About winter breeding

Donnie Zehr Jan 10, 22

Do not neglect the natural environment. Many fanciers are convinced that their breeding birds should live as close to the natural environment as possible in order to have strong and healthy young birds in the nest bowls.

The expression, close to nature, is in fact not very useful here: the racing pigeon as we know it is far removed from the pigeon that we find in nature. Our racing pigeons are fully fledged, well nourished and well looked after domestic animals. Wild pigeons such as the wood pigeon or the collared dove will not breed during the winter, just like any other European bird. Birds that live in the wild cannot breed because of a lack of nutrition. They can find just enough food to stay alive, without the complication of breeding youngsters.

A Dutch proverb says that every bird lays an egg in May (in mei legt elke vogel een ei). Still, pigeon fanciers falsely believe that the winter breed is a natural process for their pigeons. The opposite is true: breeding in winter is in fact against their nature. There is a food shortage in the winter months and due to the shorter days a wild pigeon does not show any breeding activity. However, a racing pigeon has been a domestic animal for decades and a fancier can give it a helping hand to get through the winter.

You have to stimulate your pigeons to make sure that they will breed or reproduce in winter. The length of the day and the outside temperature, greatly influence the sexual activity of a bird. A healthy and well fed pigeon is usually less influenced by these factors when it comes to breeding. Still it is very important to monitor the temperature in your loft and to lighten your pigeons from time to time if you want to have a successful breeding period in winter.

As a fancier you can gradually increase the breeding activity of your pigeons in November by exposing your separated pigeons to artificial light for about twelve to fifteen hours. You can monitor the lighting yourself and control it with an automatic clock that is pre-programmed. In a normal situation the sex organs of the pigeons and birds in general are inactive by the end of November. The testicles and the ovary are much smaller then compared to their normal size in the summer months. This is a normal and natural phenomenon. By lightening your separated breeding pigeons in the darkest days of the year, you stimulate one of the bird’s optic nerves. This nerve in turn stimulates a small yet important gland that is located below the brain: the hypophysis.

This gland is the main hormone producing gland in the body. If a light beam reaches the retina, the light is converted into electric signals. These signals are sent to the lower part of the brain, where the visual cortex and the hypothalamanus is situated. These two sections of the brain sit near the hypophysis. This is where the electric signals are converted into a chemical stimulus, which in turn triggers the production of the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

This takes place in the hypophysis. This gland reaches the ovary and the testicles through the body’s bloodstream. The FSH makes the hen’s ovum grow and develop and it increases the level of female hormone. The FSH also triggers sperm maturation in the male pigeon and it increases the level of male hormone in its blood. This process is fairly complicated and it usually does not occur in winter. However, it is possible to initiate this physiological process in an artificial way.