Mary Allen
The pigeons are molting like crazy. The breeders have their hand’s full cleaning up the lofts. But it is at least as important to keep a close eye on the youngest pigeons.
Every year pigeons lose all their feathers and regrow them. Molting is the name of this normal, natural process. And it is urgently needed since the external influences get to the substance of the feathers. There is rain, snow, cold, heat, and sunshine. Last but not least, it also happens that springs are affected in their entirety by mechanical influences. The molt is necessary to make the pigeon’s plumage functional again. As a welcome side effect, after the “change of clothes,” every single feather shines in the best condition again.
No wonder pigeon breeders look forward to the molt of their pigeons every year. But while old animals usually look the same as before after the molt, youngsters are real grab bags. Because while the young plumage is narrow, has little shine, and often has color deposits, the plumage of the juveniles changes fundamentally as a result of molting. The molting period is also a time of surprises and tensions. Does the black starling get a moon? Will the scaling lose its rust? How intense is the chest gold with the Lucerne gold collar? Questions about questions that interest the breeder at this time.
The First Molt is the Hardest
It is therefore the youngsters who are particularly in focus during this time. In order to guarantee them the best possible development, they are separated from their parents at the latest at the end of the breeding season. A separate hatchling is best suited for this. There the youngsters have enough space to develop. Because although molting is a natural process, it puts a lot of strain on the pigeons. Finally, they have to regenerate a large number of feathers. If the pigeons are not absolutely fit and healthy, they are very susceptible to illnesses during this period.
If the breeder wants to get his youngsters through this difficult phase of life unscathed, a few tips and tricks are required. The effort is worth it because once the first molt is over, the pigeon is “over the mountain”; the molt in the following years will affect them significantly less than the first dose.
The youngsters in a loft always come from several broods. They are therefore of different ages and yet they have to get along with one another. The onset of sexual maturity in the cocks confuses young society. If they come from the first brood, they finish molting very quickly and are therefore a “full member” of male society. As a result, they are very strongly influenced by their sexual behavior. Especially the young hens have to suffer a lot from the intrusive macho behavior. Then they simply no longer have the peace and quiet they need to develop.
The Hens are Hardly More Peaceful
In order to make life easier for them, it makes sense to take the young cocks out of the young animal loft and place them with the old cocks. This, in turn, should only happen when they have almost completed the molt. If you do it earlier, they suffer from the old cocks. It looks a little less bad when the old cocks are also busy molting. Then they don’t dominate so much.
If the young cocks come from the young animal loft, the animals there have much more peace. The young animal loft has to be searched again and again for pubescent cocks. If you leave a couple of old hens in the youngster loft, the youngsters show up pretty quickly; then the gender question is also quickly clarified.
Due to the plentiful offspring, there is almost always a plentiful number of pigeons housed in the young animal loft. The young hens there also molt differently, since they are not all the same age either. Here, too, the animals from the first brood are already finished, while the others are still in the process of molting. And like the cocks, the hens hardly avoid a fight. Wherever possible, one should also take the hens out of the loft. They can also be placed with the old hens if the same procedure is followed as with the cocks.
If it is not possible to separate the hens, the breeder has to rethink. Now more than ever, space is an important factor. The pigeons must be able to avoid each other in their environment. Several feeding troughs and drinking troughs can do a lot to ensure that they don’t constantly get in each other’s way.
It is important for the hygiene in the loft of the molting pigeons to remove the shed feathers from the loft as daily as possible. It is particularly useful when the loft is completely swept out so that the spring coils are gone as well. Anyone who owns an industrial vacuum cleaner has it much easier and can work more thoroughly. When the pigeons take flight, they whirl the smallest feather and dust particles into the air. And they can get stuck in the airways of the animals and thus affect them. This in turn limits their performance. If there are other problems, this can have massive consequences. Coccidia, trichomonads, and worms are just a few of the most common pathogens.