First Toss - Training Racing Pigeons

The young racing pigeons have been enjoying sitting outside their loft for several days. It's always an anxious time; hoping they won't get scared off too far, and waiting for them to go back inside.


I know they have figured out how to navigate their loft entrance, and they have taken short flights around the homestead. So today I got their travel crate out, fit it up against their window, and then herded them in.

I am currently experimenting with this method of "basketing";  at present it is easier than catching them individually.


Some flyers don't like to do this, preferring instead to catch each bird and check it over. I figure I can look over each  pigeon as I transfer it to the bigger transport crate.

Once secured in their crate, we headed off down our lane. I chose a spot about 3/4 of the way out, clear of overhead power lines, in plain view of our home.

Upon opening the door, one bird walked right out, and continued over to the edge of the lane where he checked out some weeds. The other three remained in the crate, nervous about the outside world. Finally they decided to leave their box, and joined the first one outside.

For a few minutes they just walked around. The silly birds might have been seriously contemplating just walking home, so not dignified for this beautiful racing breed! After waiting impatiently, I picked up their crate and headed back up our lane. This spurred them to launch into the sky.

They circled overhead several times, meeting up in the air. They flew towards their loft and landed gracefully on their roof. They haven't yet learned to go directly to their entrance, I'm told that will come later as they mature. In the future, at the end of a race, you don't want birds that only sit on their roof, swapping race day stories amongst themselves.

Raising these birds is a great hobby, and I look forward to taking them for many more flights. Stay tuned for updates!

The Hatching

On Friday I was blessed to watch one of God’s miracles, the hatching of an egg. While feeding my white doves (which are actually white homing pigeons), I checked my pair that was nesting, and noticed that one of their eggs had hatched overnight. Then I saw that their other egg was hatching right then.

A baby bird begins its journey out of the egg by pecking holes around the perimeter of the egg, and yes, they really do break in half much like a plastic Easter egg! I watched, fascinated, as this break in the egg grew wider, then it split apart.

The baby was now nestled in one half of the egg and started struggling to get out. It wiggled around until its bottom cleared the eggshell, and collapsed in exhaustion under the protective feathers of the mama bird.

Parent birds have no choice but to anxiously watch and wait as their little ones are in this process. They are not always willing to let a human have such a ringside seat, so I felt honored to be able to watch and take photos. A few times the mama bird told me my camera phone wasn’t welcome to come any closer, but I was able to get some neat photos anyway. (Click on the above photos to enlarge them.)

After a much needed rest, the baby dove was able to lift its tiny head and start poking around the mother’s feathers. I thought it interesting that although birds cannot feed their young in the manner which mammals do, their young still snuggle to their parent’s breast.

Pigeons are generally very attentive parents. Both parents produce a substance called “pigeon milk” which they will feed to their babies for the first week or two of life. It is produced in their crops (bird talk for stomach), and the babies push their beaks into their parents' mouths to receive the food.

The babies will double their weight everyday for the first week, growing very quickly, until they look just like their parents at only four weeks of age. By six weeks they will be flying around with their flock, ready to begin their own lives.

Thank you for allowing me to share this special event with you. I love watching my birds and their babies, and they always remind me of this verse: “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;” Psalm 91:4

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