# My new Pigeons/ My first egg.



## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Whats up guys, I got my first pair of homers on the 3rd December 2008, and guess what, they just laid an egg about 30 min ago! Hope she keeps the egg warm and healthy. I cant wait for it to hatch.
Plus i got 4 other racing homers today too. He said they are 2 cocks and 2 hens but was not 100% sure since2 of them are a little less than a year old and 2 were just born. Here are some pictures Hope you like them:










This one he said is a hen :









This one is my favorite aout of all, this one is a cock :









Here they are all 4 that i got today :


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## Pegasus (Feb 6, 2007)

*Well, what do you know....*

Congratulations to you and good luck...

Are you going to start breeding them too...They are all good  looking birds...


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

I will let them find their own mate. The person i got them from said they all came from race champions and said if i wanted to start racing he would give me a timing clock and he said he would help me. He had about 250 birds just racing homers.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Good luck!


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## Pegasus (Feb 6, 2007)

*Just wondering...*

Those 4 birds didn't come with any of their pedigrees right? If i'm not mistaken is that one in the back is mealy red bar? The bluebar looks young, is that an 08 bird?


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Your birds look nice, and congrats on the first egg.  I hope that all goes well with them laying on it and keeping it warm. And I hope the hatcing goes well.  

Keep the pictures coming.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Pegasus said:


> Those 4 birds didn't come with any of their pedigrees right? If i'm not mistaken is that one in the back is mealy red bar? The bluebar looks young, is that an 08 bird?


Pedigrees? you mean their line of who they got bread to and how or who they came from? All that info? They guy gave me 4 papers telling me everything about each bird he gave me. The one in the back is a red bar, and the one in the front your talkin about is a 08 bird, the youngest.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Thank you for sharing pics of your birds, they are pretty. Congratulations on your first egg.

You can get some really nice plastic tubs at Walmart to use as nesting boxes, they work nicely and are cheap.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

eggs are always exciting...will you be racing the babies?


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

spirit wings said:


> eggs are always exciting...will you be racing the babies?


Yea they are  hmm i wont be racing as of now in the near future when i have a flock that can fly and come back to me instead of having all these birds as prisoners.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

So... Is the other egg expected tonight then?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

maine123 said:


> So... Is the other egg expected tonight then?


Should be tomorrow afternoon.........


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

I just checked on the egg and it was actually cold. Is this normal? Shouldn't it be warm?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

alb23m said:


> I just checked on the egg and it was actually cold. Is this normal? Shouldn't it be warm?


Is no one sitting on the egg?


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Is no one sitting on the egg?


The hen is next to it, she is not completely covering it tho..


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## Bezz (Dec 12, 2008)

Hi Alb...

Yes it is normal.
The parents only start to breed when the second egg is layed.

Bezz


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

oh ok i just went back, and she was now completely covering it.


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## highflyeramatur (Dec 16, 2008)

*dont worry they'll hatch em*

As i have said in other posts i'm just now getting into homing pigeons But raised theif pouters for 16 years I always kept some homing pigeons as they would make great foster parents for my pouters i would switch out the eggs .
They are really nurtureing parents. i would do this cause it was easier and presented the homing pigeon less problems when feeding. As for the thief pouters they would tend to over fill themselves to the point they couldnt move so the homing pigeon as always in history gave of itself. But now i am happy to say i have joined the au redone my loft to accomodate racing pigeons and have my first set of racer eggs due to hatch the 3rd or 4th of jan
and with the advice that everyone has provided to me on what to do and how to to it i cant thank you all enough.Beautiul birds by the way.

This is my breeding pair


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Bezz said:


> Hi Alb...
> 
> Yes it is normal.
> The parents only start to breed when the second egg is layed.
> ...



Bezz, you are right........what the hen is doing IS natural, but what is NOT natural is for them to lay eggs in the dead of winter. Now I don't know where Alb is......maybe it's warm where she is.............if not, then if it's cold enough, the egg will freeze in no time and that will kill anything that's inside. Under normal circumstances (spring time) it is quite all right to just leave the first egg until the second is laid, but in cold weather, although the BIRD doesn't know it, it's not ok to just leave it for two days. 
I raise babies in the winter...........mine should start hatching this week, but I go out every night and take any eggs that are laid and replace it with a plastic egg and return the real egg once the second one is laid. That way, there's very little chance of the eggs freezing, because either Dad or Mom are on the eggs at all times.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

The cock bird was now sitting on it, and nothing of the egg could be seen. Is it because the cock bird is from 2005 and hen 2007, and the hen might not have too much experience? Ohh and by the way im a he lol. And i live up in North Jersey.
Cloudy

Feels Like:
22°
Barometer:
30.06 in and rising
Humidity:
38%
Wind:
W 18 mph


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

highflyeramatur said:


> As i have said in other posts i'm just now getting into homing pigeons But raised theif pouters for 16 years I always kept some homing pigeons as they would make great foster parents for my pouters i would switch out the eggs .
> They are really nurtureing parents. i would do this cause it was easier and presented the homing pigeon less problems when feeding. As for the thief pouters they would tend to over fill themselves to the point they couldnt move so the homing pigeon as always in history gave of itself. But now i am happy to say i have joined the au redone my loft to accomodate racing pigeons and have my first set of racer eggs due to hatch the 3rd or 4th of jan
> and with the advice that everyone has provided to me on what to do and how to to it i cant thank you all enough.Beautiul birds by the way.
> 
> ...


Very cool looking birds.


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## Pegasus (Feb 6, 2007)

alb23m said:


> Ohh and by the way im a he lol.
> Cloudy


I'm about to say, all this time I be talking to you, I didn't even know what gender are you, now I know ...You will experience more, just remember to take notes or even just to remember what we are saying so you can avoid MISTAKES like some of us did (before)...I wish you luck on the hatching day...

Highflyer; those are some beautiful pair, are they for sale ?


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

haha ye im a male. hmm i know i am really learning a lot by all of this. Next time i will be a lot more prepared.


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2008)

alb you just keep those birds well fed and out of cold drafts and they should do fine  as for the first egg , if it did freeze theres not much you can do about it now but I would think if it did, it would have cracked open when it expanded and the cracks would show


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

alb23m said:


> Ohh and by the way im a he lol. And i live up in North Jersey.


Sorry.........., now I know.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Sorry.........., now I know.


Its cool haha. The male bird is keeping it warm should i bring it in tomorrow morning and keep it warm in side the house? There are no cracks or anything on the egg. It seems to me the male bird is doing a better job at covering it completely then the female.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

alb23m said:


> Its cool haha. The male bird is keeping it warm should i bring it in tomorrow morning and keep it warm in side the house? There are no cracks or anything on the egg. It seems to me the male bird is doing a better job at covering it completely then the female.


I don't think I'd bother it now. Depending on how much sitting has been done, there's a possibilty that the growing process has started and if you take the egg now, it would just die. This time, I'd just leave everything alone and see what happens. Next time you'll know what you should (or rather COULD) do to up the chances of getting two hatchlings.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

NIce birds Highflyer. 

Its a good thing that pigeon is a good dad!


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

Hey highflyeramatur, 

Nice pair indeed! Do your pouters seduce any of them?


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

So then the second egg is due today. Are the parents sitting on the egg or did you pull it?


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## first flight (Apr 15, 2008)

*Congrats!*

AWESOME! ABOUT THE EGG!
GOOD LUCK!

~F.f~


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## first flight (Apr 15, 2008)

*Congrats!*

AWESOME ON THE NEW EGG!

GOOD LUCK!

~F.f~


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## first flight (Apr 15, 2008)

*oops!*

sorry didn't mean to put that twice!

~F.f~


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## Telessa (Dec 22, 2008)

Thanks for all the great information that you all provide.

I am new too this exciting homing pigeon hobby, started with my first young birds all born in 08. They came to their newly but simply build loft in August. After reading the string above, I have to say I am impressed with my homers (not for racing, but for white release).

They must know what they are doing as some of you have dilgently explained. Despite below 30f temps in Central New York, they laid two eggs, the first one came on Dec 3, the second on Dec 5. I was worried about the cold, but I see feral pigeons raising them all winter on concrete parking garage floors in the city I work in. Both of my first babies 9 (squeakers or squawkers?) hatched yesterday, one was there for my am check, then the other was there for the pm check. Despite being young birds, so far they are excellent parents.

Good luck everyone, and thanks for sharing all your great information, it has helped me every step of the way to get started with this hobby since I became interested after finding an injured, un banded homing pigeon on the side of the road, nursing it back to health, then realeasing it to go home (well, I hope it went home!  ).


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## Telessa (Dec 22, 2008)

*oops*

Both of my first babies 9 (squeakers or squawkers?) hatched yesterday, one 

Just want to clarify, I don't have 9 squeakers or squawkers, just 2, not sure what the 9 was doing there....


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Thats great, can we see some pics of your birds. all of us here love see pics of pigeons.

Not to sound mean or anything but you should make a thread to tell everyone that and to, post to pics.  

I got four white homers you can look through my profile and through the albums to see them. 

ALB how are your new four young birds doing?


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Thank you first flight.

They are doing good. I have a camera in there right now recording, so later i can see everything that goes on in there, and maybe find out who really are the male birds and female ones.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Thats really clever. ARe you just really excited for them to hatch now?


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2008)

just for referance sake not sure if you were asking but baby pigeons are called squeakers and thats cuz they squeak when they reach a certain age and dont stop til they are pretty much on their own


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2008)

scott if your birds are still sitting in their box together its only a matter of time before you have eggs too


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

maine123 said:


> Thats really clever. ARe you just really excited for them to hatch now?


Ye im really excited for them to hatch if they do hopefully.

Its not long before he starts a thread with "I got eggs" lol


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

I know, If they have they should have the eggs tomorrow or thursday. Im not completley sure yet. Its pretty exciting.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

alb23m said:


> Ye im really excited for them to hatch if they do hopefully.
> 
> Its not long before he starts a thread with "I got eggs" lol



Yeah, I hope so!  or if it turns out bad the thread will be called something like "egg cracked in the mom pigeon" lol I hope that doesn't happen


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

So there is no second egg. its been 3 days. And im not even sure if this one is even fertile, it has a air bubble, but thats all i can see when i candled it, does this mean its no good?


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

I thought It had been only two days? Wait until the fifth day and then candle it to see if it is fertile, or maybe later than the fifth.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Should i throw it away?










same egg:


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Put the egg back and check it in a few more days. Hasn't been long enough.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

So have they laid the second one yet?

I heard after five days you are supposed to be able to see a red thing in the middle. 
But Im not completely sure.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

By 5 days, you should be able to see veins............if they're there, you can't miss them.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

I knew it was something like that. Thanks


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Check out these pictures. Both eggs were around 6 days old. One is good....the other isn't fertile. Your egg looks like the second picture, but you haven't given the incubation enough time.

http://pigeonchat.forumakers.com/racing-homing-pigeons-f12/first-baby-t600.htm#6155


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

How many days has it been since your pair laid the egg?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

maine123 said:


> How many days has it been since your pair laid the egg?


Who are you asking? The eggs in the pictures aren't mine.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

maine123 said:


> How many days has it been since your pair laid the egg?


Since 8:00pm on the 21st. Lovebirds, what about the second egg, is it normal to only lay one?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

alb23m said:


> Since 8:00pm on the 21st. Lovebirds, what about the second egg, is it normal to only lay one?


Sometimes they will lay just one if they are young or getting older. I had a hen this year........she's a 2000 bird I believe.........and she laid one egg. It wasn't fertile and I threw it out........she has laid another one now and is supposed to lay the second one today. We'll see if she does. If not, then I'm afraid that she may be just about done laying. I'll let you know.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Sometimes they will lay just one if they are young or getting older. I had a hen this year........she's a 2000 bird I believe.........and she laid one egg. It wasn't fertile and I threw it out........she has laid another one now and is supposed to lay the second one today. We'll see if she does. If not, then I'm afraid that she may be just about done laying. I'll let you know.


I see. The band says 2006 on it. So she is not that old.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

alb23m said:


> I see. The band says 2006 on it. So she is not that old.


Well, sometimes they just lay one............don't really know why. I had a couple of breeder hens here and gave them to a new flyer. He called me one day and said that BOTH birds only laid one egg at a time, two different times. They didn't do that when I had them. I can't explain that. Just "stuff" happens I guess........
Any time a hen just lays one egg, just keep an eye on her and make sure she's ok. They can get egg bound........but if that happens, you'll know. She'll look uncomfortable and possibly even loose the use of her legs. Doesn't happen very often, but it CAN happen. If she seems ok, I wouldn't worry about it.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Well, sometimes they just lay one............don't really know why. I had a couple of breeder hens here and gave them to a new flyer. He called me one day and said that BOTH birds only laid one egg at a time, two different times. They didn't do that when I had them. I can't explain that. Just "stuff" happens I guess........
> Any time a hen just lays one egg, just keep an eye on her and make sure she's ok. They can get egg bound........but if that happens, you'll know. She'll look uncomfortable and possibly even loose the use of her legs. Doesn't happen very often, but it CAN happen. If she seems ok, I wouldn't worry about it.


Shes not acting sick or anything, normal i guess. I guess it can be from the change of places.


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## Squab81 (Dec 24, 2008)

I was wondering how prevalent is the practice of candling? I have never really done it, maybe once one out of curiosity to what the interior of the egg looked like. Do you do it more with birds that have had a past of infertilitly or all of your birds?


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

Squab81 said:


> I was wondering how prevalent is the practice of candling? I have never really done it, maybe once one out of curiosity to what the interior of the egg looked like. Do you do it more with birds that have had a past of infertilitly or all of your birds?


I plan on checking all my birds eggs.
It is so I know how many babies to expect.
So I know how many bands I will need for the race season


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## ohiogsp (Feb 24, 2006)

Squab81 said:


> I was wondering how prevalent is the practice of candling? I have never really done it, maybe once one out of curiosity to what the interior of the egg looked like. Do you do it more with birds that have had a past of infertilitly or all of your birds?


I candle all mine cause I don't want to chance the nearly 3 weeks waisted on bad eggs. It only takes 10 days to lay anouther set if they are bad.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

ye i candled the egg everyday for the next 2 days and it was not fertile. Threw it away so now im expecting another very soon.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

How are you four new birds doing alb?


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

maine123 said:


> How are you four new birds doing alb?


well 2 of the 4 have paired up, so now i have 2 pairs. Ill see what happens with the other 2.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Thats excting. Soon will be getting alot of eggs.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Alb when do you get the young fantail you were going to breed?


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Alb how is the second pair doing?


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

those were some cool looking birds.

The fantail i bought my friend has it he has paired it up with his fantail, i will take the babies from it.

and my young pair they are doing well, they seem to go through molting at this point their nest box is filled with feathers. They havent built a nest yet.
Wile my "old" pair they have built their nest so eggs in a couple of days.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

How's those pairs of yours doing alb?


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Hello, since my last pair of eggs i now got 2 fertile 
Plus i got a fantail today check it out.




























I didnt know they were so calm. I can pick it up and it will just stay on my hand or shoulder. It is soo clean that i dont want to put it in the loft and get it self dirty, so im keeping it in my gym room for a couple of nights. 
Is this an American fantail? from the pic can you tell if its male or female?
This bird by the way is a rescued pigeon, i had no intentions of buying a fantail until i saw the ad on craigslist.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Very nice fantail.  it kind of makes me want to get one now. It does look very tame! is that the one the guy breed for you or is that the one you ordered? It's looken good.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

maine123 said:


> Very nice fantail.  it kind of makes me want to get one now. It does look very tame! is that the one the guy breed for you or is that the one you ordered? It's looken good.


no this is from a women that saves birds and she had put up a ad on craigslist trying to find a home for it. So i took it.


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

That is one beautiful fantail. Did that bird just finished exercising with those heavy weights?


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

When do you get that one, that the guy was breeding for you. If those two are opposite genders you could be seeing some fantail young in your loft


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

RodSD said:


> That is one beautiful fantail. Did that bird just finished exercising with those heavy weights?


yea, it was posing after it was done working out. Its a show off


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

maine123 said:


> When do you get that one, that the guy was breeding for you. If those two are opposite genders you could be seeing some fantail young in your loft


i got this one tonight, my friend has his mated up already, he said he will give me their young ones. Im just gonna get another one just so it can pair up... i dont really want more fantails mixing up with the homers.

Im just mad that the wings are clipped, the thing cant fly at all. They should of just clipped some feathers just so it wont fly away, instead all are clipped.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

. When do you get your other fantail?


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

maine123 said:


> . When do you get your other fantail?


whenever the eggs come


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

sounds exciting


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

hi, i have bad news. Someone wile i was at work had opened the door to my birds and 2 had escaped, or stolen? 2 homer cocks. the hen with the 2 eggs was still there. My question is, will she take care of the eggs without the cock? The eggs are about 1 week old. Or will she give up on them? if the cock was not stolen is there any chance it will come back?


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## irishsyndicate (Sep 19, 2008)

Maybe they were not stolen - and hopefully they are back at your friend's loft where they were raised?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

alb23m said:


> hi, i have bad news. Someone wile i was at work had opened the door to my birds and 2 had escaped, or stolen? 2 homer cocks. the hen with the 2 eggs was still there. My question is, will she take care of the eggs without the cock? The eggs are about 1 week old. Or will she give up on them? if the cock was not stolen is there any chance it will come back?


I would check the pre owner the cock bird may go back there. It would be hard for her to raise the babies alone, so see if you can get the male bird back and go from there.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Im sorry to hear that your birds were stolen/lost. maybe they will come back. checking the previous owner would be a good idea. I hope to hear better news soon. but you should probably put a lock on your loft. Im really sorry to hear that your birds were lost though.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

The bird has not gone back to the prev owner, and he has raised the cock since birth. I just dont want her to give up on the eggs and kick them out the nest.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

You could hand raise them, which i heard is hard. how many pigeons do you have left, besides her. i wouldn't think this would be a robber, because they left her there. or at least he had a little heart.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

maine123 said:


> You could hand raise them, which i heard is hard. how many pigeons do you have left, besides her. i wouldn't think this would be a robber, because they left her there. or at least he had a little heart.


i have 3 left. Ill put a lock, tomorrow.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

alb23m said:


> i have 3 left. Ill put a lock, tomorrow.


I would give it a few days, ask the pre owner to call you if he shows up..you never know, she may beable to do it herself with suppliments from you, lets see if they hatch first....good luck!


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

spirit wings said:


> I would give it a few days, ask the pre owner to call you if he shows up..you never know, she may beable to do it herself with suppliments from you, lets see if they hatch first....good luck!


ye i did. i just dont want her to abandon the eggs. she has all the feed and fresh water she needs right there an inch from her lol i will help her but it will be hard i am very very busy with work and school now again.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

well i hope she can do it. its going to be crazy for you and her, but if it works, good for you and your pigeon. but i do hope that those pigeons come back, or they return to previous owner so you can get them back.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

alb23m said:


> ye i did. i just dont want her to abandon the eggs. she has all the feed and fresh water she needs right there an inch from her lol i will help her but it will be hard i am very very busy with work and school now again.


Maybe you could just supplement her feedings, if she does stay on the eggs, and does feed them. I raised 6 at once, but 4 of them were about 3 weeks, and 2 were only about 2 days old. I didn't find it that hard, but the hours in my job go up and down, and I didn't have school. It would be hard for her to do it by herself. Don't give up, he may still show up.


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## alb23m (Nov 30, 2008)

Jay3 said:


> Maybe you could just supplement her feedings, if she does stay on the eggs, and does feed them. I raised 6 at once, but 4 of them were about 3 weeks, and 2 were only about 2 days old. I didn't find it that hard, but the hours in my job go up and down, and I didn't have school. It would be hard for her to do it by herself. Don't give up, he may still show up.


ye she seems like a good hen. she has sat on the eggs for a little over a week and wile the cock was still there, i only saw him sit on the eggs maybe 2 times and it was only for a couple of hours.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

alb23m said:


> ye she seems like a good hen. she has sat on the eggs for a little over a week and wile the cock was still there, i only saw him sit on the eggs maybe 2 times and it was only for a couple of hours.


If she has only been on them a bit over a week and you don't have alot of time to help with babies, you may want to toss the eggs and give her some wooden ones....it's a tuff call, so it's up to you.....


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