Gun Dog Forum

Finally came up with some pigeons but i would like to save some for breeders. Does anyone have info or tell me where to search so i can tell male from female?

You will have to observe their behavior and you will be able to tell when the cocks start struting. I notice that the cocks are usually on the highest perches but there is no good wat to tell till they tell you.

Ezzy

My wife thinks i dont pay enough attention to her now. Spend to much time with my setters, now your saying i have to watch my birds. I might be looking for new house if i keep this up.

Welcome to the club, I hear there is a resort for guys like us that will take you in. It is in Montana, no women allowed. Not sure if that is good or bad!?!?!

Males will be a bit larger, with bigger heads and more eye and beak wattle. Hens will usually have a finer, lighter build. As has been mentioned, once the males start strutting you'll have no trouble identifying them.

Some are built with a finer build but hard to tell if they are just young birds. I have already noticed some are more aggressive than others. Is that also part of the males?

What has worked for me is to just hold back about 10 birds,feed them well and provide some nest boxes. Before you know it you will have some eggs in the boxes and know who the pairs are. Who cares who is who. From there you can cull the birds that aren't nesting. Mine took about 2 weeks to start nesting. Good luck.

Not an expert but some one taught me You can sex your pigeons by feeling the space between (forgive me but I dont know the technical name) cartilage around the egg drop shoot. It feels like a two pronged fork. Females have a wider space than males due to passing eggs.
It is much easier to show you than describe in words. It has proven true for my birds.
This plus the observation will be pretty darn accurate.

CR gave the best description to me. Males look like sea lions, big thick necks and a bigger bird.

Put some kind of mirror in the pen.Males will strut back and forth in front of the mirror cooing and dragging their tails,challenging what they Think is another male in the reflection.

Wish I had seen this sooner. Put a telephone and a can of beer on a table. Turn your birds loose with them and the ones that land on the phone are females. On the beer is males.

Made me laugh never thought of that. Is it that easy for other birds?

Actually I've always done it like ezzy. But when I got my homer's the guy told me what to look for. He gave me three pairs and picked them by sight. So once they got on nest's I identified the rooster's and started watching them fot the broader chest, bigger heads and heavier eye and nose waddles. Starting to see the difference but not gonna know for sure till they start strutting. I put a blue quick tie on the one's I think are male and a red one on females. I'll see how it works this spring.

Don't know if anyone has heard of this before, but this guy I buy homers from swears by it. I can't hardly tell a difference doing it his way , and it seems like an old wives tale type of thing. But he seems like a knowledgeable guy. He's raced, has a release business, and brought homers back from decades ago, when he was stationed in Germany. Anyway, he looks at the toes on the birds. Can't quite remember it perfect, but he stretches them out, with the legs pulled relaxed behind them and then compares the lengths of the 3 toes. He claims that it's similar to human hands. If my memory serves me correct, and it might not--he says womens fingertips will be level on either side of the middle finger and men's will not. Same thing with birds he claims.

jimssetters wrote:My wife thinks i dont pay enough attention to her now. Spend to much time with my setters, now your saying i have to watch my birds. I might be looking for new house if i keep this up.

I don't sex pigeons because they are difficult to tell apart until they mature... which doesn't take long. They'll pair up on their own. And that's too bad about your wife. Maybe there is a way you can get her involved?

I think involving your wife is a good idea. You could start by teaching her to clean out the loft!