My father's pigeon hobby

snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
My father raises, breeds and sells pigeons. Anything from rollers, deep rollers, homing pigeons, and fancy pigeons. He's got pigeons that are rare, exotic, and very well wanted. I don't really know all the names of the pigeons, I can tell yah a few. The white homing pigeons are what he uses for a "white dove release" service at weddings and funerals.
Here's the names of just a few of the types of pigeons he raises: blue bars, red bars, capuchins, saxon monks, german owls, arabian trumpeters, yellow trentons, frill backs, peuters "powder", norwich croppers, something with a v... I don't know, he has over 300 pigeons that he keeps/sells/breeds. I thought I would share a few pics with ya'll. If anyone wants one or three, contact me!

 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member

Sorry that this pic came out a bit dark. This particular loft is a little on the dark side. It's where he keeps most of the fancy pigeons prisoner.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I have a few more pics, but I don't want to bore ya'll with em'. Believe it or not, pigeon breeding/racing is almost as big of a hobby as saltwater aquariums. It's just not as commercialized. There's a few big races every year. The winning pigeon usually sells for over 20,000$ and that pigeons offspring can go anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 each! It's a pretty big event. I'm not sure how many prize winning saltwater fish would sell over 10K. lol The winner of the race can win anywhere from 250k to a cool million!!!!! It's just... absolutely amazing. lol
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Yes, it is. It's also one of the oldest forms of long distance communication. Homing pigeons were used clear up to WWII! Kings would station guards around the pigeon lofts so that no one would steal their highly prized fertilizer!
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yeah that's crazy. Guy I used to work for way back when was big into pigeon racing. I didn't believe him at first when he told me what kind of money he had spent on some of them. But when I heard how much money he'd won in some of the races that he would travel around to I was amazed.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
I had a neighbor that would eat them said they were really good but I never even wanted to try it YUCK just does not sound appetizing at all.
We used to keep them when I was younger for the fertilizer also we used it on the grape vines and garden but we had them in an open cage so they could come and go as they wanted.
Mike
 
1guydude

1guydude

Well-Known Member
ya ive heard of pigeon racing....where someone and another person release their birds somewhere at some time and the 1st bird back home wins or something like that.... this was BEFORE the internet i thinks...lol like my grandpa's dayz! LOL
Kool stuff though i didnt know there were that many diff kinds!
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
People still eat pigeons. "Squabs" they are called. They taste like a big dove. :D
Pigeon racing is still going strong to this day. Many new guys get into the hobby too... There's this one dude that buys 40 homing pigeons every year to train his bird dogs how to point. It's a big thing...
What they do is you send in your pigeon(s) via FEDEX to the championship and they put it in this trailer that has a release mechanism on it that lets the birds all go at the same time. Then they drive out to a designated area and release the birds. Since each pigeon loft is a difference distance away, it's not measured in how long it took to get back home, but the average flight time of the bird. 1mi/60s .. the bird with the lowest score wins. :D
It's all pretty neat, but those dang birds are so messy. I hate cleaning up after em'. lol
 
1guydude

1guydude

Well-Known Member
Quote:
It's all pretty neat, but those dang birds are so messy. I hate cleaning up after em'. lol
LOL yep, i love animals and would have a bunch if i could. However i wont own a bird just because how much of a mess they are. I have enough problems keeping care of my two tanks and two dogs!
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I love all kinds of animals, but birds are at the bottom of my list. My list:
1. Saltwater aquaria
2. Small mammals (small dogs, cats, flying squirrels, hampster, gerbils, etc...)
3. Snakes/frogs/toads/newts/skinks/salamanders etc.
4. Large mammals - (big dogs, horses, etc.)
5. Birds - all kinds. lol
 
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