Indian Fantasy Pigeon

The Indian Fantasy was conceived and developed in Los Angeles , California by John Lindley . The Original cross was Jacobin to Indian Fantail . Later the Saint pigeon was used to help the muffs. This breed was approved by the NPA in 1984

The Indian Fantasy is an exhibition breed.The head is held erect with a hood or bonnet similar to a Saint. The tail is fan-like and help upright. The foot feathering can be short boots, or longer muffs.The Indian Fantasy is a medium to medium-large size pigeon with preference given to the later.Birds with an insufficient chain ( neck feathering ), and those with their head rearing back will be faulted .Any color or combination of colors and patterns is allowed .

Pale capped Pigeon

Photo By : wildventures.com

Photo By : wildventures.com

The pale-capped pigeon (Columba punicea) also known as the purple wood pigeon is a species of large pigeon that is found patchily distributed in parts of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

It is mainly brown above and chestnut below with the a sheen of green or amethyst. Males have a whitish grey cap while females have a brownish grey cap and less gloss on the feathers. They are frugivores, foraging in small groups in the canopy of trees but sometimes descending to the ground for seeds and fallen fruit.Females have a more brownish-grey crown. Juveniles initially have the crown colour matching the mantle, duller wing-coverts and scapulars with rufous fringes, a much reduced gloss on the upper parts and greyer underparts. The legs are crimson and iris is creamy-yellow in adults. The skin around the eyes and the ceres are magenta

Photo By : Jainy Kuriakose

Sri-Lanka Wood Pigeon

Photo By : John A Thompson

Photo By : Athula Edirisinghe

Photo By : Steve Garvie

German Beauty Homer ( Deutsche Schautaube )

The German Beauty Homer was developed in the early 1900's by German fanciers who treasured their birds for physical beauty as opposed to strictly flying ability. A thin-necked, straight-legged bird of medium size and horizontal carriage, the German Beauty's most remarkable characteristic is its massive, almost semi-circular head with straight lower mandible of almost equal substance as the upper beak.

Standard View

Standard

Head:Broad above the eye, narrowing gradually wedge like toward the forehead and beak. In profile beak and forehead show a slightly convex line which without interruption passes into the arched head. The back of the head passes into the smooth round line toward the neck. The whole head should have no indication of weakness, or flatness; it should not have a thin face.

Beak: Medium long, harmoniously proportioned, full, blunt, with wedges closely fitting and whose backward extension should pass approximately through the middle of the eyes. Color: Black; however more or less horn colored on light colors and on pure reds; light on white; on splashes and tigered either light or dark according to the base color.

Wattle:Smooth in texture, firm and smoothly resting on the beak, not surpassing the curved line of the head; long, solid, continuous blossom white powdered line, slightly heart shaped and well and evenly divided.

Eye: Large, somewhat protruding, bright with dark red iris. Whites should have dark eyes, splashes and tigered according to the base color either dark or dark red eyes.

Cere: Small fine laced, light gray to "whitish" color.

Throat: Smoothly rounded out, with no suggestion of protruding gullet

Neck: Full set on broad shoulders, of medium length, tapering toward the end into a wedge like form. Powerful, racy and only slightly sloping..

Wings: Strong, the butts prominent, well closed with broad, hard flights, the back smoothly covered and giving the appearance of flight readiness.

Tail: Short and narrow, extending beyond the flights by the width of a thumb.

Legs: Strong, medium long, free from feathers. Half of the hocks should be visable. The feet should be red, toenails the same color as the beak.

Plumage: Well developed, smooth, tight, and hard.

Color & Markings: All colors should be clear, regular, and of good sheen. The ground color should cover the whole body. Checkers and T-patterns should not only show the markings on the wings but also on the back breast, and thighs. Bars should be small throughout, separated on the back and of intense color. Tigered marks either white on dark ground or dark on white ground, should be evenly distributed. Tail and flights must be colored. Splashes as well as tigered birds must have a relatively even color distribution. Birds with only a few white or colored feathers are not considered as tigered or splashes.

Gross Faults: All obvious faults which reduce the impression of a beautiful racing pigeon such as: coarse, rough face, alien head and beak type; all features which disturb the general characteristics of the German Beauty Homer as described above with regard to the following aspects: plumpness, length, heaviness, station, size of wattle and overall size of the bird as well as poor posture; narrow pointed chest;underweight, square head; gullet, open beak,; white, yellow, colorless or broken eyes; two eyes of a different color; red cere; frills or fluffiness; dewlap or paunch; visible white back.

Courtesy : http://germanbeautyhomer.com 


Deutsche Schautaube,Pigeons de Beauté Allemand,Viaggiatore Tedesco da Esposizione,Duitse Schoonheidspostduif,الهومر الالماني

Spot Winged Pigeon

The Spot-winged Pigeon is a species of bird in the Columbidae family. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.This species has an extremely large range and hence its listed on least Concern on the IUCN Red List

A thickset dark grey pigeon with a proportionately short tail and long wings.Above it has a greyish-mauve head with greyish-brown mantle scapulars and wing-coverts.The wings-coverts are all either edged or spotted creamy-white,while the outer wing-coverts are broadly edged white,giving the bird a wing-band in flight.The flight feathers are black with some inner secondaries edged whitish or grey.The underparts are greyish-mauve,grading to darker grey on the lower belly.At close range the iris is white,the bill black with a powdery white cere

Mindoro Bleeding-heart

The Mindoro bleeding-heart is a type of ground dove native to Mindoro, Philippines,the last confirmed sighting of the Mindoro bleeding-heart in the wild was in 1997.The bird has an extremely small, severely fragmented population which is undergoing a continuing decline owing to lowland forest destruction, combined with hunting and trade.

This medium-sized ground dove is named for the small, yet distinct, orange patch on its whitish breast, although this looks less like a ‘bleeding-heart’ , which have a blood-red patch. Little is known about the Mindoro bleeding-heart. It spends most of its life on the forest floor, concealing itself in dense vegetation, and is therefore very difficult to observe. Its diet is not fully known, but it has been seen feeding at a fruiting fig tree. The nest of the Mindoro bleeding-heart is made of sticks and leaves, lined with fine rootlets and tendrils and situated in a tree or shrub, one or two meters above the ground

Pigeon Pox

Pigeon pox is caused by a virus that is spread by mosquitoes and dirty water but not in droppings. Pox viruses are specific to the animal.Pigeons can develop chicken pox although in a milder form.An infected pigeon is not infectious to humans.

The pigeon pox virus attacks the skin and mucous membrane cells about 4 to 14 days after exposure.There is an internal and an external form of pox.The mucous membrane form can be indistinguishable from canker like, evil smelling deposit in the beak and throat cavities.In the internal form an infected pigeon will have crusty lesions on its unfeathered skin,nostrils and ceres, especially around the eyes around the beak on the feet and around the anus.It is possible for a pigeon to have both forms of the disease at the same time.

 

Pigeon pox spreads via saliva droplets from the nose and mouth and can be picked up with food. The virus can be present in dust that when inhaled infects the bird.You must try to keep mosquitoes out of the loft.The virus can also enter the bloodstream via a wound from a minor squabble

Once in the blood, the virus quickly infects the liver and bone marrow,reinfecting the blood.The pox organisms then migrate to the skin and mucous membranes, forming lesions that are breeding grounds for many bacteria.

Except to monitor the pox lesions. in general,the infection should be left to its natural process.Lesions around the eyes and in the mouth may interfere with seeing and eating and required medical attention,but they should dry up and disappear in a few days.

There are vaccines for pox that work with varying degrees of efficiency , These vaccines are not available in India as treatment i have used the Pox cream from DAC which is found very effective , I also apply a paste of  Neem oil, Salt and turmeric powder  in the lesions

Vaccination plan from chevita

Pigeons products

Merca systems

Importance of Vitamins for pigeons

Hi Friends,

Today iam writing about the importance of each vitamins in keeping our pigeons healthy

Actively racing birds, birds under stress or birds in impaired health,however, may develop a deficiency. Signs of this include weak muscles,swollen eyelids, thin-shelled eggs, and others.Supplements come with some cautions however.First, identifying only pigeons that really need supplements can be almost impossible. Second,by giving synthetic vitamins,pigeons do not produce their own naturally,so the synthetic ones are used and the natural ones are passed out with the body wastes,bypassing normal body function.

Salmonella/Paratyphoid

Salmonella typhimurium is rod-like enterobacterium causes paratyphoid in pigeons,but it is not considered a treat to human health .Salmonella causes many fatalities in young pigeons even before the babies are out of the nest or the eggshell.Salmonella bacteria also cause diarrhea,problems with the joints, and nervous problems.

Certain old pigeons can be asymptomatic carriers (called the carrier state ), constantly endangering the whole pigeon flock on a recurring basis. certain new generation antibiotics are said to kill this carrier state.Salmonella bacteria are passed through the air, in the droppings of infected birds, via the crop milk,in the saliva,or in infected eggs as they are being laid.salmonella organisms can enter egg within two days.washing egg does not help to stop salmonella.There are four forms of the disease,which can infect the bird at the same time

The intestinal form enters the walls of the intestine, resulting in diarrhoea with foul smelling, soupy,green or brown droppings surrounded by slime and containing undigested food particles.A green colour in the droppings can also indicate an advanced worm infection in the liver

In the joint form the bacteria enter the bloodstream and infect the joints,resulting in excess production of synovial fluid, which causes intense swelling. The "ball" in the foot, or a lump in a joint or on the wing at the elbow are very common symptoms. The pigeon hobbles or a wing hangs, or it "favors" a limb and does not use it in an attempt to relieve the intense pain.

The organ form occurs after the bacteria move from the bloodstream to infect the liver kidneys,pancreas,heart and so on.The sick bird moped in a corner of the loft, and becomes inactive , short of breath,and near sighted

In the nerve form the bacteria infect the nerves and spinal column,spreading along the sinews,causing imbalance and crippling.Twisting the neck,fouling the cloaca, and cramp like contractions of the toes are typical symptoms.A pigeon may recover from this stage,ultimately but it probably will never go on to fly or breed

Vaccinating the birds every year is the best method to prevent it . Chevivac-S is the vaccine available from chevita for Salmonella

Treatment

The loft and birds must be treated at the same time .A probiotic should be given to restore the acidic balance in the intestine . The loft and everything in it must be thoroughly cleaned and sprayed with a disinfectant pr the disease process will repeat itself

Medicines available for treating 

1: Enrofloxacine 10%     dosage 1 to 2 ml per litter of water

2:Trimethoprim Sulfa     dosage 5 grams to 20 kg body weight

3:Furaltadone 6%     dosage 5 grams per liter of drinking water (= 20 to 25 pigeons)

Enrofloxacine is available in India  sold under the names Enflocin / Enrocin/ Meriquin/QuinRocin and outside india under the name Baytril

For more details on the medicine and treatment plan please visit the below links

Useful  Links

Pigeons products

Merca systems

Treatment plan from Chevita

Mookee Pigeon

This is another Indian pigeon, of pure and distinct race; it’s a pigeon having the tremulous shaking neck of the Fantail, and a close, narrow tail, with the normal number of twelve feathers. The Mookee is a good breeder and feeder. It is a long lived pigeon

The head of the Mookee is flat, showing no stop, and its beak rather longer than that of a common flying Tumbler; it is also generally peak-headed. The irides are dark hazel in colour. The upper mandible is white, and the lower follows the plumage. The whole head is white above a line running across the eyes. The two longest flight feathers should be white, and all the rest of the bird coloured. The head often comes foul or unequally cut, and the flights often foul. Three, or even four a side, are better than unequal flights, but two a side are considered the standard. The curious thing about the Mookee is the tremulous shaking of the neck, which is never absent, and which is most constant when the bird is salacious. It is singular to see the cock driving the hen to nest ; his head and neck shake continually backward and forward, but he never loses his balance. The tail is carried horizontally and close, as in most pigeons.

In India the birds without white flight feathers are regard as perfect standard