So the next door neighbors released some white pigeons at their backyard lakeside wedding ceremony. While the other pigeons all took off, homeward bound I am sure, one of them made several laps around the lake before coming a landing on the roof of our house.
At first, we worried for "Pigeon", because we thought, surely he would get snatched up by a hawk. But as time went on, he seemed to be adjusting well to his new life as a lake bird. He started venturing on to different parts of our house.
Having birds myself, I set out a cage for him, to see if he might let us catch him. No luck. So, we put food out (seed) for him, because we had no clue if he even knew how to fend for himself. He started eating the seed off of our back deck, and then, he started roosting on the ceiling fan of our back deck. My grandmother was delighted, because she loves watching him, and she knew that our deck was a safe place for him, but my grandfather is less thrilled about the mess.
Some time went by, and Pigeon disappeared, and we thought surely he had gotten snatched up by our local birds of prey. Then, a much larger bird started coming to our house, and I insisted that this bird was NOT Pigeon, but my grandmother insisted it was. Turns out, I was right, because a day or two later, Pigeon himself showed up along side his much larger resemblance, who we just call fat bird.
My theory is that he went home, and got his girlfriend. I don't know how reasonable this is, because we know NOTHING about pigeons, but here it is, a few weeks later, and the pair has mated and laid eggs in a chiminea that is on our deck. It looks like this
http://www.pier.co.uk/images/products/585-391252%20Patio%20Chiminea%20Terracotta-064.jpg
So anyway, they two eggs have hatched, and now we have four pigeons. The babies are less than a week old at this point.
We can't have four pigeons hanging around here. We love Pigeon and Fat Bird, but my grandfather will surely have a fit if we have FOUR. So what should I do about these two babies? We never thought the eggs would hatch after all of the cold weather we've had, but they are indeed healthy. I was thinking that maybe I could catch the two babies after they are fully feathered but before they fledge, finish raising them, and then could sell them, either to someone locally who had pigeons, or someone who wanted an unusual pet. You guys are pigeon breeders, you know about pigeons, what should I do?
At first, we worried for "Pigeon", because we thought, surely he would get snatched up by a hawk. But as time went on, he seemed to be adjusting well to his new life as a lake bird. He started venturing on to different parts of our house.
Having birds myself, I set out a cage for him, to see if he might let us catch him. No luck. So, we put food out (seed) for him, because we had no clue if he even knew how to fend for himself. He started eating the seed off of our back deck, and then, he started roosting on the ceiling fan of our back deck. My grandmother was delighted, because she loves watching him, and she knew that our deck was a safe place for him, but my grandfather is less thrilled about the mess.
Some time went by, and Pigeon disappeared, and we thought surely he had gotten snatched up by our local birds of prey. Then, a much larger bird started coming to our house, and I insisted that this bird was NOT Pigeon, but my grandmother insisted it was. Turns out, I was right, because a day or two later, Pigeon himself showed up along side his much larger resemblance, who we just call fat bird.
My theory is that he went home, and got his girlfriend. I don't know how reasonable this is, because we know NOTHING about pigeons, but here it is, a few weeks later, and the pair has mated and laid eggs in a chiminea that is on our deck. It looks like this
http://www.pier.co.uk/images/products/585-391252%20Patio%20Chiminea%20Terracotta-064.jpg
So anyway, they two eggs have hatched, and now we have four pigeons. The babies are less than a week old at this point.
We can't have four pigeons hanging around here. We love Pigeon and Fat Bird, but my grandfather will surely have a fit if we have FOUR. So what should I do about these two babies? We never thought the eggs would hatch after all of the cold weather we've had, but they are indeed healthy. I was thinking that maybe I could catch the two babies after they are fully feathered but before they fledge, finish raising them, and then could sell them, either to someone locally who had pigeons, or someone who wanted an unusual pet. You guys are pigeon breeders, you know about pigeons, what should I do?