Racing pigeons

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RatDog
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Racing pigeons

Post by RatDog » Sat Oct 15, 2022 9:44 pm

I met with a very nice guy today who runs the racing pigeon club here in Bozeman. Showed me his lofts and talked to me about raising racing pigeons. He’s from the Czech republic. I guess pigeons are a big deal back there. He runs dogs that look like drats or griffons but they’re a Czech breed. Figured if I’m gonna keep pigeons anyway might be neat to try the racing thing. Pretty cool taking them hundreds of miles away and they find their way back. Kind of miraculous. Be cool to get my kids involved. He offered some advice on the coop and said he’ll set me up with birds in the spring.

Anyone tried their hand at pigeon racing?


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ckirsch
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Re: Racing pigeons

Post by ckirsch » Sun Oct 16, 2022 9:23 am

Had homers as a kid, but never had the opportunity to race them. My family owned a KOA campground in the South Dakota badlands, and when campers who stayed with us checked out my lofts, I'd ask if they could take a box of birds with them the following day to release. I'd put one of the little message carrier pods that the military used back in WW2 on the leg of one of the birds, and the folks who transported them slipped in a note letting me know what time they'd been released from the previously agreed-upon location. I'd already have started the birds with shorter flights up to fifty miles, so I'd have the campers release them from increasing increments of around fifty-miles each. I think the longest flight I had ended up being around 400 miles. That bird was released late afternoon and when I got up the next morning he was back. I'm not sure if they stop to roost somewhere at night or just continue flying in the dark. Some never returned - probably casualties of hawks along the way.

Pigeons were an interesting and enjoyable hobby, and if I had a spot I could keep birds today I'd probably have some. I've read several times in these forums of guys who started out with birds for training purposes and ended up getting involved in racing.

Have fun with it.....

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oldbeek
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Re: Racing pigeons

Post by oldbeek » Fri Oct 21, 2022 10:29 pm

Good line of homers make better training birds anyway. All of my good breeders are from racing stock. As soon as one set of chicks leave the nest, they lay again in a day or 2.

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DonF
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Re: Racing pigeons

Post by DonF » Sun Nov 06, 2022 6:38 pm

I prefer ferals to homer's, got both. Ferals are generally smaller birds and easier to handle. Of course anything a feral can do, so can a homer but a feral can't do what a homer's does! In my experience ferals are a bit wilder than homer's. I have homer's come out of a trap and sit down next to the trap. Ferals come out and fly away! But if you want to race, doubtful the ferals will keep up. Then again if your training dog's, ferals can be had for free if you go out and catch them. If you buy them thet are generally two or three dollars per bird less expensive. Figure out what you want to do and go from there. Ya want to race, Homer's. Ya want to train dog's, ferals cost less!
I pity the man that has never been loved by a dog!

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