In going along with the pigeon racing promotion theme in this weeks discussion of the week we would like to know,
How did you get involved in pigeon racing or pigeon keeping in general?
You see, if we could figure out what got you interested in pigeon racing or pigeons in general for that matter we might be able to duplicate that to get more people interested in the sport and hobby. What worked for you should work for others right?. You already know my story you can read it here (About Me), I didn’t know anything about pigeons but when I realized how interesting and amazing they were I was hooked.
So go ahead and post your comments I’m looking forward to reading them! and see what we can do to help promote this great hobby of ours.
Discussion of the week, How did you get involved with pigeons?
The Leading Online Pigeon Racing and Racing Pigeons Magazine – The Pigeon Insider
Well as i recall i was 11 yrs old, me and some friends use to go down town to catch domestic pigeons from the old abandod buildings. my friend had a small so called loft it was more like a box with poultry wire around it but to us it was a loft.well after catching birds for him i asked my parents if i could have some birds they knew it kept me busy so they said ok. well after putting are carpenter skills together from scrap wood we would collected around the neighborhood me and my buddy built a loft. we caught about 6 pigeons mainly trying to catch the cool colored ones i brought them home i was content well about 6 months went by and my mom told me that one of my uncles was coming to stay with us from mexico and she rememberd that he use to have pigeons back home but not street pigeons like she would call them. she said he had palomos mensajeros.meaning racing pigeons i was like cool well my uncle finaly arrived and moved in with us. well after a few days i was excited to show him my birds and loft he was happy for me and then he dropped the question on me and my friend he asked us what do the birds do for us besides eat, sleep and stay in the loft we said is that not what they do his answer was no! not homing pigeons they fly around the loft and fly from long distances to come home to loft & you. we was amazed so he asked me if i new or have heard of anyone in are town that had racing pigeons.i told mabey we started asking around at school and a kid we knew said his dad had racing pigeons so we hooked up with him and became closer friends. so he introduced his dad to my uncle and he was willing to sale us a couple of pairs.so my uncle bought them we got rid of the domestic birds which i was sad to see go we tore down the loft and my uncle built a real loft with perches and a landing board and traps. we was like wow! we put the new birds in loft they started breeding and before you know it we had young birds flying around the house and the rest was history. i also want to thank my cousin Salvador that helped me out alot to get going on my own now i have my own house my own loft. and my 13 yr old and 6yr old boys are helping me with the loft and birds and that is a rewarding to me.
At 13 I wanted to learn taxidermy. I was to start with a bird as their skin is so thin. My old man brought home two very old pigeons, one had had a broken wing at some point and could not fly. They were a pair. I was shocked that I now had live birds that needed to be killed in order to learn on. I just could not bring myself to do it and then the old hen laid an egg. And the another. That was the end of my taxidermy career. The old mad set aside a part of his garage and built me a loft. I had these birds until I went in the Army. Now in my second childhood I am back at it.
I started keeping pigeons at eight years of age when my father brought home a pair of red checkers which i bred two red cocks and when i had weened them i let the parents out and off they went back to there old loft.
Those two were my pets i could get them to fly up when there were a mob flying over and bring the odd one down with them it wasnt long before i had a good few flying around but that was in scotland and i gave them up at 15 when i had other interests on my mind anyway i moved to New Zealand at 19 and and started keeping them after i got married I flew in the otago racing pigeon society in dunedin for a number of yrs then moved to Australia.
It was a way of life, in brooklyn new york, back in the early fifity. As a kid you are around lots of people talking about there birds , so me and my friends would take that long walk from st marks ave, to pitkins ave were they sold pigeons, we made a day of it, pick up this bird and someone would say O-boy look at that one over there, and thats how it went, until it was time to go home, I was about eight or nine, then, and pigeon are in my blood, more kids need to try flying birds today, it will keep them out the streets and from getting into trouble.
I was building a house next door to a guy that raced pigeons. I started asking questions about them and got interested. So I asked him how much he would sell me a pair of young birds for and he told me he would give me pair to start me off. Since then they have become addictive like drugs to me. I now have about 65 pigeons now and this will be my first year to fly young birds. I have met some people in the combine and I have found some life long friends that enjoy the sport.I hope alot more people get involved in the sport and keep it going strong for years to come.
i caught a injured pigeon when i was 8 years old and brought it to pigeon fancer he told me all about it. age sex and started telling and showing me lots of differnt facts learned to hold properly and asked me to look after the injured pigeon i loved thediffernt colours loved the way pigeons droped like stones on race days straight to trap when someone has a passion its easy to teach and pass on i got my own loft built at 9 years old could not race till 13 but spent a lot of time in glubs and shows learning a lot but not realising it got 4 pair from club members bred 12 won 3 yb races on first season end of season 9 ybs what a great buzz its all about someone to teach what thy know when i moved to london in was near impossible to find a club it classed as an old mans sport not many young people coming in to it now sport needs more coverage
my first interest were on finches, sparrows and parakeets. my attention for pigeon got caught whren i read about the turtle doves – being they claimed to be endangered – which i immediately bought a couple in a local petshop. but later i found out what i really bought is a eurasian doves. then a friend of mine sold me a couple of racing homer – checkered and the blu bar mated – which only after some weeks laid eggs. my keen interest on this birds grows stronger as i watch these birds very seriously protect and care their eggs during the hatching period and specially more when the pigeonlet (or is it call squabs?) came out of the egg after approx 18 days. only one baby pigeon came out because the other egg seems weak. at this point there is really great fond and nature-appreciation as i watch the baby pigeon really helpless and depends so much from their parents to survive at that stage. in fact now after months i am waiting now for the new baby pigeon and i’ll try to feed them myself…………..lets see. what a pleasure!!!
i got intrested in pigeons when i was about 16 years old me and my friend would go to the local abitoir and climb under the eves and crawl along the ledge and shine the torch on the birds to see if there where any racers and if there was we’d take them home and try and home them’most of the time they flew of once they were fit.But i lost interest because i was intrested in the other birds(ladies) well to cut a long story short i restarted back in 2001 and love the sport,i’d be lost without my birds,it’s hard to wun in my club cause there are some really good flyers but i’ve had my turn and every year i strive to do better than i did the year before,and thats me.
Hey Chris,
Great thread! I initially saw someone selling an “unhomed” flock of pigeons on Kijiji (like Craigslist)… I thought… “yeah, right!” It stuck in my mind and I’d google “homing pigeons” here and there. A couple of months later I went to a poultry & livestock show in the area and lo & behold there were also many pigeon exhibitors. THESE were not the common pigeons that I’d had in mind, these birds were beautiful! Within a couple of months I’d found someone in the region that had some white homers for sale and the rest, as they say, is history!
Pigeons satisfy my desire to FLY !
At 10 years of age a friend & I would swap birds to send messages to each other after school.
Now 58 & my love for pigeons has not faded one bit.
Get into it & it will be with you for life.