# Fantail & Homer



## DPyra (Jan 22, 2004)

I have a white crested fantail I rescued on Halloween '02 and a white homer I was given 7 months ago for rescuing a racer. The fantail, Sam, is male and the homer, Torpedo, is female. They have their first clutch 8 days in and are sitting them fine.









I'm anxious to know what this pair will produce. They are both so beautiful. I believe Sam is an American Fantail with a crest. Tory has some features that are not standard homing features. Her father had huge eyes and a short, almost hooked bill. He looked like an Old German Owl with foot muffs. He was base white with a gray tail with a black bar across the tip, and brown speckled wings with white flights. Tory's mother was a white homer. Tory herself is base white with her father's tail. She has large eyes and a short beak and feathers on her legs (no muffs though). She has no frill. At first glance, she is a standard homer.

I should know for sure in about 5 weeks, but.... Could someone give me an idea what I should get from these two? Both eggs have veins, and both parents are being very good, so far, about their nest duties. It's such a beautiful thing to watch. But the anticipation is killing me! Any guesses, please? Thanks.


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## singing birdy (Jan 30, 2002)

I have a buddy who bred a homer with a fantail and he said some looked like homers with short fantails and some looked like a homer with muffed feet.


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## ernie (May 3, 2003)

Hmmm.... been kinda wondering about that one myself.
My indian fantail Zues, has paired up with a regular white homer. It will be interesting to see what the offspring will look like.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

I recently adopted what I believe to be an Indian fantail/white homer cross from the Wildlife Center. I'll try to get a good picture of her and e-mail it to you. She's a very pretty bird.


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## WhiteWingsCa (Mar 1, 2002)

we've had a few 'accidents' in our loft. Any crosses between a homer and a fantail we've ended up with generally look like homers with extra long tails -- only one (of 4) had a head that looked a bit like a fantail's.

Mostly, fantails have no homing instinct. We gave away one of the crosses to someone -- a hen that had never flown outside of the backyard, and had actually never been out of the loft for a year. She found her way back home from 5 miles away within a day.









But then, her daddy was a really good homer, so I guess she picked it up from his side. Her momma took 3 days to find her way home from across the road the first time she got out (literally --- we could see her flying back and forth thru the trees across the road LOL)


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## DPyra (Jan 22, 2004)

Thank you all for your wonderful replies. Tory's homing abilities have never been tested, and from what I was told neither have her parents. They are the pampered birds in a racing loft that the owner uses to bring in his racers. Ah, what a life! And I shutter to think of Sam out in the wild. He's comical enough indoors! He's such a brat. He has no idea how good he has it inside my house! I'll keep everyone posted on developments. Here's hoping there are no problems, but it's great to know there is some place to turn if I have one. Thanks again.


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## DPyra (Jan 22, 2004)

Update! One of the eggs hatched this morning before I left for work! The chick is so tiny and so cute. My pigeons are so ticked at me for all my involvement, but they are still very attentive of the nest. I don't expect the second egg to hatch until Wednesday, so I may have a competition problem. But so far, so good!


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## DPyra (Jan 22, 2004)

Ok, the second egg hatched last night and all was well this morning. Tory was busy feeding the chicks and keeping them warm. The older one was chirpping up a storm. I've noticed that she stays on the nest until almost 11 am, so I took Sam with me to the bathroom. Sam took an immediate interest in running water, so I let him take a bath and returned him to the birdroom to dry and take his turn when Tory got up. I left for work at about 9am. When I returned home, Sam was on the nest, as usual. I disturbed him (as usual) to see the chicks and discovered both were dead with no obvious reason for their condition. The parent birds are fine. I'm saddened, but more confused. What went wrong? Did I make a mistake by letting Sam bathe? Or should I be looking for a bigger problem? I would like to try again. I need advice. Thanks in advance for all your help.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of your babies. I seriously doubt Sam's bath was a factor; mine bathe when they have young in the nest and it's never been a problem. There are a number of things that can cause chick mortality, one of the most common being parents infected with Salmonella. But that isn't the only thing. Are your pigeons indoor birds? Because I would think the possibility of disease is less likely when you just have the two of them and they aren't exposed to other birds. 

What type of nesting material do your pigeons have? Because we had a problem with certain nest pads.


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## DPyra (Jan 22, 2004)

Well, they are indoor birds. And I only have the two. It's their first clutch and my first experience with breeding anything. I have no pet store in the area that carries pigeon supplies (I've noticed this is a common problem), and I haven't contacted any feed supply stores. The nest material I provided was alfalfa straw for small critters. And Tory chose to nest beside the bowl I gave them instead of in it, so the nest ended up being rather flat. Could they have been crushed under their parents' weight? I'm puzzled that the first chick survived, and appeared to be thriving, until almost twelve hours after the second chick was born. The first chick also appeared to have been well feed before it died, but the second chick didn't. My plan at the moment is to switch eggs for a clutch or two and let them try again during the summer. Tory seems to be the more diligent parent, but she is only 7 months old. I'm reading that age could be a factor. I don't know how old Sam is, but he appears to be learning all this for the first time too.
What was the problem with the nest pads?


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Your nesting material sounds okay, but you might try pine needles next time just to see if it makes a difference. In the absence of anything obvious, I guess you could take one of the parents to an avian vet and have them checked out to see if they are carrying something, but it doesn't sound as if they are sick. I suppose it's possible for inexperienced birds to step on their babies, but pigeons are usually very good parents. 

Our problem with the nestpads was weird. I don't want to bash all nestpads, because many people use them with good results and they're especially good for early hatches when it's still cold. But last year we ordered a bunch of them, and then all our babies started dying. We had nearly 100% chick mortality. It turned out we had what I believe was salmonella in the loft. We had a chick autopsied but unfortunately they couldn't tell us what organism killed it, just that it died of a massive intestinal bacterial infection. From the symptoms, we believe it was salmonella.

In the meantime, a long-time pigeon guy told me to get rid of the nestpads because he'd heard of other breeders having high chick mortality because of them. He said they are sometimes made with formaldehyde and kill the chicks through contact with their navel. This seemed far-fetched to me and I didn't want to get rid of the pads, which I'd just bought. So I washed them thoroughly and kept them. 

We treated all our pigeons with Baytril, disinfected the loft, and immunized them with Sal-Bac. By then it was months later, and we tried again. The first set of chicks that hatched (on nestpads) died within days. I was terribly discouraged after going all that route with medication, injections and everything, and our babies were still dying! But I remembered what the experienced breeder told me. I got rid of the nestpads and guess what--all our subsequent chicks were fine. When I looked back on the first batch, the only survivors were babies whose parents put a thick layer of pine needles on top of the nestpad. 

I'm sorry this isn't more helpful. I'm mystified as to what killed your chicks. Perhaps other members will have ideas. 

Global Pigeon supply sells a good 3-in-one medication called Multi-mix. They recommend treating pigeons before breeding to make sure they aren't carrying common diseases. It wouldn't hurt to try treating them before you let them nest again, if you don't have an avian vet available. Good luck and let us know how things works out.


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## DPyra (Jan 22, 2004)

Thanks for the info. That's a nasty problem, but I can see where that would have happened. They use that chemical to prevent bug infestation in fabric and to preserve the fibers. It's not good for us either. I'm taking both birds in to the vet for their annual checkup, so I'll mention my recent nest problem and see what he says. I just finished a new cage for them that has shelves more like a loft. I'm hoping they'll nest off the floor this time, even though they were very careful to keep the nest clean. They also now have a hardwire floor to walk on instead of a solid floor I had to clean daily. And the whole front opens for flight time. Sam is molting. One thing about fantails (unless it's just Sam), they molt heavily. One feather falls out to start it, and it's like raining feathers for about 3-4 days! He doesn't go bald anywhere though, thank goodness. But the new cage is saving him and Tory from being buried to their necks in loose feathers. I'll update on the checkup, then I should start a new thread for the next set of eggs I let them try to raise. Thanks, All!


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## DPyra (Jan 22, 2004)

Here's the update on the vet visit. Intestinal parasites.The vet doesn't think that was our nest problem though. He said it was most likely inexperience on the part of the birds. I'm giving them an oral medication for 5 days. It's so fun to wrestle with them to get their little mouths open!







Here's hoping they're still my friends by Friday. Then next week I get to ferry a sample back to the vet to make sure the meds did their job. I'm already seeing improvement. Things are firming back up, if you get my drift.







So we'll be trying the nest thing again later this year. Wish us luck!


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Thanks for the update. It sounds like your vet will have them back on track. As to medication, don't worry, they'll get over it. I actually bonded with my first house pigeon over Baytril. She didn't like me prying her beak open twice a day, but by the time her treatment ended we were fast friends. Go figure.

Yes, I know what you mean about fantail molting. Mine just rain feathers when they molt.


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