UK pigeon owners

[biophiliac]

They look like they're doing OK. Yesterday turned into a bit of a nightmare for me. I finished work late, as usual, and came home with all the best intentions. DW had gone out so I made some grower pellets into a runny mixture to try and feed the big baby, whilst it was cooling I let the other three youngsters out and started a few other chores with the chickens. A knock on the door and some friends from some time ago had come to visit. Anyway to cut a long story short I couldn't concentrate on feeding the baby like I wanted too, so that didn't work out great. Didn't get chores with chickens done. One of my hens had a prolapse a week or two back and it's popped back out and had been pecked. Managed to get her cleaned up and in a cage in the garage. DW came home once everyone had left, then DS 2 went out on his scooter, fell off and smashed his head on the pavement, had to go to A&E, couldn't get the pigeons back in! So I had too leave them out. Didn't get back till midnight. And my phone still hasn't been fixed. It been a rubbish week.
Apart from that everything is hunkydory!

What an exciting life you lead! haha Sometimes boring is good.
I do hope your son was not seriously hurt!! Was he wearing a helmet?

 

[CCUK]

What an exciting life you lead! haha Sometimes boring is good.
I do hope your son was not seriously hurt!! Was he wearing a helmet?

Unfortunately not. He has one but getting him to wear it is another thing. He OK though, just sore. I like boring! Uneventful things make me happy! Oh for the quiet life! Anyways, my other phone is fried. I went to the repair shop and they put a new battery in it and it worked long enough for me to back up most of my data, then it died. So I renewed my phone contract and got a nice shiny new one! so something has gone sort of right for me. Also the pigeons did come back on their own and all three younsters will use the bobwires! And I managed to get a photo of both nests. The first three are looking good!

And the second nest is looking good too!

How are yours doing?

 

[biophiliac]

The babies look great! You have 2 other ybs and Boomer - that will make a nice size kit to fly. I think a group of 8 plus is safer than 2s or 3s.

My flock is doing good. 2 nights ago #741 didn't make it into the loft by evening and I thought he was a goner for sure. He's only 5 weeks old and I didn't even know that he was out of the loft...very careless of me. Next morning I'm inside the loft cleaning and look out thru the bob wires - there he is looking at me thru the wires from the landing board side! The other 2 youngest, #742 & #743 have been out and followed the others up to the big roof. They are not yet 5 weeks old. I confess none of these three have been properly trap trained since I had removed the settling cage altogether several weeks ago. I was hopeful they would just watch the others.

742 and 743 with their fierce mom....

 

[CCUK]

The babies look great! You have 2 other ybs and Boomer - that will make a nice size kit to fly. I think a group of 8 plus is safer than 2s or 3s.

My flock is doing good. 2 nights ago #741 didn't make it into the loft by evening and I thought he was a goner for sure. He's only 5 weeks old and I didn't even know that he was out of the loft...very careless of me. Next morning I'm inside the loft cleaning and look out thru the bob wires - there he is looking at me thru the wires from the landing board side! The other 2 youngest, #742 & #743 have been out and followed the others up to the big roof. They are not yet 5 weeks old. I confess none of these three have been properly trap trained since I had removed the settling cage altogether several weeks ago. I was hopeful they would just watch the others.

742 and 743 with their fierce mom....View attachment 1510942

I hope that boomer will fly with them! She never stays near the loft she just disappears and comes back an hour or two later?! So far the other three just do a few laps of the house then sit, that's SIT, on my neighbours roof watching me in the garden!
I think that is always the most worrying time when they first go out. At least yours did come back albeit the next morning! When these five babies are big enough to fly I'm going to try and see if the parents will loft fly too! So that will be a worrying time. I'll have had them a few months and two hatches. We'll see what happens!
You have some lovely looking birds there. The mum looks like she gonna charge you!

 

[cavemanrich]

Birds are smarter than we want to acknowledge. They do not feel like strong enough to venture far at this time.
Eventually they will venture further.... No need to rush that.
I can see your urge to loft fly the parents. Whatever happens just accept it with no regrets. You are already building up a nice flock of your own hatched.
Freedom is priceless,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, even to pet pigeons..

 

[biophiliac]

I hope that boomer will fly with them! She never stays near the loft she just disappears and comes back an hour or two later?! So far the other three just do a few laps of the house then sit, that's SIT, on my neighbours roof watching me in the garden!
I think that is always the most worrying time when they first go out. At least yours did come back albeit the next morning! When these five babies are big enough to fly I'm going to try and see if the parents will loft fly too! So that will be a worrying time. I'll have had them a few months and two hatches. We'll see what happens!
You have some lovely looking birds there. The mum looks like she gonna charge you!

Yes she certainly will charge me!
Best if you can get the 7 young birds flying in a group, it took several weeks before mine started flying. It looks like they are doing nothing sitting up there on the roof, but I believe they are storing up a lot of data.

 

[cavemanrich]

I can see your urge to loft fly the parents. Whatever happens just accept it with no regrets. You are already building up a nice flock of your own hatched.
Forgot to add this...... When you do decide to loft fly the parents, do it one at a time. First let out the male. After he keeps returning regularly, then let out the female. After she keeps returning regularly, you can release both. Chances of both returning are much better at that point.
Case scenario,,,,,, when you release the male and he does not return, you still have female to breed in future time. You don't push her out the door at this point. You will have extra males down the road that she can pair up with. You can also force up a pairing if needed.
BTW,,,,,,,,,,,, release the parents HUNGRY A little extra effort goes a long way to success.

Personal experience.....
Had 2 pigeons, and I'm pretty sure they were both males. They were still friendly to each other. I released one and he kept returning. I figured I would release both of them together. Both split on me instantly. My mistake, I think I made, was not single releasing the second pigeon just like I did with first.

 

[CCUK]

I can see your urge to loft fly the parents. Whatever happens just accept it with no regrets. You are already building up a nice flock of your own hatched.
Forgot to add this...... When you do decide to loft fly the parents, do it one at a time. First let out the male. After he keeps returning regularly, then let out the female. After she keeps returning regularly, you can release both. Chances of both returning are much better at that point.
Case scenario,,,,,, when you release the male and he does not return, you still have female to breed in future time. You don't push her out the door at this point. You will have extra males down the road that she can pair up with. You can also force up a pairing if needed.
BTW,,,,,,,,,,,, release the parents HUNGRY A little extra effort goes a long way to success.

Personal experience.....
Had 2 pigeons, and I'm pretty sure they were both males. They were still friendly to each other. I released one and he kept returning. I figured I would release both of them together. Both split on me instantly. My mistake, I think I made, was not single releasing the second pigeon just like I did with first.

Thanks. I'll leave letting any one out until the babies can start to feed themselves a little. Hopefully if it works out I can let the other male out! I'm still a bit gutted about the first male I lost but I just have a feeling something got him not that he just didn't come back. If I lose any of these ones, at least I do have the next generation. I'm not sure how long they haven't flown as the previous owner just used them go breeding. I do long for the day that I can just open the doors and see them doing there thing but I do want to do it right. It is a real process that can't be rushed!

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Well it's been a bit of a day! I haven't started handfeeding because we had to go and look at a horse tonight. That won't fit in my garden! But I did get a pleasant surprise as in both the eggs have hatched in the second nest! One is a micro chick! I wanted a picture but my phone is being repaired still but I may get it back tomorrow. I ringed the third baby from the first nest, so I'm pretty chuffed about that! I'm a little worried now though because when I got back, it's dark and the parent isn't sitting on the nest, she's sat on the ledge in front. It's a little crowded in that nest now as the first one is still double the size of the other two. The temp outside is 58f at the moment and is likely to get colder. Will they be ok? They are all huddled together but it didn't look like any were shivering.

Congrats on the new littles!

They look like they're doing OK. Yesterday turned into a bit of a nightmare for me. I finished work late, as usual, and came home with all the best intentions. DW had gone out so I made some grower pellets into a runny mixture to try and feed the big baby, whilst it was cooling I let the other three youngsters out and started a few other chores with the chickens. A knock on the door and some friends from some time ago had come to visit. Anyway to cut a long story short I couldn't concentrate on feeding the baby like I wanted too, so that didn't work out great. Didn't get chores with chickens done. One of my hens had a prolapse a week or two back and it's popped back out and had been pecked. Managed to get her cleaned up and in a cage in the garage. DW came home once everyone had left, then DS 2 went out on his scooter, fell off and smashed his head on the pavement, had to go to A&E, couldn't get the pigeons back in! So I had too leave them out. Didn't get back till midnight. And my phone still hasn't been fixed. It been a rubbish week.
Apart from that everything is hunkydory!

One of those days you wished you'd stayed in bed!

Unfortunately not. He has one but getting him to wear it is another thing. He OK though, just sore. I like boring! Uneventful things make me happy! Oh for the quiet life! Anyways, my other phone is fried. I went to the repair shop and they put a new battery in it and it worked long enough for me to back up most of my data, then it died. So I renewed my phone contract and got a nice shiny new one! so something has gone sort of right for me. Also the pigeons did come back on their own and all three younsters will use the bobwires! And I managed to get a photo of both nests. The first three are looking good!
View attachment 1509941
And the second nest is looking good too!
View attachment 1509944
How are yours doing?

im seriously in love.. with the littles...
Im glad DS is ok. Boys will be boys..

The babies look great! You have 2 other ybs and Boomer - that will make a nice size kit to fly. I think a group of 8 plus is safer than 2s or 3s.

My flock is doing good. 2 nights ago #741 didn't make it into the loft by evening and I thought he was a goner for sure. He's only 5 weeks old and I didn't even know that he was out of the loft...very careless of me. Next morning I'm inside the loft cleaning and look out thru the bob wires - there he is looking at me thru the wires from the landing board side! The other 2 youngest, #742 & #743 have been out and followed the others up to the big roof. They are not yet 5 weeks old. I confess none of these three have been properly trap trained since I had removed the settling cage altogether several weeks ago. I was hopeful they would just watch the others.

742 and 743 with their fierce mom....View attachment 1510942

I cant wait to get some!

I had a lovely vacation... Sun, sea, fresh air and got to spend lots of time with my dd2, granddaughter and sil.
Im flat wore out...

 

[biophiliac]

Congrats on the new littles!

One of those days you wished you'd stayed in bed!

im seriously in love.. with the littles...
Im glad DS is ok. Boys will be boys..


I cant wait to get some!

I had a lovely vacation... Sun, sea, fresh air and got to spend lots of time with my dd2, granddaughter and sil.
Im flat wore out...

I cant wait til you get some too, rest up from your vacay first!
If only you were close I could let mine raise you some very nice ones.