# Pigeon Life Span????



## Bob R

Guys 

I guess most of you don't have my problem to think about..LOL...I'm about to get a loft ready for a few pigeons for nothing more than pets...Can anyone tell me the average life span of a pigeon...As strange as it may sound to you, I wonder what would happen to them if they out lived me...I'm 70 yrs old.

Herm


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## TAWhatley

Hi Herm and welcome to pigeons.com! Yes, some of us do have the same "issue" as you .. for me it's not pigeons (I am 55 years old), but I took in a 3 year old cockatoo a few months ago who is guaranteed to outlive me by a very long time.

Well cared for pigeons probably average 8-12 years of age though they can live into their late teens or twenties. I have a rescued pigeon named Traveler who wears a 1987 band .. thus he is going on 17 years old. There is a documented case of a Ringneck Dove living to be more than 23 years of age.

I think you should go ahead and get your birds, care for them, love them well, and have a contingency plan in place for any who may outlive you. We, here, at pigeons.com are a pretty good source of homes for birds when they are needed, and being in Oklahoma, you are in real pigeon country with lots of fanciers who could and would probably help out if needed.

Let us hear from you again soon.

Terry Whatley


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## Bob R

Thanks Terry

I plan to go on with my pigeon plans....My kids care about as much for pets as I do and hopefully they will take care of them.

Thanks again

Bob


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## Nanci

Hi Bob,

What type of pigeons are you thinking of getting?

Just curious 

Nanci


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## donnalr28

Hi,

I was told a couple of years ago that pigeons in captivity can live up to 35 years of age. 

I've had birdie for four years now have often wondered what would happen to her also.


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## Bob R

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Bob,
What type of pigeons are you thinking of getting?
Just curious 
Nanci

===========================================

Hi Nanci

I'm still trying to make up my mind, but I'm thinking homer pigeons at this time...Could you or anyone tell me if homers come in colors other than some veriation of blue or gray???..I've always thought I wanted some pigeons since having one as a child (a very long time ago)..LOL...I now have nothing but time, and have no excuse for not getting some.

Bob


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## raynjudy

Donna said, in part, "I was told a couple of years ago that pigeons in captivity can live up to 35 years of age."

Well, that's about 94% accurate, if the following is true (I understand that this has been challenged):

"Probably the oldest authentically recorded age of a pigeon is that of Kaiser, a red checkered cock, 17-47-0350, captured in a basket of pigeons during the Meuse-Argonne offensive in 1918...Kaiser was reported to have died at the age of thirty-two years eight months (Amer. Pigeon Jour., 1950, p. 226)..." **

Talk about a bibliography! The scope of this work still staggers me!









** Page 273, paragraph five, THE PIGEON, Levi, Wendell M. (Levi Publishing Company, Inc., Sumter, S.C.)

--Ray


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## Pigeonworldwide

I have a friend who had a pigeon that died at 21 years of age.


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