English Carrier pigeon

English Carrier pigeon brown

The Carrier or English Carrier is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding. Carriers, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants of the rock pigeon . They have a long slender body, with a long neck in proportion to the rest of the body, and distinctive features including a rounded hard wattle.

English Carrier pigeon white

The breed was developed in England from a combination of non–European breeds, including the Persian and Baghdad carriers, and the powter.The largest of the flying pigeon breeds, the Old English Carrier was originally used for sending messages. By the mid 19th century, the points in the standard of the English Carrier were deemed to have been achieved, and the breed was praised for its "perfectness to which all the points most admired have been brought". At this point the colors of the breed were limited to black, white and dun (a brownish grey color). Today, the English Carrier is strictly a show pigeon, and is not the modern homing pigeon. This modern homing pigeon is a breed known as a Racing Homer, a breed which was bred from eight different pigeon breeds including the English Carrier.

English Carrier pigeons

English Carrier pigeon grey and black