Pigeons..tell me what you know.

We are building a pigeon coop to raise pigeons to help in training our dogs. I know nothing about the proper care of pigeons. I would like to keep them healthy and well taken care of. I do have a source for pigeons possibly 8 or so to get started with.

Seems like if you build them a loft to roost in they do a lot better. Or at least ours seemed to. They like roosting up off the ground and for some reason like having a floor between them and the ground. Also if you are going to have a fly area for them it would be helpful to build it double walled because raptors are terrible on pigeons. Worked with a guy that lost several thousands of dollars worth of racing pigeons inside his pen before he figured out that a retail hawk was able to reach through the wire and catch them and then eat most of the pigeon through a 1 inch by 2 inch hardware cloth wire pen.

I know that when shooting pigeons either over a dove field or near a silo, the white ones and off colored one's are usually banded. I have as many pigeon bands as i do waterfowl bands.

Pigeon racers hate that bigmeat. The guy I worked with that raced them cussed dove hunters to no end. As you can imagine myself having a great fondness for dove hunting I rubbed it in every chance I got lol.

Coo, coo, coo, coo, coo, coo, coo.................................................................................................................................................

Chris

Did you mean a Red Tail Hawk?

Join versatiledogs.com and ask there. Most everyone over there raises pigeons for dog training. I used to but now I just trap them or buy them as needed. I only raised them for a year or so and didn't have a great setup so I won't comment.

The best thing is to google on how to get started. JMO

If the racers do not like that, they should keep their pigeons at home. The ones that take up residence in our silos rarely ever get back home. I have a collection of bands myself.

Oh I'm not saying I don't have a few bands myself. Just mentioning that the racers hate us for it. And yes I meant redtail as in the hawk,not retail as in for sale. Autocorrect hates me

How do we race them if we keep them at home?

You apparently do not teach them to come back home very well.

This is what I had posted on my old website:

Here is how I train homing pigeons for free flight.
For the first week you have the young homers every time you feed them make a consistent noise. You can whistle, shake a can of feed or say anything you want as long as it stays the same. They will associate the sound with being fed and this will be your feed call.

The second week place a cage on the outside on your landing board, so that the pigeons can only enter the loft, not fly away. Put the pigeons in the cage wait a couple of minutes for them to settle down and then do the feed call and feed them. They will try to get in to get the feed and thus learn how to trap into the loft. Do this every day.

The third week, if all is going well, skip their feed for a day, but give them water and an hour before dark put them on the board. Slowly remove the cage, so that you do not startle them, enter the loft, do the feed call and feed them. They should immediately enter. If they do not they should still try to get back in to sleep in the loft.

Do this every other day, but give them half of what they will eat in the morning and the rest when they enter during the training in the evening.

The fourth week if all is going well, skip there feed and in the evening put them on the board remove the cage and stand back and watch them for half an hour before calling them in. They may enter right away at first, but eventually they will start circling around and landing on higher perches.

Always make sure they are slightly hungry when you fly them and that they have food waiting for them in the loft.

Once they start routing, flying in big circles out of sight, put them in the cage you will release them from and let them go in several different places in your yard. This acclimates them to being in the cage.

If this is going well start releasing them at about 1 mile away from all different directions.

Slowly increase the distance you release them at until you have them trained out the distance you want them to fly.

Keith

Sounds like that guy should come up with a kevlar vest for his homies. Lol

What kind of dog training ?
flushing, pointing....retrieving ?

are you using lanchers for the birds ? then set them off without the dog around so they get use to it.

pigeon coops are great attractants for predators.....like all members of the weasel family...and the masked bandits ...so be prepared in all seasons.

Don't add birds from multiple sources. They don't have to look sick to have something that can wipe out your roost. I lost over 50 homers after taking in a bird from a guy the next town over.

Build a one way trap to recall them. There'll be times when you don't want them out. The little hawks are murder on them in the air. If you buy big, strong racing homers they can sometimes shake off hawk attacks. They'll come home severely cut up and in need of doctoring. Get a can of spray on antibiotic. Amazing how they can survive some of those deep ripping talon wounds.

https://www.chewy.com/farnam-wound-...Xvu-EIfIj-7UWA94f7z2VUHhC9RoCfXgQAvD_BwE

We have a coop off the ground about 6 foot. They stay in there until training time. They repopulate pretty good too, lol. We have a perch and a one way entrance so they can fly on back to their coop after training. Use them for pointers, we flush them up ourselves. The raptors figure out training days pretty quick. There won’t be any around until the first shot rings out, then they show up in numbers.

lion country supply in PA has some good books on raising pigeons.

Treat the dogs with a good clean shot once and a while..........otherwise they will look back at you, and if you can read dog sign...it's not very nice what they are saying to you.

My buddy's dog refused to hunt with him because of this, he missed 15 ruffed grouse flushes in a row one day, and for the rest of the dogs life if I was in camp, I had a buddy dog friend, and a not so(unacceptiale words) shooting (missing) partner.

The trap door needs to face to the east. The coop needs to be high enough off the ground coons can't get in or climb up something to get up on top and then in. Cats can be an issue. Cats can jump six foot straight up. They will need food and water until you turn them loose. Any waterer will work. Corn milo. The coop big enough for the birds to roost. Nesting boxes are best. If you can, get birds that are young. The ones with long but sparse yellow hair are the best. Fully feathered but with the yellow hairs. Put their beak into the water source until they shake their head. Once. The coop stays closed for 30 days. After you turn them loose you never need to feed or water them again. They cannot be harassed after dark. Meaning nothing gets in the coop. Snakes included. You can train all day if you need too. Using older birds and you will lose some. To many males can create havoc with the girls. Ya only need one or two. 8 birds will produce 30 in no time. They lay two at a time every two months. We went from 14 to over a 100 in less than a year. It got to the point I would always kill 6-8 birds each time we ran and never hurt them. Killing the males over the dogs ensured we weren't hurting producers.

I have a friend in Philadelphia that had tee shirts made up that said Pigeon relocation project. He would go to parks and catch them with fish nets, and people would come up to him and give him donations to keep up the good work. He didnt tell them they were for training dogs.

Thanks for all the info. We have pointing dogs.

Pointing dogs.

One of the local racers here has his birds on a wire floor. Feces goes through to the ground below and is raked out from the side for cleanup. Water troughs (gutters) are outside of the enclosure with places for the birds to stick their heads through to drink. Keeps the crap out of the water.

In any case, fecal management and ventilation is important. Nothing worse climbing into a tight little coop that has sheet everywhere. Also the dust involved can be a health hazard.

Line the nesting boxes with cardboard. They'll get heavily fouled and can just be thrown out.
Go to the dollar store and buy cheap dog dishes for nests. I line them with that jute mesh they use for hanging baskets. The babies will scoot to the edge to crap and you'll want to toss those dishes occasionally.

Thanks for the info.