Pigeon Fanciers Information Portal
As I walked in the loft I saw 2 of my birds on the ground. Looking closely I noticed the blood and loose feathers around them.
Confirmed. A predator had entered the loft and killed 2 of my birds.
I didn’t have the heart to take a picture or video so I’m sorry if I had to resort to a cartoon video.
Devastated….
The weather forecast today was a clear 70°F and after I finished taking down the christmas lights decoration I started working on cleaning the breeding cages in the loft. This time I tried the pressure washer that I haven’t been using for how many years and it really helped in the cleaning process!
All that birds droppings that had been stuck for months came out easily and after letting it dry out in the sun its all back and ready for pairing!
Next project-another double kit box!
credits : TJs Garden
A pigeon fancier from Connecticut was sentenced and fined for capturing and killing Cooper and Red-tailed hawks. Apparently this pigeon fancier got tired to seeing his birds killed by the birds of prey and decided to take matters into his own hands.
Here’s the link to the story.
http://patch.com/new-york/hicksville/bird-enthusiast-westbury-sentenced-killing-federally-protected-hawks
After 7 months with lots of wasted clutches of eggs my roller pigeons finally starting to multiply!
The first initial pair that my mentor gave me had so many disappointing moments.
The cock doesn’t want to sit on the eggs even after the 5th time the pair had laid it’s eggs. At first we thought it’s only the cock’s first time being mated but it looks like he was trying. There are times he tried to take his turn to sit on the eggs but somehow he couldn’t put those eggs underneath him so he just gave up the idea.
One of the roller pigeon that had settled and been very good in trapping mated with a wannabe roller.
They tried 2x and finally after the 3rd clutches they hatched their eggs!
I’ll post the pictures as the day goes by to keep track of their growth.
So going back to my first Grizzle & Yellow James Turner strain pair, I had to foster their eggs with another proven pair and it was a success! The picture above is the breeding cage I set them up on.
I had to make some DIY automatic/gravity pigeon feeder out of a plastic juice bottle and CD case and it can hold about 5 days worth of pellets feed. I have to think of a way to control the waste though.
The DIY automater pigeon waterer is also from a juice bottle and a water bottle that last about 4 days. I need to find a taller bottle so it can hold more water. I’m afraid to use a glass bottle because it might put too much weight strain.
This is the latest development of that news back November last year.
Apparently the judge ruled in favor of Mr Weir and ordered the Countryside Alliance to pay up.
Here’s a snippet of that article and link.
Maurice Weir told a court he witnessed a “bloodbath” when hounds from a local hunt club attacked the birds on his land in Loughgall, County Armagh.
He sued the Countryside Alliance over the intrusion by the Kinnego Grange and Canary Hunt Club’s dogs in 2009.
The judge rejected defence arguments that Mr Weir had fabricated the claim.
Giving evidence to the High Court in Belfast, Mr Weir described how he emerged from having lunch on 7 February, 2009 to discover “a bloodbath” on his Kinnego Road property, with dead and injured birds lying on the ground and in dogs’ mouths.
He said up to 15 hounds had broken into his pigeon lofts and aviaries and attacked highly sought after homing pigeons, some who could make their way back to Northern Ireland from France,
He had been planning to use the birds to set up a small stud business and sought damages for the killing of his pigeons, consequential loss, the cost of repairing his aviaries and a further payout for distress and injury to feelings.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-35588908
Here’s an article from KALW website. A Radio station at San Francisco, CA. The person interviewed is Bill Milestone and he gave a basic summary on how the pigeon racing works.
Bill also mentioned that if your pigeons are happy, the will come back home. Happy as in well fed, good shelter and a mate to come home to.
here’s an excerpt from the article;
“There is a system called widowhood. Shall we say, the males and females are paired up in their own nest boxes. They establish their territory. And then they’re separated.”
This stress can act as a strong motivator because typically, pigeons will mate for life. They’re birds of a feather that stick together, even taking shifts to warm their eggs.
While both male and female pigeons are used for racing, widowhood is used only for males. That’s because, in general, while hens would be more interested in flying home to their babies or eggs, the male birds are more interested in flying home to the hens. Thus, in widowhood, trainers will separate the male bird from his mate a few days prior to the race, and then right before the truck arrives, they reunite the lovebirds just before hauling the male to the start line. So, that bird’s got one thing on his mind.
“‘There she is, I got to get back !’” is how Milestone puts it. “So, the bird that is racing, wants to come back to his nest box, and when he arrives there, the hen is waiting for him. And that motivates him to… full performance!”
To read the whole article by clicking on the link below
http://kalw.org/post/fast-and-furious-world-pigeon-racing#stream/
Recent study about racing pigeon’s homing skills shows that racing pigeons fly home faster in polluted air. First impression that I had was that even humans will run or walk faster if they were ever in an area where there’s polluted air!
Well, some scientist made a study in North China Plain where there are a lot of polluted air that are higher than anywhere else in that country and compare results on pigeon’ racing times and pollution level.
Here’s the full link for the article in Live Science.
Just in case that link is not available here’s an excerpt from the article.
China currently has an air pollution problem so severe that smog is occasionally dense enough to be visible from space. But the frequently choking haze is providing an unexpected benefit to racing pigeons in one of China’s most polluted regions, helping the birds to navigate home faster, researchers have found.
Using publicly available data gathered from environmental and pigeon racing agencies, scientists analyzed pigeon performance in 415 races that took place on the North China Plain, where concentrations of air pollution are higher than anywhere else in the country, the scientists reported. By comparing the pigeons’ racing times to records of pollution levels on race days, the researchers hoped to learn whether air pollution might affect how well the pigeons performed during the races, the scientists said.
Racing pigeons, also known as “homing pigeons” for their ability to find their way back to a home base, are specialized birds that are bred and trained to compete in tests of navigation and speed, averaging about 37 mph (60 km/h), the researchers said.
Source: LiveScience
Two Harvard researches recently made some studies on how pigeons fly is almost absolute precision. They have setup video cameras and some obstacle course so the pigeons have to fly over in order to get their food.
Here’s a snippet of the article from Headline & Global News
Researchers Andrew Biewener and David Williams of Harvard University have uncovered the reason for the seemingly impeccable flight abilities of pigeons – they can make choices on what flying technique to follow when faced with an obstacle.
Scientists and engineers have studied the flight patterns of pigeons, which, despite a great presence in the city where major unnatural path blocks are present like buildings and cars, rarely crash compared to other birds like robins.
The duo set up an area with video cameras and pre-planted obstacles made of plastic pipes, which the pigeons have to fly over in order to get their meal. Upon review of the videos, the two researchers observed that the pigeons perform two techniques when passing through an obstacle. The more amazing part is how the pigeons are able to decide on which technique is the better choice, based on the distance of the obstacle they had to pass through, according to Phys.Org.
The pigeons had to scrunch their bodies in order to pass through the obstacles. However, for obstacles with a distance of at least half a wing apart, the pigeons opted to lift their wings as if to flap, but when they approached the obstacle, their wings “paused” so that they didn’t hit the plastic pipes. When the pipes were much closer, the pigeons opted to pull their wings into their body – a technique that presents a higher chance of losing altitude, but greatly protects the birds from wing damage.
Read more: http://www.hngn.com/articles/148244/20151109/harvard-researchers-figure-out-why-pigeons-flawlessly-fly-avoid-crashing.htm
Somewhere in Northern Ireland UK, a pigeon fancier is suing a Hunt Club for killing his prized birds and destroying the loft. Here are more details below.
Maurice Weir claims the dogs destroyed some of his prized stock after trespassing on his land near Loughgall.But the Countryside Alliance is defending the action, accusing him of bringing a fabricated and fraudulent case.
Proceedings have been issued over an alleged intrusion into his property by the Kinnego Grange and Canary Hunt Club’s animals in February 2009.
Madam Justice Denise McBride was told 59 pigeons were killed in the disputed incident.
Barrister Michael Stitt QC, for Mr Weir, claimed the huntsmen were negligent in failing to control their dogs.
Setting out the level of damages being sought, he said the allegedly killed pigeons had a market value of just over £21,000.
Another £37,500 in potential earnings from breeding the birds over the next five years was also lost, the plaintiff contends.
With a further £1,300 attributed to the cost of aviary repairs, the total confirmed claim was put at £59,980.
Mr Stitt added that damages for distress and upset may also feature.
But David Ringland QC, for the Alliance, argued that the hunt’s dogs were never on Mr Weir’s Kinnego Road premises on the day in question.
“We are saying this case is a fraud,” he told the judge.
“They had no inter-relationship with the plaintiff’s birds. It doesn’t get much more fundamental than that, My Lady.”
Any evidence to the contrary would amount to a “complete fabrication”, the barrister contended.
“The defendant will say that the plaintiff’s pigeons were not killed or injured by hounds belonging to this club.”
The court heard conflicting figures were supplied on the value and number of birds involved.
Beginning his evidence at the start of a five-day case, Mr Weir described them as Channel Pigeons highly sought for their ability to fly to France.
Source: Belfast Telegraph
At last! My roller pigeon pair are preparing their nest! I just tested it out when I put some shredded paper in their breeding box and they started picking it up and gathering them. Yes! Finally I will see my first eggs!
Of course it was a sight to see when the male pigeon brings the nesting materials to the female and she then picks it up and arranges her nest.
And lo and behold an egg came about!
But wait…. its not white? I was almost the same color as this reduced female roller pigeon. But in anyways I was ecstatic! I was already dreaming about how many eggs they can produce before the end of the year and even to the point of ordering my 1st 100 pigeons bands.
Yup. I ordered my 1st batch from Rick M. site and should be arriving in about 2-3 weeks.
But this morning, I was floored by the sight of the nest. At first I couldn’t find the egg thinking it probably rolled to the side. So I picked up the clay bowl and searched.
Nothing… then I looked inside the clay bowl and saw this…
Apparently the 1st egg was soft so it was easily punctured. The inside had leaked on the bowl and my heart just dropped. Was the feed I’m providing not nutritional enough? Calcium deficiency? Or was it just a dud? Questions circling around my head while the sadness just lingers on.
So I cleaned up the bowl, wiped that demised squab without being given a chance to hatched and put back the bowl and hope the 2nd egg will be better. 🙁