Forest Flock Pigeon Sanctuary

Website Contact the business

Forest Flock Pigeon Sanctuary We are a pigeon sanctuary based in West Yorkshire, providing a permanent home to pigeons.

13/10/2026

💖💖💖

Beautiful Hobnob this morning, enjoying the sunshine. I am bias but I think he is very handsome.
11/10/2026

Beautiful Hobnob this morning, enjoying the sunshine. I am bias but I think he is very handsome.

Meet little Fern 💖Fern is a member of my garden flock that I have been trying to catch for months now. We even had the f...
07/10/2026

Meet little Fern 💖

Fern is a member of my garden flock that I have been trying to catch for months now. We even had the fire brigade out in the summer. I’d noticed her struggling to walk sitting on our roof and Ant had noticed in July an egg hanging out. She’s always been able to fly.

We stopped seeing her for a while and I thought perhaps the inevitable had happened 💔 however over the last few weeks she was back!

Earlier this week we found a bird down the side of our aviary and to my absolute joy it was little Fern.

We strongly suspect Fern has a spinal or pelvic injury or break and have been in touch with our lovey Dr Franc and physio Jen. I’m hoping to see Jen soon so she can have a feel at what’s going on with Fern. She is seemingly very healthy otherwise and has been able to support herself with both feeding and being part of a flock.

She’s on pain relief and an extra padded bed to ease pressure as she seems unable to stand currently.

I have some time off next week so I hope to book some time in with both to investigate further what is happening.

Welcome to the flock Fern 💖

💖 Trigger warning for details of injury 💖Little Boudicca came in around Month ago now in quite a sorry state. She had a ...
03/10/2026

💖 Trigger warning for details of injury 💖

Little Boudicca came in around Month ago now in quite a sorry state. She had a scalping injury which meant her scalp was detached from her head with skull exposed. She also had a broken jaw and severe neurological trauma signs, along with a severe eye injury.

I’ve chosen not to show the injuries as they are quite horrific.

Whilst scalping injuries are common and don’t always mean euthanasia, there was alot going on.

We got in touch with franc our lovely vet to asses whether she stood any sort of chance or not and if it would be kinder to take to the vets to end her suffering. Franc advised on care such as minimal
Handling, pain relief and anti inflammatory, dark and zero stress and let’s see. We wasn’t sure whether she’d get though, but head injuries can always surprise us.

To our absolute surprise she got through and one of the worrying symptoms eased hugely. We set about cleaning her up and assessing what was actually going on.

Boudicca has gone from strength to strength and whilst one eye is slightly misshapen and she’s very likely blind in that eye, she’s coming through. She’s now self feeding, flying, and her little head is healing beautifully. Her scalp has now regranulated the flesh and is now a scab.

What an absolute worrier this little one is 💖

💔 PIGEON DIVORCE AT FOREST FLOCK 💔We always say pigeons are incredibly loyal little creatures, and this week we’ve unfor...
02/10/2026

💔 PIGEON DIVORCE AT FOREST FLOCK 💔

We always say pigeons are incredibly loyal little creatures, and this week we’ve unfortunately witnessed the darker side of pigeon monogamy…

Poor Jade and Delores have gone through a rather messy divorce 😭

Delores has apparently left Jade for a large ex racer. We’re not saying there was a midlife crisis involved, but 😬

Jade is neurologically disabled, and sadly his disability has made him more vulnerable to bullying from the other pigeons. With the breakdown of his relationship and the added stress, Jade has had a relapse in his neurological symptoms.

So for now, he’s having some time out from the flock in a lovely safe space where he can decompress, rest and, hopefully, recover from his heartbreak.

Pigeons are generally monogamous and often form incredibly strong pair bonds. They can spend a huge amount of time with their chosen partner, preening one another, feeding each other and nesting together. So while we might jokingly call this a “divorce”, for Jade, losing his partner and then being bullied is genuinely a significant social change.

We’re giving him plenty of peace, safety and TLC while he adjusts.

As for Delores…

Well.

We’re trying not to judge.

But apparently large ex racers are her type now. 🐦💔

🕊️ Let’s talk about Michael and salmonella.Pigeons often get a bad reputation when it comes to salmonella, particularly ...
28/09/2026

🕊️ Let’s talk about Michael and salmonella.

Pigeons often get a bad reputation when it comes to salmonella, particularly because of the assumption that they are a significant risk to human health.

But the reality is a little more complicated.

Michael has salmonella. He was originally tested through a faecal sample, but his infection didn’t simply disappear when his poo tested clear. We tested the fluid from his affected joint, which confirmed that the salmonella had established itself there.

So Michael isn’t walking around spreading salmonella everywhere. His infection is within his joint, rather than him having an active infectious gut infection.

Salmonella can cause illness in pigeons too. It can affect the intestines, but it can also move beyond the gut and cause problems such as joint infections, swelling and systemic illness.

And this is really important, finding salmonella in a pigeon does not automatically mean there is a significant risk to humans.

Good hygiene is always important when caring for any wildlife, handwashing, cleaning properly and avoiding contact with faeces are sensible precautions. But healthy people are not simply going to become ill because they have been near a pigeon with salmonella.

Michael is a lovely example of why we need to look beyond the label.

He isn’t just “a pigeon with salmonella”.

He’s a pigeon who became unwell, developed a complicated infection, and needed further investigation to find out where that infection actually was. ❤️

We now know what antibiotics in the joints are effective on this and are treating accordingly. We are already seeing major improvements and Michael should make a full recovery 🥳💖

💚 A little question for our Forest Flock family 💚We’d really like to know how you feel about us sharing the harder side ...
28/09/2026

💚 A little question for our Forest Flock family 💚

We’d really like to know how you feel about us sharing the harder side of life at the sanctuary.

We’ve always tried to be honest with you. Alongside the happy releases, cheeky personalities, babies growing up and pigeons getting their second chance, there is unfortunately another side to rescue, illness, injury, heartbreak and sometimes losing a bird we desperately wanted to save. 💔

We don’t believe in pretending that side doesn’t exist. These birds matter just as much when things don’t have a happy ending, and we feel that being honest about sanctuary life means sometimes sharing those difficult moments too.

However, we completely understand that this content can be upsetting.

We will always use clear CONTENT WARNINGS at the beginning of posts where appropriate, so you can decide whether you want to continue reading or viewing.

And there are some things we have a firm rule about:

🕯️ We will NEVER show a photograph of a deceased bird. When one of our birds passes away, we will always use our little lit candle image instead. 🕯️

We may, however, occasionally share photographs of injuries, wounds or medical conditions when we feel there is an educational or genuinely interesting reason to do so. These will always have a clear content warning, because we appreciate that not everyone will want to see them.

We try very hard to avoid unnecessary details or graphic imagery. There is a difference between showing the reality of rescue and sharing something purely for shock value, and we have absolutely no desire to do the latter.

Some people find comfort in knowing what happened to a bird they’ve followed. Others would much rather see the happy stories and not be exposed to the sadness. Both are completely understandable. ❤️

So we’d genuinely love to hear from you:

🕊️ Do you want us to continue sharing the sadder side of sanctuary life, with clear content warnings?

🕊️ Or would you prefer Forest Flock to focus mainly on the happier stories?

There is absolutely no wrong answer, and nobody will be judged for finding this side of rescue too difficult.

We’re simply trying to find the right balance between being honest about what sanctuary life really involves and keeping Forest Flock a place where people feel comfortable coming to.

Because behind every happy photograph is a very real sanctuary, and sometimes that means celebrating the wonderful lives our birds have had, even when we have to say goodbye. ❤️

Thank you for caring about our birds through the good days and the heartbreaking ones. 🕊️💚

Unfortunately we have some very sad news to share this morning. Little Humphrey sadly passed away in the early hours, wa...
28/09/2026

Unfortunately we have some very sad news to share this morning. Little Humphrey sadly passed away in the early hours, warm and comfortable surrounded by love. His little body was so emaciated and just too far gone. Sleep tight little one 💔

Meet Humphrey 💖A post appeared on a local page about a little one struggling and unfortunately no one had got him safe. ...
27/09/2026

Meet Humphrey 💖

A post appeared on a local page about a little one struggling and unfortunately no one had got him safe. When I know there’s a bird near a main road and needs help I simply cannot settle so Ant and I went on a mini rescue mission to secure him!

And what a sorry site he was, hunched up as people just walked past, waiting for the inevitable 😔 well not today! Instead of death on a cold damp street, Humphrey got me!

He’s absolutely emaciated and crawling with lice. He’s now home, safe on a heat pad and some much needed rehydration fluids in his system. It’s easy to assume we’d just feed a starving bird straight away but they need to be stable and rehydrated before we can feed proper food, to prevent something called refeeding syndrome. If not done correctly the bird can die.

I have put some photos on so you can see what feather lice look like. These annoying little beasts literally bleed the host dry, so we’ve also started treatment for this.

Welcome to the flock Humphrey 💜

💔 A little word about our Pokémon raffle We honestly didn’t expect that raffling a sought after Pokémon item would resul...
22/09/2026

💔 A little word about our Pokémon raffle

We honestly didn’t expect that raffling a sought after Pokémon item would result in quite so much negativity.

What started as a bit of fun and a way of raising some much needed funds for the pigeons has unfortunately led to a lot of unpleasant comments and, subsequently, an entire post dedicated to slating us and the raffle.

We’ve been called scalpers, scammers and one person went a little further and got personal.

We’re not going to get into an argument with anyone, and we certainly don’t expect everybody to agree with everything we do. But we do think it’s worth remembering that there are real people at the other end of the screen.

There’s a person reading those comments. A person who has feelings, who works incredibly hard, who spends their days caring for over a hundred birds and who started Forest Flock because they wanted to help animals that needed somewhere safe.

It’s very easy online to forget that the words you type can actually hurt someone.

So, to everyone who did support our raffle, bought a ticket, shared it, sent us lovely messages or simply stood by us, thank you. ❤️

And a special thank you to those who were particularly vocal on the spin off post about us. 😂 You certainly made sure our little raffle got plenty of extra attention, and we suspect more people now know about Forest Flock than would have done otherwise!

But genuinely, thank you to everyone who continues to support us, whether that’s through donations, sharing our posts, buying raffle tickets, or simply following along with the birds. You genuinely help keep this place going.

We’re going to carry on doing what we do: looking after the pigeons, enjoying the little things, and trying to raise funds in ways that work for us.

The negativity might be loud, but the kindness we receive is so much louder. 🐦❤️

And perhaps the biggest reminder from all of this is simply this, there really is someone at the other end of those comments.

Thank you for being here with us.
Steph & Ant x

Address

Wetherby

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Forest Flock Pigeon Sanctuary posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Forest Flock Pigeon Sanctuary:

Shortcuts

Share

Category