Found pigeon

[CCUK]

It’s about a 2 hour drive to where the birds home is. Do you think that is to far for it to fly home? He says it should remember how to get there

It could probly fly it quicker than you can drive it! There may also be a chance it may want to stay with you! Good on you for caring for it.

 

[sourland]

How far is the owner of this pigeon from you??? Somehow I get the VIBES that he does not REALLY CARE if pigeon returns or not. JMO

But to you for taking care of this pigeon,,

The reality of the matter is that most competitive flyers don't care about birds that get lost. I have rescued many 'lost' homers over the years and have been told, "Kill the bird it's no good to me." "Feed it and release it." "Keep the bird if you want it." Only one fancier has said, "I'll be there tomorrow morning to pick up the bird." Next day he and a buddy made the trip from Staten Island to NJ to get the bird. I asked, "What's special about this bird?" Turns out that in 5 young bird races he and his nest mate sister had been first and second 4 times. In the fifth race something happened that 80 % of the birds never returned home. He thanked me, offered me a reward and said he hoped that someone like me found the sister to this bird.

 

[oltman]

Don't forget grit or small gravel, birds need it to digest grains......

 

[LamarshFish]

I popped the pop corn? But today I’m going to our local feed store to get some mix for the bird

The owner should have been more specific. Popcorn in the pigeon world merely refers to a specific type of corn kernel, that is very tight and hard, typically comes from the ends of the corn, and, as the name goes, is also used to make popcorn when heated up. Whether "popcorn" is better than normal whole corn has been debated by many a pigeon fanciers and racers, some swear it makes a difference, some say you're just wasting your money on popcorn rather than inexpensive regular whole corn. There is one notable difference, and that is size, popcorn is much smaller, which may lend to popcorn being preferred since regular whole corn can be pretty large for some pigeon breeds, and maybe even too big for certain breeds. My homers eat both just fine, and I'd bet this bird will have issue with normal whole corn.

Before letting the bird go and giving it another shot to find home, you can feed it any kind of whole corn, just make sure it's whole and NOT cracked corn. Of course, other things that pigeons eat will work just fine, such as sunflower seeds, peas (maple, vetch), millet, milo, etc. Maybe he wants corn only to stack on the fat before coming home, but who knows, the racers I know that race 300+ miles still feed a normal pigeon mix, so I don't think feeding corn only will make or break this bird's ability to get back home.

Somebody mentioned grit above. Pigeons do need grit to digest the aforementioned food, but I don't think it's the end of the world if it doesn't get grit for a few days. Chicken oyster shell grit works if you smash it up a bit smaller than it comes. Keep it no larger than the average sized booger, if you will lol (sorry couldn't think of better size comparisons). . You can also burn a log and take the carbon pieces and smash that up, they can use those rock hard pieces of carbon as grit as well, and it has added health benefits. Or, if you have access to a non medicated chicken layer pellet, you can feed that with no grit at all, none is needed with a pelletized feed.

 

[jak2002003]

I think some owners of racing pigeons are too hasty in giving up on a bird.

Like the other poster said... sometimes a great bird just has an incident on a race.. just chance bad luck. To then cull the bird is stupid.. because, once recovered and entered in another race it will be back to normal.

Also some birds take a few times to get to be good racers. Culling them if they are slow after only a couple or races is just stupid.

Finally, sometimes a slow bird, or one with an injury or other fault, can have the genetics to produce stunning good quality young. I found out that from my fancy pigeons... some with poor markings produced the BEST looking offspring... better then the proper marked birds.

I hope OPs found pigeon gets better and can have another chance in the future.