ducks4you
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Pretty Smart Pidgeons
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valley ranch
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I love pigeons~I raised them when I was boy.
Collector
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I have a immigrant friend from Portugal he raises and races homing pigeons they are pretty amazing birds. We used to work together until he retired. He used to take them to job sites sometimes a few hundred miles out and turn them loose. He had a time clock that recorded the time and the individual birds when they came into the coop. He is always trying to talk me into getting some from him and start raising my own flock, but after reading this I think they might try to take over lol. On a side note, his father raised king pigeons for meat and supplied the birds for Ronald Reagans first inaugural dinner. I think that was what he told me, might have been a state dinner.
seedcorn
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Friend got me into Birmingham rollers. Beautiful site when 20 birds all roll 20-30' at same time. Then reform kit and do again. Had to give them up when hawks devastated them. Miss them every once in a while but lot of work to train them.
thistlebloom
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My husbands dad raised and raced pigeons starting when he was a teenager. He became one of the best in the country and his birds won lots of races. He was disappointed when my husband didn't want to follow in his footsteps. All dh remembers is that his dad was consumed by them and never did anything with the family. They never had family vacations. It was always all about his birds. Not something he cared to get involved in.
valley ranch
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The U.S. Army Signal Core used them during the war.
PIGEONS OF WAR
In fierce fighting and deep in enemy territory, American pigeons carried life-or-death messages that radio and field phones could not.
By Joe Razes
The company of Nepali Gurkhas and the British troops with them were trapped on Hangman’s Hill. They had fought their way onto the huge outcropping on Monte Cassino, southeast of Rome, during the fierce battle there in early 1944, only to be pinned down by withering German fire. Stuck for nine days, they had no means of communication with their lines below. American bombers dropped food and water to them, but much of it fell into German hands. Finally, three British volunteers set out toward the trapped men by three different routes. Each carried a haversack with an American homing pigeon inside. One man got pinned down by machine gun spray, but the other two penetrated German lines and reached their destination. All three men scribbled short messages about the routes they had taken and sent them off to headquarters by pigeon. That night, Allied guns opened fire to clear an escape route along the safe paths the scouts had identified, and the trapped soldiers slipped away to safety. The pigeons, meanwhile, rested safely in their loft.
Sending messages with homing pigeons is one of the oldest methods of long-distance communication. The earliest documented use of pigeons by an army was by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago. During World War I, both sides routinely used homing pigeons as couriers. At the urging of General of the Armies John Pershing, the US Army Signal Corps established a pigeon service in 1917.
Communications improved considerably between World Wars I and II, but pigeons were still used throughout World War II as supplemental and emergency means of communication. Their duties varied depending on the branch of service. But wherever the army, navy, coast guard, or marines went, pigeons likely went, too—some bearing colorful names such as Lady Astor, Pepperhead, or Holy Ghost, and others known only by a number. Taken across enemy lines by patrols in pursuit of valuable information, they returned with news on the location and strength of enemy troops, gun positions, pending attacks, traffic conditions, and other vital data. Pigeons were the only means of communication for some advanced observation posts where terrain or proximity to enemy lines made it impossible to string wire or use a radio. Carried in baskets, in a sling under the arm, or in a patrol member’s shirtfront, the birds were released under fire, and most succeeded in getting through.
A pigeon toted its message in a tiny capsule fastened to one leg until handlers started attaching a larger capsule, the size of a cigar tube, to the pigeon’s back; this could carry a bigger load, perhaps including maps, photos, and detailed reports. Very few messages—less than one percent—were coded, because pigeons were so dependable at reaching their destinations.
By the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the US Army had already expanded its communications operation. The Signal Corps recruited experienced wire specialists from the telephone industry, cameramen from the motion picture industry—and pigeon handlers from pigeon fanciers’ associations nationwide.
By February 1941, incoming GIs could report any experience they had handling pigeons and possibly get an assignment in that field. Meanwhile, the military conducted a census of racing pigeon lofts and asked owners to register their lofts for possible military use. Congress debated a law prohibiting hunters from shooting pigeons. On January 9, 1942, the Signal Corps issued a call to civilian pigeon fanciers for young, healthy birds of both genders. The army offered to purchase birds for five dollars each—half the average market price—but hoped to receive them as gifts or on loan. The American Racing Pigeon Union and the International Federation of American Homing Pigeon Fanciers lent their aid to the drive.
Read More:
http://www.americainwwii.com/articles/pigeons-of-war/
PIGEONS OF WAR
In fierce fighting and deep in enemy territory, American pigeons carried life-or-death messages that radio and field phones could not.
By Joe Razes
The company of Nepali Gurkhas and the British troops with them were trapped on Hangman’s Hill. They had fought their way onto the huge outcropping on Monte Cassino, southeast of Rome, during the fierce battle there in early 1944, only to be pinned down by withering German fire. Stuck for nine days, they had no means of communication with their lines below. American bombers dropped food and water to them, but much of it fell into German hands. Finally, three British volunteers set out toward the trapped men by three different routes. Each carried a haversack with an American homing pigeon inside. One man got pinned down by machine gun spray, but the other two penetrated German lines and reached their destination. All three men scribbled short messages about the routes they had taken and sent them off to headquarters by pigeon. That night, Allied guns opened fire to clear an escape route along the safe paths the scouts had identified, and the trapped soldiers slipped away to safety. The pigeons, meanwhile, rested safely in their loft.Sending messages with homing pigeons is one of the oldest methods of long-distance communication. The earliest documented use of pigeons by an army was by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago. During World War I, both sides routinely used homing pigeons as couriers. At the urging of General of the Armies John Pershing, the US Army Signal Corps established a pigeon service in 1917.
Communications improved considerably between World Wars I and II, but pigeons were still used throughout World War II as supplemental and emergency means of communication. Their duties varied depending on the branch of service. But wherever the army, navy, coast guard, or marines went, pigeons likely went, too—some bearing colorful names such as Lady Astor, Pepperhead, or Holy Ghost, and others known only by a number. Taken across enemy lines by patrols in pursuit of valuable information, they returned with news on the location and strength of enemy troops, gun positions, pending attacks, traffic conditions, and other vital data. Pigeons were the only means of communication for some advanced observation posts where terrain or proximity to enemy lines made it impossible to string wire or use a radio. Carried in baskets, in a sling under the arm, or in a patrol member’s shirtfront, the birds were released under fire, and most succeeded in getting through.A pigeon toted its message in a tiny capsule fastened to one leg until handlers started attaching a larger capsule, the size of a cigar tube, to the pigeon’s back; this could carry a bigger load, perhaps including maps, photos, and detailed reports. Very few messages—less than one percent—were coded, because pigeons were so dependable at reaching their destinations.
By the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the US Army had already expanded its communications operation. The Signal Corps recruited experienced wire specialists from the telephone industry, cameramen from the motion picture industry—and pigeon handlers from pigeon fanciers’ associations nationwide.
By February 1941, incoming GIs could report any experience they had handling pigeons and possibly get an assignment in that field. Meanwhile, the military conducted a census of racing pigeon lofts and asked owners to register their lofts for possible military use. Congress debated a law prohibiting hunters from shooting pigeons. On January 9, 1942, the Signal Corps issued a call to civilian pigeon fanciers for young, healthy birds of both genders. The army offered to purchase birds for five dollars each—half the average market price—but hoped to receive them as gifts or on loan. The American Racing Pigeon Union and the International Federation of American Homing Pigeon Fanciers lent their aid to the drive.Read More:
http://www.americainwwii.com/articles/pigeons-of-war/
digitS'
Garden Master
Interesting ...
And, a little bit of a mental challenge reading some of what the researchers learned (especially, this early in the morning
). Here's a visual of how they did this experiment: LINK.
It's like if you continue to bring "new people on board," skills improve steadily. The old guy or old crew gets the job done, and improves from earlier performance, but must get into something of a rut.
Steve
And, a little bit of a mental challenge reading some of what the researchers learned (especially, this early in the morning
). Here's a visual of how they did this experiment: LINK.It's like if you continue to bring "new people on board," skills improve steadily. The old guy or old crew gets the job done, and improves from earlier performance, but must get into something of a rut.
Steve
Nyboy
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I had pigeons as a kid then again a couple of years ago. King pigeons are 3x size of regular pigeon they are bred for table, not sure why more people don't raise them for food. As a kid my father remembers his older brother having a flock of white racing birds, any bird that was slow was Sunday dinner.
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ducks4you
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IF people DID raise them for food there would be More of them. I wonder if they interbreed sometimes with wild pigeons?
