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How to tell a pigeon's age? A few practical methods for judging it

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Pigeons generally live 10-15 years, and some as long as 20 years. But as breeding pigeons, their best breeding age is 2-4 years old, at most 5 years old. Knowing how to tell a pigeon's age is of great significance for timely pairing and breeding and for selecting and breeding good stock. A pigeon's age can be identified from the following aspects. 1. Beak: the older the bird, the blunter and smoother the tip of the beak. A squab's beak tip is rather pointed, soft and slender; a young pigeon's beak is thicker and hard; an adult pigeon's beak is rather short and thick, with a harder and smoother tip. Because adult pigeons feed squabs, the corners of the beak grow

@#@247@#@Pigeons generally live 10-15 years, and some as long as 20 years. But as breeding pigeons, their best breeding age is 2-4 years old, at most 5 years old. Knowing how to tell a pigeon's age is of great significance for timely pairing and breeding and for selecting and breeding good stock. A pigeon's age can be identified from the following aspects.

1. Beak: the older the bird, the blunter and smoother the tip of the beak. A squab's beak tip is rather pointed, soft and slender; a young pigeon's beak is thicker and hard; an adult pigeon's beak is rather short and thick, with a harder and smoother tip. Because adult pigeons feed squabs, the corners of the beak grow calluses and form scabs. The older the bird and the more squabs it has raised, the larger the calluses at the corners of the beak grow. In breeding pigeons over 5 years old, the scabs on both sides of the beak corners are as coarse as sawteeth.

2. Cere: a squab's cere is red and moist; a young pigeon's cere is light red and glossy; in pigeons over 2 years old, the cere is pale pinkish white; in pigeons over 4 years old, the cere is pinkish white and becomes rather rough. In pigeons over 10 years old, the cere is dry and rough.

3. Feet: a young pigeon's feet are bright red, with inconspicuous scale patterns, soft and flat scales, soft and pointed toenails, and soft and smooth foot pads; in pigeons over 2 years old, the feet are dark red, with fine and obvious scale patterns, and the scales and toenails are slightly hard and curved; in pigeons over 5 years old, the feet turn purplish red, with obvious and coarse scale patterns, prominent and rough scales covered with small white scales, thick, hard and curved toenails, and thick, coarse, hard foot pads that often lean to one side.

4. Eyes: a young pigeon's eyes move nimbly, a young pigeon and a young adult pigeon have a bright, spirited gaze, and the nictitating membrane blinks quickly. An old pigeon's gaze is dull and its nimbleness is reduced. In addition, the wrinkles in the bare skin of the eye ring of a young pigeon are very fine, and as age increases, the wrinkles in the bare skin become thicker and thicker.

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