Banding giant Hungarian house pigeon squab

[Laurellee87]

Hello!
I’m new to raising pigeons, and just had my first baby Hungarian hatch out! The parents are banded with 14mm, but it is WAY too big for him! Are you supposed to band them later? They have thick muffs, I’m assuming that’s why they’re banded with 14’s…? Thank you

 

[sweaterthebroodyrooster]

I’m not sure how helpful this will be, but I asked my friend who has a pigeon and has experience with other birds about this.

Here’s what he said:

On most birds it's done when they are babies. Once grown if the bands ever need to come off they have to be clipped with bolt cutters. They do make bands that can go on once the birds are grown, though in places requiring banding by law those are generally illegal or not recognized as legitimate.

I don't know at approximately what age they get banded I just know it's prior to them being fully grown. My guess is it would be at the point where you could just barely get the band on. In virginia (we live in Virginia, not sure where you live), as far as I am aware, the only pet/domestic/aviculture species that must be banded by law is the Monk Parakeet.

I hope this is somewhat helpful to you.

 

[Qwerty3159]

I have always been a fan of the snap-on bands. They can be removed after the fact for whatever reason. I try to band all mine on the left leg for consistency but I noticed the other day I had one pigeon with it on the right leg.

You can also order snap-on bands customized with a phone number or any other information you may want, much cheaper than buying personally tailored seamless bands.

When I used seamless bands (closed ring) I would band them based on size, not age. Some squabs will grow faster than others, generally it’s never a bad idea to put the band on too early, if it falls off you can keep trying until the baby’s leg is big enough that it fits.
With snap-ons though, you never have to worry about missing the window to band them. You can’t use them for pigeon racing, and maybe (?) not for showing either but for general hobby purposes they work just fine.

 

[Pigeon28]

Hello!
I’m new to raising pigeons, and just had my first baby Hungarian hatch out! The parents are banded with 14mm, but it is WAY too big for him! Are you supposed to band them later? They have thick muffs, I’m assuming that’s why they’re banded with 14’s…? Thank you

With homing pigeons I believe the average banding age is 7-10 days, not sure about this breed though