I just found a homing pigeon

[poultrykeeper08]

the breeder also told me he doesnt feel like driving to my house so he is going to send me a box of pigeons in the mail and also send me money and then to put the pigeon i have in the box and ship it to him lol

 

[ChooksinIowa]

That's an interesting arrangement - works well for you!!

I don't keep pigeons (maybe I should!) but I think maybe the bird was attracted to my bantams and saw the feed? I haven't heard from the owner yet - just the club contact that I found online. I hope the owner will either want to come pick it up or meet halfway or something. I don't know how far they usually fly. Can it really find its way from me to Chicago if I let it go? That's a 6 hour drive by car...

 

[poultrykeeper08]

i dunno i wouldnt let it go and hope it can fly home . The breeder was alos trying to find other pigeon people he knew that lived near me to see if they would come and pick it up for him . I am guessing this bird is worth some money if they are going threw all this trouble to get it hell be paying $80 for shipping both ways and plus the pigeons he is giving me . The owners website says he has champion birds

 

[poultrykeeper08]

here is the website . You can see all his wins http://www.dakotaloft.com/

 

[deerman]

Racing homers can find their way home easy up to 600 miles or farther. The color of the band has alot to do with the year it was hatched. They stop to rest or feed sometime. They are not always lost.
Owners should know if you find their homers. There is laws to protect racing homers, you can NOT keep one or harm one.
Some homer sell in the thousands.
They race up to 500 mile all the time. Sometime a storm that comes up like fae may blow them off course.

http://www.pigeon.org/

 

[deerman]

I dont have racing homers at this time. I would say the green bands are for birds hatch in 2008. Young bird races are going on now.

If anyone finds a banded racer,go to the link on my other post to find the owner.

 

[ChooksinIowa]

The guy I talked to at the Elgin race club (which is where this bird is from - it's band says EHC on it) said that they just had a race last weekend that was a complete disaster. He said lots of the people who entered lost 15 to 20 birds or more. He said they didn't know what went wrong because it was a clear day. I don't know much about pigeon races but he was the club contact so he seemed to know a lot. He said that the bird I found was probably exhausted, which was consistent with its rather lethargic behavior and the fact it never tried to move away from me as I approached it. I still haven't heard from the owner yet (he had to look it up on their listings) so I am hoping to hear soon so the owner can tell me their preferred method of getting the bird - i.e. whether I should let it go by itself or transport it.

I don't know where this race started that he was telling me about but they are based in Chicago.

It is a 2008 bird because it says so on the band. Definitely a junior. Also has a magnetic band on its other leg.

 

[deerman]

Yes the other band is a race band, like a scanner when the bird get back to his loft. Scan the bird marks when he got home.

Bird with the fastest avg. speed wins.

Band have year of hatch, club letters, number. Each member band numbers are record my that club.

 

[dogzrule5]

I've always loved pigeons and this is such a pretty bird. I'm glad you were able to help it and so sorry that there are others unaccounted for. Poor things.