Pigeon Talk

[Amer]

Pigeon family
The babies can fly as well as their parents now

I want to get rid of the other pair to make room for the family.
The only problem is the red bar hen injured her wing when I locked the fair in the nest box to encourage them to nest there.
Now she’s forced to nest on the ground because she can’t fly.

 

[cavemanrich]

I want to get rid of the other pair to make room for the family.

What is your reason??.... space??
If unrelated, that pair would be good for diverse genes mixed in with your newly added youngsters. The more different genes available,, the better. JMO
I am not in favor of inbreeding, although some peeps differ with their views. Sometimes the results of inbreeding bring about traits desired by a breeder,,,,,,,,,, without the longer term issues/consequences that may arise in the future. JMO.

 

[Amer]

What is your reason??.... space??
If unrelated, that pair would be good for diverse genes mixed in with your newly added youngsters. The more different genes available,, the better. JMO
I am not in favor of inbreeding, although some peeps differ with their views. Sometimes the results of inbreeding bring about traits desired by a breeder,,,,,,,,,, without the longer term issues/consequences that may arise in the future. JMO.

Yeah, I don’t have the space for more than one family based on their current rate of multiplication. Also, my whole family is moving, plus, I am moving to college and more birds means more for them to care for.
It’s too much to use them for my project when the eye color is totally wrong. I would have to reintroduce it and work with subsequent generations, etc.
I am considering just getting a black eyed hen from the original breeder of Biff if I ever encounter him again.

 

[WVduckchick]

I discovered a new squab yesterday that I had somehow missed. I barely was able to get a band on its leg, so it’s at least 2 weeks old. (I try to band around 10 days- 2 weeks) This is what happens when you have 60+ birds during mating season.

 

[Amer]

A white homer stopped briefly on my roof and then moved along, flying due east.

 

[WVduckchick]

I had some parakeets that I sold a couple weeks ago, and their cage was going to waste, so I converted it to use in my pigeon pen. Didn’t take them long to inspect it.

 

[Qwerty3159]

Nice!
They’re thinking “new nest boxes?”

My runts and homers are doing well. I’m probably going to extend my current homer loft by a few feet in length and just put the runts in with them for my own convenience. Maybe I’ll split the pair and try to breed some homer crosses out of them and see how they fly.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Hello, everyone on this thread! I do not own or want to keep pigeons, but I am interested in learning about them, as well as other types of domestic fowl. If anyone here can teach me about some basic things of pigeon-keeping, I would enjoy hearing it.

 

[cavemanrich]

Hello, everyone on this thread! I do not own or want to keep pigeons, but I am interested in learning about them, as well as other types of domestic fowl. If anyone here can teach me about some basic things of pigeon-keeping, I would enjoy hearing it.

If you just start reading this thread from the beginning,,, and scan whatever you think is information,,, you will gain much knowledge. I know there are over 12K postings,,, but when you have free time,,, just read what you can.
You may decide to keep pigeons after you gain enough knowledge. Of course if you don't have the facilities to house them, that is also understandable.

 

[WVduckchick]

Hello, everyone on this thread! I do not own or want to keep pigeons, but I am interested in learning about them, as well as other types of domestic fowl. If anyone here can teach me about some basic things of pigeon-keeping, I would enjoy hearing it.

Welcome!
I first took an interest in fantail pigeons, the ones that their tails fan out like a turkey on display. I found some locally, met up with a fella at a poultry swap, but decided against the fantails when I saw he had Satinettes! So beautiful, I fell in love with them. Then I started this thread, to got help from others here because I knew very little about pigeons. Along the way, this thread became a wonderful gathering place for pigeon keepers with zero to many, many years of pigeon experience!

So maybe we can each tell one thing about basic pigeon keeping.

One of my favorite things is their breeding and parenting style/habits. Unlike ducks, chickens, other poultry fowl, pigeons usually only nest 2 eggs at a time. (Sometimes 1, sometimes 3+, but 2 is most common). The hen mainly sits on the eggs to incubate them, but the male will also sit on the eggs while the hen takes a daily break. The male also helps feed the babies! Both parents feed the squabs by regurgitating back into the squabs mouth, until the squabs are able to leave the nest and learn to eat on their own. This whole process is still fascinating to me!!

Anyone else want to add a fun pigeon fact?