Congratulations on bringing home your new pigeon! At this point you may be wondering what to do, or trying to figure out ahead of time if there’s a way to be prepared for this part of the process. Well, you have this guide as a starting place to feel out how to get your footing, what you should and shouldn't do, and what you should expect during the adjustment period.
<aside> 🐦 Generally, a pigeon should be left largely alone in their cage for the first week.
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First of all, when you bring the bird home, if at all possible, open the shipping box or carrying crate inside the bird’s cage and let the bird get out by themselves. ****You can tip it a little if the bird is having trouble. Starting off your relationship without unnecessary grabbing will make an ever-so-slight positive difference.
When the bird first arrives, it's best to have some sort of cage with necessities in it even if it won't be the bird's full time home. Their poops will also be truly awful at first: post-shipping poop is green, wet, and overall nasty, but pigeons that were driven home from fifteen minutes away likely will also have bad poos from the stress of being in a new place.
Most birds need a minimum of 3 days before leaving the cage, but that number can just as often be a week. If you get a real confident bird, sometimes only a day will do it. In the meantime, try to hang out in the room as unobtrusively as possible. Go about your business as usual. Feel free to play music or a podcast at a moderate volume, but basically just be in the same space without paying too much attention to the bird. Ignoring your pigeon at first is the best way of demonstrating you are not trying to "get" it somehow, and generally makes them more curious about you instead of afraid.
When you need to go into the cage to take care of food or drink, tell the bird in short terms what you’re doing, even if it is only one word. You can also point with your finger at the location your hand is headed to teach the bird that that is the direction your hand is moving in—not towards them. It may take some time for them to get this but it’s never too early to start.
<aside> 🐦 “Food!” “Water!” The shorter the cue and the easier for you to remember and repeat, the easier for your bird to remember and learn.
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If you end up with a real humdinger of a friendly bird and you can see it actually wants to interact with you (following your movements in the cage, for instance, or jumping on the bars in your direction and flapping), that's a sign you can let them out earlier than you might have thought. Keep in mind that the bird should noticeably try to reach you no matter what side of the cage you are near; otherwise it may be a coincidence.
<aside> 🐦 Don't try to introduce anything too advanced in the cage at first. New toys, a bath—these can wait.
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The first week your bird is home, they likely will be stressed—they likely will be unsure of what is going on, and they are in a strange environment with people they don't know. Most of the time, unless the pigeon indicates otherwise (through restless motions that do not cease when you are near the cage), you should try to give your bird some space to catch a breath.
Let it observe you and your routines. When you interact with it, don't feel that you need to come right up to the cage - sitting a few feet away will make the bird feel less pressured. Try to keep in mind how you are interacting with the bird—are you leaning forward to stare right at the pigeon while you talk to it? This may make your feathery friend nervous! Until it becomes comfortable with you, that kind of body language from you could mean you are a threat!
<aside> 🐦 When you're first hanging out with your bird, follow the tried and true method of Act Casual.
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Don't stare at the bird constantly; try to make deliberate eye contact but then look away at something else. I've found this helps put nervous birds at ease enough to continue approaching me when they were unsure—essentially, imagine how a creature interested in preying on a pigeon might act, and try not to do that.
When you do look at the pigeon, try to keep relaxed eyes. Try to keep a comfortable body position—if you are too excited to sit casually, direct the front of your body away from the bird a bit. Pigeons understand the difference between a person angled in such a way that they could approach and a person angled at something else.
Basically, early on you just want to try and give your pigeon a sense of safety or at least no further reason to be afraid. They are very good at noting our patterns, and if you lay down this foundation and stick to it, it should be easier to bond later on, when your pigeon is getting more comfortable.
In the first week or so, your pigeon may also call for their flock, who is no longer around to answer. This is called contact calling, and usually—but not always—occurs in the evenings. It sounds like long *wooooooo, woooooo, wooooo'*s.
[Contact calling may sound differently depending on the pigeon, but typically would be similar to this. Video by Jana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp6VZ4PEakI)
Contact calling may sound differently depending on the pigeon, but typically would be similar to this. Video by Jana
If this occurs in a room light enough for the pigeon to see you (keep in mind, pigeons have very bad low-light vision), you can try mimicking the call back to them. Only do this if you are directly in a sight line for the pigeon—it should be able to see you from its cage! It may get up and come running for the sound, but that is why it is important that it can see you are doing it.