Some questions about my new pigeons

[cavemanrich]

Offer the pigeons some grit. They do need it to grind their seeds.
If you jump the gun and start flying them,,,,,, you may end up with no pigeons. I would most certainly wait until I had a few ofsprings, before I would fly them. Your choice.
I will tag @sourland ,,, he had rollers. He may chime in with better advice.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Old-clucker-55]

looks like you have a couple different kinds of peas- popcorn-safflower-and wheat mixture. I would buy the mix without the popcorn in it. If you live in a place that is cold you could buy the popcorn at the store and give them that a few pieces at a time to help keep them warm.Feed them the rest what they will eat in 5 minutes.If you cannot afford to lose them don't fly them.Fly out their young only.You will have to train them first and their diet will be different than their parents.Safflower- wheat-and a type of pea.The lavender cock and grizzle hen.You will get 1/2 ash red cocks and hens 1/4 ash red cocks carrying blue 1/4 blue hens.Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[sourland]

hello!


never fly a bird you can't afford to lose. Every time you fly your birds, you risk losing them. I would not fly your birds till they have bred up a small flock for you, so that when you fly if you lose one, it's not a big deal. If you lose one bird, you lose a pair.

"Never fly a bird that you can't afford to lose." I'd breed from these birds and fly their young. Rollers are especially susceptible to attack from hawks. I would raise 90 + young birds a year, and by the time I had them flown out/trained I would be down to 20 or so of the fastest flying/lowest performing birds. Rollers because of their strong kitting instinct and the fact that they tire themselves out by performing become hawk food, and it is always the best performers that are taken.

As far as the feeding - I recommend feeding twice a day giving just as much feed as they will consume in 10 minutes. Actually with your birds I would allow a little longer to eat as the hen appears quite young. Right now they are eating the grains they like and leaving the rest because they can.

Good luck with them. I loved my birds, but can no longer justify raising them to be killed. I miss them on a daily basis. A performing kit of rollers is a sight to behold.

 

[backyard pigeons]

No, but I study their genetics to improve my knowledge. I was surprised to see Roosters had some.
I’m glad to see my suspicions about the hen were correct, as well as the male. Thank you!

well, you sure do know your genitics!
good job.

Even short supervised flying? I was planning to teach them to return when I called them so I could let them out for a short time.
Thanks for telling me. Silvers look beautiful. If she's grizzled, will that pass on to their offspring?

if you lose one bird, you lose a pair. It does not matter if you train them and supervise them, they are vulnerable. Fly at your own risk.

Yep! Fifty percent.

looks like you have a couple different kinds of peas- popcorn-safflower-and wheat mixture. I would buy the mix without the popcorn in it. If you live in a place that is cold you could buy the popcorn at the store and give them that a few pieces at a time to help keep them warm.Feed them the rest what they will eat in 5 minutes.If you cannot afford to lose them don't fly them.Fly out their young only.You will have to train them first and their diet will be different than their parents.Safflower- wheat-and a type of pea.The lavender cock and grizzle hen.You will get 1/2 ash red cocks and hens 1/4 ash red cocks carrying blue 1/4 blue hens.Hope this helps and good luck.

why drop the popcorn? Popcorn is great for pigeons.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Thanks to everyone for their advice! I'm enjoying them a lot. They eat from my hand, which is pretty cool. I've seen them fight several times. They never pull out feathers or anything, just thrust their beaks at each other. Is that normal behavior?
Their names are Splash and Neet Neet (yeah, it's a weird name, that's the sound she makes when she growls at me ). I will continue to feed them the corn since it's cold where I live.

I noticed that Neet Neet sprouted a purple feather about a week ago. Does this mean anything? She's also getting more iridescence in her neck feathers.

 

[cavemanrich]

I've seen them fight several times. They never pull out feathers or anything, just thrust their beaks at each other. Is that normal behavior?

Sounds like courting behavior rather than fighting. (male, and female generally do not fight) Unless you have 2 males, and they are slightly fighting.
If it is courting,,,,,,, you should see eggs soon

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

My birds are also fussy eaters often leaving the smallest seeds left. I don’t give them too much food so they don’t leave too many leftovers, and if they do depending on the amount I will give them less food the following day until they eat it all. Also, like others have said it is risky to let them out. I personally recommend settling them for maybe a month and when you begin letting them out don’t feed them before hand so that they’ll come back hungry. You could possibly even set up a cage (I cannot remember the actual term for it) outside the loft that allows them to exit and enter the loft freely, as it will allow them to get a good look of their surroundings.

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

Thanks to everyone for their advice! I'm enjoying them a lot. They eat from my hand, which is pretty cool. I've seen them fight several times. They never pull out feathers or anything, just thrust their beaks at each other. Is that normal behavior?
Their names are Splash and Neet Neet (yeah, it's a weird name, that's the sound she makes when she growls at me ). I will continue to feed them the corn since it's cold where I live.

I noticed that Neet Neet sprouted a purple feather about a week ago. Does this mean anything? She's also getting more iridescence in her neck feathers.
View attachment 2008314

Neet Neet is very gorgeous. Her feathers becoming iridescent is a sign that she is reaching sexual maturity, well beginning to.

 

[cavemanrich]

You could possibly even set up a cage (I cannot remember the actual term for it) outside the loft that allows them to exit and enter the loft freely, as it will allow them to get a good look of their surroundings.

Aviary

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

A month after I got them, I let my pigeons free fly. Splash didn't come back. I should have followed the advice I was given on this thread and I really regret my choice.
I'm looking to find a mate for Neet Neet and I'm going to build her a bigger aviary. I don't think I'll be flying them or any future pigeons because I am a bit too attached to my birds. I'll probably continue to post on this thread to ask questions and post updates.