Pigeon and chicken health

Hi there! I have recently adopted/rescued a homing pigeon and am hoping to keep things simple and add him to my chicken coop/run set up. I am thinking I will make him his own little shelf area in the run to keep him and his food out of range from my young chickens and keep a eye on them and separate they seem to be picking on him. I'd also like to get him a friend in the future so he is not lonely.

My question is - are there any diseases that are known to transfer between pigeons and chickens that I should be worried about? I live in Northern California and I know canker is possibly transferred as well as any parasites (I'm going to do a fecal and make sure he's clean), but is there anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks!

Lindynik

lindynik said:

My question is - are there any diseases that are known to transfer between pigeons and chickens that I should be worried about? I live in Northern California and I know canker is possibly transferred as well as any parasites (I'm going to do a fecal and make sure he's clean), but is there anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks!

Lindynik

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Pigeons and chickens can not co exist without issues. You can expected losses if kept in the same enclosure especially when the young hatch and develop..

I'm not planning on hatching any babies, just giving this pigeon a home.

You can keep an adult pigeon with most chickens. Better if the chickens are bantams, or a placid breed like Silkies.

If you get your pigeon a 'friend' make sure its the same sex.

You can not allow your pigeons to nest and start breeding in your pigeon coop.

This is because the chickens will kill and eat the pigeon chicks when they hatch. Believe me this has happened in my pigeon coop before and its a very upsetting experience.

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to take a fecal sample to the vet and ask them for advice about pigeon/chicken health.

This is guaranteed to scare the bad outta ya!!
I'm old enough to have seen this happen ,, >>> ,, Newcastle's disease comes to mind, remember the 200 million ducks, chickens, turkeys, swans, everything fowl you can think of dying/ destroyed from a single bird .... vaccinate, vaccinate, need to add that this is just an example of what a sick bird can do, it messed up the fowl economy in California, it is one of the largest US chicken/fowl production areas. I am totally paranoid now and likely will be forever..

Examples ,,

On Tuesday, September 16, the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced an end to the Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) quarantine. Extensive testing of the regulated area has been completed with no additional detections of the disease. California Statewide Quarantine Lifted – CDFA News Release and USDA Lifts Quarantine for Newcastle Disease in CA in the Federal Register September 19th. On August 4, 2003, all but 7,300 square miles of the quarantine was released. This latest action lifts the regional quarantine in California and once again permits poultry exhibitions. The outbreak cost more than $160 million to fight and resulted in the depopulation of more than 3 million birds.

I don't recommend keeping chickens and pigeons together unless you chickens are really laid back. I tried to put my 4 pigeons in with our chickens and when ever the pigeons got within reach of the chickens the chickens would all attack the pigeons.

My six pigeons are in my smaller coop with my silkies and they have no problem getting along. Except the daddy pigeon does pick on the chickens sometimes when they get near his sitting mate or his newest babies. The pigeons fly up to the roost that the chickens can't reach, so it works out pretty well.

One of my 4H kids recently adopted a pigeon. She has her in with her bantam chickens. The pigeon has started laying eggs, which she has removed. Now she has one egg and is being broody. She is wondering if it is possible for a bantam rooster to mate with a pigeon?

4H Poultry said:

One of my 4H kids recently adopted a pigeon.  She has her in with her bantam chickens.  The pigeon has started laying eggs, which she has removed.  Now she has one egg and is being broody. She is wondering if it is possible for a bantam rooster to mate with a pigeon?

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No, I don't think it's physically possible. If it's a single female pigeon she should lay about four, but they'll all be duds.