Cyreen on Fri Mar 12, 2010 1:20 amI work for a law firm in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. A year ago last September, exactly two weeks after my birthday, I found Ollie. Actually, she was pretty easy to find, tucked in a corner of a busy mall entrance. I was sure she was boy given her posturing. I think the parents were still feeding her; however, on her third day building maintenance was going to "dispose" of her. So I borrowed a box from the dollar store, politely scooped her and hide her under my desk for half a day. She even survived a highrise fire drill.
A vet at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society pronounced "him" to be approximately two weeks old and healthy, but they wouldn't take Ollie because pigeons are not considered indigenous and they have limited funding. The second part I understood. As Ollie would not be flying or aclimatized by the time the weather turned cold, I decided to keep her over winter.
Come spring, Ollie was harassing the dog, playing with the cat's tail and had developed a serious bell habit. Taking away her toys would have been cruel. A couple days after Easter, I found an egg in her cage and Ollie became "Olive" rather than "Oliver".
Okay, so... here's the thing. She doesn't coo, she crows (Ahh-Roooo!) a lot, and struts and puffs, and does her little victory dance when she chases off the dog. There is nothing demure or maternal about Ollie. She's protective of her eggs, because they're hers, but she doesn't tend them. In fact, a couple eggs back, she laid one from her highest perch and I swear she had a "huh... look at that" expression as she watched it go splat.
In and effort to slow down production, I blew some of her eggs and exchanged them with the newly laid, but she started kicking her eggs to check them and she seems to enjoy stomping on the hollow ones (yes, I'm getting proper, solid dummy eggs).
I'm guessing pigeons aren't all this nuts and this behavior is a result of being house raised?
A vet at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society pronounced "him" to be approximately two weeks old and healthy, but they wouldn't take Ollie because pigeons are not considered indigenous and they have limited funding. The second part I understood. As Ollie would not be flying or aclimatized by the time the weather turned cold, I decided to keep her over winter.
Come spring, Ollie was harassing the dog, playing with the cat's tail and had developed a serious bell habit. Taking away her toys would have been cruel. A couple days after Easter, I found an egg in her cage and Ollie became "Olive" rather than "Oliver".
Okay, so... here's the thing. She doesn't coo, she crows (Ahh-Roooo!) a lot, and struts and puffs, and does her little victory dance when she chases off the dog. There is nothing demure or maternal about Ollie. She's protective of her eggs, because they're hers, but she doesn't tend them. In fact, a couple eggs back, she laid one from her highest perch and I swear she had a "huh... look at that" expression as she watched it go splat.
In and effort to slow down production, I blew some of her eggs and exchanged them with the newly laid, but she started kicking her eggs to check them and she seems to enjoy stomping on the hollow ones (yes, I'm getting proper, solid dummy eggs).
I'm guessing pigeons aren't all this nuts and this behavior is a result of being house raised?
Actually, I can relate to some of the behaviours you mentioned. 
Do you have a video camera to share videos with us? Have you ever had a pet bird before Ollie?
Maybe you should try a toy or two...sometime... 
