AboutStacie G. Expertise I can answer questions related to health, care, behavior, and breeding. If you have an emergency situation, please take it to a veterinarian with avian experience. Unfortunately I do not know much about actually racing pigeons, but I do show exhibition king pigeons.
Experience I have raised pigeons for approximately 12 years now. I got started in the hobby by rescuing an injured feral when I was 12 years old and successfully rehabilitated him. Unfortunately, he was not releasable and so I kept him until he passed about two years ago. From that feral, I actually realized that pigeons were great companions and I had dismissed any previous misconceptions I had heard about them.
Now I am focusing my attention to the show king although I do have a few racing homers, utility kings, and MFC helmets.
Organizations National Pigeon Association
American King Club
Education/Credentials Mainly self-taught with my own experiences, but I have supplemented my knowledge with books and information from NPA and AKC.
Awards and Honors Numerous Best of Breed and Reserve of Breed in 4-H shows; Two Best in Shows acquired while in 4-H. (7 years ago!)
Best of Show and Reserve of Show in county fair
Expert: Stacie G. Date: 7/17/2008 Subject: Ferals sexing
Question Hi: Back in May, two feral pigeons built a nest on the terrace of my high rise building. Because maintenance had barred the door to lead outside and stacked all of my furniture into one cozy corner, the pigeons laid their eggs. All of the negative misconceptions about pigeons had me ready to dismantle the nest and throw out the eggs. I feared that pigeon mites or lice would come into my apartment and affect myself, family and my cat. Different pest control websites did not help either. Anyway, I left the birds alone, put out bird seed everyday. Fast foward to the future. "Baby" is now 7 weeks old and appears do be doing very well. "She" and her parents show up daily and I continue to put out the remaining bird seed, until I run out, then birdies are on their own. I was wondering, at what age does the bAby stop growing? I call it a "she" because it is about the size of the mama, and it does not appear to be getting any bigger and all of its feathers are in. Papa is much bigger than the two of them. Baby was always the bigger of the two squabs, so I assumed it was the boy. Baby's sibling was taken by a hawk about a month ago. So, what are the chances that baby is a female? And should I be concerned about pigeon mites and lice getting on me or in my apartment?
Answer Hi Sherrel, it can be quite difficult to assess the sex of the baby as some pigeons reach sexual maturity about 4-6 months. Generally, feral males tend be larger than females. Baby pigeons grow rapidly the first few weeks and then growth seems or appears to taper off. This squeaker is only 7 weeks and is still maturing. Although you may not notice it, it still has a little growing to do to reach its adult size, which occurs until it reaches sexual maturity. Hens reach maturity faster then males and this accounts for the larger size of the males. Unfortunately, this baby will be leaving the nest very soon to live on its own and to find a mate in the future. It will probably stick around as long as you are providing a source of food for it, but if its parents decide to make the terrace their nesting site (without being disturbed) they will most likely chase off this youngster as they are territorial and in preparation for the next batch of babies. I doubt you will be able to determine to sex of this baby before then.
I would not be concerned about lice or mites. I have had lots of contact with pigeons and other birds and have not ever had one case of lice or mites infesting me or my home. The lice prefer to live on pigeons as they are primarily a species specific ectoparasite and do not do well on anything else! (those pigeons can very well not even be infested and the only way to determine if they were would be to physically examine them or the surrounding nesting area.) But don't worry about it!:)
