How to Breed Station Pigeons

Identify healthy male and female pigeons by looking for and identifying favorable breeding characteristics. Much like other sport and racing animals, genes often play a significant role in breeding successful offspring and should be taken into account with station pigeons. When selecting your birds, ask and inquire about past racing experience; a proven successful racer pair will be much more likely to breed a champion compared with two random or feral station pigeons. Observing physical characteristics is also important when selecting your pair. Look for station pigeons that are the most streamlined and have the largest tail feathers, which enhance speed. For finding streamlined birds, spread their wings to ensure neither has "crooked wing" syndrome and that no anomalies are present. To identify favorable tail feathers, use a ruler and attempt to find a pair with their tail feathers longer than 8 inches.

Scatter the hay throughout the hutch and put the seedless cotton in a corner along the interior side. The seedless cotton will be an inviting spot for the female station pigeon to lay her eggs as it will provide soft substrate and warmth for the eggs and young when they hatch. Position the heat lamp over the cotton and keep the temperature in the range of 80 to 85 degrees.

Place your male and female station pigeons into the pigeon hutch in springtime, the natural breeding season. Ensure that the hutch is placed in a location that is out of direct sunlight but not too drafty. Ideally, the interior hutch temperature should be 70 to 80 degrees.

Observe the station pigeon pair until the female has laid her eggs (this will most likely happen within three weeks). While you wait out the eight-week period of time it takes for the eggs to incubate, feed your station pigeon pair liberally with high-quality bird seed and fruit.

Monitor the hutch until your eggs hatch after eight weeks.