# Homer/English carrier



## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

I had a racing hen cross with a English carrier so have two babies from them that I have added to my YBs i am taking out on tosses. Has anyone ever tossed this cross before? I am not expecting a lot from them but I haven't lost them yet and they are out to 10 miles.


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## Rod Hultquist (Aug 23, 2009)

Sounds interesting Jason. Keep us informed as to their progress.


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## sev3ns0uls (Jul 2, 2011)

The homing pigeons today do have some English carrier in their blood. I think its is where the homing ability originated from.

Say i have a 2 birds homing x satinette and they still come home from a 25miles toss but that was because they are flying with the flock. I haven't try tossing them alone because its too risky.


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## Nkloft (Jan 24, 2011)

Would you please post some pictures of the Cross. Would love to see them


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

sev3ns0uls said:


> The homing pigeons today do have some English carrier in their blood. I think its is where the homing ability originated from.
> 
> Say i have a 2 birds homing x satinette and they still come home from a 25miles toss but that was because they are flying with the flock. I haven't try tossing them alone because its too risky.


I believe all pigeons have some degree of homing ability. It may not be as fine tuned as homers but its there because if rock doves didn't have it we could have never selectively bred for it. Since all domestic breeds originated from rock doves theoretically they all "could" home to some degree. We have selectively bred some of them to extremes which limit their flying ability. I have had rollers return from over 70 miles away and had never been tossed once in their life just free flown from my loft. After being sold, they came home a few weeks later. I would think that your satinette x's could home by themselves from 25 miles out if they have flown the route before. I will eventually toss them by themselves. if I keep these bird I will cross them back to a carrier. 



Nkloft said:


> Would you please post some pictures of the Cross. Would love to see them



I'll try to get some tomorrow. There is no mistaking they have carrier in them when you see them.


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

Ofcourse all pigeons have a homing ability, that's what brings them back to their loft each day.

You will get varied results from the young, some may go to 100 miles or more, some may get lost on the first toss but the losses will be higher than using race homers.

I crossed carrier to my racers to get brown in them and I have an f1, I plan to toss the young so I will update this thread once the time comes.


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

In develoing the english Strains of racing birds The carrier was used. NOW this was many years ago. As the carrier went on to be used more for a show bird. But I would think the carriers would still have a certion level of homing ability. And as the line goes on old style race birds The birds would be a slower based type As many of the old line birds were slower but dependable.. So they may get home from a distance as long as they still have some kind of decent homing abilty left


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

I didn't get time for pictures today, hopefully tomorrow.


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

These two are the older 2 that have been flying. 



















This is a younger one who just left the nest box about a week ago. The pair is now sitting on pure carrier eggs as foster parents. 










Both of the cross birds with a homer in between. The bird to the left I assume is a cock and it very long like a carrier. The one to the right is much smaller. Hard to tell from the pic.


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)




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## sev3ns0uls (Jul 2, 2011)

shorty2 said:


> J
> sev3ns0uls - do you have any pictures of that homer x satinette ?


right here










This is them at 3 months old. Unfortunatly the red one got kill by raccoon during a incident 3 weeks ago. But her sister, The bronze bar one is still alive and well.


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

I was surprised how much the carrier showed through on the cross. So far they have only been tossed with homers not by themselves or alone. I have an extra English carrier hen so I want to keep one of the two larger ones to breed back to her if they end up being cocks. These birds show a lot of carrier characteristics in their behavior too. My pure English carriers fly a lot higher then the homers and like to dive but its hard to get their lazy butts to stay up more then 5-10 minutes. I can see some of those flying traits in these two birds as well. They kit with the homers but like to do dives and spins more frequently. They are also more flighty and spazzy then the homers. My carriers are stupid spazzes. I can pick my homers up off the perch to load them up, they are smart and learn easily. These two idiots freak out and make the whole loft get riled up so I started basketing them at night. My purebred carriers are hawk candy. They just sit and wait to get eaten, don't even bother to move hardly. It will be interesting to see what these two do when the goshawks show up this winter.

I can see a little magpie in your bird. I used to keep them as well. I wish I had more lofts so I could have all the breeds I want.


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## sev3ns0uls (Jul 2, 2011)

shorty2 said:


> sev3ns0uls - You got to keep some of the short face, very pretty birds, but the other cosmetics look like they got washed out with the racer blood. Are you going to keep working to get a homer with all the cool satinette looks?
> 
> Here is my racer x magpie cross. I got to keep some of the magpie beak, a little bit of upright walking, but the rest of the cosmetics were washed out with from the racer side.


Yes, the santinette trait are still there with this 1st generation. They both are smaller size and shorter beak and feather foot (bell-bottom feet). The red one dont have the frill but the bronze bar one does have the frill on the chest. Unfortunately both are hen and not cock was produced. 

Yes, i did crossed both of them one back to a racer cock. The funny thing is that them two sister paired up and took interest in the dominate cock. The cock already have a mate but mouth them as he desire. Although the cock never help incubate or feed but its alright because both of the sister took care of everything. I will show picture off the offspring later. Yes this 2nd generation do still have the satinette trait. Both are still smaller size with bell-bottom feather feet but now have a longer beak and the no frill. 

Oh your magpie x homer is very interesting.


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## sev3ns0uls (Jul 2, 2011)

here they are.



















As of now, the cock paired up with the bronze bar hen. They produced a Bronze Checker but it was kill during the raccoon incident.


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## sev3ns0uls (Jul 2, 2011)

here are bigger picture of the offspring. 

Nestmate. 


























*The white grizzle here is their half brother. He is a full homer. He is the offspring of the blue check cock real mate.*


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## sev3ns0uls (Jul 2, 2011)

Im not sure yet. since these youngster are only 3 months old, im thinking that maybe next year i will intro a satinetti and cross them back to have a little more of the satinetti trait and maintain the homing ability.


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

This morning I tossed 3 homers and the 2 crosses only one homer came back before I left for work. Not sure what happened but I anxious for this shift to get over to see if any more came back. Yesterday they did two 20 mile tosses and I only went out to 10 today.


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

The other two homers are back in the loft with no sign of the carrier crosses. I guess this will be a test of their homing ability since they have no homers to follow. I hope they show up tomorrow I have a feeling that a hawk attacked because they always came in as a group from tosses.


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## JasoninMN (Nov 5, 2005)

One of the crosses came back this morning, the other is still MIA.


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## fadedracer (Jul 8, 2011)

had a pure roller that could do 30 miles solo no problem. He was my dropper turned homer lol. single tossed him from 30 and he did it no problem. Just think about it. 10 miles not that far. just got to rember how to get home and they can keep coming the same way.


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## Creek13 (May 21, 2012)

Last year i raced a half homer half german owl. He flew two 150s, one 250 and then i lost him on a smash 300. He was an accident that i allowed to hatch. I still have the parents but havent allowed anymore matings.


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## Creek13 (May 21, 2012)

I dont have a picture of the bird. He was a little smaller than a homer, short beak, and long flights. The owl parent is plain head so there was no crest. He looked very similar to sevensouls satinette crosses. The owl parent is still being used as a dropper.


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## Creek13 (May 21, 2012)

He was consistent, always on the day, but never placed high.


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