A pair of pigeons have made a nest on the windowsill of my roofless but enclosed porch and the two eggs have already hatched into the cutest pair and fastest-growing little pigeons I have ever had the pleasure of seeing up so close.
I understand that since I was not Mafkir the spot before the eggs were laid, that I cannot perform the Mitzvah of Shiluach HaKein. However, because of that fact, I have automatically acquired the pigeons via my ownership of the porch. Can I, or am I obligated to, feed the pigeons daily, and even on Shabbos, before I partake of my own nourishment?
A. One is permitted to feed the animals he owns and he has to take care for (Talmud Shabbos 155b, O.H. 324: 11). However, even if the animals are his, if he does not have to feed them and they can usually find food for themselves as most flying birds do, it would be prohibited to feed them, as it is considered "Tircha Yeseira" (Mishna Berura ibid. 29, 31), even on Shabbos Shirah. Shulchan Aruch mentions doves in his prohibition.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Rabbonim at the Toronto Kollel
Important Numbers
