Anon who asked the question about training here, I would love to see the step by step breakdown/growth chart, if you don't mind!
Sure! We're going to follow Vynni's development, since he's close to the average pigeon.
This was hatch day. That thick, golden fuzz is typical of ash reds like him, but it doesn't insulate him at all. He is completely dependent on a parent for warmth, and is getting pure crop milk. Hatchlings freeze quickly, but dehydrate just as fast!
To bond with a hatchling, hold gently, but briefly. A minute or two at a time.
Parents are defensive and may take angry snaps at you when you remove the baby, so I reached a flat hand under Miss Money Penny and curled my fingers gently around Vynni to shield him from the angry bites his mother may have aimed at me while moving him to the open palm of the other hand.
Light touches under the setting parent are fine, if the parent is comfortable enough with you not to feel defensive.
One week old Vynni is just beginning to grow in the tips of his flights. At this point, his parents are still feeding him almost exclusively on crop milk, but their production starts to wane on day 10. At this size, they can maintain their own body heat for a little longer, but without a nest mate or a parent, they will still chill and dehydrate very quickly, we're just talking a one to three hour time frame instead of the hatchlings' less-than-an-hour time frame.
Cradle the peep close, supported in one palm and covered by the other. They find the weight and warmth of a gently cupped hand similarly soothing to being tucked under their parents' brood skirts.
This is the best time to get them used to health checks and "I need/let me", "Ok, we're done."
"I need to see your wing." For example, while gently lifting it just long enough to get a good look, followed by "Ok. We're done/that's all. Good bird/job!" Gets them used to things you will need to do later to keep an eye on their well-being and introduces the concept of communicating to them what you are going to do.
Everything else is built from this foundation.
Two week old Vynni is well enough feathered to insulate himself.
Parents stop sitting at this point, partly because the nestling can keep warm on his own, but also because he needs so much more food!
But both will still visit frequently to feed a mix of about half crop milk and half seed.
Crop milk production decreases sharply by the day from here.
They are not very mobile yet, and still like to be cradled.
Their parents won't do it so often anymore, but they would still normally be in a cuddle puddle with their sibling, and find close contact soothing.
They can easily hold their eyes open at this point, and their vision is much better, so It's a good time to start naming the things you see them looking at.
This is when mine will start getting used to the feel of a practice harness. They can't walk yet, so just put it on and sit comfortably with them.
Three week old Vynni is feathered and just beginning to stand and toddle, but isn't developed enough yet to walk very far, let alone attempt flight.
Crop milk is no longer being produced. Both parents are feeding straight seed at this stage.
Because they can maintain their body temperature, you don't have to be as careful about how long you hold them anymore.
They're a little more mobile at this point, but couldn't leave the nest on their own, so they are very curious to see new things from the safety of your hands.
This is a good time to start carrying them to different rooms and naming places for them by telling them where you are going. This is a good opportunity to get them used to walking on the harness by setting them down and letting them toddle. I plan to associate the harness with getting to leave the loft and have an exploring adventure.
Watch their face, and only continue as long as the peep is actively engaged in looking at new things: Neck stretching (as Vynni models above), head tilt, or turning their head to keep something interesting in view.
When that stops, let them rest. They still tire very easily, and you need bonding and learning to be positive experiences they want to continue.
Four week old Vynni is very close to weaning.
His parents are getting ready for the next round, so Mom has stopped feeding almost entirely.
Dad does the bulk of it now, and he's feeding less and less frequently.
This is the age that babies start trying to flutter and explore near the nest.
They can fly well enough to cushion a fall, but not well enough to get back off the ground, so you will see the young of well fed pet or loft birds come down at this age to start learning from their dad to feed themselves, but ferals take another full week to leave the nest.
Note the completely bare nares with the first tips of secondary facial contour feathers just coming in. This is the only time their mouth will look so uniformly bald.
They are just developing mobility at this age, so you can start describing their own actions to them, naming the objects they are interacting with, and the interaction itself.
Now that they can toddle is the best time to give them the framework to answer yes or no questions.
Start with "Want me to/can I pet/preen/touch you?" Because chances of them wanting that at this age are still pretty high.
If the peep stays still, turns to face you, or moves closer, say "Yes? Ok." And pet the back of their little necks or hold them gently close with your palm covering the wing shield further away from you.
If they turn their back or start to toddle away, say "No? Ok. I won't."
If they shuffle away while you are petting, withdraw your hand a little way and say "No? I'm sorry."
Yes, the peep most likely got distracted and isn't trying to get away, but this introduces a simple framework: You are trying to communicate with them.
"Yes" means you will do a thing. "No" means that you will not. "I'm sorry" means, in this context, that you misinterpreted what they wanted.
It is vitally important to introduce them to the concept of misinterpreting what they wanted!
Otherwise, they will think you disregarded what they want, and that distinction is the difference between maintaining willingness to try to communicate again next time and building up towards refusing to cooperate with an ass hole.
Remember, flock members vote on everything they do together. Individuals are instinctually hard wired to expect a say, and to refuse to cooperate with a flockmate that refuses to at least compromise.
Pigeons are extremely socially intelligent. They latch onto frameworks and pick up on context very quickly!
And from this, you can branch out to asking if they want other things that will help flesh out that framework and give them more context.
Watch what foods they eat first. As they grow more adept at self feeding, offer their favorite between thumb and forefinger and ask "Do you want a treat?"
You can solidify "yes" as confirming a thing they want by saying "Yes?" As they lean forward and "here you go/you can have it" when they take it, or attempt to.
You can similarly solidify "no" as confirming that they do not want that by saying "No? Ok." And withdrawing the offered treat as they turn away or leave.
This is the most important communication to teach your pigeon. They can learn at any age, but this is when it's easiest for them to start picking up and applying.
This is also a good time to start instruction vs request.
"Let me see your wing" vs. "Can I pet you?"
A good rule of thumb for communication training from this point on: If you can't let the bird say no, or give them a choice in how to do something that needs to be done, don't ask.
Tell them "I need to x", talk them all the way through it, let them go and praise them when you're done.
5 week old Vynni is fully weaned and flight capable.
Weanlings are no longer allowed in their parents' nest, but they are allowed to roost nearby, and will be joined there by other just-weaning babies.
A five week old is fully self feeding, but still learning from their Dad and under some degree of his protection from the rest of the flock. (That Lucerne is his father, Luca, whose mouth is still stained from feeding him.)
They are not skilled fliers at this age, and lack the stamina for long foraging trips, but Dad will carefully keep a pace they can follow and lead them out on field trips.
They will follow him everywhere, eat beside him, drink beside him, and observe how he interacts with the rest of the flock.
Babies socialized in human care will be extra curious and clingy! Encourage that curiosity!
You can make a game of showing them and describing new things, and they will love it, as long as they are monitored well enough to be allowed to rest when they get tired to prevent them from getting overwhelmed.
6 weeks of age is when life gets... interesting... for weaned pigeons.
At this point, they are fully feathered, fully flighted, and strong enough to just about keep pace with the adults.
Dad is no longer willing to feed them at all if they beg, nor will he shelter them from their flockmates anymore.
This is where they start applying what they learned, which is, initially, to balance getting what ever food they can with respecting the personal space of birds higher ranked than they are.
Personal space is a status symbol in male pigeons. The more birds move out of a cock's way on arrival and the faster they do it, the higher his status with in his flock.
And they will harshly punish lower ranking birds for not getting out of their way fast enough!
For weanling pigeons, week six is spent getting the lesson hammered in that they are at the rock bottom of the flock hierarchy!
Yes, their own father and mother will hammer this home too, if the 6 week old approaches them!
The parents are usually the *most* aggressive about it, because they are usually already starting to try for their next clutch, and may already have a new egg.
This is so ingrained that even hand reared pigeons will become instinctively nervous around anything they consider a higher ranking flock mate, usually right at 6 or 7 weeks, startling or fleeing at the drop of a hat, after having been so snuggly and affectionate leading up to it.
I call this the "Hazing Phase" of development, and depending on breed, it can last the next three to six weeks.
Many care takers are distressed by this and think they did something to damage their bond with out realizing.
Be patient. Try not to chase the baby if you can avoid it.
Spend lots of quiet time together, and let them come investigate and reaffirm their bond with you on their own terms as much as you can.
Talking them through everything gives them a frame work for learning what you are likely to do, and once they know that, it will make them feel more secure.
Initial vaccines administered at 6 weeks will be the first bad experience my babies will have, and the frame work of "I need to x." vs. "Can I x?" that we started building when the baby was a week old will be put to the test here.
"I need to give you shots." as I pick up baby, and as I arrange them into show hold: "Gonna hold you still, so it doesn't hurt." As I expose the injection site and pick up the syringe: "Quick little bug bite. You need to be still." As soon as the first dose is injected: "Good job! I know it was scary."
"One more." as I prep the other site. "Quick little bug bite!" "All done! You can go now."
This amount of detail is absolutely vital!
Remember, you are teaching an individual with the pattern mapping intelligence of a human child to understand your spoken language.
Detail is their friend!
A 7 week old is generally at their *most* instinctively skittish!
That's when they are the most caught up in the Hazing phase, and when they are striving their absolute hardest to master quick dodges and getaways!
Keep talking them through everything. Flesh out that framework.
Your job is to be a comfortable, safe presence, so try to relax when they spook, speak gently, and keep helping them build that frame work for understanding and predicting you.
At 8 weeks old, a young pigeon has a pretty solid idea of their own reaction time, and feels a bit more confident in their ability to predict and navigate the world around them.
They will usually still be very prone to startling, but you will usually see that begin to ease back off in either more mellow or more intelligent breeds.
At 9 weeks old, a young pigeon is confident in their reaction time, maneuverability, and understanding of the world around them. For very mellow or highly intelligent breeds, this is when the Hazing Phase ends.
They know how to navigate among the adults, and are beginning to work out their place in the sub hierarchy of their peers.
Care takers will see a pet bird's hyperactive startle response start to fade away as suddenly as it seemed to come on.
This is when vaccine boosters are administered, and young birds can be considered fully protected from PMV and Paratyphoid.
So this is when our young birds will start having training sessions in public.
At 10 weeks old, babies are pretty much fully grown, just not sexually mature yet.
This is about the time they will start to push back against the established adult hierarchy to see if they are a match for any one on the lower end.
You will start to see some back sass and boundary pushing if you have a close relationship.
Take it in stride and be consistent about your handling, boundaries, and communication.
An 11 week old usually has their place among their peers pretty firmly established.
The attempts to gain status among the youngest birds older than them will continue, and so will boundary pushing and rules lawyering with a human care taker.
12 weeks. Welcome to your pigeon's preteens!
In a feral flock, birds this age are starting to perfect their foraging, navigation, and cooperative communication skills among their peers.
Flocks vote on everything they do in a group, and this is the earliest point at which particularly skilled young individuals start getting a voice in these matters, and from this point on, that voice means a lot to young pigeons!
This is when it really starts to matter to young pigeons that they at least feel they have a say in what they do.
We discussed differentiating between instruction and request earlier, so here is an example of giving a choice:
My two boys, Cheeto and Cotta, free fly my house full time. When we go to bed, so do they. And the choice we offer them is: Do you want to go to bed? Or do you want me or your Dad to take you?
If they want one of us, they will sit still and look at the one they want. If they want to go by themselves, they will, of their own volition. Then we praise them and turn out the lights.
14 weeks Early Teens
Because this is the period where the votes of young birds who are beginning to prove themselves as skilled are given more weight by adults in their flock, they will be increasingly eager for opportunities to earn praise from a care taker they have bonded closely with.
This is a great time to introduce them to new things like travel sized games.
Pigeon Trix on youtube shows some great examples. https://www.youtube.com/@pigeontrix
16 weeks Mid Teens.
Further skill development leads to earning greater respect among their Flockmates, and birds this age who have developed sufficient skill are allowed to lead small foraging groups.
Cocks especially are going to want to lead you places and get in the middle of what ever you are doing.
If you're able, just go with it.
Pigeons understand the concept of a schedule, and they like to be included in established ones.
4 Months Sub Adult.
This is the earliest a pigeon could possibly reach sexual maturity!
Some cocks become capable of inseminating a hen between four and five months of age.
Most hens don't mature until 6 months, but the youngest in my records to lay an egg laid it on her 4 month hatch day.
But this is when Cocks start to notice hens (or an Imprint will notice his humans) as potential mates.
This is when young cocks start getting rowdy!
Many of you have seen the sweet courting couples necking and kissing and mounting if you've spent any time observing a flock or even a pair, but that is only the reward at the end of successful courtship.
Pigeon courtship, especially between a new couple, is a triathlon of trials through which the cock must prove to the hen that he's the best mate candidate.
This whole process is called "Driving", and here is the break down:
The Chase: A cock interested in a hen will puff out his chest, spread his tail fan, and strut right up to her to chest bump and bite her until she flees.
It is important to note that hens will ignore a cock if he does not greet her this way.
If she is not interested, she will wing box and bite his face, even snatch feathers out of his neck, if he does not accept her "no" and move on.
A hen who is interested will launch herself at top speed and do her absolute best to get away from him.
His job is to herd her towards the nest he has picked out, outmaneuvering her at every turn, until his nest site is where she ends up to rest.
Pigeons descend from the Rock Dove, whose primary predator is the Peregrine Falcon: the fastest predator on wings. Pigeons and falcons have evolved through a gazelle vs Cheetah style arms race of maneuverability and stamina vs raw speed.
If the cock is slower or less maneuverable than the hen, and fails to outmatch her in stamina, the resulting offspring will be more easily caught by a falcon than she is. She will not accept him as a mate unless he will give her faster, more maneuverable chicks, with better stamina than hers.
Wrestling: Once the hen catches her breath, she will try to escape the nest site.
The cock has to prevent that by any means necessary until she wears herself out!
He has to body block, wing box, even grab her by the back of her neck and wrestle her down, until she stops fighting back!
This looks like straight up domestic abuse to a human!
But if the cock can't prevent the generally smaller, weaker hen from pushing past him to get out of the nest, he has no hope of preventing a big, strong rival cock (much less a hungry predator!) from getting in to attack his mate and eventual eggs or nestlings.
Yes, rival male pigeons absolutely will chase flockmate parents off their nests, break their eggs, and kill their chicks to provide his own wife with what he considers to be the best available nest.
It's only after a hopeful suitor proves to the hen that he is stronger on the wing than her and tough enough to defend her that he is allowed to prove what a good forager he is by feeding her the way he would a nestling.
He absolutely must have food for her on demand, however many times she demands.
Only then is he allowed to tread her and start a family.
This is a particular problem for Imprints, because all of these driving behaviors are instinctive, and with their species template set to "human", humans are what those behaviors will be aimed at.
And those behaviors do not translate well.
You will notice that a lot of biting is involved!
If you had a sweet, snuggly baby boy who suddenly hates you for no reason!... No, he doesn't.
He is driven by instinct to prove to a literal titan a thousand times his size through direct, hand to hand combat that he is strong and tenacious enough to protect the nest he expects to have with you.
This is not aggression. It's courtship.
Sadly, imprinting cannot be undone. This leads to so, so many cocks being rehomed or given to shelters, and it's why I urge to avoid hand rearing if there is any way at all that you can.
Some times, there just isn't another option.
And if you understand the consequences, potential adopters can be sufficiently prepared, and their birds stand a better chance of actually finding forever homes.
5 Months Young Adult
Cocks of most breeds are sexually mature by now, but most hens will not start to produce their fist eggs until they are somewhere between five and six months old.
Hens will need a lot more calcium than cocks at this point.
Pigeons are not parrots!
They should not be distracted from laying! They need to be supported through it, or they have a very high likelihood of eventual egg binding.
She will need a comfortable, safe nest, cock or no cock, because she does not need a mate to lay.
If she does not have a mate, it should be ok to let her keep the eggs. If she does, swap the egg out with a plastic, wooden, or clay fake.
She will need to sit on something for the full 18 days, because her body will try to make more as soon as they are removed, and her hollow bones cannot afford the calcium leeching.
She will take that entire brooding period to build everything she lost in egg production back up.
Broody poop is honestly the worst thing you will have to deal with while she sets.
Pigeons normally poop every 15-30 minutes. Hormones associated with laying and setting will trigger her to hold it all in for 4-6 hours. Some hens even take 8 hour shifts!
The first thing she does when that shift ends is relieve herself of all 4-8 hours worth at once!
You will not entirely be spared broody poos by choosing a cock.
They also go broody on occasion, and the same hormones will trigger them to sit still for 4-6, sometimes even 8 hours, and then relieve themselves of all of it at once.
It happens less frequently to cocks than hens, but it still happens. Better to know ahead of time.
6 Months Adult.
The bird is fully grown, all their big bird feathers have finally come in, and they have generally found a mate and taken their place in flock society.
No more surprises, if this is a bird you have raised. Their basic temperament will be established and solidified by now.
Remember everything behind the Driving behavior we discussed at 4 Months?
Only mates and current nestlings are allowed into the nest site. Anything else trying to get in is instinctively seen as either a rival or a predator.
If you use a cage or a modified kennel for your pigeon, that entire thing is nest site!
Maintaining friendship will work much better if you invite the bird out of the enclosure first, or work very carefully on desensitizing them to your presence inside the cage or kennel.
Inviting them out is preferable, if you don't want to risk accidentally convincing your bird that you really, really want to be their mate.
Through out the first six months of their development, I will be assessing each of our future offspring in categories of physiological development, interest in the companionship of humans, eagerness to learn, and comfort on the harness.
What I consider to be a physical fault will be something that either impedes the bird some how, or could.
Full muffs, for example. Feathers near the eyes that curl inward. Too wide a choanal slit.
Birds who develop these traits will be cut from the breeding program as soon as those traits develop, and made available for adoption once they are fully vaccinated at 9 weeks.
For everything else, the babies will be compared first to their parents, and then to their sibling.
Do they like people more than their parents did?
Are they more eager to learn than their parents?
Are they more accepting of the harness than their parents?
Are they more comfortable in public than their parents?
If more of the answers are "Yes" than "No", the parents will be retired and adopted out as a bonded pair.
Then, we will compare the siblings to one another.
Which likes human companionship more?
Which is more interested in training sessions?
Which picks up new information faster?
Which is more comfortable on the harness?
Which is more comfortable in public?
In the past, I have considered breeding birds to only have one job: Produce offspring for me to train and evaluate for the public.
The birds most interested in people, most eager to learn, and most comfortable on the harness in public were sold to clients who wanted therapy prospects.
Because they needed those birds the most.
I was willing to work with the birds who met less of my end goal's criteria, because breeding birds need to focus on their nestlings, and they need the stability and comfort of the flock to do that.
But I was kind of a dumbass.
Nothing improves if the breeder doesn't keep their best.
So, I will focus on producing only what the project needs to move forward.
Eight breeding pair.
Only one round from each.
Strict hatch control after that first successful round.
Out of each family, I will keep the baby who is most interested in people, eager to learn, and comfortable on the harness, in public.
The other baby will be made available to the public either as a pet or therapy prospect.
And the parents will be retired and made available as a bonded pair.
The keeper babies will be allowed to pair among each other (and I'll seek out what ever new blood is needed to get back to eight pair), but will not be allowed to hatch anything until their parents and sibling have all gone home.
