News, Views and Reviews on Pigeon Topics
#4: May 4, 2009
Salads for Pigeons
Most pigeon fanciers don’t think about providing green vegetables for their birds. We miss the opportunity to provide a great benefit to our birds. Early spring is the to plan that backyard garden and include some extra produce for enhancing a diet for hungry pigeons.
Salads for pigeons is natural an inexpensive way to give many vitamins, trace minerals and other benefits to the well being and performance of your pigeons. Lettuce of all types are eaten readily. It can be chopped in pieces about an inch square. My birds devour chopped lettuce. I think they really like this treat. And I feel like I am doing something extra and healthy for them. It’s fun to stand back and watch my birds enjoy themselves eating fresh greens.
I got the idea of sharing my garden harvest when the grass clippings from my garden tractor were blown into the aviary. Pigeons love the grass bits. When I drove along the edge of the aviary, the quickly learned to overcome their fear of a loud and big tractor to gobble up the green grass.
So why not make them a salad of garden greens? Some diced carrots for carotene and vitamin content is a good addition. Make sure the salad is clean and served on a clean surface off the loft or aviary floor. When your garden is producing, you can cut some green delights for your pigeons. Or you watch for a sale on lettuce at the grocery store. Fresh greens add nutrition that normal feed cannot.
Try it - your birds will love it! At first they may not respond to a salad but soon they will eagerly eat fresh greens. In the wild pigeons eat grass and your pigeons will enjoy greens if you provide it to them.
#3: March 19, 2009
Raising Pigeons is Great Fun !
What is this hobby all about? Any hobby can add excitement and focus to life. Raising pigeons is an excellent choice because it offers challenge, purpose, satisfaction and fellowship with other fanciers. Most fanciers enjoy competing at some level; exhibiting at fairs, local club shows, state and national pigeons shows or just a back yard get together with friends.
Once started in pigeons, you’ll soon find yourself in a network with other enthusiastic breeders, all sharing the same interest and goals. Most people stay in the hobby because of the many friends that they make and their attachment to the birds.
What is a Champion ? The pigeon judge is looking for certain qualities. A winning pigeon is selected based on form and condition.
There is a show standard for each breed, one adopted by the national specialty club for that particular breed. The judge has studied that standard and evaluates the pigeon based on the aspects of the standard.
Condition is vital as well. The show bird must be clean, free of parasites such as feather lice. All feathers must be fully developed (finished) and should glow from a sense of health and vitality.
Condition also involves behavior too, does the bird pose (station) in the judging cage? A champion is born and made. That is the challenge of the hobby !
Caring for Pigeons. Like any domestic animal, pigeons need consistent and conscientious care. Clean food and water provided daily in a clean and dry environment is required. They enjoy frequent bath and plenty of nesting materials.
A loft with an attached flypen (aviary) is their home. In the loft, the fancier should build nest boxes and perches. The floor can be covered sand, wood shavings, pine needles, or ground corn cobs. Their homes should be made comfortable and safe from predators like rodents and dogs and cats.
What breeds should you raise ? No doubt, you’ve seen some pretty spectacular birds and the decision of which breed is best is a hard choice to make. Probably, you should start with a breed that is among the most popular breeds an done that is raised by someone you could ask advice.
Popular breeds include: Fantails, Rollers, Giant Homers, Racing Homers, Modenas and American Show-Racers
Fun facts about Raising Pigeons.
* Pigeons have been man’s friend for three thousand years.
* A Japanese businessman paid $1,000,000 for one racing pigeon.
* Raising pigeons is a popular hobby. It is the national sport of Belgium.
* The hobby is separated into three areas; Racing, Performing and Show.
* There are over a thousand different breeds, but only 50 breeds are popularly raised.
* There are many fanciers and clubs, found worldwide - both city and country.
* Pigeons are not poultry - special ordinances protect pigeons.
* Pigeon manure is nearly ordor-free, rich fertilizer for gardens.
* It takes ten days for a hen to lay, usually two eggs. They hatch after 17 days of incubation.
* Both mother and father care for the babies. They both produce a special vitamin rich milk from their crops for the newly hatched babies.
* At about the 7th day, the breeder will put on the baby a seamless band with a number and year on the band.
* Domestic pigeons are unlike the wild pigeons found around parks. Unfortunately, common pigeons often have disease and live short life spans, while domestic pigeons are usually healthy and live for up to 10 years.
* During the moult, pigeons shed old feathers and new ones grow back.
* Pigeons are educational for biology classes, 4-H, and fun hobby projects.
* Pigeon people are among the nicest folks anywhere.
More information:
* The National Pigeon Association can help you find a specialty club for your breed, provide names of local fanciers and clubs, furnish NPA bands and generally guide you in getting stated. They have a Novice Program to help newcomers. The website address is npausa.com
* The Purebred Pigeon Magazine is devoted to showing, performance, breeding, racing or simply keeping pigeons for pleasure. It is a quality magazine and is published bi-monthly. The website is purebredpigeon.com
* There are many regional clubs such as the Michigan Pigeon Club, the website is michiganpigeonclub.com
#2: Feb 20, 2009
It’s Spring in the Air ~ A Pre-Breeding Program
Warm spring days gets everyone excited. Your pigeons are anxious to begin the annual cycle of mating and rearing young. There are steps you can take now to help maximize the outcome of your breeding program. Let’s talk about what you can do before your birds get at it.
Your pre-breeding program should focus on two areas. Prepare the environment and prepare your birds. I think a thorough cleaning of your lofts with special attention to the nest boxes is necessary. Salmonella virus can fester in nest boxes and nesting material. Clean out the next box area and provide clean material. I like to use a piece of clean carpet, cut to size, to put on the bottom of the nest box as the first layer. Then I put down a layer of pine wood shavings. I think the breeders should build their own nest and I make clean straw available. The entire loft should be cleaned. But the priority is on the next box compartment.
Equally important is preparing your birds. I recommend de-worming them and a preventive regimen of antibiotics to suppress the level of salmonella and other health threats. I like Foy’s Pigeon Supply (locally we can buy Foy’s products from Masserant’s Feed in Newport) and they have an array of pre-breeding medications and vitamins.
Plentiful amounts of health grit should to be provided, and pay attention to giving a grit with high calcium content (such as ground oyster shell). I use Iodine, a few drops to a gallon of water to help prepare the birds for breeding. I cannot say what the specific benefit is but I have used this additive for years and I seem to enjoy a higher fertility rate than if I do not use Iodine drops.
I think you should trim the vent feathers on both the cock and the hen to help the mating process succeed. Of course, the feathers are regrown when the birds moult and they’ll look fine for the shows next fall. Also when handling your birds to do the trimming, it is a good idea to spray them for external parasites. I use Scalex spray from Foy’s, but never on birds when they have young.
Many popular pigeon breeds are experiencing diminishing fertility rates because of inbreeding, over use of medications and other factors unknown to me. I remember thirty years ago my Show-Racers would produce four or more rounds of babies per pair. Now I know that other fanciers and I are having more trouble getting two rounds per pair. Still many breeds produce like rabbits but too many pigeon breeds are declining in their output. Something has happened and to be successful I recommend the ideas presented here. I hope this helps.
#1: Jan 24, 2009
Why Collect APJ and Pigeon Debut Breed Specials ?
A breed special is like an encyclopedia for a particular pigeon breed. The magazine was created by the devoted group of fanciers belonging to that national specialty club. The writers are all enthusiastic, knowledgeable and experienced breeders and exhibitors of breeds like fantails, rollers, jacobins, etc.
The breed specials hold a wealth of valuable information. Many articles are written by Master Breeders who share their secrets of success for breeding, medication, show preparation and a huge array of topics. Readers learn aspects of their breed which might take a life time to learn without reading an APJ or Pigeon Debut breed special.
For new fanciers, a breed special is a terrific beginning to establishing yourself with new birds, mentor relationships and fundamental knowledge of your breed. After I left the Navy in 1975, I used the 1971 APJ Breed Special on American Show-Racers to find the top breeders and buy my initial birds from Master Breeders; Amos Hodson and Cass Child.
Experienced fanciers often enjoy helping beginners get started by giving them their first pairs of pigeon. And often that fancier will pass along an old breed special to the new fancy because it is the best way of educating someone about a your breed and generating excitement.
The American Pigeon Journal ceased publication with the April 1994 issue and the Pigeon Debut ceased it’s publication in spring 2006. Of course, with time these magazines with become more difficult to find in good/very good condition. As our generation of pigeon fanciers dies, the old pigeon magazines end up in the trash because few people realize the value and scarcity of the wonderful breed specials.
Most fanciers read and reread their breed specials until the magazines fall apart. There is so much valuable information in breed specials that they get used over and over again. Finding the pre-1970 specials in good/very good condition is extremely difficult. I have a standing order from at least five people for the June 1958 APJ Birmingham Roller Special. This is the hottest special of all.
Both magazines were terrific and helped promote the pigeon fancy in ways that would have been impossible otherwise. I subscribed to and loved both magazines. The center of my pigeon library is the three American Show-Racer APJ Breed Specials and the one Pigeon Debut Breed Special on ASR’s. I was the bulletin editor for the ASRA at the time when the Pigeon Debut American Show-Racer Special was created and I contributed several articles to it.
Contact me if I can help you with any breed special. My magazines are in good/very good condition or better. I preserve each issue in a poly sleeve which is ideal for keeping the issue in great condition. I hope to hear from you.