The Racing Pigeons Encyclopedia » Care

Basketing racing pigeons without touching them! Stress-free method

Webmaster — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:01:37 +0000

I’ve just seen a wonderful method for basketing pigeons for the club or training. If you don’t use this yet (and I’m afraid you don’t) you should adjust your loft immediately. I was jumping allover the loft after my pigeons like crazy. Many fanciers catch their pigeons this way, squeezing them in the loft walls, catching them on the legs, breaking tails and feathers and all that. These will look simply ridiculous after seeing this movie.

The method of these guys is sooooo smooth and efficient. No stress for the pigeons, no stress for the fancier. This is the way it should be, the racing pigeon must think about its loft as the safest place on Earth, the place where it rests and is stress free, the place he loves, not the place where his fancier strikes like a hawk.

Enjoy!

Protect the pigeons from the hawks with CDs or DVDs reflecting light?

Webmaster — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:06:46 +0000

In this movie John says he used the CDs and DVDs successfully in keeping the hawks away from the loft. Did you try this method? Did it work for you?

Although this won’t prevent the birds of pray from atacking the birds up in the air away from the loft, it might still be useful for the surprise attacks that hawks do on the loft after the pigeons come back from training and when they are more vulnerable.

How to turn scared, wild pigeons into tame pigeons

Webmaster — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:45:36 +0000

Question: Hi, I am a beginner, I’ve just bought a few pairs of racing pigeons and provided them a nice loft with food, perches, nest boxes and everything they need. When I enter the loft, the birds fly allover the place, they hit the walls and the floor and hurt themselves, they are extremely scared. What can I do for them to accept me and stop being afraid?

Answer: There are a few things that will definitely calm the birds and help your relationship with them get better in time. You must also know that while you can still tame the mature birds you bought, it will be much easier with the young birds hatched in your loft.

Recipe for tame birds:

1. Never let their food stay in the loft all day long. Feed them just twice a day and while you feed them stay with them. Take away the remaining food after 10 minutes or so. The birds must be always happy to see you (the food provider) and hunger will help that. Use a calling signal everytime you are going to feed them and the birds will learn to come when you call them. Use the same call everytime (whistling, shaking corn in a cup, etc).
2. Always move slowly around the birds, never try to catch them with quick movements. Quick movements remind them of the predators and you don’t want the birds to associate you with a predator (be it a cat or a hawk).
3. The more time you spend with your birds, the better. I used to have very tame pigeons that ate from my hand or used my shoulders as perches. After I was away for a month during the winter, when I came back they were very scared. After a few days they became tame again. Be patient.

Pigeon lofts – exteriors & aviaries

Webmaster — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 12:10:59 +0000

This article is a growing collection of racing pigeons lofts, presenting exteriors and aviaries. Please feel free to suggest new lofts to add here. Owner of each loft is listed below the pictures. I hope you will feel inspired by them.

Honey for pigeons

Webmaster — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:26:53 +0000

A lot of fanciers recommend honey for the pigeons before the races or after them, to speed recovery. It not only contains sugars with slow release for a prolonged supply of energy but it also has antioxidants and antimicrobial properties.

In some hospitals doctors even use honey to heal wounds. It is said that the darker honey has more powerful antioxidant properties.

For pigeons, honey must be given in water but nobody talks about the exact quantity of honey to use per gallon or liter of water. I think nobody knows for sure so they just guess what the amount should be. This is why I’m not too confortable with honey for pigeons because I’m afraid not to do more harm than good. Too much honey can create an environment in the pigeon that is friendly for chlamydia. Fanciers recommend to provide honey only 1-3 days in a row and eventually use acidic stuff like apple vinegar after that to discourage such diseases.

I’m really curious if you use honey and HOW MUCH. Should we use 1 tablespoon of honey per liter of water? Why not 2 tablespoons? Or, why not 1/2 tablespoon? This is what I’m trying to figure out, because with medicine you can’t blindly go random and hope it works. I will update this when I have clear data about the amounts of honey to use.