help with new fancy pigeons...

[gumbii]

yeah, i promised pics, but never came thru... so here they are...

they were a bit frightened, but they're pretty cool now... they got used to me going in and taking the quail eggs...


so what do you guys think...? in the sun, they have a strong copper/gold glow/pearl to them...

 

[RainbowBirds_of_a_Feather]

Aloha,

Congrats on your new pair of pigeons! I was wondering if your other pair have a nest available and if they are laying or showing signs of laying. Cause that egg they layed can be placed in their nest when they are off and the instinct to nest will happen. I placed a banty egg in my pigeon nest, when I had pigeons, and the male began to set then the female followed. It often jump starts it. But just a suggestion. If you have a bator and want to hatch it go for it. But it depends if you have enough time to feed the squab. when it hatches cause that is another task in itself. (using a syringe and feeding do often and washing the squab from the mess, what a chore) But the bird will be super tame. Just a suggestion. I was watching this show on animal planet, called something "Tyson" It involves Mike Tyson and his racing pigeons. But it is interesting and for those pigeon lovers it is great to watch. Oh you have a lovely pair btw.

 

[gumbii]

Quote:
thanks...


wait... i can incubate their eggs...??? sjakf;j;saj;dsfl... OMG i didn't know that... is it the same as a chicken...? i should've tried it anyways... i knew it...

anyways... well, they're not sitting in the nest anymore... maybe because they were pooping in it... but i have two nest boxes in there with all kinds of fun stuff for them to get started... i also have some fake bantam eggs... i'll throw some in there right now...

thanks again...

 

[gumbii]

btw... that tyson show is pretty good... but it's also so fake... everything tyson does during a race has a hole to the story... and there's no way tyson could beat any of those race breeders... no way...


edit: it also sparked a huge pigeon phase, and i already see it here in los angeles in craigslist, and other places... even the swapmeets have pigeon stuff... pretty cool... that's one thing i like about the show...

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

I haven't seen Taking On Tyson yet (no animal planet here

) BUT I love the idea of it. It's getting a lot of good press for the birds. There's no reason why he couldn't beat the guys up there. I beat the guys down here in my first two races. If he has good birds, and the right people guiding him, he'll do well. He's had pigeons all his life, so at least he isn't a total newbie to the hobby.
Your swifts are beautiful! I'm sure you'll enjoy them

You can let them out in a couple weeks, but I wouldn't advise it until you get some young out of them. Don't want a hawk to pick off both and leave you with nothing!
Yes, you can incubate and hatch pigeon eggs yourself. They hatch in 18 days - so incubation similar to quail. BUT it's really, really, really not advised unless there is no other choice. When they hatch, you have to handfeed them formula every 2 hours, and continue feeding them up til they are about a month old. They also grow more slowly, and are not as healthy looking as the ones raised by pigeons. There is no substitue for pigeon milk that matches the nutritional and immune system boosting value of the real stuff, so they'll be lacking a little. However, with the right food after weaning, they can catch up and look good as new

But it's a lot of time and work invovled.

 

[SJMike]

Re. your swifts: Beautiful coloring. I only have whites - which themselves are beautiful, but after a while there is a subtle longing for color.

Re. incubating: I bought my hovabator (used primarily for chicken/quail eggs) from a guy in Toronto who used it to incubate a few pigeon eggs. He too - like Mary - cautioned against incubating the pigeon eggs. His experience was that it really did take a TON of work to feed them once born.

Re. egg-delay: I too experienced a delay this Spring. I got some fantails from a guy in Toronto and where my other pigeons are all on eggs, very little sign from the fans. I guess that they are getting used to the new digs. Even at that my homers were about a month later than last year in laying their eggs. Not sure if the weather has anything to do with it. Last year was much more mild than this year was.

 

[gumbii]

well, i took your advice and put two fake eggs in a nest that was in their pen three days ago... today i pulled them out because she layed an egg yesterday... WooT!... now she just stands over it... is this normal...??


looks like i'm not going to be incubating pigeon eggs... woo hoo... i'm pretty excited... but the sad part is that i had to throw my other pair of pigeons out of the pen because they would fight over the nest... now i'm going to need to build another breeder cage (sigh) for the other pair of pigeons... they're pretty paired up too... they should be laying eggs any day now... woo hoo... the fun...

 

[SJMike]

Gumbii,
As to 'standing over the eggs' ... I just noticed one of my hens doing the same thing today (I'd put a fake egg in there to 'encourage'... today there was an extra one in there, but standing). At first I was tempted to be concerned, but then it occurred to me... seems to me that they (like chickens) lay eggs at different times, but they often hatch very close to each other. I remember reading that it's because - unless it's really freezing out - the egg will 'live' for a couple of days without incubation... long enough for the hen to lay the other egg & then begin incubating in earnest. Perhaps hormonally things just 'kick in' after the 2nd egg, particularly so if she's a young hen early on in her 'career'.
Mike

 

[gumbii]

yes, i noticed that after she laid the second egg, they both started incubation... so i'm fine now... it kind of made sense to me after i posted my last post... LOL....



thanks for the bump...