Dilemma with a bird!

TheBigCheese · 4 Sep 2010 at 13:27

Not that sort

We've found a racing pigeon this morning, it was in the garden, didn't fly away when the dogs investigated it (just sniffing) and is perfectly happy to be picked up.

We put it in a cage and gave it some bird food which it absolutely stuffed down...I think it must have been let out for a race and it's just knackered.

It is ringed and numbered.

We've taken it to the vet who has checked it over and said it is fine, just tired and to look after it for the weekend and contact the racing pigeon association on Monday...which was fine until I started poking about the net and reading on Yahoo Answers most people on there think that if a pigeon comes home late it's killed as it's not a winner. :eek:

Is this true? Does anyone know anything about racing pigeons and what happens to them?

Cheers

P.S. I know I know, it's identified and I should (and will) contact the owners...but it's a fantastic bird, I don't want to let it go just so it's potentially going to be knocked off when it gets there.

TheBigCheese · 4 Sep 2010 at 13:53

-westy- said:
Not your call I'm afraid, just let it go

I know, I know....

Curiousalien said:
I don't see why they would kill it, this bird may have used to have been a winner and when it gets home will be used for breeding. Birds can go through loads in a race and this might be normal.

I don't think you would want to be a pigeon owner if you didn't love birds and animals.

That's what I thought, so I was a bit shocked with what I read online.

Jokester said:
It's funny you should say that about being killed, I was speaking to someone offshore a couple of weeks ago about how often we find racing pigeons sitting on platforms and he said that when he found one he phoned a vet back on the beach and he said the same thing about them being killed.

Damn, so much for not believing what you read on t'interweb...

The rest of you I'm ignoring

TheBigCheese · 4 Sep 2010 at 14:03

Thanks very much, generally I'd just like to know what happens to the slow / exhausted birds.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to know!

TheBigCheese · 4 Sep 2010 at 16:36

The_Sophisticate said:
You monster, playing on everyone's love for these "Dear Deirdre..." threads

Genuine lol from me.

Rotty said:
just rang her

post the ring number here and we will get you owners details today\

and yes some do kill them but many don't

we can get you owners phone number so you could call and ask

Thanks very much for the offer, t'is really appreciated!

I'll leave it for the weekend though, it is absolutely knackered still and I don't want to stress it more. I'll contact the association on Monday and see what they have to say.

AntiHeroUK said:
I'm glad to see you have been looking after it. They do need to get something to get their energy back up before attempting to return home. Chances are if you fed it for another few days and released it, it will finds it's home. Occaisonally if they get sidetracked from a race they require a breather to get enough energy for the return flight.

It won't be killed. That's absolute nonsense. My dad races pigeons, and throughout the years I've come in contact with loads of pigeon racers and not one has ever killed a bird just because it didn't win a race.

Get in contact with the original owner and try to get it sorted. Shouldn't be too difficult to arrange. Do you know which country the bird originates from yet?

Really heartening to hear from yourself and Rotty that it should be OK, I'm really interested in the lil fella, never seen one up close before.

I'll post updates on what happens.

TheBigCheese · 4 Sep 2010 at 17:51

^TANK^ said:
Smash her................ oh **** hang on a second, now I'm just confused.

Yeah that would be tricky...especially as it's probably male.

Ahleckz said:
Eaten it yet? How was it?

I've had my tea thanks and so has the pigeon.

TheBigCheese · 6 Sep 2010 at 12:41

arc@css said:
Very recently had exactly the same happened to me. Took the bird to the vets, was advised not to feed it since it was soo tame by now anyway. I don't know where it flew home to but it didn't matter....it returned to my address anyway! :d

Eventually it left.

I read on another forum that it kept coming back to your place as it felt safe there, it was trying to get home but didn't have enough energy to get there so was coming back to roost.

When it didn't come back, that's when it made the full journey.

marv said:
2 of my uncles race and if there pigeons come home late or get lost they are just killed.

Thanks for the input...not good though.

I saw an update was requested, I've spoken to the association and have the details of the owner, I'll be ringing them today...and try and tactfully ask if they still look after their birds if they are late.

I can't do a lot either way though, if I find that the owner does kill them, it's not fair to keep it in a cage for the rest of it's life and if I let it free it'll only fly home anyway...d'oh.

TheBigCheese · 6 Sep 2010 at 15:05

To be honest if he stayed round here when we let him go that would be fantastic!

I've tried phoning the owner but the number the association has doesn't work anymore.

So I've phoned them back, got the details of a club he belongs to and am trying to get through to the club secretary to get his latest number...the things I'm doing for this bird!!!

TheBigCheese · 6 Sep 2010 at 19:32

OK I've got an update...

Story so far:

Found racing pigeon
Took it to the vets - it's fine
Rested it over the weekend until I could ring the racing pigeon association on Monday
Rung them and got the name of the owner from the ring, it's a man and his son.
Contacted the owner - number not recognised.
Spoke to the association again who gave me the name of a club secretary - apparently the owner belonged to a club.
Rang the club secretary - who is in hospital so I spoke to his son
Found out that the owner AND his son have died and the estate (including the pigeons) are in the solicitors hands.

Oh damn...no one to send the bird back to...if we release it then it'll fly back to an empty house.

It seems that keeping pigeons can be really bad for your health!

And now I have a pigeon.

Great.

TheBigCheese · 6 Sep 2010 at 22:29

j.col said:
this should be on dear deidre

Does Deidre take in homeless racing pigeons then?

*Moangroan* said:
A fair few pidgeon racers will just neck this pidgeon for being slow and tired......sad but true

I think it's fair to say the owners won't be doing anything dastardly to this pigeon...

TheBigCheese · 6 Sep 2010 at 23:25

Ghosteh said:
Maybe they were late home from a night out and all the other pigeons killed them.

That would ruffle a few feathers in the birding community...

*facepalm*

TheBigCheese · 6 Sep 2010 at 23:35

Jokester said:
The pigeon, clearly knowing it's days were numbered, decided to bump off the owner and son and wasn't actually racing home, but was on the run to the continent to the Costa del Criminal.

That's genius

Yep, it must have taken flight.

TheBigCheese · 7 Sep 2010 at 00:04

Hades said:
Stop the pigeon now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJvsMxLjp6w

I think this one is more appropriate...

Fantastic channel you've found!

TheBigCheese · 7 Sep 2010 at 10:55

Tefal said:
So what's happened to the Pigeon?

We've still got it!

It's got a nice big cage, a nest box, some branches if it wants to perch, and we've darkened one end of the cage for it so it's got a bit of a hidey hole...basically tried to make it like a pigeon coop as much as possible.

We can't keep it long term though, I think we'll be sending it to a bird rescue sanctuary, we did that with a starling we found on the floor a couple of years back as a hatchling...that's another story!

Hopefully the bird sanctuary will know how to train the racing pigeon so it will think that the sanctuary is it's home and won't try to return to it's old home now there is no-one there to look after it.