Message Delivering Homing Pigeons

[TheFluffyButt]

Yo Chickeroos.

I'm highly interested in hearing about homing pigeons that have been taught to deliver messages.

Tell me everything I'll need to know.

I won't be able to start up a loft for 3 months, so I'd love to hear anything you guys have to share.

Tell me all about the pros and cons.

Anything you know, I'd like to read about.

 

[cavemanrich]

Here is the short of it. Pigeons do not deliver messages. The way it works is this. Take your homing pigeons that are homeset to your loft, over to a friends house. Take as many as you want. If your friend wants to send you a message, he would write on a tiny piece of paper and tape around YOU PIGEONS leg. Releases pigeon and in no time it arrives in your loft. You remove paper from leg and read message. If you had some of his pigeons in possession, you can respond to him as well by doing the same. No way could you train your pigeons to deliver messages to who you randomly instructed them to . Amazon would have already captured ALL SUCH PIGEONS, and used them for deliveries.
I don't have any at this very moment due to predators. Looking to rebuild flock this Spring/Summer. Here is a pix of some of the ones I had.
Just them. These were homers. Not all varieties of pigeons are homing, so if taken a longer distance from your home, do not find their way back.

 

[TheFluffyButt]

Here is the short of it. Pigeons do not deliver messages. The way it works is this. Take your homing pigeons that are homeset to your loft, over to a friends house. Take as many as you want. If your friend wants to send you a message, he would write on a tiny piece of paper and tape around YOU PIGEONS leg. Releases pigeon and in no time it arrives in your loft. You remove paper from leg and read message. If you had some of his pigeons in possession, you can respond to him as well by doing the same. No way could you train your pigeons to deliver messages to who you randomly instructed them to . Amazon would have already captured ALL SUCH PIGEONS, and used them for deliveries.
I don't have any at this very moment due to predators. Looking to rebuild flock this Spring/Summer. Here is a pix of some of the ones I had.
Just them. These were homers. Not all varieties of pigeons are homing, so if taken a longer distance from your home, do not find their way back.
View attachment 1201169

I thought if I could just catch a few Pigeons, give them the time of their life in my loft, then after 6 weeks start testing their returning ability over short distances.

Would this work;

Or do I have to find specifically the right type of pigeon.

I have plenty of crested pigeons and spotted doves in my yard thanks to the chickens and it'd be extremely easy catching a few.

 

[cavemanrich]

The crested pigeons are ornamentals. They would return to your loft if they just flew out and not ventured far. Not good for much distance. The spotted doves, I'm not sure if you are referring to spotted feral pigeons, or mourning doves. If they are feral pigeons, then they are good to be homing.
Here is the way to achieve what you want.
Build a loft. Onto your loft build what is referred to as a trap. Capture a few pigeons. You will need a few because you will need to have both males and females. When you see too many fighting, those are males. Thin the herd by removing those males you don't want to incorporate into your breeding. In time, some will pair up and you will have baby pigeons. This may take some time possibly. Pigeons pair up for life normally. What you will possibly have is strangers pairing up since original mates are not available. When your baby pigeons are 4 weeks old, and are already trying to fly, you start to homeset them. Let them out thru the pigeon trap and they will only fly away just to surrounding rooftops or trees. Mom and dad are in aviary behind the trap. Lil junior will get hungry in short, and will attempt to get back to mama. At that stage, it is dad that is feeding him. Mom and dad both feed until about 3 weeks. When he gets back in he is fed. but most importantly he learned how to return to the loft. Keep doing this process. Eventually junior will venture further and keep coming back. This is also when he is no longer being fed by parent. Coming home for dinner. Do this until you get your desired amount of young pigeons in your loft. These are pigeons that will keep returning to your loft. Throughout this whole process, the parents are known as being kept prisoner. When you have enough pigeons, you may decide to let parents loose. Chances are 50/50 after having 3 or 4 litters, the parents to decide to homeset in your coop. Best way for success is to let the male out first. If he keeps coming back, then release female only. If she keeps returning, then you have succeeded homesetting them. Let the whole pack loose and enjoy the beauty of freeflight of your group.

Sputnik style pigeon trap. I have something of this style but modified.
Check Youtube for ideas on building lofts.

 

[cavemanrich]

Forgot to mention, pigeons usually lay 2 eggs and raise them together if both eggs hatch.

Above at about 10 days +-

At about 20 days +-

 

[TheFluffyButt]

The crested pigeons are ornamentals. They would return to your loft if they just flew out and not ventured far. Not good for much distance. The spotted doves, I'm not sure if you are referring to spotted feral pigeons, or mourning doves. If they are feral pigeons, then they are good to be homing.
Here is the way to achieve what you want.
Build a loft. Onto your loft build what is referred to as a trap. Capture a few pigeons. You will need a few because you will need to have both males and females. When you see too many fighting, those are males. Thin the herd by removing those males you don't want to incorporate into your breeding. In time, some will pair up and you will have baby pigeons. This may take some time possibly. Pigeons pair up for life normally. What you will possibly have is strangers pairing up since original mates are not available. When your baby pigeons are 4 weeks old, and are already trying to fly, you start to homeset them. Let them out thru the pigeon trap and they will only fly away just to surrounding rooftops or trees. Mom and dad are in aviary behind the trap. Lil junior will get hungry in short, and will attempt to get back to mama. At that stage, it is dad that is feeding him. Mom and dad both feed until about 3 weeks. When he gets back in he is fed. but most importantly he learned how to return to the loft. Keep doing this process. Eventually junior will venture further and keep coming back. This is also when he is no longer being fed by parent. Coming home for dinner. Do this until you get your desired amount of young pigeons in your loft. These are pigeons that will keep returning to your loft. Throughout this whole process, the parents are known as being kept prisoner. When you have enough pigeons, you may decide to let parents loose. Chances are 50/50 after having 3 or 4 litters, the parents to decide to homeset in your coop. Best way for success is to let the male out first. If he keeps coming back, then release female only. If she keeps returning, then you have succeeded homesetting them. Let the whole pack loose and enjoy the beauty of freeflight of your group. View attachment 1201874
Sputnik style pigeon trap. I have something of this style but modified.
Check Youtube for ideas on building lofts.

Woooow thank you so much for all of this information.

How long have you had your loft for;

Do you use your pigeons for something specific like racing or delivering messages;

What do you use as the base of your loft;
Do you have any issues with cleanliness;

 

[LamarshFish]

It sounds like you had a few (well understood) misconceptions about homing pigeons, but those misunderstandings are being sorted out in this thread.

I'll just add that if you want to start a loft with squeakers, whether they are homers or another flying breed, I have found it is easier to settle and train them to the loft in larger numbers of the same aged young bird. You can certainly train a pair of squeakers, but I am just saying I have found it to be easier to do with larger groups of them. They tend to follow each other and group think, thus all it takes is one of them to have the idea and understanding to do what you want them to do (i.e., trap back into the loft) and the rest will follow and learn. More birds, the better this works (more brains on the job).

 

[biophiliac]

QUOTE I'm highly interested in hearing about homing pigeons that have been taught to deliver messages. QUOTE


On message delivering pigeons, ...

Learned a new term 'flock storage' , alternative to cloud storage?

 

[TheFluffyButt]

Learned a new term 'flock storage' , alternative to cloud storage?

That's the best! Your quote just made my day!

It's recently been brought to my attention that cats will definitely interfere with my grand scheme of pigeon mail.....
Have you had any luck with keeping pigeons and avoiding assassin cats;
I understand that obviously making a cat proof loft is a great preventative method.

 

[biophiliac]

That's the best! Your quote just made my day!

It's recently been brought to my attention that cats will definitely interfere with my grand scheme of pigeon mail.....
Have you had any luck with keeping pigeons and avoiding assassin cats;
I understand that obviously making a cat proof loft is a great preventative method.

Am building a loft to be cat proof and raccoon, weasel, dog, etc proof. lol

Did you notice in the vid mention of pigeons used by both criminals and police(until 2004) in India?