Pigeons

This page is dedicated to the breeds that I currently keep. Over the years I have had many, many different breeds and varieties of pigeons. I started keeping pigeons again in the fall of 2006, after being without them for 5 years. My favorite breed is the Swallow, but I also keep Lahores and American Faintails. I am still debating on if I like the Lahores; the Fantails are my least favorite.

This is my favorite breed of pigeons. They are just so elegant and graceful and plain beautiful to look at. Many years ago while living on my parents farm I bought a pair. The birds were given their freedom and a couple days later a cat startled the pair. They never returned to my loft, and since that time there were many "barn" pigeons with heavily feathered legs. Now when you return to the area of the farm there are far less feather legged pigeons, but once in a while you still see one. Those swallows were very large, but I don't know which variety. The swallows that I keep now are not nearly as large as the originals that I had.

I have one mated pair, and two extra males. The males are just hanging around waiting for the pair to produce young females so they can be mated up. In the photos the pair is the bird in the middle of the first photo, and the lone bird in the second photo.

The Lahore is a grouse legged breed of pigeons that is pretty rare. I have always wanted to keep some and recently at a swap I found these. Call it my test drive with them if you like, if I have them next fall then it is a good chance that they will have won a place in my loft.

WOW! I have had pigeons before, but these guys are confusing me! I have a pair that started a nest on the pen floor; not a problem since they are right next to nest boxes, I just don't know why they didn't use the box! The most confusing part though is that this was a test to see if I had a male/female pair. I couldn't wait for the eggs to be laid, knowing that 0 meant both males, 2 meant one female, and 4 meant the pair was two females. So I checked how many eggs they are sitting on and low and behold, it was 3! Now what on earth does that mean! I guess it means I am waiting to see if they hatch to find out if I have a true pair.

Urgh! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a nice photo of a pigeon breed that does not stand still for a second! All these birds kept doing is strutting and showing.  Always moving, can't sit still, well unless there is nobody around, but once someone shows up they start showing immediately. I guess all I can hope is that they continue to show like that when they are in a show cage. I guess this is all good for a Fantail, but it is also one of the reasons I don't care for them. I have had Indian Fantails in the past and never really cared for them either, now I remember what I didn't like about the Fantails in general. They look fun to start with, but the fun wears off and they just don't "do it" for me anymore.

As for breeding birds, I have no clue! One day I did chores and there were 3 eggs in a nest, two days later there were 6, that tells me I have 3 hens. I don't think that is right though, because now, like my Lahores I have a pair sitting on 3 eggs! What is up with pigeons these days? I guess I am waiting to see if the eggs hatch to find out if I have a pair.