Talk:Carrier pigeon

14 May 2003, Chennai, India.

Whatever is stated in the article about carrier pigeon is true and it pertains to World War II. Almost all articles in "Google Search" on "carrier Pigeon" state the same, and gives predomominance to the purpose for which these birds were trained and their extraordinary abilities to carry messages to and fro. For the pigeon admirer who keeps pigeons as pets, he needs current information on the breed of Carrier pigeons, how to identify them, etc.

It is a show pigeon with a wattle. At the Moore Market at Chennai city in India, recently the bird dealer gave me a pair of tall wattled (cauliflower like) brown pigeons.They were long faced. The legs were long and the feet sturdy. The body was long and stayed at an upward inclination from the horizontal. The neck was long and it resulted in additional height to the bird. The total height was more than 15 inches and the birds were strikingly tall as compared to most other varieties. These pigeons are a treasured addition to the collection of fancy pigeons at my farm. These birds are fancy pigeons and I cannot think of allowing them to be flown to carry messages at the present time. The pair of birds cost me US$50 (fifty) in India. Another pair of shorter variety of Carrier Pigeons that I bought a couple of months earlier cost me US$85 (eightyfive). Perhaps Carrier pigeons would cost less in Great Britain where they are said to be bred for more than 100 years. They are available in different colours.

[Another variety of tall pigeons, I have, is the Pouter. I merely mention this because of the similarity of height. I shall be interested to have discussions on fancy pigeons kept as a hobby by other readers, as I do.]

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Dear writer

I am a pigeon fancier from chennai, I would like to know more about your pigeons .

Please contact me, my e mail address is tanveer2202@yahoo.co.in

Note: I don't think Wikipedia likes email addresses being used. Tomwsulcer (talk) 12:27, 24 May 2009 (UTC)Tomwsulcer

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I think you have a real carrier pigeon, which is a special breed of pigeon named for the way it carries its head. Whoever started this page confused things, I believe, since the ones that carry messages now are properly called homing pigeons. The bird pictured on the pigeon page is a homing pigeon -- probably not what you have. See external site Patrick0Moran 05:34, 10 Sep 2003 (UTC)

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Aren't carrier pigeons extinct? If not, shouldn't this article clarify as to why many sources say that they are?

You are probably confusing carrier pigeons with passenger pigeons. Athaler 17:33, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

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Strangely enough, carrier pigeons (which, as Patrick says above) that carry their head high, are not extinct. Passenger Pigeons on the other hand, are extinct, having been hunted out of existence in the 19th century. The passenger pigeon is apparenlty etymologically named for their migratory patterns ("birds of passage"), this information only comes from the Talk:Passenger Pigeon page, although it seems to be supported by the bird's taxonomic name. Passenger Pigeons were food, Homing Pigeons are Rock Doves trained for homing, and Carrier Pigeons are show birds. Who knew? --BLP 02:20, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

And if you really want to get into pigeons, there are a great number of different breeds of them, some (Kings) bred for meat (actually it is the squabs that are butchered), some for their acrobatics (Tumblers), some for their good looks and fancy foot coverings (Duchess), etc. Even the common variety that nests wherever it can find a flat spot with some degree of overhead protection is quite an interesting bird. There are many color variations and many of them include some iridescent feathers that give striking accents of blue and green.P0M 04:31, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Name confusion

This article is in need of fixing. My problem with it is the picture currently being used is of an ornamental "Fancy pigeon" breed called the English Carrier that was originally bred for its "carriage" or upright stance etc. This breed is not one that can be used to carry messages. The article is trying to combine the two. A picture is needed here of a pigeon (homing variety) with a message carrying capsule on its leg. Any reference to the show type English Carrier needs to be removed as there is a seperate article for that variety. Sting au 22:45, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I made a few changes. Important to keep this article page on message carrying topic and not to confuse it with the fancy pigeon breed English Carrier which is a seperate article. Sting au 02:31, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

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The link: ^ Blechman, Andrew (2007). Pigeons-The fascinating saga of the world's most revered and reviled bird.. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702236419. sent me to a "page not found" error.

Also, I was hoping to find more information about how pigeons were used by the landed gentry in England to send messages between their country estates and town homes. If information about this practice could be added to the article, it would be helpful. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.140.254.14 (talk) 11:08, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I changed the cite URL to a book review by UQ Press. For info that might be helpful for you try looking at Pigeon post.--Sting Buzz Me... 11:35, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

How were these pigeons employed in war or commerce?

Pigeons released somewhere will fly home. I understand that. If pigeons are used in a commercial or military context, are they bred at headquarters so they'll fly back there, or do they all fly from Russia or Italy all the way back to their home breeding grounds in England or the US? That is to say, what are the methods used to connect the pigeon flying back somewhere to the needs of the organizations sending the messages, for which somewhere may not be a practical place to send the messages to.

I have seen pictures of soldiers with dovecotes near the front. Do they breed the pigeons there so they will only have to fly a few miles, and thus their messages can arrive in a timely fashion?

I'm confused and this article doesn't answer any of my practical questions.Ortolan88 (talk) 20:07, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

Nowadays the military doesn't bother with pigeons. Radios are much quicker! Yes in war time pigeon lofts were used near the front so messenger pigeons didn't need to fly too far. The greater the distance, the more difficult for the pigeon to get back to its home loft. Perhaps the Homing pigeon article may have more info for you? Or try Pigeon racing.--Sting Buzz Me... 13:35, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

I've heard of radio.

So, were the pigeons bred near the front, or did they simply fly back to wherever the loft was when they flew out? I've read the other two articles you cite, which is how I got here.

• Point one: information about pigeon message services should not be spread over three articles. In fact, it isn't spread anywhere.

• Point two: there ought to be an article somewhere that explains how the pigeons were actually used. For example, the article pony express clearly explains how the service was run, how far apart the stations were, the weight of the drivers, what kind of bag they used, etc. For pigeons, nothing. How far can they travel in how long? How are their homing instincts useful in a fast-moving military situation? Were pigeon fanciers recruited or were ordinary soldiers trained for the job? Were they ever used at sea? A ship with a home port with a pigeon cote might work, right?

Ortolan88 (talk) 18:14, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

The article could do with expansion. There is also war pigeon that could contain the info you are requesting? If you think you can expand any of the articles and have access to verifiable information then be bold and add it. I am planning to add info myself at some stage but need to do more research first.--Sting Buzz Me... 20:20, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Expansion? Oui! With my little anti-vandalism tool, I thought I was looking at a section of the article, not the whole article!! Piano non troppo (talk) 10:24, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Oh thank goodness you have an anti-vandalism tool! --Sting Buzz Me... 11:54, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

WOW

carrier pigeons are pritty. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.164.99.101 (talk) 17:20, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Tag for "Inappropriate Tone"

I tagged this article for "inappropriate tone," because the tone becomes informal, terse, and vague in the last four paragraphs (starting with "When a commander..."). This material seems to be quoted from a website whose appropriateness is questionable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.186.54.39 (talk) 00:51, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Columbus & the Pigeons

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/mar/20/columbus-and-pigeons/

AntiqueReader (talk) 00:37, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Merge notice

This article has been proposed for merging and redirection, with most of its material merging into Homing pigeon (to which it would redirect), a bit of it to Pigeon post, and the rest into War pigeon. See those articles' talk pages for the merge proposals.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  13:07, 13 June 2015 (UTC)