Today six fantail pigeons were brought to my work. The gentleman who owned them didn’t want them anymore and after having problems finding homes for them he was directed to my work to see if we could help. Although my workplace is a wildlife rescue centre and does not take in domestic animals, occasionally we take in fancy pigeons in need of care or rehoming if domestic rescue centres cannot help – which was the case with these six fantails.

Upon opening the boxes I found four young adult fantails and two baby fantails. Apparently the father of the two babies was amongst the four adults – so I put the two babies and their father in one aviary and the other three fantails in the aviary next to them.

I have to admit I initially found these fantails very dopey and clumsy. They didn’t seem to have mastered the art of flying and found it hard to fly to the top perches in the aviaries. But my heart melted when I watched the father fantail feed his young – the babies squeaked and shrugged their wings – and the father fed them with the usual gusto you see in parent pigeons. Since I fell in love with pigeons from having been in contact with feral pigeons not fancy ones, I find ferals to be prettier and more interesting than the fancy breeds. (Am I a feral pigeon snob?!) But I think the fancy breeds are starting to seep into my thoughts. … And these fantails are a good start!

When I got home I searched the net for a bit more info on fantails (I knew these ones aren’t show fantails). It seems the name for them is “garden fantail doves”. I’ve never seen these type brought to my work before, usually the white garden doves are brought in (are they more popular than the fantails?). Although breeders and enthusiasts state that they are suited for dovecotes and can fly well and evade predators, I have my doubts about the four adults that we now have. I’ll have to watch their behaviour a bit more before we decided if they are to be in an aviary or free flying.