how to sex homing pigeons? how to care for them?

[KWAK]

These are my first pigeons ever, they are homing pigeons!
How do i train them to com eback when let out?
how do i sex them?
what do i feed them?
any special care?

 

[birdboy508]

you tell the gender by the size of the head the mail has the bigger head.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Not necessarily. You tell the sex primarily by behavior, the males bow and coo.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
If they are adult homers and you turn them out they will return to where they came from. If they are young homers you can google 'how to train homing pigeons ' and read all about it.

You cannot sex them accurately except by behavior. Males will coo to court the females. Additionally, if they have eggs, generally the females sit the nest at night and the males during the day.

Pigeons eat primarily seeds, though they can eat just about any type of feed. I feed mine a bird seed mix and chicken layer feed. There are also specialized pigeon pellets you can get for them.

edit to fix an error.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
If they are adult homers and you turn them out they will return to where they came from. If they are young homers you can google 'how to train homing pigeons ' and read all about it.

You cannot sex them accurately except by behavior. Males will coo to court the females. Additionally, if they have eggs, generally the males sit the nest at night and the females during the day.

Pigeons eat primarily seeds, though they can eat just about any type of feed. I feed mine a bird seed mix and chicken layer feed. There are also specialized pigeon pellets you can get for them.

Males really set the day shift ,females at night. males most like 9 am to 5 pm.....females set longer hours than the male.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
If they are adult homers and you turn them out they will return to where they came from. If they are young homers you can google 'how to train homing pigeons ' and read all about it.

You cannot sex them accurately except by behavior. Males will coo to court the females. Additionally, if they have eggs, generally the males sit the nest at night and the females during the day.

Pigeons eat primarily seeds, though they can eat just about any type of feed. I feed mine a bird seed mix and chicken layer feed. There are also specialized pigeon pellets you can get for them.

Males really set the day shift ,females at night. males most like 9 am to 5 pm.....females set longer hours than the male.

Duh...I knew that, wasn't thinking. Thanks for catching that deerman.

 

[KWAK]

mmk! I deffinatly have 1 male, it was cooing, and i hope the other is a female, no cooing/bowing.
what do they use for nesting? when do they nest? should i have a nest up now?

 

[shelleyd2008]

They nest all year long, though some take a break (or don't hatch as often) in the winter. They prefer open-topped nests but will use just about anything.

 

[KWAK]

How often do they have a nest?
how long does it take to raise the chicks?

 

[shelleyd2008]

It takes 18 days for the eggs to hatch then the parents feed the babies for 4+ weeks. When the babies are about 3 weeks old the parents will start brooding another 2-egg clutch if there is an available empty nest nearby. Otherwise, the parents will start a new clutch approximately 1 week after the babies fledge (babies fledge around 4 weeks old).

The male will continue to feed the babies an additional 4 weeks or so after they fledge.