Pigeon Talk

[Amer]

We have 5 now! Beauty is totally molting now though!

 

[Misfit_quail]

Hundreds of pigeons available in Virginia. Helping my uncle rehome all ages and many different breeds just ask we probably have it.

 

[Amer]

 

[Amer]

Not sure if the baby will do well in this cold weather but it's interesting to see them use leaves as nesting material!

 

[cavemanrich]

Not sure if the baby will do well in this cold weather but it's interesting to see them use leaves as nesting material!View attachment 3974461

With one squab,,, chances are good. Will grow quickly, with plenty of nutrition. Also, easier to be kept warm,, since solo.
I always tried to discourage baby pigeons arriving during cold. Replaced eggs with plastics all the time. Springtime,,, and I let NATURE rule.

 

[avjudge]

I thought I'd give an update on life in my aviary! When last seen, a month ago, I'd picked up two "visitors" and was hoping they'd stay (especially since, according to my males, one was definitely female). So, since then, changes:

- The dark visitor, the obvious (to pigeons) female, disappeared, presumably headed home.

- One of my two females disappeared, I'm afraid lost to a hawk, since I did see one in the week before that. I only seem to lose females this way, because I open the aviary during the day when the males are safely sitting on the nest. Following this loss I went from opening the aviary more briefly to not at all - they're on restriction until the broad-winged hawks return next spring.

- Both of this spring's/summer's babies seem to be males. I'm pretty much positive for the April baby, and I think so for the June baby. That means of the 5 eggs I've let hatch over the years (by accident or intention), all of them have been male. Combined with losing females, this is a problem. If I'm right about both of this year's, of my six remaining pigeons (not including the one who flew in), only one is female. This is why I get pigeons from Craigslist (I'm not on Facebook) instead of breeding myself! I'm keeping my eye on Craigslist again hoping someone advertises closer than 2 hrs from me.

- BUT I'm hopeful that the visitor who stayed may be female. I'm not seeing obvious courting behavior or nest building, but I consistently see it hanging out with my oldest male Miraboo (the one who beat up my June baby as I wrote about in this thread), including inside the nesting box. So . . . maybe? The new one and Miraboo are together outside their box in this picture, with the April baby above. (Sorry about the through-the-dirty-wire picture; if I opened the door they'd leave. Edit to clarify - I mean leave the perch to avoid me so I wouldn’t get a picture of them together! Not leave the aviary.)

 

[avjudge]

Not a lot of activity on this thread lately!

Well just today I found out where my new pigeon came from — the one I posted about September 26 (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pigeon-talk.1276029/post-28043345 ). Sadly, I also learned her companion who appeared at the same time and left a few days later never made it home.

Across the road from our house is a neighbor’s field. We lease part of it for our llamas and horses in the summer. Looking across this afternoon, I saw someone standing in the field so I went to check it out. Dog walkers are common there but this person was just standing perfectly still and I was curious. As I got close I saw flapping wings of a large bird that he was holding. Falconer? Yes! Training a peregrine falcon. That was pretty cool as I had no idea anyone around us was doing that. He lives two towns away, after retiring as a police officer from one town away.

As we spoke the subject of pigeons came up. He has pigeons also, had them before he began falconry, and flies them (and also uses them to train his falcon!). He mentioned that he sometimes releases pigeons by that field when they are up for flying that distance.

I asked if one had failed to come home recently, and showed him a picture of my new resident. Yes, that’s where she came from. I asked if the other who showed up at the same time had arrived home, and he said no.

I told him the pigeon who stayed seems to have mated with one of my bachelors (and in fact I found a pair of eggs in their box just last week) and I have his blessing to keep her. That’s a relief to me! Now I hope she is of the same mind (chooses to continue to stay) when I resume letting them fly next spring.

 

[cavemanrich]

That’s a relief to me! Now I hope she is of the same mind (chooses to continue to stay) when I resume letting them fly next spring.

Just my opinion/observation.
Loft flying,,, most pigeons return, unless chased away by raptors. Worse yet, captured.
Your new visitor turned resident pigeon, may have poor homing skills. That may be why those 2 decided to not fly home,,, but find another home. There may have been other factors to cause such. Hard to say.
1 or 2 towns over is not a significant distance for homing pigeons to not find home.
Maybe the Falconer, was using these pigeons for practice,,,,,, and pigeons decided that was not home they wanted to return to.

Since you are low on hens,,, maybe you can borrow some from that Gentleman Falconer,, Keep prisoner until you get squabs. Then release, and see if they return to their original loft.
If they choose to stay in your loft,, then that means,, "easily homeset" and also poor homing skills.
If you are just keeping pigeons as pets for your enjoyment,,, not for distance tosses, these pigeons should be just fine.

 

[avjudge]

Just my opinion/observation.
Loft flying,,, most pigeons return, unless chased away by raptors. Worse yet, captured.
Your new visitor turned resident pigeon, may have poor homing skills. That may be why those 2 decided to not fly home,,, but find another home. There may have been other factors to cause such. Hard to say.
1 or 2 towns over is not a significant distance for homing pigeons to not find home.
Maybe the Falconer, was using these pigeons for practice,,,,,, and pigeons decided that was not home they wanted to return to.

Since you are low on hens,,, maybe you can borrow some from that Gentleman Falconer,, Keep prisoner until you get squabs. Then release, and see if they return to their original loft.
If they choose to stay in your loft,, then that means,, "easily homeset" and also poor homing skills.
If you are just keeping pigeons as pets for your enjoyment,,, not for distance tosses, these pigeons should be just fine.

I confirmed with him that the one I still have is from this year, as I suspected from the minimal reaction of my male pigeons, so maybe not yet strongly set to her original loft? And she settled in right next to where she was released, so clearly could not have been tired from flying a distance! The other one, the one who spent a few days and then disappeared but did not make it home, is more of a surprise as he said she was a three-year-old and a strong flyer. It does sound like she was uncharacteristically (for a pigeon) reluctant to return home.

I will probably try my luck with breeding one more time in the spring, but if I get male #6 out of 6 I am swearing that off for good!

Or next summer I might figure out how to add some more nesting boxes so I can increase my flock and keeping balance might be easier. I didn’t build the traditional loft, but rather a large aviary (screened lean-to on the side of my barn) with individual nesting boxes made out of old kitchen wall cupboards that provide winter shelter (beyond that provided by the aviary roof and barn wall) as well as private nesting space. My first rescue was a king pigeon so not really a flyer.

 

[Qwerty3159]

Maybe the Falconer, was using these pigeons for practice,,,,,, and pigeons decided that was not home they wanted to return to.

I know I wouldn’t go back!

I think this is another area where the intelligence of pigeons is under appreciated