I'm new to pigeons and I have a few questions: breeding, housing, feed, etc...

[larrylofts]

go to npausa.com the national pigeon club website there are links there to many pigeon questions. also find the npa disdrict director were you live contact them fantails come in several vareitys american which soundss like what you have indian fantails which have fearthers on there legs and feet peak crest the central fantail club is the biggest fantail club and is strong in your area they are american fantail specialty club sometimes the american fantail is called by english fantail and that is were they started but here in the u.s. we have taken it to the extreme it is today

 

[laughingdog]

scratch, layer or adult feed would be fine, but mine always got sick on the chick feed, said cause of protien and medications put in, by old timers id asked. the only two pigeon feeds ive tried out of several that work for me, are the manna pro conditioner if i remember right, that is for racing and showing pigeons too, and the purina nutra blend gold, as the green didnt seem to do well for them at all. layer pellets are huge and rich but even my short beaked breeds loved them, and they made better plumage and eggs all around, and ill be switching back to once finished with this racing pigeon feed bag (the gold blend i tried again, but not doing as well as layer pellets). also oddly the cheapest white bagged with red label wild bird seed did fine for all my birds with walmart grit and gravel for caged birds generally, and they prefer it to all but the manna pro and layer pellets. put one nest per bird, a large non tipable dog bowl, with pine needles in bottom, and theyll go to nests each if all males, and two will pair up if only one female, and all three maybe if two females. the 36 x 30 x 16 wire rabbit cages that can be hung or set up as hutch or rack system are prefered, as they have room to move around some at least, though 40 x 40 x 20 would be ideal for breeder pens. pigeons will under ideal conditions breed all year round if given two nests per pair, and will lay again in second nest about two weeks after squeakers are born in first, then lay in first nest again after squeakers in second nest are about two weeks, and so on..

 

[cochins1088]

Thanks you guys! I did go to the website and I learned a lot.

I'll set up some bowls with pine needles tomorrow. I'm pretty sure that I have a female, she's smaller and she's very quiet. I'm also pretty sure I have a male, he's bigger and he's constantly cooing. The last one, I'm not sure of. If they mate year round, when can I expect them to start? I imagine that they are still under stress from the transition. Also, how big should the bowls be? You mentioned that they should be large, but how large? Since they are currently in an area that is only 36 x 24 inches, I don't want to take up too much of their space.

And about the feed, I'll switch them to the pellets tomorrow. The feed that I was feeding them was non-medicated chick starter, and they seemed to like it but if it's not healthy for them, I'll switch.

 

[larrylofts]

i use a medium size plastic dog bowl from dollar general cost dollar each might be more now have not bought some in years -

 

[laughingdog]

as long as its non medicated, and theyre not having adverse reactions to to maybe too much protein, you could stick with the starter till you want eggs, and run out of that bag, then just get layer pellets or pigeon conditioner or breeder feed. id make sure depending on sizes of birds as they vaay, the bowl should fit both birds next to each other comfortably at least. if you get the cheap plastic bowls just drill some small holes in bottom for ventilation and drainage, as i didnt with the last set of "nests" and they got to be wet messes soon, and poo didnt just dry up and excess water fed just drain off, like ones before did. deeper bowls may hold eggs and new squeakers in better and warmer, but shallow ones will allow squeakers to poop out of the nest easier, so you may want to experiment with what you want more out of that, for how you keep your birds. the large dog bowls just seem to work more for all sizes of breeds ive had so far and were same price as med, and if need extra space to toss an extra foster or two in with a pair of squeakers, i like to have it. i always go with bigger breeder cages though, as then i can use to house the two parents, and two sets of young if i want, and they have room to stretch and flap while gaining wing muscle and parents maintaining (very important ive found, as since kept same breeder pairs in bigger cages they stay healthy through however many eggs and squeakers i let them raise (i frequently fostered, and it just worked well that way having four to a nest even. maybe wait to let them breed and lay then until you can get bigger cage of 36 x 30 x 16 standard cheap wire rabbit cage at any feed , co-op or TSC ect at least, but 40" x 40" x 20" to 40" to prepare for if going to keep in smaller area a lot. seen many breeders keep and breed in 24" x 24" and seems cruel and birds seem to suffer and burn out and wear out after one pair of squeakers and babies come out week too. i tried raising a pair like this from free fliers and they suffered the same till second round when i just left the cage open when around so they could come and go to get exercise.

 

[zesusloft]

what is the size of the boxes
how much space do they need

 

[laughingdog]

Rollers I've used three to four foot squared or about, for six to twelve birds, depending on size of rollers though. Im not sure for most homers, but mine always needed three to four feet square per pair to six birds.