Pigeon Talk

[cavemanrich]

Hi everyone, following to learn about pigeons

What kind are you considering getting?? There is a wealth of info in this thread and others posted in the Pigeon Forum

 

[Dinoroar]

What kind are you considering getting?? There is a wealth of info in this thread and others posted in the Pigeon Forum

I haven’t decided on what kind yet. My 10 yo daughter is pigeon crazy and has been filling me in on all her reading but I need to get up to speed myself.

Would love to know if anyone has recommendations for first pigeons.

 

[MeanCheek]

I haven’t decided on what kind yet. My 10 yo daughter is pigeon crazy and has been filling me in on all her reading but I need to get up to speed myself.

Would love to know if anyone has recommendations for first pigeons.

My first were Birmingham Rollers, they are friendly and very fun to watch roll.

 

[Dinoroar]

My first were Birmingham Rollers, they are friendly and very fun to watch

Ooo that sounds very fun!

 

[Qwerty3159]

I haven’t decided on what kind yet. My 10 yo daughter is pigeon crazy and has been filling me in on all her reading but I need to get up to speed myself.

Would love to know if anyone has recommendations for first pigeons.

I guess it depends on what you’re looking to get out of the pigeons. Flying them is extremely rewarding but it also can be very disheartening when you lose them to hawks or other factors, especially when starting out.

There’s a lot of fancy breeds that are extremely tame and don’t mind handling at all (might be more fun for your daughter) but I’m not familiar with them, I’ve only kept homers. For a first pigeon you can’t go wrong with homers, but there are tons of other awesome breeds as well

 

[WVduckchick]

I haven’t decided on what kind yet. My 10 yo daughter is pigeon crazy and has been filling me in on all her reading but I need to get up to speed myself.

Would love to know if anyone has recommendations for first pigeons.

Welcome aboard!

There are more varieties of pigeons than you can shake a stick at!
I found a few different varieties in my area, then researched the ones of those that appealed to me. It may help to check Craigslist to see what might be available in your area to start with. Or however you might try to acquire some.

Here is a list of breeds from the National Pigeon Assoc website for reference. I would assume there are even more than are listed here. http://www.npausa.com/breeds/breeds_groups.html

P.s. I bought my first 2 adult pairs (2 different breeds) less than 4 years ago. One of my pairs hatched one baby, then I bought 5 more, and sold the 2nd original pair, since I wanted to stick with all the same breed. I now have over 50 pigeons!
One I banded today, about 12 days old.

 

[MeanCheek]

@WVduckchick you have Classic Frills right?

 

[Dinoroar]

I guess it depends on what you’re looking to get out of the pigeons. Flying them is extremely rewarding but it also can be very disheartening when you lose them to hawks or other factors, especially when starting out.

This is a really good point that flying them is going to make them more vulnerable. We’ve lost enough chickens over the years she knows that’s a possibility with birds. I think with pigeons she’s hoping for friendly pets she can bond with so we’d have to be pretty careful with them and would probably do best to focus on a breed known for friendliness.

There are more varieties of pigeons than you can shake a stick at

Omg! Those babies are too adorable. I can see how you’d end up with 50.

Thank you for the list, that looks helpful! I did contact someone pretty local on Craig’s with an ad for a few variety’s. They said they only had homers at the moment. I asked what other kinds they may have in the future and they replied that they have to many kinds to list so what was I interested in.

I guess I’ll need to compile a list of friendly breeds and then approach them with that to see what we can get.

We don’t have a set up yet so I also need to do some research & thinking on what to do in that regard.

 

[WVduckchick]

@WVduckchick you have Classic Frills right?

Yes, I think so.
I say that because the differences in Classic, Oriental, Owl, etc are kinda vague and vary from source to source. I think the main difference is the length of the beak, and I believe mine fall in the the generally accepted Classic category.

 

[MeanCheek]

Yes, I think so.
I say that because the differences in Classic, Oriental, Owl, etc are kinda vague and vary from source to source. I think the main difference is the length of the beak, and I believe mine fall in the the generally accepted Classic category.

They're such cute birds. Do they have feather feet or are they clean leg? They look a lot like Satinettes.