My breeding
As I mentioned in my introduction, I got my first pigeon pair in 1988, and since then I have become a King enthusiast.
At the beginning I used nest-boxes with limited success.
It is a well-known fact that King is the most aggressive species among pigeons. The older birds used to beat up the babies, when they flew or fell out from the nest-boxes. Furthermore, a few dominant cocks always wanted to rule all the nests, and these birds often pushed the other cocks off the hens’ back when they tried to mate. Consequently the pigeons were unable to mate normally in this breeding system, the pigeons often got injured, and I could raise only a few offsprings in a season.
In order to solve these problems, I decided to rebuild my lofts in 2001. I’ve started to breed in a new system, where pairs can mate and breed their offsprings separately.
In one of my lofts I breed 5 pairs, each in a 1,2 x 4,5 m size place,
in the other loft I have 4 pairs, each lives in a 0,9 x 2,5 m size place in the breeding season.
In this system I can follow which pigeons carry the right genes, because there is no chance for a bird to mate with others except the chosen pair.
This way, we can track back the characteristics of our stock for generations, and we know exactly how to mate the pigeons in order to get the best results.
In this system breeding is more effective. The pigeons are relaxed, there’s plenty of room for the babies to leave the nest and eat unmolested.
I match my couples at the end of January, after they received the proper medicaments, anti-parasite treatments, and the very necessary vitamins. The proper vitamins increase the vitality of the pigeons, the fertility of the eggs, the hatching, and help to avoid chick weekness.
I breed 9 pairs, they nest 40 babies a year, and raise them easily. I do not keep feeding pigeons, I am more than satisfied with my Kings. Quality breeding is more important to me than high quantities
The baby pigeons start to taste the food when they are 3-3.5 weeks old, and their parents support them with enough food as well.
When they reach 4.5 weeks, I separate them, and the next nest of baby pigeons hatch.The separated pigeons are taken to the juvenile loft, which is divided into two parts, so the freshly arrived pigeons remain undisturbed from the older ones.
I separate my pairs in the middle of August, so they have enough time to moult before the show season begins. They do not need to raise the baby pigeons, so they can save energy to themselves. During this time they get the vaccination, so my pigeons build proper immunity by the time the shows start. Thus the risk of getting infected with the two most dangerous illnesses (Paramyxo, Paratyphus) is reduced to a minimum level. Due to their strengthened immune system, less medication works with high efficiency in case of an illness.
Finally I wish all my breeder friends a successful breeding season!