't forget doves with pigeons. Some pretty doves out there too.

Do not EVER get a macaw, cockatoo, african grey, amazon, eclectus, or other big bird if you want your eardrums and sanity intact.

Depending on where you live, a monk parakeet may be a good pick. Fairly quiet, easy to teach tricks. But illegal in some states.

And noise can also be subjective. I can handle most of the big bird sounds with ease. Learn to ignore it even. I CANNOT STAND THE SOUND of an indian ringneck. Most people say they're quiet, which they are volume wise. But the sound drove me nuts. I had a pair for about a month before I resold them. I could NOT handle the sound. Constantly... going... forever. OMG NO.

 

[SableSteel]

I CANNOT STAND THE SOUND of an indian ringneck. Most people say they're quiet, which they are volume wise. But the sound drove me nuts. I had a pair for about a month before I resold them. I could NOT handle the sound. Constantly... going... forever. OMG NO.

Aw they're not that bad

 

[akane]

If you want the intelligence and behavior of a hookbill but quiet try lineolated parakeets. Kind of like the shy version of a parrotlet. They are very very quiet. Probably less than our diamond doves but like I said shy. Get one hand raised or at least well tamed and they lose trust easy if you don't know how to handle birds but they are rare biters and quieter than a budgie parakeet by a lot. I actually had to rehome one budgie in the condo because she was so loud but we had our linnie for quite awhile. Unfortunately the forum for linnies has since died. Sometimes it's the pitch of the bird that bothers some people. Some say parrotlets are louder than the big birds but really it's the fact they hit such a high pitch it's flat out painful if you are sensitive even if it's not as many decibels. I've debated them but that screech carries horribly. Pretty much everything else on the quieter end is offset by being on the messier end with no guarantees.

Otherwise out of softbills all doves and pigeons are nice to keep and often can be in outdoor aviaries or have even been raised in a coop with free range style doors for some species or varieties developed. The old barn at our previous place had a pigeon loft with hole for letting them come and go probably to raise as meat and some relatives lined the sides of their chicken coop higher up with ledges for loose pigeons. We have a pair of diamond doves in the bedroom with a reptile uv light to supplement the short daylight hours and a rope of leds when we want to make it low light. We lost our hen before they raised a clutch and our replacement attempt ended up being male so we plan 2 new females when other things are settled. They don't bother my allergies or respiratory tract like the rodents or the dust cockatiels. Pigeons and doves rarely bite and usually give up once caught. Not quite as capable of taming even if it isn't impossible but they are more cute little things to watch as they coo and wander the floor of their cage foraging without really much mess for a bird. I deal more with a few feathers and the seed that gets blown out when they disagree over something. The perches don't really build up the poo or piles under specific ones to scrub because they like to constantly forage the floor and spread it about the paper to be rolled up. I scrub my single cockatiel's 2 favorite perches and grate underneath weekly with a lot of liquid and elbow grease to get the poop piles off instead of just roll up the solid floor paper, sweep, and occasionally wipe a perch in the dove cage.

 

[Lowstorm]

I CANNOT STAND THE SOUND of an indian ringneck. Most people say they're quiet, which they are volume wise. But the sound drove me nuts. I had a pair for about a month before I resold them. I could NOT handle the sound. Constantly... going... forever. OMG NO.

Aw they're not that bad

Exactly. You're one of the most lol! To me it sounded like Star Wars meets the minions in a duel of who's more annoying. The pew-pew squawk half talking ick sounds... <br /><br /> __________ Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:17 pm __________ <br /><br /> [youtube]https://youtu.be/233e_9DQe5M[/youtube]

Thats my blue and gold and my green check conure in the background. Turn the volume up for the full effect.. I took that video to show his self biting behavior

[youtube]https://youtu.be/USUoUU-7OY8[/youtube]

And that's him... Being a normal macaw!

I ended up removing him to a nice young girl in Wisconsin. I get loads of pics of him with her two other much younger macaws. But for the true effect you need a pair of good headphones and the volume turned up as loud as you can. Then push play. He liked to surprise us with the pretty music.