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First Timer Baby Pigeon Raising - Won't Open Mouth
- Thread starter LyrebirdJacki
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- #32
You will find as Johnathan gets older and begins to fledge he will naturally start to become more aloof of you. To help keep your bond in tack with your homer HAND FEED ONLY him sunflower hearts or shelled unsalted peanuts (as a treat). Most pigeons love both of them a few odd balls like only one or the other. Homers are not like doves who are easily trained. They become very independent and hate to be handled. You will find they will only take treats from you and only if there is a good distance from you and any audience. (Well that is my experience anyway). I am the only pigeon fancier I know who is mobbed by my White Homers (Doves as I call them in public) when I sit in the loft. Also the only one I know who can call 15 birds to me on command while they are outside (any other birds that attempt to come near are run off by the dirty dozen as I have come to call them).
Click the link to see what one bird accomplished after being imprisoned for over one year after he escaped (He is definately not one of your regular homers he would have made it home in one day if he had escaped first thing in the morning instead of at supper time:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=2...vE1FfsgXOTDHtFd0x4VFqig&oq=Ott&mra=ls&t=m&z=7
I actually watched a video of a feral pigeon called Elmo someone raised and they had 3 bowls of seeds to see what the pigeon liked, sunflower hearts being the favourite out of peanuts and I cant remember the other seed off the top of my head without chasing the video again.
I'll try that, even though I wish to keep him outdoors in an avairy/loft with other pigeons later on. If he wishes to socialize with his own species that is fine, but if he likes me more than them I don't mind either way
I'm pretty sure that I'll spoil him with treats in an attempt to do some bonding so he returns home when I let him out for a fly. I don't have any pigeon hunting kinds of hawks where I am so I think he'll be fine apart from a cat maybe.I have yet to see someone get mobbed by pigeons; there really isn't any people who breed pigeons here other than to eat or to make money out of weddings which is a shame. I guess it is similar to being mobbed by seagulls but you just don't get your fingers reefed off and clothes pulled, yeah pigeons sounds a little nicer.
Wow that is quite a distance. One guy here released his pigeon 300km from his home and the pigeon beat him back (I don't know if he left the releasing point straight away for a start), it's incredible. But 1200km, that's right in the centre of Australia from where I am!!
The white pigeons are lovely. They look incredibly clean compared to the ones that I have seen.
You should also check into a pigeon trap for your loft. Run a search on line to see a variety of different types..
Here are a few tips when and if you decide to toss your birds.
Always fly your birds hungry when training especially on short flights.
Take away their food for 12 hours before tossing.
Food is your only ace in the hole when training young birds.
Leave only enough food for your birds to feed half the flock on return.
You will find your response time increasing also they will trap instantly when they know their is food awaiting their arrival.
It will not take long before you know who your best fliers are!!!
Try not to feed your birds 24/7. Feed only twice a day morning and evening what they can eat in 10 minutes (you do not want fat lazy homers) You may make exceptions when they are with young.
As the birds mature food is still the primary motivator.
When they take a mate you will find the companion becomes even more of a motivator.
All my birds are supposed to be snow white according to their parents!
My bob wire trap for my homers; Window closes for winter storms and floor hinges for easy cleaning.Landing ramp closes to form small aviary to aid in trap training young birds.
A feral pigeon trapped into my coop.
On another note:
Here is a recount of a memorable day.
Piper
My grand daughter's hand-raised, orphaned-homer failed to return on a 20 mile toss. It was one of the few times she did not accompany me on a release. She suffered tears and heartache when I told her of the loss.
Amazingly when I went to close up the loft at dusk what should come flying in but (her pigeon) Piper!
I checked him over and he was tore open from his neck to his tail feathers.
My first instinct was to put him out of his misery. I however brought him into the house for a better look. My wife flushed out the wound with a saline solution and I glued him back together with crazy glue. He was good to go in about 5 days
This is him incubating eggs after his ordeal. .
My grand daughter was On The MOON when I told her of Pipers return. Grand daughter has experienced love, loss, heartache. first aid, joy, responsibility, and kinship with yours truly. She has also developed special bonds with some of our doves who prefer her company over mine when she comes into the loft with me.
It has given her a good subject for presentation at school as well.
We also are starting up a small enterprise with white dove releases (Pipers parents were both solid snow white just for the record).
Pipers Parents
Grand daughter did her first dove release at a wedding last fall also another release for an anti bulling campaign at her grade school.
With the aid of the Internet she has also become somewhat of an authority on homing pigeons. She definitely knows more than the average 12 year old on the subject and can talk your ear off.
This was relayed to me by her teacher after she was forced to cut off a presentation she made when the question period looked like it was not going to end.
She would rather hang out with Hokum (her name for me since she was one) then any of her friends or parents (for that matter).
Picture of Back Yard
However she will be entering her teens next year (make-up and boys will probably soon shove me aside).
I know however that these birds have made her a better person regardless what comes in the future.
Plus I have another grand daughter who is only turned 3 and calls me Coco (since she was one).
Here are a few tips when and if you decide to toss your birds.
Always fly your birds hungry when training especially on short flights.
Take away their food for 12 hours before tossing.
Food is your only ace in the hole when training young birds.
Leave only enough food for your birds to feed half the flock on return.
You will find your response time increasing also they will trap instantly when they know their is food awaiting their arrival.
It will not take long before you know who your best fliers are!!!
Try not to feed your birds 24/7. Feed only twice a day morning and evening what they can eat in 10 minutes (you do not want fat lazy homers) You may make exceptions when they are with young.
As the birds mature food is still the primary motivator.
When they take a mate you will find the companion becomes even more of a motivator.
All my birds are supposed to be snow white according to their parents!
My bob wire trap for my homers; Window closes for winter storms and floor hinges for easy cleaning.Landing ramp closes to form small aviary to aid in trap training young birds.
A feral pigeon trapped into my coop.
On another note:
Here is a recount of a memorable day.
Piper
My grand daughter's hand-raised, orphaned-homer failed to return on a 20 mile toss. It was one of the few times she did not accompany me on a release. She suffered tears and heartache when I told her of the loss.
Amazingly when I went to close up the loft at dusk what should come flying in but (her pigeon) Piper!
I checked him over and he was tore open from his neck to his tail feathers.
My first instinct was to put him out of his misery. I however brought him into the house for a better look. My wife flushed out the wound with a saline solution and I glued him back together with crazy glue. He was good to go in about 5 days
This is him incubating eggs after his ordeal. .
My grand daughter was On The MOON when I told her of Pipers return. Grand daughter has experienced love, loss, heartache. first aid, joy, responsibility, and kinship with yours truly. She has also developed special bonds with some of our doves who prefer her company over mine when she comes into the loft with me.
It has given her a good subject for presentation at school as well.
We also are starting up a small enterprise with white dove releases (Pipers parents were both solid snow white just for the record).
Pipers Parents
Grand daughter did her first dove release at a wedding last fall also another release for an anti bulling campaign at her grade school.
With the aid of the Internet she has also become somewhat of an authority on homing pigeons. She definitely knows more than the average 12 year old on the subject and can talk your ear off.
This was relayed to me by her teacher after she was forced to cut off a presentation she made when the question period looked like it was not going to end.
She would rather hang out with Hokum (her name for me since she was one) then any of her friends or parents (for that matter).
Picture of Back Yard
However she will be entering her teens next year (make-up and boys will probably soon shove me aside).
I know however that these birds have made her a better person regardless what comes in the future.
Plus I have another grand daughter who is only turned 3 and calls me Coco (since she was one).
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@ LyrebirdJacki
I pride myself in keeping a fairly clean loft (not emasculate by any streach) thanks commenting on their appearance.
My White Homer nest box floor (for the most part) are exactly the size of a feed bag. When a feed bag gets soiled pop out the soiled pop in the new. Works fine for now (until they change the size of the feed bag). Even so I have a fair supply and I can soak them in a spring near the back of my property and give them a little brush with a toilet brush to clean them up.
Easy Peasy!.
I pride myself in keeping a fairly clean loft (not emasculate by any streach) thanks commenting on their appearance.
My White Homer nest box floor (for the most part) are exactly the size of a feed bag. When a feed bag gets soiled pop out the soiled pop in the new. Works fine for now (until they change the size of the feed bag). Even so I have a fair supply and I can soak them in a spring near the back of my property and give them a little brush with a toilet brush to clean them up.
Easy Peasy!.
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- Thread starter
- #35
That is a wonderful story about your grand-daughter, sounds like myself when I was young seeing my grandmother who was bird obsessed; she probably is the reason why my yard is all aviaries. I think a child's bond with an animal will defiantly effect development in the future, even going as far as saying the experience can make someone more compassionate.
Just a question but is Piper still alive?
Your grand-daughter sounds a lot like I did when I was younger. I would go to libraries to research birds because I just wanted to know more. I even had a little fantasy of making a local bird handbook of all the native birds in my state because all the ones in the library were drawn nothing like how the actual birds looked in real life. This made me quite the little know-it-all at school and with family members collecting all sorts of names like bird-brain and bird-nerd, so on. This kept my obsession limited to the internet since liking birds isn't such a big thing in conversation like sports, movies or celebrities which I couldn't care much for. It wasn't really until I entered some of my birds into a bird show and got noticed by the local aviculture club did I really ever meet anyone who was as bird crazy as I am, so it feels great to be able to talk non-stop about them without making the other person pull their hair out.
Probably the biggest standout was seeing one of these: An emerald ground dove
Which according to a taxidermist at the museum here hasn't been sighted in my area since the early 90's. I took that photo 3 years ago after rehabilitating the poor thing that must have gotten caught up in the storm that had happened the night before I found him. He still visits my house annually around this time of year and I feed him. He gets bullied by all the other wild pigeons that eat all my chicken food even though he is relatively larger than them all. Unfortunately I have not seem him with a mate which makes me wonder if he is all alone.
A quick question again if you don't mind, at what age should I give him food and water separate? Do I cut down on the formula (but still giving him some) and introduce whole food like a pea or defrosted corn kernel with his solution? I assume you need to give them some water in a syringe to wash down some of that bigger stuff. I am also a little curious as to whether the calcium grit is soluble or not and if i should be giving him it with every feed or not; doesn't say anything on the packet and I can't seem to find anything on the internet.
Just a question but is Piper still alive?
Your grand-daughter sounds a lot like I did when I was younger. I would go to libraries to research birds because I just wanted to know more. I even had a little fantasy of making a local bird handbook of all the native birds in my state because all the ones in the library were drawn nothing like how the actual birds looked in real life. This made me quite the little know-it-all at school and with family members collecting all sorts of names like bird-brain and bird-nerd, so on. This kept my obsession limited to the internet since liking birds isn't such a big thing in conversation like sports, movies or celebrities which I couldn't care much for. It wasn't really until I entered some of my birds into a bird show and got noticed by the local aviculture club did I really ever meet anyone who was as bird crazy as I am, so it feels great to be able to talk non-stop about them without making the other person pull their hair out.
Probably the biggest standout was seeing one of these: An emerald ground dove
Which according to a taxidermist at the museum here hasn't been sighted in my area since the early 90's. I took that photo 3 years ago after rehabilitating the poor thing that must have gotten caught up in the storm that had happened the night before I found him. He still visits my house annually around this time of year and I feed him. He gets bullied by all the other wild pigeons that eat all my chicken food even though he is relatively larger than them all. Unfortunately I have not seem him with a mate which makes me wonder if he is all alone.
A quick question again if you don't mind, at what age should I give him food and water separate? Do I cut down on the formula (but still giving him some) and introduce whole food like a pea or defrosted corn kernel with his solution? I assume you need to give them some water in a syringe to wash down some of that bigger stuff. I am also a little curious as to whether the calcium grit is soluble or not and if i should be giving him it with every feed or not; doesn't say anything on the packet and I can't seem to find anything on the internet.
Yes Piper is still alive he was hatched and orphaned in 2012. I smothered his mother changing a band (unintentionally of course) and his father never came home from about a 10 mile toss (should have been easy peasy for him.)
I usually start putting food, water and grit available to the squab anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks of age. Some squabs develop faster than others. As soon as you start to see him venture around off his elbows a bit is a good time. You kind of develop a instinct about it.
Personally I made grit available to my squabs in just the form of pea gravel off the side of my road (just in a container never fed it to them). I also feed my squabs dissolved layer pellets in a syringe which have a calcium included in them.
I only raise one squab that was even close to the age you started at that made it. I have about a 75% success rate in raising squabs by hand (they all were over a week old). Once you have a bit of a flock you can usually foster parent out any of your squabs to other pigeon pairs. That makes life a lot easier on you and the squab.
Yes cut back on the formula and put the food available and having the quail around will set an example for your squab. Maybe even delay or miss a feeding completely once he starts to show some coordination.Yes I enjoy this site it gives me a chance to talk about one of my passions.
Most of my family glaze over when I say feather little own bird.
I usually start putting food, water and grit available to the squab anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks of age. Some squabs develop faster than others. As soon as you start to see him venture around off his elbows a bit is a good time. You kind of develop a instinct about it.
Personally I made grit available to my squabs in just the form of pea gravel off the side of my road (just in a container never fed it to them). I also feed my squabs dissolved layer pellets in a syringe which have a calcium included in them.
I only raise one squab that was even close to the age you started at that made it. I have about a 75% success rate in raising squabs by hand (they all were over a week old). Once you have a bit of a flock you can usually foster parent out any of your squabs to other pigeon pairs. That makes life a lot easier on you and the squab.
Yes cut back on the formula and put the food available and having the quail around will set an example for your squab. Maybe even delay or miss a feeding completely once he starts to show some coordination.Yes I enjoy this site it gives me a chance to talk about one of my passions.
Most of my family glaze over when I say feather little own bird.
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Lovely Story Coco, I always love your pics, and I hope to have a loft here soon. Right now my birds are in a temporary set-up, that turn out to be much longer then I had intended. Shortly after my husband and I moved I found out I was pregnant and well as everyone knows that tends to put a hold on a lot of things...My poor birds... So anyways I always envy Your set up Coco and hope to have something similar soon.
I'm so happy to hear that everything is going well still. I've always had awesome luck with hand raising birds like this, however everything else I've attempted to hand raise, {baby rabbits, mice, and rats) Has promptly died.....so I try to stick with birds, seems to be what I'm good at as well.
I'm so happy to hear that everything is going well still. I've always had awesome luck with hand raising birds like this, however everything else I've attempted to hand raise, {baby rabbits, mice, and rats) Has promptly died.....so I try to stick with birds, seems to be what I'm good at as well.
Well Congratulations!
Yes a pregnancy does change your priorities big time!. The wife and I had 3 kids before we finally figured out what was causing it... I hope all goes well in your pregnancy and you deliver a healthy child.
One thing I learned about woman; They can remember every detail that happens in that window during a pregnancy. If I could give any advice to your husband that would to be extra generous and on his best behavour through out this special deal. It scores big brownie points years ahead. I do not know how many times the wife has said "I remember that it was while I was pregnant for (insert name here".)
Then again I do not know how many times I have said "I remember that I was driving (insert vehicle name here") LOL,
Yes a pregnancy does change your priorities big time!. The wife and I had 3 kids before we finally figured out what was causing it... I hope all goes well in your pregnancy and you deliver a healthy child.
One thing I learned about woman; They can remember every detail that happens in that window during a pregnancy. If I could give any advice to your husband that would to be extra generous and on his best behavour through out this special deal. It scores big brownie points years ahead. I do not know how many times the wife has said "I remember that it was while I was pregnant for (insert name here".)
Then again I do not know how many times I have said "I remember that I was driving (insert vehicle name here") LOL,
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I am ready for a update LyrebirdJacki maybe even a picture!
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