pigeon question

[shelleyd2008]

When we were at the sale last night, a man asked if my son would like a pair of pigeons. Well, considering 'we' (mostly my dad's) have at least 20, I told him no. He said they were free, so I went to look at them. He said they are no trouble, they don't fly, just roll around on the ground if you let go of them?

They do do this! They do not fly at all!! Is this a breed, or could there be something wrong with them? I've never heard of a pigeon that could not fly!!

 

[BackSwampGirl]

Shelley,are they peeping

 

[BackSwampGirl]

Shelley,are you still there.Are the ducks peeping

 

[tiki244]

There is a breed called Tumblers that does precisely that. This is probably what you have. It would be best to keep them in a separate cage for a few weeks to make sure they are healthy.

editted for brevity sake

 

[clhbubba]

I had Tumblers years ago and they would fly up and tumble toward the ground from great heights. If yours aren't flying 'at all' I might be a little bit concerned. Tumblers will do this if you roll them on the ground but I believe they should still be able to fly.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Well this guy said that he had 3 of them, and his son tossed one up in the air pretty high, and it hit the ground and killed it. So I'm assuming they cannot fly period. The black one did 'fly' enough to get off the ground, but the red and white one is still just standing on the ground.

We have rollers as well, are these the same type? The rollers we have do fly very well.

 

[shelleyd2008]

After some googling, I came up with a breed that "can't fly...they spin back summersaults on the ground for many yards" (Jon Lahman http://www.angelfire.com/ks/rollerpigeon/ ). They are called 'Parlor Rollers' ? Could this be what I have? They do not fly at all. The guy took them out of the cage and dropped them on the ground. They rolled over a bit and sat there. That was it.

 

[spectrumranch]

Parlor Tumblers can not fly. They just flip backwards- there are 3 categories of them. Single, Double & Multiple- which is determined by how many flips they will perform in a row.

They perform on the ground rather than in the air like flying tumblers or rollers.

Randy www.spectrumranch.net

 

[clhbubba]

I have actually seen these before but didn't realize they couldn't fly at all. I was on a pigeon forum and there was some discussion about these but never anything about them being flightless birds. That's amazing. What triggers them to roll or to quit? Very curious. Good to know there's nothing wrong with them.

 

[shelleyd2008]

The guy just 'dropped' them from a few inches off the ground, and they would do it. Okay, so since they are flightless, how should i house them? I don't think it would be good to put them in with my dad's pigeons. They have a dirt floor in their pen, and it has been raining a lot. These two were just sitting there in the mud, looking up at all the other birds. Poor things!!