Newbie Introduction w/questions.

[crbrumbelow]

Hello everyone. My name is Russ. I have been fascinated with pigeons since I was about 12 and found a Pigeon on the side of the road with a metal leg band on it. We put it in an old rabbit pen and kept it until it was healthy again and then turned it out. It came back!! We left a small door open for it to come and go as it pleased. After about 3 months it never came back.

I am 33 now and visited a fellow a couple of years ago and he is a member of MEGA RPC in Macon Georgia. Seeing all those birds gave me a fever I didnt know existed. I immediately built a 3 section loft, total dimensions is 12' X 10'. It has a hallway on the back wall and an aviary on the front. One section remains unfinished but I am working on it to have a enough sections to breed and separated the sexes and young birds. I tried for a while last year with some young birds this fellow gave me and a job change didnt allow the time to spend that they needed. Well after a career change I have plenty of time in the afternoons to take care of all the duties. I called this same fellow and told him I wanted to give it another go. He welcomed me back and gave me 21 breeders. I cant believe it. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He got them from a loft that is shut down due to the death of the flier and the birds are being donated to new fliers trying to get into the sport. I have had them for a week and they are really active in breeding activity. I am feeding them a mix of 18% laying pellets and a seed mix with a protein content of 17%. How long before I get eggs? LOL Impatient I know but I am excited about it. Will the above feed mix be suitable for the young too?

Health....They are all really active with good droppings. No greens or runs. However I would rather be proactive than reactive. I have read different opinions on water additives and pills. What are some of you guys suggestions? I am leaning more toward a 5 in 1 water additive. Any recommendations? Vaccines...No one seems to know if the previous owner vaccinated or not. Not sure if I want to but I live in the mosquito infested, middle of Georgia. I dont know how prevalent paramyxo, or paratyphoid is. ( I think those are what you vaccinate for.)

Back to breeding. No one knows the pedigrees of these birds. Where to start. I have some grizzles, blue bars, checkers, and a few blacks. Breed like with like I guess? Right now I am gonna let them pair on their own. I traced the band numbers and each bird I have has placed in the top 25 in club races at 300 miles at some point. With some birds in the top 10 and 5 on several occasions. They did well at 500 miles to me but seemed better at 300 or closer. Info on where to start my own pedigrees will be gratefully appreciated.

I know this intro is long. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

Russ Brumbelow

[bbcdon]

I thought it was a very nice intro. There are many fanciers which outshadow me with knowledge, so I will leave it to them to give you good solid advice. Glad to have you here, Don.

[Big T]

Welcome to the love of pigeons. First off you have homers so do you plan to race? Second read the Stickys at the beginning and you will learn alot. Third, paperwork, record all the band numbers and who is paired with who then order bands for when the eggs hatch, (one of my regrets). Excel is great for record keeping if you have computor knowledge.

Now the basics, I worm my birds once a year so a wormer is good. I have antibotics on hand just in case of illness or injury. An antisepic also just in case of wounds. I do not race, I only enjoy my birds but I do train my homers out to 25 miles. If you race your birds are going to be around other birds so vaccinating would be a good idea.

Now 21 breeders will get you a lot of birds quickly so buy some dummy eggs to slow down the breeding later. You do not want to over stock your loft too quickly but at the same time you will lose some young birds in training, (damd hawks). 21 breeders means up to ten pairs so twenty eggs should be enough, (not sure how many nest boxes you have).

Go to Walmart and buy a couple of cat litter tubs and Borax cloth detergent. A tablespoon in a tub of water keeps the mites away when you let the birds bathe. I do mine twice to three times a week.

With your prisoners not a big deal but later with the young birds feeding is part of training. When I feed my birds twice a day I let them eat till they are full but remove the food after 10 to 15 minutes. One, it can spoil and get them sick. Two, they learn quickly to trap train to eat, (read the stickys).

Now the rest is up to you. Everyone here is a great help and have many ideas. It is up to you to pick what is best for you.

Welcome and enjoy,
Tony

[adamant]

russ. good topic.. i am new too ..
tony, great reply.. thanks
ant

[RodSD]

I think after they mate, it can take on average 7-10 days before they lay eggs. It varies. Then they will incubate it for 18 days or so.

To prevent diseases obviously your loft must be dry with nice ventilation, food, drink clean, feed tray and drinker clean. Some people here give them probiotics which are ,I believe ,gut bacteria. You may even give them crushed garlic (4 cloves per gallon:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7rJN...e=channel_page ) and give them some ACV (apple cider vinegar). I like prevention myself.

[Jay3]

I just want to add that if you live where there are a lot of mosquitoes, you should also vaccinate for pox. That's the easy one. You scratch their skin or remove feathers and put on the medicine, and pox is spread by mosquitoes. Welcome, and best of luck with your new birds. Hope you will keep us updated, and pictures. We love pictures here!

[crbrumbelow]

Thanks for the info.

[learning]

Hey, another Georgia fancier!

GREAT!!!

I am a member of the Greater Atlanta Racing Pigeon Club that flies in the same combine with your club.

Welcome to a great sport. I would add to the above only to say be patient with yourself. You are going to make mistakes, that's part of the learning curve. Just take lots of notes and learn from them. Most folks down here vacinate for Pox, Paratyphoid and PMV. Like they stated above, you want to worm your birds also. I usually worm once right before putting my breeders together and again after all the youngsters are weaned. When you worm, make sure you treat twice at a 12 day interval. That is the life cycle of the worms you are treating for. I use Moxidectin Plus from the Australian Pigeon Company. You can get it from Siegel's.

Another great investment is the book "The Flying Vet's Pigeon Health and Managment" by Dr. Colin Walker. Also available from Siegel's. Fantastic book with lots of specifics regarding disease and treatment as well as great info on racing.

Sit back, enjoy your birds, and soon you will be completely hooked on this sport!

Dan

[SmithFamilyLoft]

Originally Posted by crbrumbelow

Hello everyone. My name is Russ. I have been fascinated with pigeons since I was about 12 and found a Pigeon on the side of the road with a metal leg band on it. We put it in an old rabbit pen and kept it until it was healthy again and then turned it out. It came back!! We left a small door open for it to come and go as it pleased. After about 3 months it never came back.

I am 33 now and visited a fellow a couple of years ago and he is a member of MEGA RPC in Macon Georgia. Seeing all those birds gave me a fever I didnt know existed. I immediately built a 3 section loft, total dimensions is 12' X 10'. It has a hallway on the back wall and an aviary on the front. One section remains unfinished but I am working on it to have a enough sections to breed and separated the sexes and young birds. I tried for a while last year with some young birds this fellow gave me and a job change didnt allow the time to spend that they needed. Well after a career change I have plenty of time in the afternoons to take care of all the duties. I called this same fellow and told him I wanted to give it another go. He welcomed me back and gave me 21 breeders. I cant believe it. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He got them from a loft that is shut down due to the death of the flier and the birds are being donated to new fliers trying to get into the sport. I have had them for a week and they are really active in breeding activity. I am feeding them a mix of 18% laying pellets and a seed mix with a protein content of 17%. How long before I get eggs? LOL Impatient I know but I am excited about it. Will the above feed mix be suitable for the young too?

Health....They are all really active with good droppings. No greens or runs. However I would rather be proactive than reactive. I have read different opinions on water additives and pills. What are some of you guys suggestions? I am leaning more toward a 5 in 1 water additive. Any recommendations? Vaccines...No one seems to know if the previous owner vaccinated or not. Not sure if I want to but I live in the mosquito infested, middle of Georgia. I dont know how prevalent paramyxo, or paratyphoid is. ( I think those are what you vaccinate for.)

Back to breeding. No one knows the pedigrees of these birds. Where to start. I have some grizzles, blue bars, checkers, and a few blacks. Breed like with like I guess? Right now I am gonna let them pair on their own. I traced the band numbers and each bird I have has placed in the top 25 in club races at 300 miles at some point. With some birds in the top 10 and 5 on several occasions. They did well at 500 miles to me but seemed better at 300 or closer. Info on where to start my own pedigrees will be gratefully appreciated.

I know this intro is long. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

Russ Brumbelow

Welcome to pigeon Talk !!

I like the suggestion's given by one of your fellow Combine members. A good book on the subject, written by a Vet, is a good basic foundation. You will get all kinds of ideas and advice from everyone and his brother, both here and in your club. In time, it may make your head spin, so I don't want to add to that situation. So, invest in the book, and get some good solid basics down first.

Keep coming back !

[whitesnmore]

Welcome to PT. There are alot of old threads on here with alot of useful info. Just go thru them as they will answer alot of your questions. Feel free to post pictures as we all like pictures.
Ken

[crbrumbelow]

WOW. Been looking at pictures of other lofts. Now I gotta build better nest boxes, you know the type where you can lock the pair in to make sure what you are getting. Right now I have milk crates and just gonna let them pair up on their own. I dont know their pedigrees, so when I get my new boxes built I will pair like looking with like. Coming from they same loft they are bound to be of the same lines if I do it like that. For this first year I am just gonna concentrate on learning the basics to train and health care.

[crbrumbelow]

Here are a few pics. Top pic is the front of the loft. The far left section isnt finished yet but I am working on it. The middle section is the breeder/prisoner section and will be used to separate the sexes come time. The far right is the young bird loft. I have 42 perches and can expand if I need to, although I dont think it will be necessary. The second pic is the back hall and shows the first 2 sections on the right and the yb section straight ahead. I had four yb's I have had for about 4 weeks. I worked with them on going through the bobs and all seemed ok. I let them out without the cage and they were like rockets. One still hasnt come back (hawk supper probably), and the other three came back in one day intervals. They were 2 months old when I got them and I knew it was a risk of them being too strong on the wing but at least I got three back.

[crbrumbelow]

Few more Pics. Top pic is a grizz that is 11 years old. I hope there is a reason he was in the previous owners loft for so long. Second pic is one of my favorites so far. Big Red is full of personality. Bottom pic is just a candid shot. LOL

[crbrumbelow]

Oh yea. When I got these birds the first thing I did as I was taking them out of the crates is give them 3 drops of Ivermectin each, and dusted them with sevin dust to get any lice or flys off them.

[RodSD]

Nice loft!