@biophiliac
Did you sort out what you have??? Meaning, which are male and female.
Do you also know the approximate age? (info from the seller)
Are there any pairing up??? Often times two of same gender will pair up and stay friends. Other times , and most often with males, they will fight. Never encountered females fighting in my loft.
For your pigeons which are different color patterns, it is easier to remember. When I had all white color, it was slightly more difficult who was who. (at a quick glance) I placed blue and pink temporary bands on their other leg. Easy to put on and remove.
I always put on permanent bands at birth. Important for me was year. Since I did not race them, it was not all that necessary. Bands were discount stock from China that had year and a number. The number was not recorded anywhere, so if the pigeon was found by someone, it would not trace back to me , or any one else. If you are a member of a local pigeon club, then the club sells their bands and keeps track as who got which numbers.
I use 8MM size.
I try to get band on at 4 day old babies. Often times the mother will pull of band. Then next day I reinstall. When I waited to day 7 or 8, I was no longer able to slip on band. They grow FAST. Maybe I could have, but was worried that I could injure the toes. I know how to put on with the thumb pulled back and such. Maybe if I used some lubricant??? . At 4 days, I would help keep in place with some yarn. Maybe tape would also work. The athletic cloth backed tape would be best in my opinion. After a few days I removed yarn.
So I do not yet have a good idea of the birds genders. I'm not very certain of their ages either. The seller was vague about their ages, ....'max 3 months' he said. I'm inclined to believe they are somewhat older. I'm trying to get other clues to their ages. I'm hearing 'coos' not 'squeaks', They are molting around the neck and chest and some are changing color a bit in that process so i'm wondering if that's age related. Also they are trying out the perches rather than staying in the nest boxes if that says anything about their ages i dk.
As you recall, it has been very cold here until recently and the first 2 weeks I pretty much let them settle and habituate to my presence, feeding times, etc. without handling them. I know they are cold hardy but at -14 degrees I wanted them to eat enough to stay warm. Then I decided it was time to get the band #s written down. Here is the loft 'census', total of 8 birds.
5 banded birds -AU 2017 RRR (i think this is the Rock River Racers club)
#879 red check
#894 light check
#030 blue bar
#897 pied
#898 pied ... suspect sib of #897
....then, surprise! I found this band on my dark check
IPB-R
2015 4099 this is not a racing band, it's a breeders band sold by Foys
I also have 2 other very nice looking blue bars without racing bands. One has a blue color band and the other a green band. So they are listed as,
Houbens blue
Houbens green
These 2 were gifted to me by the seller about 2 weeks after I bought the first 6. They are supposed to be very good bloodlines, Houbens. They are also supposed to be a cock and a hen from unrelated pairs. I just have no way of knowing for sure since I don't know the seller well.
Funny you should mention fighting, when I went in this morning 3 were pushing each other around in one of the nest boxes, flapping their wings and poking at each other. I suspected the Houbens green was the instigator of the ruckus and grabbed him(?) out of there. (I hadn't yet picked him up since he didn't have a # to record) I was surprised and thrilled to find he relaxed in my hand right away and seemed so calm unlike my first 6. I would have been able to spread his wings and show him off just like the experts do!
Today I put the bath out a bit after 1 pm and nobody went in, only 2 were even looking at it. I kept checking back every few minutes until I thought they just werent interested. At about 2 I checked again and 3 were in the bath and several others had already bathed! Barely had time to snap a few pics. By 2:45 i removed the water so they could be sure to get dry before dark, it's going to get cold again.
I missed a shot of 2 floating in there like ducks.
About the bands, I will look in to joining a club so any babies can get real traceable racing bands. I admit it - the racing band is a status thing for me,
.
I guess this is enough for now. Thanks for the excuse to ramble on a bit about my new friends.
#897 interesting penciling on the wing feathers.
