Racing Pigeon

The racing pigeon is one of a large group of pigeons.

Pigeons can fly very fast.  Up to 60 miles per hour.  They are very good at finding their way home.  That's why people keep them as racing pigeons. There are a number of pigeon shows on in different Countries i.e. black pool.  This is where pigeon fanciers go to buy and sell pigeons and pigeon products .  Also it is a way for pigeon fanciers to get to know each other.  When pigeons go racing they go in a big truck with lots of other pigeons from all over Dublin.  They travel for hours until they reach there destination such as the inland races. In Ireland some of these places are Mallow, Pilmore Beach, Thurles, Skibbereen and Barleycove.  There are Channel Races in Talbenny, Sennen Cove, and St. Malo in  France which is the longest race.

By Amy, Temera and Hannah A

Pigeons eat pigeon food, beans, Pease, Hormoform, and maize.  Pigeons get feed twice a day .  They also drink water.    The vitamins the pigeons get is called Gem Ultra-vits.  This is full of vitamins and nutrients for the pigeons.  They also get health grit and minerals  and Red Band .

The racing pigeon is a large bird.   It has a big, round breast, short legs with reddish-pink claws, strong wings and a medium length tail.  They have small, black, red or brown eyes, and curved, pointy beaks.

They can be lots of colours, such as blue , red , white , black , mealy, grizzles, pied, check pied, blue pied , red pied, black pied, mealy pied, black grizzle , red grizzle , blue grizzle, check grizzle.

Baby pigeons have yellow fluffy feathers when they are very young, and then they grow grey feathers as they get older.

Pigeons can be seen all around town. They live in lofts but commoners don’t live in lofts.   Most racing pigeons have a little pigeon ring around there foot with numbers on it for when there gone racing and they come back with the ring on there foot and the owner clocks it in to the clock . Commoners means a pigeon that has no owner and he has no ring on his foot. 

Pigeons are a unique and intelligent birds.  They  are very  smart little birds.  Some pigeons fight over the smallest bit of food.  They will  fight for their nest box and their perch and fight for their young if any other pigeon goes near them.

When they fight they stand up to each other.  They will smack each other with their wings and they will also peck at each other.