Pigeon Talk

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC, and good luck with your pigeons. Are they 100 % indoor birds? Outdoors and free flown, fantails are extremely vulnerable to predation from hawks.

 

[Artisticalexis]

Welcome to BYC, and good luck with your pigeons. Are they 100 % indoor birds? Outdoors and free flown, fantails are extremely vulnerable to predation from hawks.

Thanks! Oh, yes, completely indoor pets (I did SO much research before getting them.) I don't know if I'll ever tame them enough to wear a harness & leash or to get a special backpack for them to get to go explore other rooms in other houses safely. I hope one day they'll be chill enough to let me do visits at my son's & other local schools, but that's a very distant dream.

 

[WVduckchick]

Thanks! Oh, yes, completely indoor pets (I did SO much research before getting them.) I don't know if I'll ever tame them enough to wear a harness & leash or to get a special backpack for them to get to go explore other rooms in other houses safely. I hope one day they'll be chill enough to let me do visits at my son's & other local schools, but that's a very distant dream.

Lovely birds!
Welcome aboard. This thread used to be more active, it seems to go thru up and down spells, but if you post, they will come.

I just had another new one hatch a couple days ago. I think this is #7 for the year. I had tossed the other egg in this nest, but she caught me off guard and hid an egg from me.

 

[freejpony]

So I just bought a bird from Strombergs. I was happy with the process. She is a red blondinette. I requested a 2022 hen for my single frillback cock and that's what I got. Shipping was expensive but I expected that. It took 3 weeks from order date to ship. She is calm and cute, but her beak is real short??? I wonder if she is considered a modern frill? I will have to get a pic of her to see what you think. Unfortunately, Red has shown no interest in her yet and is still chasing my poor guinea pig around the pen.

 

[Amer]

With pigeons, how acceptable is inbreeding? I know with chickens it’s not an issue but pigeons have a different family dynamic.
I have an Arabian Trumpeter cock who is good quality with black eyes (which are apparently recessive.)
I got some Trumps shipped to me from a breeder I discovered in the paper advertisements. Unfortunately, one has pearl eyes, one has yellow eyes, and one had green eyes. (I think it’s cool he has a rare eye color but not worth what I paid for shipping expecting black eyes.)

Anyway, I bred the yellow atlas hen with my yellow atlas cock. He picked her immediately over the red atlas young hen because she was older, of course.
They hatched two babies, which are fledged. I suspect it is a boy and a girl. (Boy with wing bars, girl has almost absent wing bars.)

They both appear to be developing pearl eyes but I know they must carry the recessive gene.
Do you think I should get rid of the yellow eyed hen and breed her daughter with Biff? Or will he be uninterested in breeding with his own daughter?
Also, when would she even be old enough to breed?

 

[Amer]

Ok, I looked up the answer to my own question and it appears to be common. But in the meantime, waiting for her to grow up…

 

[Qwerty3159]

Or will he be uninterested in breeding with his own daughter?

Definitely not. He’ll forget eventually, some sooner than later.

If you’re trying to breed for that specific trait I would advise against doing it extensively. But then again, many champion racing homers are quite inbred.

I have one pigeon down from a brother-sister pair that I use as fosters normally who hid an egg from me much the same as @WVduckchick ‘s did. He turned out fine, but I won’t breed him.

 

[Qwerty3159]

View attachment 3523912

Nice fantails!!! Glad that you didn’t have a horror story. I hear either very good or very bad things about that source.

I don’t have any fantails. I rescued one from the pound a while ago but was able to place him in a good home quickly.

 

[Amer]

Definitely not. He’ll forget eventually, some sooner than later.

If you’re trying to breed for that specific trait I would advise against doing it extensively. But then again, many champion racing homers are quite inbred.

I have one pigeon down from a brother-sister pair that I use as fosters normally who hid an egg from me much the same as @WVduckchick ‘s did. He turned out fine, but I won’t breed him.

Considering the mother is completely unrelated I am not too worried. IMO inbreeding is the only way to create a pure strain. Yes, and racing homers are some of the healthiest birds in existence. They have to be.
I was just concerned because Biff seems to love his children a lot and still feeds them and stuff.

 

[WVduckchick]

So I just bought a bird from Strombergs. I was happy with the process. She is a red blondinette. I requested a 2022 hen for my single frillback cock and that's what I got. Shipping was expensive but I expected that. It took 3 weeks from order date to ship. She is calm and cute, but her beak is real short??? I wonder if she is considered a modern frill? I will have to get a pic of her to see what you think. Unfortunately, Red has shown no interest in her yet and is still chasing my poor guinea pig around the pen.

Would love to see pics of them.