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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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