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Old German Owls – Page 50 – Purebred PIGEON
B
reed of
the
I
ssue
- O
ld
G
erman
O
wl
My Little Loft
By Ray Rivera – Oakland California
W
hen I raised pigeons in the past, and resided in a house with a
backyard I was able to construct large lofts, as big as 20 feet by 16
feet.
But now I live in an apartment building, in a large and congested urban
city, with only a patio for my w wife’s plants, and my little loft housing two
breeding pairs of Old German Owls. There are perches for only six young
birds – culling is at a premium in my pigeon population
management, as you can imagine.
My little loft’s dimensions are as follows: 2 feet off
the concrete patio floor, 10 feet high, 6 feet wide and
4 feet deep. The two breeding pens are 3 feet by 4 feet
each and 18 inches high. The six perches for the select
young birds are located in the uppermost area of the
4-by-6 flypen; each perch is 8 by 8 by 8 inches.
I started raising OGOs in February 2018 from some
excellent stock provided by Chet Edmunds of Riverside
California, and Geoff Tiegen of Oakland, California. The
3rd generation grizzle hen from those matings – at the
first time showing this breed – won first in her color
class at the December 2018 Winter Nor-Cal Show in Sacramento, California.
Recently I purchased a terrific grizzle cock from Len Kuzminiski of Yale
Michigan, to mate with my remaining 4th generation blue bar hen.
In response to the apartment management’s concern regarding having
pigeons on my patio, I advised the building manager that only the County
Sheriff can legally enter my dwelling – with a court order – to remove my
pigeons from the balcony.
And that no Judge around here, aware of the high prices for housing in
this area, will evict an 82-year-old senior citizen with some harmless and
beautiful birds located outside the building proper; the total weight of all the
pigeons housed on the patio not heavier than a fox terrier.
I write this communique regarding my pigeon hobby’s limitations,
housing and legal issues, as example of what can be done with little effort,
and with love and admiration for these beautiful
pigeons, the Old German Owls.
Wherever possible I like to fly the pigeons I’m
raising. I believe that’s what they were created for.
I’ve been flying my two remaining hens with good
success — I believe all pigeons have some homing
instinct. I release them and they fly up to the roof of
the adjacent building, peering down until I whistle
them for feeding time. They circle lazily around
the building and then flap straight into the open
fly-pen without hesitation: the grizzle hen chased
closely by a red-tail hawk the other day.•
Photos of Ray Rivera’s OGO loft - it measures 10 feet
high by 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep