Pigeon Service

Sindy’s Pigeon Service is a place for pigeon-lovers to explore and buy creative products for pigeons and their people. Every item is one that I have personally used in the now seven aviaries I have designed and had built, and each item has met with pigeon success. The items are mostly ones created by my husband, Steve, and me, and handcrafted by us, for use either in an indoor cage for pigeons or an outdoor aviary. The remainder (such as fake eggs, seed covers, etc.) were selected because either we found them tremendously useful to us as pigeon people or because the pigeons adored them.

While an on-line store, Sindy’s Pigeon Service also offers an opportunity to meet the pigeons for school groups, homeschoolers or anyone else, interested in learning kindness and respect for all creatures as well as the remarkable contributions of pigeons through the centuries. Sindy’s Pigeon Service is acutely aware of the misuse of pigeons and the social attitude of disgust and malignment toward them. This store and its educational services are created with the hope that it will support and encourage all people who love animals to view pigeons (domesticated and feral) as the gentle, highly-intelligent and loving beings they are and admire their centuries-long history as one of man’s best helpers.

Sindy’s Pigeon Service is so named to honor the pigeons who were used in both world wars by the U.S. military to send messages to the soldiers on the ground and to the resistance in occupied Europe and Southeast Asia. The military called its winged messengers, the “U.S. Pigeon Service.” At its peak in World War II, the U.S. Pigeon Service possessed 54,000 pigeons.

Our Adventure

Our adventure with pigeons started with a homing pigeon, named Glory. Steve and I were Adopt-A-Highway volunteers for litter pick up in California, where we previously lived. Steve was doing a particularly unpleasant task the day Glory appeared; he was cleaning up an illegal dump of someone’s belongings. Just as he was ready to come home, a white bird walked out of the dead vegetation nearby and made herself at home underneath Steve’s car. Fascinated at first, Steve took a picture of Glory, who appeared to have no intention of leaving the shade of the car’s underside. However, Glory remained unmoved; she simply positioned herself further under the car. Eventually, Glory walked out from under the car and straight into ongoing traffic. Steve stepped out into the freeway and scooped Glory up and put her in a box in his car to be transported to our home.

Steve and I suspected that Glory needed our help, and we applied ourselves to the task. Water and seed promptly arrived in her box. Soon, she was housed in a borrowed parrot cage and locked in our spare bedroom since we have two cats. Research then began on this beautiful creature. It wasn’t long before I learned of Palomacy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing domesticated pigeons and doves. I learned that Glory was a white homer pigeon and that she was seeking help.

It is worth noting here that any white pigeon or banded bird is domesticated and cannot live wild and free. The bird is making itself noticed because it needs immediate help: safety, food and water. It is essentially “choosing you” to help it.

I fell in love with Glory. In the two months since her self-rescue, Steve and I had an aviary built in our backyard in California. We adopted another 30 birds for the aviary. Each is a domesticated pigeon with their own unique personality and their own story of survival and ultimate rescue.

Pigeons mate for life. Pigeon love stories are real — each different and each incredibly interesting. While nothing in life is 100%, virtually all pigeon couples actually live the vows that we human beings take with each other: they love and cherish each other “for better or worse” and “in sickness and in health.” This special bond, combined with the fact that pigeons equally co-parent the eggs and then squab, is the reason why mankind has been able to use (and exploit) pigeons for centuries for so many purposes: for sailors to find land, for governments to carry messages into war, for Reuters to carry stock trades to market, for countries’ officials to get election results from mountainous regions, for gamblers to race pigeons for money, and so on. Pigeons don’t do these feats for man; they are not patriotic or racers by nature. They do them to return to the ones they love.

Since Glory and her flock touched my heart, I have rescued many more domesticated pigeons. Rescuing them meant finding homes for them as well. Consequently, I designed and had built two, large aviaries in the Bay Area. One is located at a farm sanctuary in Martinez, called One Living Sanctuary, and the other was a collaboration with a property owner (and now friend) in her backyard.

The aviary at One Living Sanctuary
Stacey and Theo’s backyard aviary

My journey has now taken me to Jacksonville, Oregon. Since moving here and opening Sindys Pigeon Service, I have been able to expand my own aviary to take 33 birds that I was not able to place for a Northwest Bird Club member, Beverly Fuller, who died prematurely of lung cancer. I was able to place two of her flocks — one of doves and one of fantails. She died before I could find homes for the last 33 pigeons. They now reside in my expanded aviary.

My expanded aviary
Heather Gomberg’s new aviary for Oreo

With the proceeds from my online store, I built my first aviary for a friend, Heather Gomberg, and her pigeon, Oreo. In November 2023, I built another aviary in Hookset, New Hampshire for Rachel Power. Initially, Rachel took in four pigeons. All desperately needed rehoming. Since that time, she has continued to rescue!

Rachel Power’s aviary in New Hampshire built by Coops for a Cause

This year, 2024, I have already built two aviaries: one for Ashley Rankin in Pennsylvania and another for Ame Riggs of Rebel Rescue Ranch in Ohio.

Pigeons have been more decorated for courage and bravery than any other animal

    

PROTESTING FOR PIGEON PROTECTIONS:  6/13/23

          National Pigeon Appreciation Day is 6/13/23.  It is believed this date was chosen to honor pigeons as the date on which the famous pigeon, Cher Ami, died in 1919.  Cher Ami helped save the lives of 194 soldiers in WWI.  Of course, pigeons, throughout history, have helped mankind in thousands of other significant ways, not just as messengers in both World Wars. 

          This year, on Pigeon Appreciation Day, I am organizing a protest at the Capital in Sacramento, California to remind people why pigeons deserve our appreciation and to bring awareness to the fact that pigeons are intelligent, sensitive birds, who deserve the same care and respect as other more “popular” species.  I know you all are aware how pigeons are maligned and mistreated today, and how there are essentially no federal or state laws that protect them against mistreatment. 

     We all want to change that.  To my mind, this is the year to be an activist.  Hence, the protest on 6/13/23.  Flamingo, the fledgling King pigeon dyed pink for a “gender reveal” party in New York City, got an amazing amount of press, particularly after Flamingo died.  The Wild Bird Fund in NYC did a sensational job getting the NY Times to run an article about Flamingo and why domesticated pigeons should never be released (or dyed).  We can, and must, build on that momentum

      I have obtained a permit at the California Capital for our protest in Sacramento on 6/13/23.  The protest will be from 9 am to 1 pm.  I will have tables and signs set up in our permitted location, so anyone attending will be able to find our spot without trouble.  Our spot is ideal.  It is a grassy area.  And, due to the construction all around the Capital, it is also the only pathway state legislators use to get to their offices.  6/13 is a Tuesday, a working day. 

          Steve and I have also rented an Air B&B for the afternoon and evening before. (6/12/23)  The Air B&B is located in West Sacramento in walking distance to the Capital.  This location will be our spot to gather together the afternoon and evening before the protest to make our signs and get fired up for the next morning’s protest.  Your pigeons are allowed at the Air B&B.

          On the day of the protest, our pigeons can also attend.  There are strict rules about clean up after any protest.  Pigeons must be safely restrained either in their carriers and/or wearing pigeon pants and leashes for their protection and ease of clean up.

          If any one of you is thinking – “protesting is really not my thing” – I want to remind you that animal activists were able to get greyhound racing completely banned in this country.  It took a long time, but it got done.  Many of us have spent years in rescue and rehab and done tons of education and advocacy for domesticated pigeons.  The groundwork has been laid.  Let’s take it to the next level on 6/13/23! 

          Please RSVP to either:

Cynthia Harris (Sindy) at sindyspigeonservice@gmail.com, or

Elizabeth Young at Elizabeth@pigeonrescue.org

There is some rooms in the Air B&B that are available. Please let me know if you wish to be considered for a room.

This Week’s Product of the Week: Eco-friendly laundry sheets for lots of pigeon-pooped laundry

     This week’s product of the week is Earth Breeze laundry sheets. If you own a flock of pigeons (or even one or more), you will be doing a good deal of pigeon-pooped laundry. Earth Breeze was created by a local Oregon company. There is no plastic jug. Indeed, the laundry sheets are not even packaged in plastic, but paper. Tear the sheet(s) into smaller pieces and throw them in with your load of laundry. The sheets dissolve in the washing machine, but the detergent on them cleans your laundry. The laundry sheets are hypoallergenic, vegan, bleach-free, paraben-free and phosphate-free. There are 30 sheets in a box, which equals about 60 loads of laundry.

Glory needed our help

There was little fanfare when she arrived home.  Steve and I suspected that Glory needed our help, and we applied ourselves to the task.

LEARN MORE

I fell in love with Glory

It is worth noting here that any white pigeon or banded bird is domesticated and cannot live wild and free.

LEARN MORE
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Services Sindy’s Pigeon Service Offers

In order to take advantage of any service we offer (or create your own event), you need only email sindyspigeonservice@gmail.com or leave me a text at 707-207-5759.  Some of the services we offer include:

  • Aviary tours
  • Speaking engagements about pigeons:  what are domesticated, rescued pigeons?; what is their history as man’s helpers; did you know that pigeons were once the darlings of the rich and famous?; do pigeons make the ideal pet, etc.
  • Summer camp visits
  • School visits
  • Bookstore displays
  • Story time visits
  • Pretty much any other event that involves education about pigeons!

A bag of long pine needles comes FREE with every order, no matter how small 

Shipping is FREE to any location in the USA

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