The Book revisited - page 3

How many pairs do you keep and how are they used?   

Most years I winter between 60 and 70 pigeons total. I generally have enough cocks and hens to make up about 25 pairs of pigeons. I generally keep the exact number of cocks as I intend to have pairs in the following year but, in case any hen has trouble laying, I always keep another five to ten extra hens around. I have been very fortunate over the last several years that I have produced a very large number of good hens. As a result, I am in the process of replacing many of my older stock hens. In fact, in this coming season I will have one hen that has the band year 2000, one that is 2003 and one that is 2004. There will be about five more that are between 2005 and 2008. The rest will be 2009 and 2010. 

Generally, I mate about 10 pairs in December. These are the pairs that I use to produce the hybrids that I send out to be flown in the races. Over the last couple of years, I have paired a few pigeons in February for the South African race. I follow this up a couple of weeks later by pairing several inbred pairs. Overall, I breed most pairs for either three or four rounds. When a pair is breeding well, I will usually leave them together for the entire year. However, I am looking for special pigeons and most pairs do not have the compatibility to breed at that level on a consistent basis, so at the end of the second round, I break up those pairs that have not showed me something and remate them to different pigeons. Breaking these pigeons up allows them some time to rest between the second and third round and this extra rest often helps them going into the summer months. If I do not like the youngsters in the third round from these remated pairs, the pair is done for the year; otherwise, I allow them to breed a fourth round. Whether it is because of the weather or the fact that the fourth round is usually based on the pigeons that have been breeding the best for me in that year, the fourth round always seems to be my best round. I am always a little surprised by this because it is so hot here at that time of the year that most youngsters have a lot of trouble adapting during the first several months after weaning. Yet, by the end of the year, they always seem to make up an unusually large portion of the overall number of youngsters that go into stock.

What do you feed your breeders and how much?

"Silver Streak" - Breeder of many top pigeons including two 400 mile winners

During the breeding season, I feed a mix with 16% protein. Since my pigeons are housed in individual sections, I can better regulate what they need at the various stages during the round. I feed the pair one smaller handful of this feed when they are mated and on eggs. When the eggs hatch, I feed two small handfuls, which is more than they need, but it is also the time they need the most protein. By giving them the second handful, they can pick out more peas if they need them. From about four to eight days of age, they continue to get the two full handfuls. When their crop gets baggy, which occurs at about 8 days of age, I feed them four handfuls. At about 19 days of age, I cut the feed back to three handfuls because they do not eat as much at that point. I always move the youngsters over to the young bird loft between 22 and 24 days of age. They actually tend to tell me when they should be moved by jumping from the shelf to the floor.

When the youngsters are gone from the nest, I cut the feed to the parents to less than one handful, and I do not increase it again until I see new eggshells on the floor. Then I go through the whole process all over again.

During the offseason, I feed the cocks one handful for about every four pigeons and the hens one handful for every five pigeons. While I feed the hens about 1/3 barley, I have not fed the cocks barley for several years. However, recently, I have been able to get higher quality grain from Canada, and their barley is a lot better, too. The cocks seem to like this barley, so maybe I will start feeding it to them again. Because my hens tend to lay a lot of eggs in the offseason, I typically have to feed pellets or a fair amount of barley to keep them in check.

Let me say that I think it is very important that the fancier add flax to his mix. Flax contains Omega-3, which breaks down the Omega-6 that is found in most carbohydrate grains. When Omega-3 is not part of the diet, Omega-6 will cause damage to the feathering. If the flights do not come in as dark in color as they should after the molt, then it is likely that the pigeons did not get enough protein or Omega-3.

What do you use for nest material?

For many years, we went to the mountains and collected pine needles, but the Forest Service started having a fit about removing anything from the forest without a permit. In 2001, I decided to try the plastic nest bowls with the nest pads, but that quickly turned into a disaster. The pads are a breeding ground for E. coli, so for my efforts, I had youngsters dying in the nest at about two days of age. This situation pretty much ruined the 2002 breeding season. Fortunately, I happened to mention the problem to Pete Lorenz in our only meeting before he died and he told me that it was the nest pads. After trying everything else, that was about the only thing I had left to try and while the problem did not clear up immediately, it did clear up by the next year. Recently I read an article from another fancier describing these same symptoms in his pigeons and, he too was using these same nest pads. 

As a result of this E. coli problem, I trashed several hundred dollars worth of plastic nest bowls and pads. Since then, I replaced them with simple nest bowls made of 2 X 4’s with a plywood bottom. These 2 X 4 nest bowls have worked out really well for me. They are cheap, strong, easy to make and easy to clean. They also fit tight to the corner of the shelf, which I like. I just nail them together in an 8”X 8” square and then nail the plywood to the bottom. I can clean them by turning them up-side-down and banging them on the top of a five gallon bucket. Unlike many other bowls, being a little heavy, these bowls tend to stay in place on the shelf. Because it is very dry here, I can get away with using wood shavings topped with straw for nest material and that is what I have been doing for the last eight years now.

My individual sections have two shelves. Given the opportunity, good pigeons will always instinctively switch their nesting locations between rounds. Were I to see a hen that didn’t do this, I would question the quality of that hen. Because they feel more secure nesting in high places, I always start the pair out nesting on the top shelf. In that first round, the pair is still getting used to each other and, to them, feeling secure is important. When the youngsters are of banding age, I add another bowl to the empty shelf. When the youngsters are of weaning age, they are removed to the young bird loft and I remove and clean the other nest. Otherwise I do not clean the nests between rounds as this is disruptive to their security. 

Do you give your breeders medication, vitamins, or minerals?

The Horemans do not require a lot of extras to stay healthy. They are good solid pigeons that stay healthy on their own. Aside from the bout with E. coli from the nest pad when I had the Hofkens, I have maybe had four sick pigeons in my forty years in the sport. I have a simple rule along this line, “If you can’t stay healthy, you can’t stay, period.” I believe that sickness happens for three reasons, poor pigeons, poor conditions, and being exposed to major sickness such as PMV. Treating the first two without solving the underlying problem is a waste of time. Therefore, the only real reason to medicate is because of major sickness. From a flock medication standpoint, I have not medicated for anything in at least six years now. 

For the first time ever, I bought several pigeons from different auctions this year. I am not afraid to buy pigeons based on their pictures, especially when the pictures are of reasonable quality and they are current (meaning close to the auction date). The obvious disadvantage of buying them this way is that certain health issues do not show up as clearly in pictures as they do when the pigeon is in your hand. Again, if the pigeon does not arrive healthy or it cannot stay healthy, it cannot stay, period. It must be that simple. 

All of my students can quickly cite the story about the monkey, the jar, and the banana. In this story, the monkey sees the banana in the jar so he reaches in and grabs it. However, when he tries to remove the banana from the jar, he discovers that his hand and the banana cannot come out of the jar at the same time. Consequently, he sits with his hand in the jar holding the banana. My students are constantly reminded about becoming the monkey and holding onto something for the sake of holding on. There is a cost to doing business and there are similar costs associated with owning pigeons. When it comes to pigeons, I am very organized in my mind. There is a place for everything and everything in its place. If I buy a pigeon and it turns out to be no good, what I paid for it is not going to change the fact that it is no good. I can hang onto the pigeon and let it clutter my loft and cause me further problems or I can admit my mistake, cut my losses, and get on with the story. Too many fanciers these days will not let go of the banana.

In terms of vitamins and minerals, I used to do more of this but, as I’ve said, the Horemans are very healthy pigeons to begin with, so they really do not need a lot of extras. In the past, I used to provide a lot of extras, but I can’t really say that I thought the youngsters were better for it. Ed Lorenz likes to say that pigeons really shouldn’t require a lot of extras to stay healthy. Currently, I am down to feeding pickstone during the breeding season, which is more than Ed ever did. How do I know this? Well, first he told me that was the case, and second, when I gave his pigeons pickstone, they thought it was a perch, so I am inclined to take him at his word.

Let me finish this question by saying that while I do not feed a lot of extras during the breeding season, I do feed a small amount of minerals and vitamins during the molt. I also give them tea during this period as well. Also during the molt, I give my pigeons a bath two times a week. Part of going through a good molt is keeping down the parasites, which I handle by adding a heaping handful of Twenty Mule Team Borax to the bath water once a week.

Click here to go to page 4