My first pigeon!

[Hokum Coco]

I never tried removing just one egg.
I never noticed that the first egg was male.
Now that you mention it I am inclined to agree with you.

I know some fanciers will try to get there loft to produce in unison by taking away the first batch of eggs that were laid in scatted intervals and have them all start breeding again all at the same time. This will insure that all the birds are the same age when they start training.
I have never tried that either however.

 

[ducksliketoswim]

@laughing dog Dang! hearing about how crazy hawks are for pigeon meat is making me scared to ever let mine out! Ive had some trouble with hawks attacking my parakeet aviary in the past so im pretty sure theyd go crazy for my pigeons!

 

[laughingdog]

i wonder though seeing the one guy do the hatching for certain sexes ect, how the other eggs after turned out as sexes? someone has to try to monitor this more as i had to scale back a lot temp at least were i moved to and am for now.

 

[laughingdog]

@laughing dog Dang! hearing about how crazy hawks are for pigeon meat is making me scared to ever let mine out! Ive had some trouble with hawks attacking my parakeet aviary in the past so im pretty sure theyd go crazy for my pigeons!

think of it as extreme bird feeding! lol just keep one pair with two nests, that will fly great, and keep breeding the get them to out manuver and/or out wit the BOPs. i love my rollers, and will probly keep some to breed BOP food basically, but try to fly them only once has hoard of conditioned flights to fly with (when i just fly my flights i have no BOP trouble), so they are a lot safer when i do fly them. i have my parlors, and have some that want to trade parlors and flying rollers and flights when they get more of fancier ones bred ( flying portugiese tumblers, fantasys, white homers, and maybe indian fantails).

 

[ducksliketoswim]

Another thing I worry about, apart from them being BOP food, is the cold. I've been bringing my birds (I got two more) in every night because I dont know if its to cold for them or not. Are pigeons alright in cold weather? Its not like snow cold or anything, its just cold.

 

[Hokum Coco]

My pigeon egg hatched on Dec 26 or 27 2012. The other one has pipped and should hatch Dec 27 or 28. Things look good so far. If you let your birds acclimatize (ACCLIMATIZE is the key word) you can leave them out in extremely cold temperatures -10F is fairly normal for us in Canada winter months. No heat; no insulation in my loft.

I did provide a Styrofoam cooler as a nest cover for these Squabs. When the squabs grew to the point where the parents could no longer incubate them.
Here is a picture of the squabs I took recently.
I will be removing the cooler in a few more days.

 

[ducksliketoswim]

Lol baby pigeons look weird... in a cute way! lol my pigeons are pretty young so i dont expect to see any babys anytime soon, those pictures made me wish I had some though! Now that I have finish my loft I want to go buy a few more pigeons but there arent much for sale here in my area. The only place I can think of that would sale them is the flea market but sadly now that school has started up again i wont be able to go anytime soon. I guess getting a bigger pigeon population will just have to wait till summer.

 

[laughingdog]

if your birds dont have cold feet, literally, and dont shiver or are really fluffed up all day or night, they should be fine, as long as can get out of any drafts, keep dry, and have perches thick enough and preferably square or triangle, being flat on top, so the toes dont touch each other or can fit feet half or all under them (mine seem to refer bricks or blocks of wood so they can sit on or lay against feet), but i have low rabbit cages currently).. if you have had your birds out in elements with suitable sun, shade, protection from drafts and cold in one spot, for at least a week to month before bad weather has set in, they should be fine, as if you have in even numbers, usually they will keep each other warm. some at more wheat and corn or carb mix for cold weather. i just tried switching from the purina carb for energy mix, to the purina protien mix, for moulting and rearing, and im not happy with the results at all, though found some grain larva and beetles my birds fight over. think ill try going back to wheat and corn after this or the carb mix, as getting low as the carb bag and others go through in six months, and this protien one is almost gone after about a month now only.

side note: after two days or so, my other proven best breeder roller male has dropped back in out of oblivion seeming when went out other day, right at my feet and then ran to me like an excited tiny child. im happy he is back, as i know he hides for day or so after he rolls out of a BOP attack, but it freaks me out, and now concerned that my best breeder capped flight hasnt returned with him or since. the roller though was desheveled and dirty like he had had a good roll on the ground like my parlors) but otherwise fine. he is back to being a casenova, and im determined to not let him out again if remember, as already had one fellow i gave a pair of babies say he was very pleased with and wouldnt part with even though he had bought a bunch of competition winners he had paid a lot for. He traded an unproven mostly muffed male bald head huge mottle (blue and white) of mine, for a ruby red looking, bald head hen, that was a troublemaker in his breeding loft, but she is looking fine quality and rolled even when happy inside, as im not wanting to let her out, but she did finally start to show interest in boys right before set up and seperated to the bachlorette pens. he said he wanted to give me a pair of his young birds when he gets some good ones up, but i know i should keep saying no for now, due to space and ability to fly here. i know theyd just be BOP food, but still curious what my remaining flying type rollers would produce.. ive looked up training young to fly from protable kit boxes so one can switch up locations at times, and heard it works good, but im still not sure id trust it except from my conditioned seasoned birds. maybe i just need a bigger better space or property, and a paintball gun! hahaha funny you are allowed to shoot endangered animals even if first called in an amount of nusance and losses, but cant harrass the BOPs, not that id kill, as they dont deserve that (one of ways i was iriginally working with homers and ferals ect was when was an apprentice falconer), but some good rock salt might make them decide to dine else were.

ive noticed the perigrine around again since ive called for missing ones but not letting mine out, coming close looking to see if anything getting ready to come out or go in, when i whistle.. another had started to come to me whistling the release/fly call, but then one time waited with flight pole ready and cracked it across the back as it went for an open cage door. it decided it didnt want to come around once was grounded and the tables were then turned, as i had nesting parent pigeons and nesting game birds and bantams (anyone who has bantam hens knows their tiny evil wrath when they think their chicks threatened). i have a bright lime green frisbe that seems to scare it off decent enough, but now its basically calling it in for dinner every time i want to try training my fliers. BOPs are smart and learn fast, and apparently not just humanized ones either! its still beautiful to see them fly though, even at price of a pigeon or two once every year or so.

we definately need someone with the resources to make protective pigeon armor, like out of cheap light weight aluminum can type material plating or patches. anyone else thought of, as ive seen pigeons used to transport a lot of stuff and of decent weight, that they dont seem to get taken wearing (except one that alerted prison guards to contraband transport smuggling into prisons). or do i just have way to much time and imagination??? or tiny harness that would disperse something if hit it..

 

[Shaolin]

I would like to get some pigeons how do I go about finding a breeder? Where did you get yours?

 

[Hokum Coco]

Run a search on the Internet for pigeon breeders, Craig list may bring you luck, Agricultural fair people, make inquires at feed stores. Those are a few possibilities. Good Luck! My first pigeon were feral birds that I robed out of a nest. Later I trapped wild adult birds as well and yes they have homing ability the question is how much!