Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 11/11/2007

Question
Hi, Chrys
I just Purchased a home in which we also acquired about 8 homing pigeons. They have a fairly large house, but i am unsure of how to clean the house safely. Also their are about 4 eggs in the nest. What do I do so that I don't disturb the eggs? I would love to know more about handling the birds also. The previous owners did handle the birds. How old should the babies be before we try and handle them, and what precautions should we take. I would really like to learn how to take great care of our new birds. Thank you.

Answer
Hi, Natalie,

To clean the loft, you need to scrape the perches and floor, etc., of all their droppings and throw the droppings away.  You don't need to clean by using soap and water, etc., on anything.  The goal is to keep the birds away from each other's droppings.  Droppings of sick birds spread illness/disease so this is the reason for picking up the droppings.  Having said this, there's scientific evidence that leaving a 2-4 inch layer of droppings on the floor of the loft is actually beneficial at keeping disease/illness away because when fresh droppings land on droppings that have turned into dust, the fresh droppings are "neutralized," i.e., the Ph level changes and any illness/disease present is killed.  This is called deep liter.  I use this method with my birds.  Dried droppings actually turn into a dust-like product...they don't stay wet or turn hard or smell.  However, the dust produced can be hard on the lungs after a while if one breathes this in year after year after year (or those who have allergies may not want to use this method).  

Pigeons lay 2 eggs per clutch.  The fact that there are 4 eggs in this nest tells me that 2 females are laying in the same nest.  The eggs could be fertile or they may not be fertile.  When you clean, etc., just don't clean this area until after the eggs hatch or are abandoned by the adults.  If the females have mates, the male incubates the eggs during the day, the female at night.  If/when babies arrive, you can start handling them right away.  Be careful of the parents on the nest....they will likely "slap" you with their wings and it can sting.  This is their way of protecting their eggs/offspring.  Only precautions you would need to take is to ensure your hands are clean before handling the babies.  You can handle the adults, too, by just picking them up.  There's a right and wrong way to hold a pigeon, but too difficult to explain here.  Some pigeons are friendly with their humans, some aren't.  

Feed your birds a good quality pigeon grain.  In winter months, feed a good quality field corn.  Corn raises their body temperatures and helps to keep them warm.  They don't need heat in the wintertime, just protection from the cold wind.  My pigeons stay outside in their loft without heat even when temps go below zero.  Pigeons also need pigeon grit to help grind up the seed hulls in their gullets.  They need lots and lots of fresh water daily.  Pigeons have to drink after eating in order to soften up the grain they've eaten.  They drink lots of water.  They need lots of flying exercise so hopefully the loft is big enough.  Pigeons also love to bathe in the rain and sit in the sun, so if possible, try to have an outside aviary/flight cage where they can go in and out of their loft in order to get rain, sun, and fresh air.  Most of my birds sit outside in their flight cage all day long, just going inside to eat, sleep, drink, etc.  

Come back as you need to for information.

Chrys