On saturday we had a visit from a homing pigeon. He is quite beautiful (all white) and had the tags on his legs. He settled down in our veggie patch, and didn't seem in any hurry to move.

Anyway - we put some water and some grain out for him and left him too it. We assumed that he was tired and needed to rest.

Its now Wednesday, and we still have our pigeon. He is now called Fred. He sits in the veggie patch every day until it gets dark, which is located next to our chickens (he seems to like them). He then disappears somewhere every night until the next morning, whereby he resumes position. He doesn't move from the veggie patch all day. He just wanders around eyeballing the chickens.

I did look at perhaps catching him and seeing if i could locate his owner from the tags, but a lot of website state that the owner would collect him and then kill him because he is useless to them (i.e whats the point of a homing pigeon that can't find its way home).

So - we have grown a little attached. But I worry about him. Where does he go at night, he is alone ... does that matter ? The wild pigeons pick on him a little and they have small fights, mostly as it starts to get dark. Fred doesn't seem in any distress and can obviously fly as he goes somewhere every night.

Any tips ? I don't know what to feed him. Should I try and get him a house of some sort. Should I expect him to fly 'home' at some point ? Am I getting too attached ?

Poor Fred. I don't know anything about pigeons or homing pigeons. Do you think he might be injured?

Personally, I would catch him and take him to a vet or rescue centre.
Like it or not, he's the property of his owner.

If you're concerned for his long term welfare, you could always offer to buy him from the owner if he's unwanted.

j4Rose - I don't think he is injured as we have seen him flying around when he goes for his bed and when he appears in the morning. He is also holding his own with the wild birds.

Muze - I know he belongs to someone, but im not holding him against his will. We did consider trying to catch him with a net, but we worried that he would die of fright or something. Or maybe we just like having him around

I know .... I am a bad person

You're definitely not!

Maybe you could phone a vet to begin with? They might know what to do. He's probably used to being handled, but you don't want to scare him.

I've just done a google search. If he's a racing homing pigeon, it seems like a cruel and unnecessary thing to put a creature through: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21938429

Personally, I wouldn't worry about returning him to his owner.

I will call the vet. I am on almost first name terms with them having had 4 cats and now 2 dogs and 18 chickens registered with them !!! Im sure they will give me some free advice over the phone. I will give them a tinkle in the morning.

Thank you

Good. Please let us know what happens

Seems wise to call the vet rather than try to net it yourself as I'm sure you could injure it if you don't know what you're doing. I think a fair number of homing pigeons get lost and go feral - I guess they'll live a shorter life on their own but probably no shorter than their wild cousins.

pure whites are rarely racers, blues and reds are far more common, does fred have feathered feet, or a fanned tail?

there are actually several different types of pigeons kept, some even just as pets.
this could have been a recently bought bird which has gotten out too early and isn't imprinted well enough to know where it's home is - it happens. but if it's surviving, i wouldn't worry too much.

contacting the owner of the bird doesn't necessarily mean that will be its death sentence
(to be fair it will probably just be sold again or put back into the flock)
it would be worth contacting the person whom the ring is registered to to be honest.

It doesn't have feathered feet, but has a nice fanned tail. It is pure white apart from a darkish bit on his face.

I have called the vet, and they were as useful as a chocolate fireguard. They said to catch it and call the owner. He has the rings around both legs, which are yellow.

Is there a local fanciers club you could contact? They will be best placed to know how to catch it and how to read the rings.

Have there been any developments OP?

And not a bad person at all, and I sincerely apologise if my response sounded curt

Sounds like this pigeon was lucky to land in you garden.
Maybe you could consider helping/fostering for a wildlife rescue in the future x

Hi OP,
I vaguely remembered seeing a TV programme about a homing pigeons association and have found this link, you can report your found pigeon here;
http://www.homingpigeons.co.uk/straypigeons.htm

I hope the link works! Here's hoping too that you'll be able to reunite Mr/Ms Pigeon with their owner.

Well - thank you for the replies, but I do have an update.

Last Friday / Saturday the pigeon started disappearing for longer periods before coming back again. We figured that he was garden sharing with someone else.

But on Sunday he left, and we haven't seen Fred since. I like to think that he stayed with us as he was tired and needed to rest, feed and chill a little before completing his mammoth journey home. He was with us for just over a week.

I hope he is happy - and I will miss the little fella.

Homing pigeons 'home' because their partner is kept there - they return to their wife n kids. He must have needed the rest.

Or a little bit on the side!

Pidgies are wonderful, and it's a pity they are "vermin", and they are highly intelligent too.

The lad needed a rest, food, (nookie??) and has probably found his way home. Just like the one I rescued who decided to camp in my bedroom for a week before flying off. Not that it was the middle of winter, the radiator was on, and there was a redily available supply of seed, water or anything.