Yay Silkie! I'm a bit late on the congrats with the time zones and all, but I'm SO glad that they arrived healthy and plump! hehe
Can't wait to see pictures!
i got pigeons comeing too!!!
thanks, me to i was so very worried. i have been playing with them off and on all day. they r so big u can only hold one at a time,lol. their wings r about 18-24" long when opened and tails about 12" or so. i'm actually surprised how nice sized they r they look in pics about 3 times smaller so they must have been younger in the pics.
i'm gonna see if i can find my cam and take a bunch of pics of them cuz we have to go to town later. that way i can unload my sd card onto a disk so i can use the disk to post pics for ya all. i got inishiated as mom already by 2 of them,lol. i got to hear cooing too. it sounds like the pug play growling, rotfl. i thought it was misty wanting to go out and couldn't figure it out and here it was them when i walked past.
i forgot i had a cam phone and i can email pix!!! pix r comeing up.
this is the dun girl in the sec pic above. i had to take pics in the bathroom with my cell cuz needed bright light,lol. some will be mirrored images since in front of my giant mirror.
here is a little bit better pic of here. she has some long beautiful foot feathers!!
OHHH! She's just SO cute! I'm feeling a bit of a fever come on... I better go lie down before I do something I shouldn't on eggbid. HA!
Big Ruffly birds! Cool! Very prettiful! O I so want to pet one.
sorry had to go to town. here is the rest of the pics. this is the blue boy he is her mate.
this is the black girl. oh u all got to help me name these guys too!! i only got 4 it doesn't seem right calling them colors they need a name!!
You could name the black boy "Slick" as in Oil Slick, because that's what I'm seeing in that picture! Just gorgeous... dangit, have to go lay down again!
this is the black girls mate and he is the almond.
this is a pic of my dom with the almond boy to give u an idea how big their wing span is. actually the almond looks like he has jade color in feathers and the other 3 have a beautiful greeen, pink/purple sheen to them.
dom ... what's that? darling old man? ;-)
btw: I laughed myself to sleep. most of my day is spent talking in acronyms and it doesn't always stop here, with DH, DD, DS, EOG..., RIR, etc..., so when I saw dom, I figured it stood for something.
As I was snuggling into bed I realized what a complete idiot I was in not realizing that was probably an abbreviation for dominique? ha!
rotfl, yep it is short for dominic he is my 12 year old and oldest son of 5 kid's. i shorten alot too,lol it drives people crazy but i'm used to texting on my cell so it is so much easier to do. i try not to do it online but i still do some.
well all my babies r now named!! since they r my little jems,lol i have named them onyx for the black girl and alexandrite for the dun girl. boys i named malachite for the almond one and topaz for the blue one.
pics for harmony. it is dark in here for my cell phone but here is some pics to show u how we set our pidges up. it was to big to show in one pic. this is the top pen it is 2 in 1 and doors slide to left on both. we built it out of osb to help keep the poop in so not messy like the tiels can be. each pen is 2ft x 2ft x 2ft. i have not painted the outside of it yet but will when i get that far.
Very nice thanks for the pics and the size is perfect for breeding.
the pics r not loading let me see if the others will upload. they each have a big purch and a ladder.
This message was edited Nov 8, 2008 8:28 PM
they have big food and water dishes in front u can see the food one by the bottom of the ladder. in the back i put in 8qrt fruit baskets for a nest so both can fit to share the rearing of the babies. i got pine on bottom of the floors and then nest has paper shreds and pine chips also. they sit on the handle of the basket and can perch on side of basket also.
i was hopeing they were big enough cause we had no idea or plans how to do them. i hope i did everything good, they seam to like it and onyx sits in her nest already. will they play with toys orbird seed bells if i get them some thing to play and treats?
i want to put lights in there too will they chew on cords or anything like that? what kind a bulb would be good but not get to hot for them?
They may enjoy the seed bells and i don't know about heat i was told they don't need heat as long as they are out of the cold wind.
Of course whatever makes you feel comfortable i always say to people it's your bird if you want to sleep with it by all means do it.
The babys will get real attached to you mine do and they will climb the wire when they see you comeing. I don't do alot of petting as i sell mine and don't want to get to attached but you can teach them alot like sitting on your shoulder.
Mine trust me without any fear i can pick babys up from day one because my older birds trust i won't hurt their babys.
Here is my last baby named Peace you can see i'm holding him and he could fly at anytime but he won't because i have been holding and petting him since the day he hatched.
to cute love it!!! no not for heat for lighting so they have a balance for egg cycleing since it is dark in the pens. so far malachite and lexi i can hold, they will sit on my shoulder and my chest and watch tv for long periods of time. sometimes they snuggle up to my neck and just sit there. i'm teaching them when i go up under their chest and tap them they know to walk up onto my hand. also i tell them home when i open the cage and they just go inside.
i figured work with 2 first more till the other 2 ones get used to seeing and hearing me. these 4 will be for pets so i don't care they r spoiled. malachite seams to be the most trusting of them all so far. i got tired of getting pooped on so i made a dang flightsuit, rotfl. it works great but took us about 10 designs to get it right. it is blue rose fabric it looks so nice on them and works perfect. mal looks a little funny in roses since he is a boy but he thought it was neat as heck,lol. tomarrow i'll hand stitch him spiderman or something so he looks a little more manly when out to play. works great and doesn't restrict them and they can fly now without makeing a mess, makes it so much easier to work with them at hand tameing.
silkie,
I just love the names. I'm dying to see a picture of this flight suit... how hilarious! Sounds like they are getting used to you pretty quick. Also, just curious... where is their pen you just built, in the house?
If it's dark in the pens during daylight hours just a bulb with a watt to satisfy the proper lighting amount is what you need.
For light in my Diamonds cage i used the cord out of one of my christmas village house's and put a 15 watt candlabra bulb in it.
But i would turn them off at dusk to allow them to roost mine eat a crop full of seed and go to roost just before dark.
thank you, lol i will try to get a pic of one in it. i need to make onyx a smaller one. it works temp but i want to make some a tad different with velcrow, this one is elastic to hold it on. yes,lol they came from tx and i think it is to cold this year for them to be out since they r used to warmer climate.
k i was thinking that too just light for daytime cuz most birds depend on daylight and temp to lay. i think it is about 14 hours a day daylight. i thought either like night light or 40 wtt bulb size.
That sounds like enough light i hope they lay for you soon have they been dancin for you yet?
they all have been cooing or a weird like low deep bull frog noise,lol. specially after light goes out. mike says they sound like a cat hacking a hairball, rotfl. i have seen them dance around a little shuffle for the girls and bow to them like how my roos do to show off for the hens. one of the boys keeps his girl inline and if she gets between him and i he will bump her chest and make a different call at her. she will then go behind him so he is in front so he must be protective of her. just like he tells her what to do it's kinda funny.
the girls only talk to me when i am holding them or picking them up usually u don't hear from them. well top pair the boy topaz has been sitting in the nest alot today but nothing yet. i had to laugh yesterday mike checked a nest and one of them wing splapped him,rotfl. they have not done that to me yet so it must be they like me. i want them to know they can totally trust me just like my hens in my flock do. he doesn't play with them everyday but i do so i think that is why cause they know me not him.
The growling noise is the male calling the female to the nest when she is ready she will go sit with him and flutter her wings.
When he coo's and twirls around you will notice she will be nodding as if to say i see ya and hear ya too.
The wing slapping is a scare tactic and they do it to me and they will bite sometimes when they do this i respect them and let them be.
The mateing will be and odvious thing i won't explain it and ruin it for you it's better as a suprise and you will be suprised.
u r right!! he has been doing it the last 2 days and i see it is topaz who is doing it and he is in the nest calling her. she is sitting perched on side of nest but hasn't joined him yet. i didn't realize they were doing mateing calls, that is to awesome!!!
when the tiels do that my girls flash their wings at them upside down from the perch and boys will sing in their ears loud. the girls will ignore them,rotfl. they do this eritateing high pitch call and head nobbing thing to and some others,lol.
yes, i knew it ment leave me alone,lol that's what i told him. i've seen my tiels breed, they sound like a squeeky wheel. they r a hoot to see breed so i can only imagine,lol. i can't believe i was so dumb i didn't know he is wanting to mate. i'm so tickled u told me!! how long do they mate before an egg can be laid? tiels it is like a week then the first egg then every other day they mate and lay usually till 4- 6 eggs. pigeons is 2 eggs right? it's laid like a day apart? i think i'm gonna start a journal so i don't forget all the details i learn as i go.
RE: light.
I have a 15 watt fish tank light in my girls hen house. I'm not concerned about temperature, just light. So I thought that would work well. :-)
Pigeons will mate more than once and it takes about a week for them to lay 1 egg and then 1 to 2 days for the second one. Some sit on the first egg but others wait on the second before they sit and they both sit at different times. They hatch in 18 days and are fed crop milk within the first hour of hatch and one of the adults is always on the nest for the first few days.
They will feed more and more seed as they grow and thier crop should be very full after a feeding.
The male takes over the feeding chore as they get older and around 5 weeks she is thinking of new eggs.
Sometimes one chick is bigger than the other and will take most of the feed and push the smaller one out you can put in a second nest and seperate them or if it's feathered put one on the bottom of the cage the male will feed both.
Pigeons have been known to lay eggs in the nest with young birds and let them brood them and females wanting to lay will sometimes push older babies out of the nest.
If this happens just put in another nest for the babys and the male will continue to feed them.
I'm so excited. It sounds like there are gonna be baby ruffly pigeons soon!!!!
well here is an update, topaz and alex r still shareing a nest but no eggies yet and he still calls to her now and then when she ignores him,lol. they r now always sitting together for the most pat weather, nest, perch or floor bottom.
onyx and mal r just roost buddies for the moment,lol.
the post office screwed up shipping them. they garonteed next day delivery by 3pm express mail and they didn't get here till the next day. so the postal service has to refund the full $47+ i paid to have the 4 shipped here since they didn't adhear to their own policy.
so the breeder has agreed since she had more cuties available and i asked, that she would take the refund to cover cost of shipping and box and i pay the difference and i got a red/white pair comeing that she will either ship tomarrow or next week. so i got 2 more sweethearts comeing to spoil and can't wait!!! she has totally been awesome through everything and very helpful with info.
found out mal is an almond which is a rare color that is sexlinked. if he has babies he can thow almonds in boys and girls but if he has daughters who r almonds all their off spring almonds can only be boys.
these r pics from the breeder again of the new birds she will be sending. this is the red/white female.
and this is the male also. i'm so excited!!!! i can't wait for them to get here too or to have babies someday!!!
Smart ruffly babe, playing hard to get tee hee. I can't believe that tru luv is happening when they are still settling in. That is SO exciting about the postal mishap. Here they say 'o well'. Privatization sigh. HUH on the almond babies? A boy can make boys and girls? A girl can only make boys? Does that mean in this case you would covet only boy birds? WELL that will get the chicken folks all aflutter now won't it?
i know i'm surprised love is in the air already too!!
i believe since i have a boy he can produce boys and girls that r almonds if i understood her right but when his daughters grow up if they r almonds also they can only throw male almond offspring the girls would be normal colored.
sooooooooo you would want to keep the boys right? cuz that would be the best odds for continual almond ruffly birds. ok chicken folks is this afluttery thing or what?
Silkie, check out( Purebreadpigeon.com) a magazine well worth the money, (www.foyspigeonsupplies.com) ask them for a (free) catalog, lots of good info on care & feeding. If you live anywhere near Reading or Lancaster, they a large pigeon show every year, they have a "for sale" section where you can buy good birds directly from the breeder for as little as $10 to $20 ea. that's the National Pigeon Asso. they can tell you where the nearest pigeon club & breeder is to you.
John