Pigeon Talk

[sourland]

Hat's off and a round of applause for Mr Bluebar! I'd love to hear about Clapper as well. ... and any other stories that come to mind.

2 Coopers and a Goshawk, just horrible! I can see why that would take the pleasure out of flying.

Been a while since I've been here. I don't think that I've ever told the story of 'The Clapper'. First a little background information. A friend and I got our birds from a competition flyer who was getting rid of his original birds. These birds were fast, deep rollers, but were not very frequent with the roll and he was concentrating on the more frequent birds from another family. In my first crop of young birds there was a black/white flight hen that would wing clap and do a single roll on every turn. I kept her in my flying kit with no intention of ever breeding her because of her lack of depth in the roll. When I stocked 'Mr Bluebar' I looked at available hens and wondered if she with her frequency and he with his strength and depth would make a good pairing? That for sure turned out to be a great move. Some of their young operated like her, and some like him, but many combined their traits and became the basis for my breeding program. And then the hawks put me out of business. I envy those who are still able to fly their birds, but realize that I cannot do so at this location.

 

[Misfits Farm 92]

My family doesn't know how I could "suddenly want pigeons again." I don't know what they mean though. I've wanted pigeons for years I just haven't been able to find the right ones. Of course, two years ago I stupidly sold my only pair of pigeons because I wanted fancy ones. Now my interests/needs would be met better by homing pigeons who are also a lot more common. I still need to get a proper loft built though which means either using my non-existent building skills or getting help from family. I don't know why I bother posting this.

 

[Birbseeb]

It's good to vent sometimes, especially to people who understand.

 

[Qwerty3159]

How are everyone’s pigeons doing? Mine are on lockdown while I hope that a goshawk finds different territory. On the bright side I have not seen any Cooper’s since the goshawk arrived.

 

[Pyxis]

How are everyone’s pigeons doing? Mine are on lockdown while I hope that a goshawk finds different territory. On the bright side I have not seen any Cooper’s since the goshawk arrived.

Mine are well. Rojo (the red male) has decided he likes one of the NN hens after all and keeps trying to convince her to have eggs right now in the middle of January

Sundae still doesn't fly well. She can get up to the beam in the door though where it changes to wire and she likes to perch there and watch the outside world.

 

[Misfits Farm 92]

How are everyone’s pigeons doing? Mine are on lockdown while I hope that a goshawk finds different territory. On the bright side I have not seen any Cooper’s since the goshawk arrived.

I don't have any yet... I'll try to keep y'all updated while I slowly get closer to getting some!

 

[backyard pigeons]

How are everyone’s pigeons doing? Mine are on lockdown while I hope that a goshawk finds different territory. On the bright side I have not seen any Cooper’s since the goshawk arrived.

Nice looking birds there qwerty!

Mine are, well, alright. I think they like the cold more than I do. There droppings aren't great, and its been that way for a while. I just started a four in one treatment two days ago. Hopefully that clears up anything.

I had a red check hen arrive back to my loft after i lost her on a loft fly four months ago! She was chubby, so I think someone had a pet for a little bit. Before I fly her again, I will put my phone number on her in case she goes back to her old "home". I like her, so I would not give her away but if the second caretaker wanted, I would give them some birds. I dont think she was in a big loft as she had no poop on toes and no mites at all. Most big lofts have a few mites and some stained feathers etc.

My other birds are good to. I recently got some Portuguese tumblers from the president of the PTCA (Portuguese Tumbler Club of America). They came all the way from Wisconsin. Sheboygan falls @biophiliac . some of his friends came to a private pigeon show in TN, so it worked out great.

They are much better show quality than mine are currently...

And some more homer pics for good measure. these were taken today.

And my black tiger grizzle is getting a bit more white. I cant wait till a good molt.

Him now:

Him a month ago:

Hopefully he meets my standards of flying. His dad came from racing stock, but hasn't been bred for racing (or flying for that matter) in several years. His mom came out of the famous "720" racing blood and "Black Diamond" racing blood. We shall see.


Edit: in the pics you cant tell about more white, but on the neck there are more solid white feathers than there were.

 

[Qwerty3159]

The new ports look great!

This winter I had planned to build a much larger loft to tack onto the aviary I have because the existing hutch type loft is pretty inadequate in size. Unfortunately covid sent the price of lumber through the roof so that project has been put on hold. I don’t feel too bad, because they’ve all been choosing to sleep mostly outside in the aviary during the winter. This snow fell and melted about a week ago.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Unfortunately covid sent the price of lumber through the roof so that project has been put on hold

It's pretty insane. Hopefully the prices go down. But I don't for see it happening very soon.

Is it time to take apart pallets?

That's all out of pallet wood.

If you do build a bigger loft, will you buy new breeds or stick with homers? Or just keep your happy flock of 4?

 

[Misfits Farm 92]

My family thinks it would be easier to convert this thing into a pigeon loft instead of just building one. At this point I think it may be easier for me to just take a wood working class and learn to do it myself. I see odvious flaws in the plan to turn this thing into a loft. I forgot to mention that turning it into a pigeon loft would also require us to move it! I only asked for a small pigeon loft! There's no need to make it large and difficult!