I'm new to pigeons and I have a few questions.

[Kalyka]

I was just given a pair of 1 year old pigeons with two four/five day old eggs. We also have free-ranging chickens that we lock up in a small coop inside of a large run. I was wondering whether I can house them together or not. I've heard that you can as long as you give the pigeons their food far enough up that the chickens can't get it, and have their roosts and nests high up too, but the part of the run that's covered is only about five and a half feet tall, and we some bantam hens that love scratching around in high places.

 

[jak2002003]

Thanks.
Here are some pictures of them. the one with the mostly white head and blue band is the hen, the one with almost no white on his head is the cock.

They are very pretty little pigeons!!! I like the one with the white head.

You can keep them in with the chickens.... but only if you don't allow them to raise squabs.

Chickens will kill and eat the baby pigeons for sure.

I keep my breeding pairs in large cages.. the let them back out into the main pigeon / chicken coop after the babies are independent.

They will eat the chicken food... but they need their own mix seeds too.... which you can put high up on a ledge out of reach of the chickens.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Do you think that if I put the nests up high that our bantam hens would even bother?

Your adult pigeons might be able to avoid death as long as they never got cornered. Young squabs or squeakers are sure to fall prey in my opinion and be cannibalized alive by your hens as soon as they begin venturing out of their nest..

 

[Blackberry18]

I've never raised pigeons, but have a friend who is a huge pigeon breeder for years, so I know a fair amount, and am in Poultry Bowl as well. My friend keeps hers in the same barn as her chickens, but in a separate stall, so it is also best to keep them separate, just in case.

 

[Kalyka]

Ok thanks. Also, can they eat pelleted chicken food?
We removed the eggs because didn't sit on them all yesterday or today. When will they lay more?

 

[Kalyka]

Is there a certain color that will have more varied colors in the babies?

 

[Blackberry18]

Ok thanks. Also, can they eat pelleted chicken food?
We removed the eggs because didn't sit on them all yesterday or today. When will they lay more?

Probably shouldn't go with chicken food. Pigeons usually need their own food, a mixture of grains usually, like so. But feed them VERY sparingly! My friend kept warning me not to feed them too much.

As for the eggs, they may or may not. Pigeons usually have two broods of squabs, so I'm guessing they might.

 

[Blackberry18]

Is there a certain color that will have more varied colors in the babies?

Not sure what you mean by this. Like, if one parent is a certain color, will it produce other colors in the offspring?

 

[Kalyka]

Not sure what you mean by this. Like, if one parent is a certain color, will it produce other colors in the offspring?

Yes, both the cock and the hen are white, black, and grey, (I'll post a picture of them soon) so I'm wondering if the babies are all going to look like that, or not. (that would be really upsetting, because they're not exactly very pretty)
BTW, the cock is a roller, and the hen is homer or homer/roller, I think, because she has the homer beak.

 

[Kalyka]

The run has two doors, so should I just divide the coop into two part with wire, put the pigeons in one side, chickens in the other, and let the chickens out for free-ranging, because otherwise I'd have to train the pigeons to come back every day, and not feed the chickens until the night, when I would lure the pigeons in with food, then I might have problems with my bantams scratching the squabs out of the nest in pursuit of bugs.