Breeding

The beak on pigeon nestling is formed in such a way that it can be inserted into the parents’ mouths at feeding time. A pair diligently watches over their brood. For the novice, by far the most satisfactory way to get started with pigeons is to buy one or more pairs of mated birds. Most likely, after they have been a week or ten days in their new surroundings and well cared for there, they will begin to "work" for him; that is, they will lay eggs and raise young. Pigeons usually mate for life, rearing squabs season after season, often for ten years or even longer. Sexing the birds is important. The male pigeon, or cock, is usually larger than the hen. He has a thicker neck and larger head, is much more aggressive, and his neck feathers are often more brightly colored than those of the hen. A sure characteristic of the male pigeon is his frequent habit of cooing and of strutting about. He will court another pigeon with loud, enthusiastic coos. More-over, with air-inflated crop and spreading tail, he will boldly bear down on the other bird, all the while "dancing" about and scraping the ground with his tail. During nest building, he is the one that carries twigs and straws to the chosen site, giving them to the hen. Sitting in the nest bowl, she arranges these materials "round about herself. To recognize male pigeons quickly in their lofts, some pigeon fanciers place either numbered or brightly-colored bands on their right legs, while they band the hens on the left legs. Billing and lovemaking in general is a sure sign of mating. The female inserts her beak into the open beak of the male, who then regurgitates some food.

Usually billing is followed by mating, the male treading the squatting female. After the mating ceremony, the male indulges in a short, joyous flight, in which he is usually followed by his mate. This nuptial flight is engaged in particularly by pigeons which are kept in roomy flights or which have liberty outside of their lofts. Mated pairs are generally most productive if cock and hen are of decidedly different ages. Thus, a cock two or more years old mated to a year-old hen is more likely to produce fertile eggs and to raise vigorous offspring than a pair consisting of, say, a three-year-old cock and hen, or of one-year-old birds.

Furthermore, mating a young bird to an older bird often means more successful nesting, since the latter is already experienced in nest building, incubating, and the feeding of squabs. A healthy, mated pair of pigeons, placed in a new loft, will, after a few days of getting acquainted with their strange environment, begin to look for a suitable place to nest. In this activity, the cock bird takes the initiative by inspecting nest boxes in various locations. As soon as he has found one to his liking, he will stay in it, loudly calling to his mate to come and have a look at the prospective home. If she shows approval of the site—by readily entering it and for some time staying in it with her mate—then he will soon start to carry nesting materials to her. These she fixes around about her in the nest bowl, all the while turning and twisting. Most pigeons build a flimsy nest, which is a good reason why some fanciers fill the nest pans partly with clean sand or other suitable foundation material, on top of which the birds can then lay their loose structures of twigs and stems. At this particular stage of the breeding activities (that is, before the eggs are laid), the cock may be seen driving his mate to the nest. He chases her about the loft, often vigorously pecking at her, and gives her barely enough time to eat and to drink. This driving stops as soon as she has laid the first egg, which usually happens in the after-noon. While the hen is on the nest, her mate often continues to gather twigs and straws, eagerly carrying them to her. After a day"s interval, the hen drops the second egg. Then incubation, lasting from seventeen to nineteen days (its exact duration varying with climatic and other conditions), begins in earnest. Both birds share in brooding the eggs, the cock sitting from about ten o"clock in the forenoon until about four o"clock in the afternoon, and the hen the remaining time of day and night. While incubating and, indeed, during all their nesting activities, most pigeons will defend their nests vigorously against all intruders, human and others. They will peck at them repeatedly and flap their wings at them, uttering sharp, short coos. If the novice has tamed his birds thoroughly, they will usually, though of course reluctantly, let him inspect their nests without raising too much fuss; but if his pigeons are shy and wild, they are likely to leave their nests hurriedly at his interference, at times breaking eggs or dragging young out of their nests. Frequent nest inspections, which are more or less undesirable interference with the birds" natural breeding functions, should be avoided at all costs, as should repeated handling of young squabs. When first laid, the eggs of domestic pigeons are glossy white; after about a week"s steady incubation they turn a bluish gray. This darkening of their color is a sure sign of fertility. When the squabs have hatched, the old birds will carry the empty eggshells, which might otherwise smother the young birds, out of the nest. Now the parents will take regular turns at brooding their offspring day and night for a week or ten days, keeping them sufficiently warm and generally protecting them. Some, pairs will brood their young for but a few days, thus running the risk of losing the almost-naked, blind squabs on cold days or cold nights. Pigeons feed their young by means of regurgitation, with the latter inserting their tender little beaks between those of their elders, who then literally pump a soft, mushy substance, called pigeon milk, into the squabs" crops. As the youngsters grow, their crops receive less and less soft food and more small grains until, at approximately three weeks of age, they are quite ready to digest the hard and often quite large grains which their parents eat. Most pigeons feed their young shortly after they themselves have eaten and drunk. They will fill their crops with various available grains, then take some grit, and finally hasten to the water pans, freely drinking a considerable quantity of water with which to soften the hard grains in their crops. Now that the meal for the youngsters is ready and complete, they will fly to the nest, there to regurgitate the watery mixture. When the squabs are very young, the hen does most of the feeding. Later on, when they are two or three weeks old, at which time she gets ready to start another nest, the cock assumes the feeding of the squabs. This he continues until, at the age of six or seven weeks, when they have been out of the nest for ten or more days, they become self-dependent. Some breeds of pigeons, such as Homers, Tumblers, Rollers, and others, are known as eager and dependable feeders of their young. For this reason, they often serve as foster parents for the young of other breeds which, for one reason or another, do not or cannot feed their young very well. There are also considerable differences between individual pairs of pigeons so far as their habits of feeding their offspring regularly and thoroughly is concerned. Of course, all pigeons rearing young should have access to a plentiful supply of feed, grit, and water, both for themselves and their young. If squabs are fed poorly, they are likely to jump out of their nests sooner than those that are fed well and regularly, for the latter are more content to remain where they are. Usually, however, young pigeons will leave the nest when they are approximately a month old, still being fed by their male parent for a week or ten days. When out of the nest and running about on the floor of the loft, the youngsters, seeing other pigeons peck at the food or plunge their beaks into the drinking water, soon begin to imitate them. And it is certainly not long before they themselves eat and drink, especially since their parents, now having a new nest to attend to, don"t feed them as often. As soon as the young are wholly self-supporting, they should be removed to other quarters so that they will not interfere in any way with the activities of the breeding pairs. This suggests a very important aspect of pigeon keeping: namely, how to keep mated pairs in a state of steady, more or less uninterrupted breeding. To keep peace among his mated pairs, the novice, or for that matter any pigeon keeper should under no condition tolerate any unmated cocks or hens in his breeding loft. Such extra birds will invariably keep the settled pairs in constant turmoil and trouble, for they will try to mate with already-paired birds, often forcing their way into their nests, where nasty fighting causes broken eggs and injured young. Single males or females have no place whatsoever in a breeding loft: they should either be kept separately or else be disposed of. If the novice wants his family of pigeons to be orderly and thriving, then he should keep only mated pairs in all his breeding pens. If he wants to add a new pair to such a pen, the best way to settle these birds is to cage them for a week or so in a vacant nesting compartment until they have laid eggs, for then he can be reasonably certain that these newcomers will not try to take over already-occupied nest boxes by-vicious fighting. It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that the two most common and most serious causes of failure in pigeon raising, committed especially by beginners, are keeping extra cocks or hens, or both, with already-mated pairs, and crowding more and more birds into limited space, with little or no regard for the comfort and the health of the flock as a whole.

Now for some pertinent comments on so-called methods of breeding. If the novice aims at breeding pigeons fit for show competition, he should buy one or more mated pairs of high-quality birds from a reputable fancier, one who has bred his variety for many years, during which time he has achieved notable winnings on the show bench. Such a fancier has practiced, for a very considerable period of time, both inbreeding and line-breeding; that is, when he started, he took a certain number of birds, very carefully analyzed their strong as well as their weak features in the light of the official breed standard, and then mated cocks and hens so that their offspring would (so he hoped and prayed!) possess the strong features of both in larger measure and their weak features in lesser measure. From this offspring, in turn, he would very carefully select, again in the light of the breed standard, the very best birds for mating, continuing this procedure year after year without introducing any new or foreign blood into his family (strain, or line) of birds. Inbreeding usually means pairing closely related members of a family, such as father to daughter, mother to son, etc., the purpose being intensification of certain desirable qualities, such as color, shape, weight, etc., but without intensification of undesirable qualities. If pigeons so bred are in sound health and if they are cared for efficiently, they are not likely to produce weak youngsters, though infertile eggs must at times be expected. Line-breeding simply means developing a line, or distinct family, of birds and is usually accomplished by pairing not-too-closely related birds.

In other words, it is a form of less intensive inbreeding. When a fancier buys birds from another loft to pair with his own, for the purpose of improving his own strain, he is said to use the method of crossing, or out-crossing. With this new blood, he will introduce into his strain not only its good, but also its bad features, which, being subject to inheritance from previous generations, are often not visible at the time of purchase. Out-crossing, in other words, occasions much risk, since if a given hid-den bad quality possessed by the newly-introduced birds crops up prominently in the offspring, it may require generations of painstaking breeding to eliminate it. Many a well-intentioned novice, having been taken by an especially fine specimen at a show, has bought this prizewinner and then mated it with one of his own best birds, on the assumption that two such high-quality pigeons simply must produce very superior young. But often the youngsters" quality is disappointing, revealing weaknesses that were not visible in either parent: inherited, hidden features now emphasized in the offspring.

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