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FeaturedHow to tell if a pigeon is male or female
Explaining a bit about sexing pigeons.
The scoop on pigeon poop!
Are pigeon faeces dangerous to humans and can it be used as fertiliser?
Pet pigeons - what we mean
Explaining what we mean when we talk about keeping pigeons as pets. In brief: We mean keeping tame, imprinted or disabled pigeons that would not otherwise survive in the wild.
Feral pigeons and disease – do pigeons carry disease?
Do pigeons pose a threat to the public and your health. The quick answer is: No, they do not. Don’t believe me? Well, read the full article to find out.
Hand-rearing pigeons - right or wrong?
Controversial post on whether it is right to hand-rear a pigeon on its own and therefore potentially cause them to become imprinted on humans.
Invisible babies
Why we don’t normally see baby pigeons, their growth rate (photos included) and info on what to do if you find a baby pigeon.
Pigeon Rescue: what to do with injured, ill and orphaned pigeons
Information on what to do as well as links to various sites about pigeon rescue.
Pet or pest?
A brief view of pigeons as pets and as pests.
My knitting addiction has led me to knit another pigeon. 
I have now knitted five different pigeons and here they all are:
Back row:
Front row:
And a close up of the feral pigeon:
I spent a week with my family at my grandmother’s home in Orosháza (Hungary) and the weather was unexpectedly hot, ranging from 32°C to 38°C! I’m not used to such heat and generally don’t like it but this time it was a pleasant experience. So I made the most of it and spent a lot of time sitting under the shade of the walnut trees in the garden watching the birds.
Mr. Pigeon enjoying the ride!
At times the heat was stifling (which after a while would drive me to retire to the cool interior of the house), other times there was a refreshing breeze. I felt sorry for the male blackbird who lived in the garden. He looked very hot! He was quite tame – not even bothered by the presence of the neighbour’s dogs (he must have sussed out that they weren’t interested in him) – and would walk near me on his daily forage. Poor bird. He had his beak open most times but luckily he had a tray of water to bathe in to cool down.
Blackbird bathing
The one vivid memory I have of my grandmother’s home in Hungary is the sound of cooing. As a child I didn’t know what type of bird was cooing (despite knowing what a feral pigeon is). It may be surprising for you to learn that I had never seen a woodpigeon nor a collared dove until I went to the UK. While there are woodpigeons and collared doves in Finland (where I lived before moving to England) I had never noticed them. When I started working at a wildlife rescue centre in the UK I saw lots of pigeon and dove species and soon became acqainted with all the different cooings. So when I went back to Hungary and heard the cooing in the garden I immediately knew what bird species was making the sound: collared doves!! And this time I noticed them. They are everywhere! And they coo continuously – talking to each other.
Collared dove
Mr. Pigeon enjoying the garden views
As I sat in the garden reading a book (during this recent visit) I started to notice how often the collared doves visited the garden to drink. There is a big tub of collected rainwater that they drink from. All sorts visit: sparrows, greenfinches, woodpeckers, blackbirds and even the neighbour’s dogs!
Collared dove at the local "watering hole"
Taking a long sip in the heat
Mr. Pigeon wants a drink too
I did see a few woodpigeons (at the local water park) and a few flocks of feral pigeons in the towns, however, collared doves seem to dominate the area where my grandma lives.
Collared dove relaxing in the shade
I had a lovely time with my family and with the birds there but I missed my Georgie and Elmo a lot! Mr. Pigeon was a comfort though.
The neighbour’s very friendly dogs, Pöti and Daisy:
Pöti
Daisy
I’ve received and read the three pigeon books I ordered a while back (see: Pigeon books on order). I now have eight books solely about pigeons and although a few of them have the same things written in them, they are all good books for information and references. The following books are the ones I have:
For information about fancy and racing pigeon housing and care:
For information on the history and current situation between people and pigeons:
I’ve ordered a few pigeon books second-hand, however, I’ve got a long wait since they’re being shipped from America. Here’s what I’m waiting for:
Pigeon (Animal) by Barbara Allen
I hope they’re good but you never know when it comes to pigeon books. Some people write lovely things, others aren’t so nice.
There are two other books I found that would be amazing to have but they’re a bit too expensive for me at the moment. Does anyone have them for sale for dirt cheap?
(Image from: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pigeons-Doves-Guide-World/dp/1873403607/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306694817&sr=1-1)
(Image from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feral-Pigeons-Richard-F-Johnston/dp/0195084098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306695111&sr=1-1)
The following information is from a fantastic book about hand-rearing birds. It includes rearing guides for a variety of different species.
by Laurie J. Gage and Rebecca S. Duerr
2007, Blackwell Publishing
The number and variety of hand-feeding diets being used in rehabilitation and captive breeding are such that they cannot all be covered in a short chapter. The underlying principle is to mimic the natural diet as much as possible.
The first 2-3 days of life, columbids are fed crop milk, which is high in protein and fat. About day 3 or 4, small amounts of regurgitated seed are added to the milk; crop milk production ceases about day 7-9 and regurgitated seed is fed throughout the fledging period.
Table 20.1. Mourning Dove tube-feeding schedule (weights based on California population). Feed hatchling diet to chicks of weights in bold. Birds on the hatchling diet may not require as frequent feeding as is listed. Check the crop at the interval and feed when crop empties.
| Weight (grams) | Quantity (ml) | Hours between Feeds |
| 10 | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | 1.5-2 | 1-1.5 |
| 20 | 1.5-2.5 | 2 |
| 25 | 2-3 | 2 |
| 30 | 2.5-3.5 | 2 |
| 35 | 4 | 2 |
| 40 | 5 | 3 |
| 45 | 5 | 3 |
| 50 | 6 | 3 |
| 55 | 6 | 3 |
| 60 | 6-7 | 3 |
Above 65 grams, skip meal if any seed in crop
| 65 | 6-7 | 3-1/2 |
Newly admitted juvenile mourning doves over 70 grams will usually self-feed unless debilitated, emaciated, or otherwise compromised.
| 70 | 8 | 4 |
| 80 | 8 | 4 |
Above 90 grams, do not tube-feed unless bird is debilitated. Healthy juveniles will almost always self-feed at 90 grams.
| 90 | 9 | 3x/day |
| 95 | 9-10 | 3x/day |
Not writing a proper pigeon post today. Got too many things going on.
So I’m asking you all to do something nice for a pigeon, either your own or a wild one.
Just remember, pigeons are the best! 
It has been a record hot summer in Finland this year – the hottest recorded temperature was 37.2 degrees Celsius (on July 29th). I’m hoping that not too many animals suffered from the excess heat – since they’d normally be used to colder temperatures. (For wintertime, check out: Pigeons in Finland and Finnish pigeons).
Here are some photos of the pigeons we saw this summer:
At the arboretum in Tampere
At the arboretum in Tampere
Chilling out in the sun!
Must be the warmest spot to sunbathe on.
Looking good!
Feral pigeons foraging with the crows and ducks.
We had a coffee in the town centre of Tampere and we were joined by some lovely pigeons, who helped themselves to the left-overs:
I have received the ultimate book on pigeon breeds!! I am so happy!! It is an amazing book filled with photos of all the different breeds of pigeons you can find in the world. It is a book I have been wanting to have ever since I laid eyes on it on the internet (being the book addict I am). A dear friend heard of my desire and bought it for me. I cannot thank her enough!!
The book, of course, is the “Encyclopedia of Pigeon Breeds” by Wendell M. Levi (1965)
It is very thick and heavy, not surprising since it consists of 790 pages! I will spend many a lazy evenings going through it, just looking at all the amazing, weird and wonderful pigeons displayed in it. What a treat!
Richard has come up with some designs and slogans to add onto shirts, mugs, aprons, bumper stickers, etc., to help you lovely people show your support and love of pigeons.
Please check out our shop at http://pigeonsaspets.spreadshirt.co.uk/ and shop to your hearts content!
As you might have noticed there is a new box in the right-hand column of our website which displays our merchandise.
Richard will be creating some more designs later, but here are a few examples of what he has done so far:
The England v Algeria football match became interesting for our pet pigeons when a bird was spotted sitting on the Algeria goal post during the match. After a replay we saw what looked to be a juvenile speckled pigeon (Columba guinea) sitting quite safely on the goal post (seeing as there wasn’t much of a threat of a goal from England):
Here’s photos of the pigeon:
And here’s a photo of a different juvenile speckled pigeon:
Juvenile speckled pigeon (photo from Dave Shedman)
Buy your official Pigeons As Pets England v Algeria T-shirts: “Ah! The Algerian goal, the safest place to nest.” at http://www.cafepress.co.uk/pigeonsaspets
