This "strange but true" story happened to us this summer. Thought ya all might like to hear it! We raise several Roller pigeons and Quail on our property. Had them for several years without any problems of predators, and were surprised to wake one morning to find something had entered our pigeon coop and destroyed all but one of our pigeons. (thought it was a coon, but it turned out to be a cat!) Anyway, the one that was left behind was the weakest of the bunch. She had always been a little, backwards I guess you could say. Ironic that she should be the survivor! Well, that poor bird was beside herself. She was very stressed and at the first chance, flew the coop. Never saw her again. Fast forward in time til now. Husband's cousin, who lives 13 miles away, tells us about a pigeon that landed on her doorstep. The cousin was only mentioning it bacause she thought we might be able to locate the owner of the bird as it seemed a bit disoriented and would require care. She had no idea of what had taken place in our coop two months ago. Sure enough, the band # matches and it's her. Isn't it strange how situations sometimes circle back?

-- Mary (zoots25@hotmail.com), October 06, 2001

Answers

I love these kind of stories!!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 06, 2001.

Yes. As always truth is stranger than fiction. Made me think of our one chicken who's "not right".

What I want to know is do you raise them for sale. if so, how does that work. Are they only for your enjoyment. Are quail raised like pidgeons (for all I know they are a type of pidgeon)? I've been toying with the idea of doing pidgeons for pidgeon release (weddings).

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 07, 2001.

Ann, We raise our pigeons just for enjoyment. Our 5 year old daughter traded a man five of her chickens for 5 of his pigeons and that's how we got started. It's really just a hobby and learning experience. I know very little about the different breeds of pigeons, but I know a fair share about their care.

The Quail are another story. We raise them for dog training. A permit from our state is required to sell/trade the birds or their eggs as they are considered to be gamebirds.

I'll look around and see what I can find out about pigeons or doves for profit. If I find anything I'll let you know.

-- Mary (zoots25@hotmail.com), October 07, 2001.