The Pigeon Realm

Pigeons As Pets

Pigeons make excellent pets and they are easy to raise and breed. Whether you keep birds for performance, show, or just for fun I think that you can get great enjoyment from them with a minimum investment of time and money. Of course if you want really good birds and a fancy loft you can expect to spend some cash.

Breeds of Pigeons

There are literally hundreds of breeds of pigeons, and picking just one or two favorites can be difficult. Some breeds are easier to care for than others. Generally the more accessories the breed has, the more difficult they are to raise. Breeds with extra feathers on their tails or feet may need to be trimmed for breeding, and may be harder to keep clean and undamaged Birds with very short beaks may have trouble feeding their own young, and some breeds are wild and just plain ornery. If you are just starting out I would recomend that you get a breed that is easy to raise. Pigeon breeds fall into three general catagories:

Performance Breeds:

Are bred for what they do.
Rollers, perform backward summersaults (spin) when they fly.
Racing Homers, are known for racing home from long distances.
Highflyers and Tiplers, are bred for flying high and long.
Parlor Tumblers, do a summersault or two when they are dropped.

Show Birds:

There are many breeds of show pigeons having different body shapes and accessories.
Fantails,have extra tail feathers and large breasts.
Frillbacks,have curly feathers on their wing shields, may also have crest.
Jacobins, have a large crest covering almost all of thier heads.
Pouters and Croppers, can inflate thier breasts to very large proportions.
English Trumpeters, have long feathers on their feet and an unusual voice.
Some performance and utility breeds also have show varities, Show rollers, Show homers, Show Kings, Runts.

Utility Breeds:

These birds are bred for the table, they are large and good parents.
Utility Kings, usually white large and prolific.
Giant Runts, very large, the oxy-moron of the pigeon breeds
Texas Pioneers, sex linked colors make it easy to distinguish the sex.

Housing

Pigeons are housed in a structure known as a loft. The loft does not need to be large or elaborate, you can even keep a few birds in a loft similar to a rabbit hutch. Pigeons can handle cold weather, but a loft must be kept dry, and draft free. Your birds need good ventalation and will like a window or two for light. If you have the space a loft should be divided so that you can separate young birds from old, and cocks from hens, I beleive that a loft that you can walk into adds to the enjoyment keeping pigeons and you will know your birds better if you can spend time in the loft.

Perches

There should be more perches than birds. There are several types of perches, box, inverted V, simple 1×2 bracket, they all have their advantages, just make perches comfortable for the breed you keep. Box perches for my rollers are ten” wide, eight” high, and 3 1/2″ deep.

Fly Pens

If you don’t let your birds fly outside you will want a flypen. Some flypens are small and just let the birds get outside. My flypen is five feet wide, sixteen feet long, and six feet high. With a large flypen my birds can get plenty of fresh air and exercise. The wire should be small enough to keep wild birds out, and heavy enough to keep preditors out.

Feeding

Your birds have certain dietary requirements that can be met with a quality pigeon mix. The mix will probably be based around milo and wheat with several other grains. Whole corn, or popcorn in the winter is a good idea, but rollers don’t need much of it at other times. There are also pigeon pellets available but may give birds loose stools. Your birds will also like some green food like lettuce now and then. I use galvanized feed trays, with wire on top to keep the birds out of the tray. Pigeons can be fed once or twice a day, but I don’t recomend leaving feed out all the time as it may get contaminated. Store feed in a dry well ventilated container, away from pests.

Watering

Your birds need fresh clean water available at all times. I use either galvanized waterers or homemade waterers for my birds. My homemade waterers are simply milk jugs with a holes cut into the sides. Make the holes are too small for the birds to squeeze into. The nice thing about these waterers is that I can just throw them away when they get soiled. Many diseases are spread by the water, so keep them clean.

Grit

Pigeons need grit for minerals as well as grinding their food. Keep it dry and always available. I like red grit as it is harder than oyster shell and contains more nutrients. I use a crock bowl for my grit container, avoid metal trays as the minerals will soon rust it.