I dont think I have any like those. The one in the contest is half German Owl and half Kormorn Tumbler. Could they be a different veriety of Kormorn Tumbler? I don't know much about pigeons.
Pigeon Talk
- Thread starter WVduckchick
- Start date
I looked up Kormorners and that looks like them! Thank you, you DO know about pigeons!
Thank you! Will you be getting Kormorns soon? I have a old red one, he doesn't really like to fly. He's happy just to sit in the nest box with the German Owl.
I live on a small city lot. I am just rebuilding my bantam chicken coop and I don't think I have room for a pigeon coop too. Too bad, because they are so interesting and so many types.
I saw the pic of the Kormorns when was doing some research on pigeons because I rescued one a while back. I was sailing my small sailboat and came across a white release pigeon drowning in middle of the bay. I fished her out, wrapped her in a towel, and tucked her inside the front of my life vest while I finished teaching my sailing classes.
Once I got her home, I looked her over I found that whoever had released her had done so when she was in the middle of a molt! About half her tail and half her flight feathers were very short and just growing in, so no wonder she couldn't fly and ended up swimming. She recovered nicely and I kept her in a rabbit cage until she had finished her molt, then placed her with someone local who had pigeons. But she was a nice bird and made me curious about pigeon keeping.
- Thread starter
- #11,825
What a lovely rescue story!
So nice to hear a happy ending for that sort of story!
My first pigeon was presumably a release - white, appeared from nowhere one day in June 2017. I was driving home and as I crossed a bridge there was a white bird sitting on the railing who obviously didn’t belong there. He just walked away when I approached, flew to the nearest branch if I persisted. I fed him for a month before deciding I’d never snag him by hand (though he’d come close) so I rigged a box trap.
His instincts served him well for protection, as he was roosting up under the roadway of the bridge. But he clearly did not know where to find food, and I was told by a neighbor that the first day there had been two but his companion was almost immediately smashed on the road. And to top it all off, his size proves him to be of utility breeding, probably a king pigeon.
My best guess is that someone bought a couple of white pigeons from a random seller, tossed them in the air for a show at a wedding (or graduation party??), and didn‘t think of the near-inevitable death to come.
I got a companion pair from the Animal Rescue League (a homer male and a white female who’s intermediate in size, bigger than the homers I’ve seen but smaller than Milou), bought a homer mate for Milou, and thought things were just fine with four birds.
But it didn’t stay four - I had a pair of oops babies when I had a bad month and checked for eggs just a day or 2 too late. One of the babies disappeared on his first flight out and I let my other pair hatch an egg hoping for a mate for the other - but no such luck, both males, so just this fall I finally got them two females. And now i hope I’m set with 8 (4 pairs) as that’s just how many nest boxes I have. I hope I stay on top of the eggs & keep them all swapped with fakes!
Now that I’ve typed all this I suppose I had better get some pictures to post!
I suspect my rescue was from a beach wedding, and that's how she ended up where she did.
She was a very small and slender pigeon with dark eyes. In fact, since I didn't know much about pigeons, at first I thought she was a dove. I read that they purposefully bred release pigeons to be small and dove-like for aesthetic reasons, but it makes much more sense to use a white racing-type homer that at least has a good chance of finding their way back home.
I'm glad your white utility pigeon found a good home, too! Looking forward to seeing pictures.
She was a very small and slender pigeon with dark eyes. In fact, since I didn't know much about pigeons, at first I thought she was a dove. I read that they purposefully bred release pigeons to be small and dove-like for aesthetic reasons, but it makes much more sense to use a white racing-type homer that at least has a good chance of finding their way back home.
I'm glad your white utility pigeon found a good home, too! Looking forward to seeing pictures.
- Feb 7, 2020
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Hi again, I really would like my pigeons to start nesting and lay a little clutch. I have serious baby fever, lol, and would love to watch them raise some babies. I think I have at least a couple females, and definitely a male. They've shown some interest in nesting. The pair that's interested in nesting is about 6 months old, I have another Homer who's at least several years old, and I have a Saxon Shield that's probably at least 8 months old.
I put this up for them a few days ago in an attempt to make a quick, non-permanent, nest box, but I haven't seen any of them go in it at all.
What can I do to entice them to nest? I don't want to build anything too permanent but I'd really like them to have some babies.
I put this up for them a few days ago in an attempt to make a quick, non-permanent, nest box, but I haven't seen any of them go in it at all.
What can I do to entice them to nest? I don't want to build anything too permanent but I'd really like them to have some babies.
That box is somewhat small. Not what pigeons search out. You can just make a shelf a little wider, and place a nesting bowl on top. Then spread out some nesting material on bottom of loft. The pigeon will pick their choice sticks, twigs, and hay/grass pieces, and build their own nest in that bowl. You could encourage them to use bowl with a couple of twigs you place there yourself.
Pigeons are different from chickens in their choice of nests.
The pigeons will also choose their own time when to lay eggs. With spring coming soon,, expect that to happen soon as well.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
- Thread starter
- #11,830
I agree with caveman. I’d cut that flap down to about 2/3 the size it is, leave it maybe 2-3” tall. Stick a dog food bowl in there with just a few leaves and a couple twigs. Cheap dollar dog food bowls from the dollar store work great for me. Give them more leaves and twigs to carry in themselves and they will do the rest.
I get a lot of leaves build up in front of my pigeon gates. Every so often, I kick them inside. They do with them whatever they want. Lol
I have 3 new squabs at the moment
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