The pigeons are loving their new home , now that they don't have to share with the chickens.
Richard built their nest like a shelf with dividers so the dominant males don't run everyone off . The idea is to give each mated pair (pigeons mate for life) their own private area.
The white pigeons that look like doves are the racing homers. They will always go back to the place they were born. The original pairs that we bought will always need to be caged, they are called "captives". The babies will be trained to fly up to 75 miles from home. Not all will make it back , there are always unknowns along the way like hawks, weather and some just get lost.
These blueish pigeons are called "french Mondaines", these pigeons were bred to be eaten, called production birds. For many centuries pigeons were raised as food (squabs) in pigeon farms and millions were wild and would cover the sky from sun-up to sundown flying in their flocks.
Day old pigeons
One hatching out of the shell.
Richard is adding on two rooms so he can separate the captives from the babies. That way he has a breeding room of just mated pairs, a room of extras and a room of the babies. At some point we will build an out door flight area.
The garden is resting for the short winter, this is when I apply more compost to the beds and cedar sawdust for the paths getting ready for the early spring planting.
