Wouldn`t You Love To Have A Homing Pigeon?

A Homing Pigeon and a Carrier Pigeon are the same bird. They are descendants of the Rock Dove. These birds have been selectively bred to be able to find their way home over extremely long distances, BUT, these birds already have the innate ability to return to their home nest and their mate.

Training  a homing pigeon usually starts at 2 months of age. They are released a short distance from their loft to begin with and as the pigeon returns home, each time it is released from a little farther distance.

Carrier pigeons were used to carry messages and were used in World War One and Two and the Korean War. They were a huge asset to the defense program.

Homing pigeons are a slate blue color, with the neck and wings of the bird being iridescent shades of yellow, purple, and green. Most times, the males will have more iridescent coloration than the females. They have a dark gray-blue line across their tails and two dark bars over their wings. They have a grayish-pink bill. They can be recognized by their walk because they "bob" their heads. In the wild, they nest in rock cliffs, barns, and other buildings.

It is not known exactly how they know how to find their way home, but some researchers  suggest that the mineral, magnetite, that has been found in their beaks, is used as a sort of bird compass.

Some pigeons don`t make it back to their nest because of storms, different magnetic fields in the earth, sickness or injury.

Check your local feed store to see if they carry a good quality feed for them and provide a clean, secure, coop, and  clean water. Make sure they are safe from predators.