Pet Pigeon Breeds
Every bird I sell is a hand-raised, trained pet pigeon that lives happily as a house pigeon, no matter the breed. I raise Modenas, Frillbacks, Classic Old Frills, German Owls, Fantails, Budapests, Rollers, Tumblers and Homers in Mesa, Arizona, and ship trained pigeons across the US from September to May.
This isn't every breed, just the ones commonly bred and kept as pets, which means I have the easiest access to them. There are MANY breeds of pigeons and it doesn't matter at all which one you keep as a pet, it's really only about looks. A lot of breeders will tell you their breed is the best, it's just to lie and sell you a bird.
Modena Pigeons
$400 | Very long wait
A big pigeon. These are the most expensive pigeons because they are the hardest to breed. They crush eggs, they suck at raising them, they need feathers trimmed. Since they don't fly that well, people consider them more tame but any hand raised pigeon from me will be similar. For reference some of these colors of Modenas go for $1k and I'm selling a trained pet for a fraction of that.
Frillback Pigeons
$250
Frillbacks are pigeons with curly feathers. They can fly, but not super well like other birds. They are a little larger than other breeds like Owls and they have longer beaks. A frillback makes a very unusual looking trained house pigeon.
Classic Old Frill Pigeons
$300
Classic Old Frills (also sold as Classic Frills) belong to the Owl family, so they are fancy. They come with feathered legs and a little on the feet. Wing coloring tends to be different. Satinettes have white bodies, Blondinettes have black bodies.
German Owl Pigeons
$250
German Owls have a crest at the head and a bowtie at the chest to look fancy. They are bred to have small beaks and are usually white with color on their wings. They are very cute and fly well. Small beaks make them much harder to hand raise.
Fantail Pigeons
$250
Fantails are fancy pigeons that basically have a fan as a tail so they look very exotic. They don't fly that well as their tail makes it hard. When they do, it's almost like a tornado coming through the town as they are usually much bigger.
Budapest Pigeons
$300
My favorite breed. They have smaller beaks but the big draw here is they have big eyes so they have cute faces.
Birmingham Roller Pigeons
$200
Rollers come in all sorts of colors and are bred to roll as they fly. Mine don't really do it when raised to be pets so it doesn't matter. They usually don't have any fancy features.
Tumbler Pigeons
Similar to Rollers but they tumble. These usually involve more feathered legs, feet and a crest. Like with Rollers, there are so many types of Tumblers.
Racing Homer Pigeons
$200
Homers come in many colors and have different beaks typically. They are bred to fly longer distances to reach home. When trained as pets, they don't do this.
Extras
Many breeds will involve feathered feet or a crest, it's just something extra bred into them.