New to site

[Mike McDonald]

Hello all,

Just joined your group. I'm fairly new to the pigeon "hobbie", if that is the correct term. I live in northern New York State and have had several flocks of homers with varying success. Never raced, just kept them as pets (again, if that is the correct term) and like to watch them fly around the place. First flock was great - flew and homed well, in a tight group and had few health problems. Second flock did not last long once weasels found their way into my loft. The third, I swear were retarded or something - did not fly well, some just coasted to the ground, those that did fly scattered and did not group. They also did not reproduce well - young did not thrive and parents did not seem to "parent" well. Just took delivery on 20 pure white homers and hoping for better results.

My loft is of my own design - 8 X 10 plywood divided, 2/3 for my wife's laying hens and 1/3 for my pigeons. Has a sun porch and bob entry at pigeon end facing southeast. I installed nesting boxes and perches and currently feeding Game and Trukey Feed from Agway....Pigeon Feed has been ordered.

One of these new pigeons appears distressed - sits alone with one eye closed and beak open as if its panting...but is not. Comments or Suggestions?

Looking forward to picking your brains as I have interest in eventually racing.

Mike

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by Mike McDonald

Hello all,

Just joined your group. I'm fairly new to the pigeon "hobbie", if that is the correct term. I live in northern New York State and have had several flocks of homers with varying success. Never raced, just kept them as pets (again, if that is the correct term) and like to watch them fly around the place. First flock was great - flew and homed well, in a tight group and had few health problems. Second flock did not last long once weasels found their way into my loft. The third, I swear were retarded or something - did not fly well, some just coasted to the ground, those that did fly scattered and did not group. They also did not reproduce well - young did not thrive and parents did not seem to "parent" well. Just took delivery on 20 pure white homers and hoping for better results.

My loft is of my own design - 8 X 10 plywood divided, 2/3 for my wife's laying hens and 1/3 for my pigeons. Has a sun porch and bob entry at pigeon end facing southeast. I installed nesting boxes and perches and currently feeding Game and Trukey Feed from Agway....Pigeon Feed has been ordered.

One of these new pigeons appears distressed - sits alone with one eye closed and beak open as if its panting...but is not. Comments or Suggestions?

Looking forward to picking your brains as I have interest in eventually racing.

Mike

Hi Mike! glad you found PT, now straight to mr. sickie, you should get him isolated so you can care for him, he may have canker as one of the symptoms is an open beak, when you have him isolated you can watch him closer and keep an eye on is droppings too. I would treat all the birds for canker and cocci. so how many birds total do you have, and how much total room for them, a good rule of thumb is to have 2 ft per bird not including the aviary, over crowding will cause stress and sickness. if you do want to race someday, I would try to find a club near you and join, sometimes members will give you some good racers to start with, the whites not so good as they are bred for color not racing, not to say there may be one in the group that is a good flyer but not likley. oh and as far as the "retarded" flock, sounds like they were sick perhaps paratyphoid (salmonellosis) as one of the symtoms is young dieing, and the adults just did not feel well enough to to their job...what happend to those bird?, hope you did not mix these new ones with them you could have a problem on your hands. as far as the white new ones how old are they? 30 to 40 days old is best to home to your loft. a pic of your set up would be great as well. but I think the first thing in order is to get this sickness taken care of.

[Mike McDonald]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have my sick one segragated and am watching "him"(?). Will treat all for canker and cocci.

I have 20 new birds, all young and squeeking, some are still "floor birds" per my supplier but I do not know their exact age. My loft space is 8X6X8 with a 6X2X2 sun porch. These new birds are all I currently have. My loft has been empty for about a year. I cleaned and disinfected it after my "retarded" flock were all gone. I am as new to computers as I am pigeons so posting pictures is not yet one of my gifts, but I will see if I can learn. My supplier is an avid racer but also a busy farmer so I don't have much time to grill him. I will inquire about local clubs.

Thank you,
Mike

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by Mike McDonald

Thanks for the quick reply. I have my sick one segragated and am watching "him"(?). Will treat all for canker and cocci.

I have 20 new birds, all young and squeeking, some are still "floor birds" per my supplier but I do not know their exact age. My loft space is 8X6X8 with a 6X2X2 sun porch. These new birds are all I currently have. My loft has been empty for about a year. I cleaned and disinfected it after my "retarded" flock were all gone. I am as new to computers as I am pigeons so posting pictures is not yet one of my gifts, but I will see if I can learn. My supplier is an avid racer but also a busy farmer so I don't have much time to grill him. I will inquire about local clubs.

Thank you,
Mike

ok so an 8x6 area, would allow 24 birds max, so if you plan to breed you will be full fast. but they will not be ready till next year anyway, you could get some losses if a hawk comes around, so you will know how many you will want to breed next year without over crowding, sometimes though it is good to add squeakers bought instead of breeding these as they may all be related, so getting some new young to make up for some losses that may happen can introduce new bloodlines into your flock. they will oneday use the nest boxes but that does not mean you have to let them hatch anything, get alot of dummy eggs you are going to need them, as 4 squabs can happen before you know it and then you are full and plus you do not have a seperate space for the newly weaned youngsters, so I think breeding is something you will have to take a hard look at and perhaps forgo it.

[Tennman1]

Welcome to the hobby and good luck.

[g0ldenb0y55]

Welcome to PT Mike! I know you will find this place very useful when it comes to learning about all things pigeon.