A healthy homing pigeon can fly with roughly 30 to 75 g (1 to 2.5 oz) attached to it, about 10 to 15% of its body weight. Even far lighter loads slow it down and make it work harder, so anything a pigeon carries often should weigh much less than that.
How heavy is a pigeon?
Feral pigeons weigh about 265 to 380 g (9 to 13 oz), according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (opens in new tab). Racing and homing pigeons are bred for flying and are usually a bit heavier. Fancy breeds vary much more: King pigeons, bred for meat, are far heavier and fly poorly. See pigeons for more on size.
How much does extra weight slow a pigeon down?
In a 1988 study in The Condor (opens in new tab), homing pigeons wore back harnesses with dummy transmitters weighing 2.5% or 5% of their body weight, roughly 10 to 25 g. On a 90 km flight the harness alone slowed them by 15%, and the harness with a transmitter by about a quarter. On a 320 km flight they were more than 31% slower and used far more energy.
For the same reason, wildlife researchers who fit trackers to birds usually try to keep the device under 5% of the bird’s body weight.
What pigeons have carried
- Messages. A note on thin paper, rolled into a small tube on the leg, weighs a gram or two. This is how pigeon post worked in both world wars.
- Cameras. In the early 1900s the German pharmacist Julius Neubronner fitted pigeons with tiny timer cameras to take photos from the air.
- A memory card. In 2009 a pigeon called Winston carried a 4 GB memory card about 60 miles (95 km) in South Africa in 1 hour 8 minutes, beating the company’s broadband (opens in new tab).
Pigeons used for smuggling
Criminals have used pigeons to carry phones, SIM cards and drugs into prisons, with cases reported in Colombia, Brazil and Russia. In 2011, police in Bucaramanga, Colombia caught a pigeon carrying 45 g of drugs. The package was too heavy (opens in new tab) for it to clear the prison wall. In 2017, customs officers in Kuwait caught a pigeon near the Iraqi border wearing a small backpack of pills (opens in new tab).
Is it cruel to make a pigeon carry weight?
A light message tube on the leg doesn’t seem to bother a fit pigeon. Backpacks and harnesses are a different matter. They slow the bird down, make it work harder, can rub the skin under the wings, and leave it less able to get away from a hawk. If you ever fit anything to a pigeon, keep it as light as possible and ask an avian vet first.
A pigeon’s real talent is finding its way home. See how do pigeons navigate.
Sources
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Rock Pigeon overview (opens in new tab)
- Gessaman and Nagy (1988), Transmitter loads affect the flight speed and metabolism of homing pigeons, The Condor (opens in new tab)
- BBC News (2009): Pigeon flies past broadband (opens in new tab)
- BBC News (2011): Colombia police catch drug-smuggling pigeon (opens in new tab)
- BBC News (2017): Pigeon caught with backpack of drugs (opens in new tab)
Last updated 24 October 2026 · Racing