New Baby! Questions: Banding and Gentling

[nxd10]

Hi All -

We finally have a breeding pair of white homers and yesterday hatched our first young'un. (The fertile second egg died prior to day 8.) The parents have been very attentive and the squeaker looks healthy.

First, I foolishly did not order bands and everyone seems to be sold out. This isn't critical for our first one, although I would have liked it banded. But I hope for another nest before the end of the end of the year. Does anyone know anywhere that is still selling 2012 bands? I doubt I will race these, but I do want to be able to differentiate between them. The parents' bands are very helpful.

Second, I would like to tame the babies better than I have the parents. I have hand tamed conures, cockatiels, and budgies. Even my chickens are pretty tame. However, being outside, the pigeons will tolerate me handling them when I take them out for a flight, but certainly don't seem to enjoy my company. I assume I would start the taming process after a month or so of age. Any suggestions? I have yet to figure out anything that the birds consider to be 'treats'. They happily eat the dove seed I give them, as well as oats and chicken crumbles. But nothing special. Suggestions?

Third, my birds keep nesting on the floor and on the top of a bale of pine shavings I have. Not in the nest boxes! They are 12 x 10 x 10 and there's also a 30" wide, flat area on top of the three boxes. I am not sure what is going on, but obviously they are not happy with the accommodations. I'm worried the floor will be damp and the birds will be vulnerable to predators if something gets in - especially when the dovecote is open for flights. Thoughts? They are your basic boxes with an open front. They are shiny white, but the birds eat on top of them and don't seem to slip or slide. I've tried them both with and without shavings.

Finally . . . in humility, I must say that the people from this forum who said that keeping the pigeons with my chickens was a bad idea were absolutely correct. They had successfully shared a coop for over a year, with the pigeons sleeping in the top area of the large coop and also 'nesting' (my then two female pair) on a shelf in the small hutch the hens lay in. But when one of my hens got broody, she attacked the pigeons by pecking at their necks. In two weeks, I lost two pigeons and the third was seriously injured and only lived because of aggressive vet care. (It took me a while to figure out what was going on or obviously I would have separated the birds earlier.)

We now have a lovely new dovecote we built over the summer. I bought three sexed birds (two males and a female) to begin a new flock with my remaining female. Everyone oriented and they began training. Successful flights out 20 miles (it is MUCH easier one you have one bird who knows the way home.) THEN a sharp shinned hawk takes out two birds in two weeks. Fortunately we still have a male/female pair and now a new baby. I only wanted a flock of 8. Who would have thought it would be so hard!

P.S. An iPhone flashlight app works great for candling pigeon eggs.

 

[sourland]

Try foyspigeonsupply.com. I'm betting you can still get '12 bands from them.

Pigeons are strange about the manner in which they pick nest sites. I have some pairs who refuse to nest in the nest boxes. I just let them nest on the floor with no problems. Never leave the trap/bobs of your loft open for extended periods of time and especially over night. I have had a GHO, Cooper's hawk and cat enter my lofts through unsecured bobs.

Understand that you will have a continual problem with Cooper's and sharp shin hawks. Homers are somewhat more hawk evasive than my Birmingham rollers. The hawks are finally forcing me out of flying pigeons.

You have a beautiful loft.

 

[nxd10]

Foy's was the second place I tried. No joy.

I can try a non-AU band, I simply don't know standard sizes for homers.

Thank you for the loft compliment. We modified this design: http://loftdesigns.net/2012/02/18/pigeon-loft/, which gave great instructions. I learned much about carpentry. Glad to hear you think they'll be okay on the floor.

My old birds, who were more experienced (the current mom is one of them) were incredible hawk evaders. Once I was sitting by my chicken coop and the pigeons were on the roof. Something screamed over my head and I just saw a splash of white feathers and something bit hitting the cedar trees behind the coop. I figured they were goners.

But 10 minutes later one sneaked out of the bushes and came into the left. Over the next 24 hours they all returned. I've had them return separated from a long flight and mussed and it seems as if the flock was hit by a hawk. Over the last year I lost one of my initial four birds to what I am guessing was a hawk.

Unfortunately, the white birds stand out like crazy and we have a sharp shinned that works the neighborhood. As soon as the baby gets a little bigger I'm going to move the loft so it has better cover. I notice the birds hang out UNDER the carport, UNDER the house overhang or UNDER the pigeon porch when they're just sunning themselves. Which just goes to show that they are NOT stupid.

(BTW, I would NEVER leave the door open overnight. Only long enough to let them out and closed immediately after they return. I'm mostly worried about cats coming in. That large windows have plexi and I wouldn't think a hawk would go through the trap.)

 

[fowlsessed]

Did you try the NPA? They usually have some available.

 

[fowlsessed]

I would start handling the babies as soon as possible, as soon as the parents start leaving them in the nest alone. You could go through the trouble of hand feeding them, but then they'd be pets.