Pigeon Talk

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Not to steer you away from fanciness, but I will just note that things get more difficult when you keep and breed towards colors and fanciness. Feral flocks tend to gravitate towards blues, and so do winning racing lofts, and for good reason, survival and performance are the things driving breeding, and blue is a dominant gene. While some racers do well with all whites, it is rare. Look up the racing birds that cost tens of thousands of $ and almost all of them are blues (bars and checks, and of course the occasional splashes, which are neat).

Don't get frustrated when you try to breed neat colors by breeding two birds of such color scheme, but get mostly not what you expected. Pigeon genetics are very complicated. For example, I have one blue check splash hen, who I was excited when I got thinking I'd get a lot more splash in my loft, and she's paired with a blue bar cock, but only about 10% of their offspring, maybe less, have any splash WHATSOEVER. Not even a speckle of white.

Thanks.. I kinda figured that was the case from the little I've been learning as I go.. Im seriously looking into some birmingham rollers tho...while I love the fancy colored pigeons, they are out of my price range and Im not really lookin to go there with the breeding for color issues.. but it WOULD be fun to have a couple someday, maybe..

 

[WVduckchick]

Pigeons will pair and start laying anywhere between 6-9 months of age, but usually closer to the 9 month age. Once they're old enough, in theory and in nature, pigeons breeding season is around March-September ish, and will cease breeding season during the winter, but I've noticed sometimes they just do not stop, and it's a year long thing, and I think that is mainly because of temperature and availability of food. Their typical winter "non-breeding" season is a natural thing they know to do as a result of difficulty in raising young in cold weather and lack of food. In a loft, food is always there, so as long as the temps are what they think is fine to breed in, I've noticed they'll just keep going. Now, while they will lay and set clutches back to back during the main spring/summer breeding seasons (literally setting new eggs while they are still feeding 3 week old squabs), I notice they will space them out a bit more as it gets colder, taking longer breaks, etc. Just my observations.

Thank you! I appreciate your observations!

I haven't gotten any eggs since bringing them home last weekend. I was wondering if they had stopped for the winter, or if its similar to chicken hens that will sometimes skip a few days when moved to new surroundings.

 

[LamarshFish]

Thank you.. the more info the better.. I haven't even gotten any yet.. Im workin on it tho!

I must say, from the OP, to you now wanting pigeons, this is exciting around here. The "pigeon" section of this forum is helpful, lots of talking about, but it is mostly between like 10 of us lol, although we are on here frequently and most peoples' questions get addressed.

But I am just enamored at how fast people get addicted to pigeons. It doesn't take much more than one interaction with them, seeing how incredibly intelligent they are, and also beautiful and hilarious as well. Reminds me of a funny story that recently happened to me:

The bird in my profile pic, he is special to me. I started my loft about 2 years ago. I got several batches of 4-6 squeaker aged pigeons (around 4-6 weeks old), I think in total it took me 18 pigeons to end up with 9 that homed well and stayed in my loft, and by that fall they were still too young to breed. Then, in late December last year I see some nesting behavior, a nest built, and eggs laid. Oh man, what to do, how will they incubate the eggs in this weather (it was a bizarre cold blast here in Michigan, daytime temps single digits F, night time temps well below zero F). Low and behold, I go out the loft on the first expected day they may hatch, and out comes a squab. Next day, the other egg hatched. Now my worries are much worse. It's ZERO degrees out here, how will they survive? Mom or dad leaves the nest bowl for longer than a minute or two and they freeze to death. One of the two did die. But one did not. From the time his egg was laid, brooded and through the time he was about 3 weeks old I don't think the temperature ever once exceeded 10 degrees F. He was the first bird born in my loft. I named him Frost. Spring came, and all my birds started mating up, but not Frost, he had no mate. I once found a few dead squabs, seemed to have been killed (it happens sometimes), and I had some evidence it was Frost. In an abundance of caution I had to separate him, and put him in a small bunny hutch. He was NOT happy. At that same time I was training a few young birds to home, on 2 mile tosses. Frost was at the training level of being able to do a 2 mile toss, so I took him along. He did not come home that evening. Sometimes they go missing for a day or two. My longest period of one missing and still coming back was 4 days. After Day 4 passed, it was a Friday, Frost was still not home. I started beating myself up over it, he was my favorite bird, and was in the process of being in a new temporary cage, but I chose to fly him, and I lost him. Then I get a phone call from a farmer 50 miles away. He said there's this pigeon that won't stop landing on him as he was picking his crops, and it had an ankle band with my phone number on it. I asked what the other ankle band's color and number was, and it was Frost! I asked him if I could come pick him up, and he asked me where I live, and COINCIDENTALLY the farmer says "no need to come get him, we'll actually be selling our crops at the farmers market right in your town TOMORROW MORNING." That farmer's market is only a few blocks from my house. Ok, I'll be there at 7am. I go there, and I reach in to grab Frost and he gives a momentary struggle, but the moment he saw my face every muscle in his body melted lol.

Then I got to thanking the farmers, and they asked me if I am Belgian (pigeon keeping is like the national pastime in Belgium), and I said no, why? The farmer's wife said she is Belgian, and was raised with pigeons, but hadn't really seen any domestics up close since she was a kid, and she said they really wanted to keep Frost because they loved him so much, especially their grand daughter, but they knew it was wrong to do so. So I gave them my number and said, you call me when you're ready to start a loft and I'll get you some babies!

It's funny how they appeal to people! Some people just fall in love with them. Heck, I got mine for the sole purpose of training my bird hunting dog, but fell in love with them instead, and won't even use them for that! They're now my main buddies.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

I must say, from the OP, to you now wanting pigeons, this is exciting around here. The "pigeon" section of this forum is helpful, lots of talking about, but it is mostly between like 10 of us lol, although we are on here frequently and most peoples' questions get addressed.

But I am just enamored at how fast people get addicted to pigeons. It doesn't take much more than one interaction with them, seeing how incredibly intelligent they are, and also beautiful and hilarious as well. Reminds me of a funny story that recently happened to me:

The bird in my profile pic, he is special to me. I started my loft about 2 years ago. I got several batches of 4-6 squeaker aged pigeons (around 4-6 weeks old), I think in total it took me 18 pigeons to end up with 9 that homed well and stayed in my loft, and by that fall they were still too young to breed. Then, in late December last year I see some nesting behavior, a nest built, and eggs laid. Oh man, what to do, how will they incubate the eggs in this weather (it was a bizarre cold blast here in Michigan, daytime temps single digits F, night time temps well below zero F). Low and behold, I go out the loft on the first expected day they may hatch, and out comes a squab. Next day, the other egg hatched. Now my worries are much worse. It's ZERO degrees out here, how will they survive? Mom or dad leaves the nest bowl for longer than a minute or two and they freeze to death. One of the two did die. But one did not. From the time his egg was laid, brooded and through the time he was about 3 weeks old I don't think the temperature ever once exceeded 10 degrees F. He was the first bird born in my loft. I named him Frost. Spring came, and all my birds started mating up, but not Frost, he had no mate. I once found a few dead squabs, seemed to have been killed (it happens sometimes), and I had some evidence it was Frost. In an abundance of caution I had to separate him, and put him in a small bunny hutch. He was NOT happy. At that same time I was training a few young birds to home, on 2 mile tosses. Frost was at the training level of being able to do a 2 mile toss, so I took him along. He did not come home that evening. Sometimes they go missing for a day or two. My longest period of one missing and still coming back was 4 days. After Day 4 passed, it was a Friday, Frost was still not home. I started beating myself up over it, he was my favorite bird, and was in the process of being in a new temporary cage, but I chose to fly him, and I lost him. Then I get a phone call from a farmer 50 miles away. He said there's this pigeon that won't stop landing on him as he was picking his crops, and it had an ankle band with my phone number on it. I asked what the other ankle band's color and number was, and it was Frost! I asked him if I could come pick him up, and he asked me where I live, and COINCIDENTALLY the farmer says "no need to come get him, we'll actually be selling our crops at the farmers market right in your town TOMORROW MORNING." That farmer's market is only a few blocks from my house. Ok, I'll be there at 7am. I go there, and I reach in to grab Frost and he gives a momentary struggle, but the moment he saw my face every muscle in his body melted lol.

Then I got to thanking the farmers, and they asked me if I am Belgian (pigeon keeping is like the national pastime in Belgium), and I said no, why? The farmer's wife said she is Belgian, and was raised with pigeons, but hadn't really seen any domestics up close since she was a kid, and she said they really wanted to keep Frost because they loved him so much, especially their grand daughter, but they knew it was wrong to do so. So I gave them my number and said, you call me when you're ready to start a loft and I'll get you some babies!

It's funny how they appeal to people! Some people just fall in love with them. Heck, I got mine for the sole purpose of training my bird hunting dog, but fell in love with them instead, and won't even use them for that! They're now my main buddies.

Wow! What a great story!
Im so glad you got Frost back!
I became interested while helping a girl here on byc with 2 abandoned eggs she found.. WV and Pyxis were involed with helping to. It was so exciting to see that little squab hatch and survive with her care and the help from peeps here.. Im now hooked.. as are WV and Pyxis ...

 

[CCUK]

I must say, from the OP, to you now wanting pigeons, this is exciting around here. The "pigeon" section of this forum is helpful, lots of talking about, but it is mostly between like 10 of us lol, although we are on here frequently and most peoples' questions get addressed.

But I am just enamored at how fast people get addicted to pigeons. It doesn't take much more than one interaction with them, seeing how incredibly intelligent they are, and also beautiful and hilarious as well. Reminds me of a funny story that recently happened to me:

The bird in my profile pic, he is special to me. I started my loft about 2 years ago. I got several batches of 4-6 squeaker aged pigeons (around 4-6 weeks old), I think in total it took me 18 pigeons to end up with 9 that homed well and stayed in my loft, and by that fall they were still too young to breed. Then, in late December last year I see some nesting behavior, a nest built, and eggs laid. Oh man, what to do, how will they incubate the eggs in this weather (it was a bizarre cold blast here in Michigan, daytime temps single digits F, night time temps well below zero F). Low and behold, I go out the loft on the first expected day they may hatch, and out comes a squab. Next day, the other egg hatched. Now my worries are much worse. It's ZERO degrees out here, how will they survive? Mom or dad leaves the nest bowl for longer than a minute or two and they freeze to death. One of the two did die. But one did not. From the time his egg was laid, brooded and through the time he was about 3 weeks old I don't think the temperature ever once exceeded 10 degrees F. He was the first bird born in my loft. I named him Frost. Spring came, and all my birds started mating up, but not Frost, he had no mate. I once found a few dead squabs, seemed to have been killed (it happens sometimes), and I had some evidence it was Frost. In an abundance of caution I had to separate him, and put him in a small bunny hutch. He was NOT happy. At that same time I was training a few young birds to home, on 2 mile tosses. Frost was at the training level of being able to do a 2 mile toss, so I took him along. He did not come home that evening. Sometimes they go missing for a day or two. My longest period of one missing and still coming back was 4 days. After Day 4 passed, it was a Friday, Frost was still not home. I started beating myself up over it, he was my favorite bird, and was in the process of being in a new temporary cage, but I chose to fly him, and I lost him. Then I get a phone call from a farmer 50 miles away. He said there's this pigeon that won't stop landing on him as he was picking his crops, and it had an ankle band with my phone number on it. I asked what the other ankle band's color and number was, and it was Frost! I asked him if I could come pick him up, and he asked me where I live, and COINCIDENTALLY the farmer says "no need to come get him, we'll actually be selling our crops at the farmers market right in your town TOMORROW MORNING." That farmer's market is only a few blocks from my house. Ok, I'll be there at 7am. I go there, and I reach in to grab Frost and he gives a momentary struggle, but the moment he saw my face every muscle in his body melted lol.

Then I got to thanking the farmers, and they asked me if I am Belgian (pigeon keeping is like the national pastime in Belgium), and I said no, why? The farmer's wife said she is Belgian, and was raised with pigeons, but hadn't really seen any domestics up close since she was a kid, and she said they really wanted to keep Frost because they loved him so much, especially their grand daughter, but they knew it was wrong to do so. So I gave them my number and said, you call me when you're ready to start a loft and I'll get you some babies!

It's funny how they appeal to people! Some people just fall in love with them. Heck, I got mine for the sole purpose of training my bird hunting dog, but fell in love with them instead, and won't even use them for that! They're now my main buddies.

I love that. Pigeons do seem to be able to connect with people. All I did was find a stray racer and wow, look what happened!

 

[LamarshFish]

I contacted the man I got my pigeons from and asked about bath water. He said he gives his birds a bowl to bathe in about once a week. Is that sufficient?

I do 1-2 times/week and put some borax in with the bath water. About 1/8-1/4 cup of borax to 2 gallons of water.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

I love that. Pigeons do seem to be able to connect with people. All I did was find a stray racer and wow, look what happened! View attachment 1558918

...you've become the offical pigeon rescue is what happened..

 

[LamarshFish]

Wow! What a great story!
Im so glad you got Frost back!
I became interested while helping a girl here on byc with 2 abandoned eggs she found.. WV and Pyxis were involed with helping to. It was so exciting to see that little squab hatch and survive with her care and the help from peeps here.. Im now hooked.. as are WV and Pyxis ...

Thanks.. I kinda figured that was the case from the little I've been learning as I go.. Im seriously looking into some birmingham rollers tho...while I love the fancy colored pigeons, they are out of my price range and Im not really lookin to go there with the breeding for color issues.. but it WOULD be fun to have a couple someday, maybe..

Just be aware, while all pigeons are susceptible to hawks, and there are ways to minimize exposure, it seems rollers are especially targets. For one, I think their rolling attracts predators (just a thought), and two, if they get chased away too far they are almost without a doubt lost, whereas homers will usually find their way back home after being scattered from a hawk.

This guy has a pretty good collection of materials about pigeons, but this part of his site (albeit maybe a bit dated) is a good resource for finding breeders when you're ready to make the move (select your state and look at the breeders near you): http://mumtazticloft.com/default.asp

I also think poking around local facebook groups, whether they be racers or performing breed fanciers, etc, can help. They are usually willing to help with getting new people birds to start a loft.

 

[LamarshFish]

If any of you are curious how serious racing birds can get, this guy's loft's website sort of spells it out! Offspring from his winners go for thousands. Big race birds, with six digit purses. http://www.ganusfamilyloft.com/index.html

And these birds have served in both our world wars, some with distinction! It's funny, only in modern USA (past 70 years or so), and limited to the USA, are pigeons looked down upon. For the most part around the world, and for thousands of years, pigeons are one of the most revered animals by humans, right along side dogs and horses.

And even the Queen of England has her own loft, and holds a race every year, check this out:

 

[CCUK]

If any of you are curious how serious racing birds can get, this guy's loft's website sort of spells it out! Offspring from his winners go for thousands. Big race birds, with six digit purses. http://www.ganusfamilyloft.com/index.html

And these birds have served in both our world wars, some with distinction!

And even the Queen of England has her own loft, and holds a race every year, check this out:

Some of the top racing lofts have some serious money changing hands. One person sold a winning pigeon for over a million! That's how to make a hobby pay the bills!