Pigeon Talk

[sourland]

I think they are doing it for genuine fun, or just for practice like you said.

Pigeons do love to fly. That's why when I could no longer justify flying them I gave them away. I was watching a family of crows yesterday as they were swooping and whirling around chasing one another and vocalizing. To me no question that they were doing it for genuine fun.

 

[Amer]

Bifster and Barbie finally have their first eggs! I hope they hatch and raise them successfully even as it gets cold. Biff has experience but Barbie is a first-time mom.

 

[rolohman]

Bifster and Barbie finally have their first eggs! I hope they hatch and raise them successfully even as it gets cold. Biff has experience but Barbie is a first-time mom.

Congratulations! Would you mind sharing Barbie's age? I've got my first pair (am not sure of gender) and am wondering when I would expect to start seeing mating behaviors. They're certainly "billing" a lot and groom eachother almost constantly.

 

[Amer]

Congratulations! Would you mind sharing Barbie's age? I've got my first pair (am not sure of gender) and am wondering when I would expect to start seeing mating behaviors. They're certainly "billing" a lot and groom eachother almost constantly.

She is about 7 months old. She and Biff displayed mating behavior for 2 months with breeding and him sitting in the nest and everything, but no eggs! I was starting to think the eggs would never come!
It is probably a month or so after her adult molt.

 

[rolohman]

She is about 7 months old. She and Biff displayed mating behavior for 2 months with breeding and him sitting in the nest and everything, but no eggs! I was starting to think the eggs would never come!
It is probably a month or so after her adult molt.

Thanks, that is very helpful. I bought my two pigeons at a farm swap and the seller mumbled “about six weeks” when I asked about age, but I’m not at all sure that’s accurate. He had them stuffed in a small cage with about ten chickens and sold them for 5$ each, so this was definitely not a pigeon fancier operation!

 

[Qwerty3159]

Thanks, that is very helpful. I bought my two pigeons at a farm swap and the seller mumbled “about six weeks” when I asked about age, but I’m not at all sure that’s accurate. He had them stuffed in a small cage with about ten chickens and sold them for 5$ each, so this was definitely not a pigeon fancier operation!

Do you have any pictures of them from around when you got them? After a year it becomes very difficult to age them in my opinion but you can tell pretty easily if they were born within say, the last six months.

That being said you can expect to hatch eggs from parents as early as a 10 months to a year, but you can see mating and courting behaviors much earlier.

For instance I have a hen now that I bought at just 2 months of age. Almost immediately she was mating with all the cock birds but didn’t actually pair up or lay any eggs for nearly a year after that.

 

[rolohman]

I do have this one from the day I got them when they were hanging out in our bathroom. The white one isn’t a fantail- was just preening. Is this showing them in enough detail?

 

[Qwerty3159]

They’re definitely less than six months old in that photo. You can tell by the peach colored wattle and beak, as they age past six months give or take the wattle becomes white. I believe the seller that they were six weeks.

 

[rolohman]

Thank you! Really helpful to know what to look for!

 

[rolohman]

Okay, pigeons are nuts. I walk up, with hand gently extended with treats, and if I get within two feet they shuffle or fly away. I go into their side of the coop with a power drill and start adding roosts and things and they pretty much jump onto the drill.