When a pigeon gets old do the feathers come in grey or do the feathers just get kinda scruffy look'n? Ya know like a dog, cat, etc., when they get older their face starts getting grey.

We seem to have a lot of older pigeons and since they haven't lived with us from babies I don't know what they looked like in their younger years.

Seems like one of our large pij's face feathers are coming in white when they used to be red. This pigeon is an adult but not banded.

Anybody know or have an idea?

Not a dumb question silly lady..........
The oldest bird I have in my loft is a 1998 cock bird. A pigeons wattle gets a little bigger as they age, but I haven't noticed him "graying" or actually LOOKING older than the rest. He still gets around good, and raised 4 babies for me last year. Still going strong as far as I can tell.
Other than the wattle, and even THAT doesn't always tell the tale, I don't believe that anyone could look at an unbanded bird and tell whether it's 2 years old or 10 years old. I know a lady that flies with us has a couple of birds that are only 3 years old and they have huge wattles...........you would think THEY were at least 10 years old, but they aren't.

Thanks Renee I have noticed about the wattles, they do get kinda gnarly.

It's odd, to me at least, that this one pij (his name is Dale) his face feather seem to be coming in white and not red like they had been before the moult.

I haven't changed the diet at all either.

It's strange though and I'll have to wait and see I guess.

Actually, not necessarily age, but there ARE some pijies who have LARGE GNARLY wattles! That's the nature of their breed.

Squeaks is only 51/2 yrs old, so I don't expect to see "old man" changes in his wattle for a looooong time!!

Love and Hugs
Shi/Squeaks/Dom/Gimie/Woe

This is the photo of the pij,his name is Dale, I thought was going grey, his head was actually changing to a grizzle?

I think he looks kinda strange because just his head changed.

Hi Robin, interesting question, I do not know the answer, but I think it just might have something to do with genes that changes the colors etc. due to age. Interesting and hope we can find or someone with that knowledge has the correct answer to the question.

The reason the white is coming in, is genetic. He is most likely a tiger grizzle, which as they are, they moult out more and more white

Plus, he appears to be recessive red, so in this case, he's a RR mottle. They believe tiger grizzle has a part in making mottles in RR. Regardless of what makes it, mottles do tend to get more white.

Mary Of Exeter wrote:The reason the white is coming in, is genetic. He is most likely a tiger grizzle, which as they are, they moult out more and more white

Plus, he appears to be recessive red, so in this case, he's a RR mottle. They believe tiger grizzle has a part in making mottles in RR. Regardless of what makes it, mottles do tend to get more white.

Hi Becky I know its genetic, I just thought it was strange that when he came here as an adult he was all one color, a shade of red, and then 2 yrs. later his head started changing color.

So from what you are saying is that with each moult he'll get a bit more white... This will be very interesting to watch.

Thanks for the info.

No problem
Yeah he should moult in some more white, you never know how much though. I had a bird that looked similar. One of the first things he started getting white on was his wings. He ended up with white and colored alternating flights. Very pretty!