Can I let pigeons loft with my chickens?

[Mary Of Exeter]

Quote:
I've had that happen too!

Whenever I want to give my birds a break from raising babies, but they still continue to lay eggs, I just switch them out with chicken eggs. Gives them the joy of hatching, but saves them from the stress of feeding. It's really cute to see the chicks under them.
http://picasaweb.google.com/MaryOfExeter/August13th2008

Those pics are awesome What kind of tags do you use? it looks like the ones for clothes, how are you putting them on? do they bother the chicks?

Those tags really are what you put on clothes. The same kind of white plastic tie

They don't appear to bother the birds at all. I guess it's no different than tagging a cow or getting your ears pierced. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have to though

Those particular chicks were raised for the pen-of-3 broiler thing at the county fair. When we went to pick up our chicks, they made us tag and vaccinate them ourselves. They did both with 'guns', which made it look more painful than it was. It was hot, and I hadn't eaten anything yet...I almost passed out, LOL.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Quote:
Mine were in a ground aviary type of thing, not a coop or loft situation. The chickens would sleep on one end of the stick and pigeons would sleep on the other. They didn't seem to mind. My chickens were pretty laid back, and I only had two or three in there at a time...so that makes a difference.

If in a coop, I would advise having chicken nest boxes on the ground like usual, but nest boxes more suitable for pigeons up higher on the wall. Once the pigeons have picked their nest box, many of them sleep in them anyways. It's also good to have some perches just for them as well, like V-perches or T-perches. Chickens more than likely will not try to land on one of those, unless you have some tiny chickens who fly well.

Examples of V and T perches. Obviously the V ones are upside down 'V's, and the T-perches are just blocks sticking out of the wall.

And here's what my pigeon nest boxes look like. They'll gladly nest in different kinds of nestboxes, even chicken nestboxes, but these are more typical.

12 inches high, 12 inches wide, and 12-14 inches deep are good for homers like mine. Bigger birds like Indian fantails or Kings would probably appreciate something a bit wider and deeper though. Still, they aren't above squishing themselves in tight or odd spaces to lay

 

[ThiefPouter06]

I have chickens and pigeons but I would advice against housing them together. You never know what sort of bacteria/virus that could mutate and jump species. If I am not mistaken that is how PMV entered pigeons.

 

[Attack Chicken]

What about the roller pigeons that don't fly? I love those kinds!

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

The diseases are one good thing to consider. Although I've had a few together before and didn't have a problem, things can go pretty bad. Fowl pox, coccidiosis, salmonella/e. coli are a few that could easy be transmitted I think. I think the story with PMV is that they believe it's a relative to the Newcastle disease in chickens. It certainly has similar symptoms. Of course this is a risk with housing any different species of birds together.



Attack chicken, that kind of rollers are called parlor rollers (or parlor tumblers, same thing)

They do backflips on the ground and aren't ment to fly up any higher than a few feet. Very good breed for young kids to play with and start the hobby out. Probably not the best breed to have with any other birds except pigeons, simply because they could be attacked by a dominant (or just just plain cocky) chicken.

 

[Drel]

why would you put pigeons with chickens? i bet all of you wouldnt put quale in with chickens!

 

[Hokum Coco]

First off.. My coop is SURROUNDED by massive post oaks. So its very shady. I was wondering if I could get a pair of pigeons and let them share the coop with my chickens. Of course I would get them seperate nest box(es) that are chicken proof as well as seperate perches that are too high for chickens.

Your set up sounds better than mine and you may have less problems.

I have 66 trips around the sun. I have been raising birds for decades. I have heard of some fanciers raising pigeons and chickens together but they are the exception to the rule and rare

"TRUST ME".

You will have problems chickens are little dinosaurs, meat eaters, opportunist, and will eat just about anything. My experience is give half a chance chickens will eat pigeon eggs, squabs, and any injured pigeon. They also bully any pigeon it comes in contact with.

My advice is save yourself some heartache petition an area off with chicken wire in your coop to house pigeons. with a a trap to serve as their own private entrance.

If that is not feasible check out this link maybe you will see something that may meet your requirements and budget:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=pige...ved=0ahUKEwid49nZr5nPAhUW3YMKHcKHC94Q_AUICCgB

I am quoted as saying mine lived together without problem. That was true. Until they didn't.

You and I learned our lesson the same way buddy.

Thank you for posting.

 

[jak2002003]

Don't mix pigeons and chickens.... it will end in the death of pigeon squabs and lots of unnecessary injuries to pigeons trying to defend their nests.

Chickens will still fly up to the pigeon nest boxes no matter how high you put them.... unless chickens wings are clipped.

Chickens will dominate the feed and water... and eat the pigeons food also.

I am speaking from personal experience. They lived together for months no problems. but once chickens (and they were only small Japanese bantams) started to lay eggs and go broody, and the pigeons started to breed.. it was a war zone. Lots of squashed pigeon eggs, eaten squabs, injured adult pigeons, and fighting all the time.

If you have such a big enclosure its much easier to simply partition a section off for the pigeons to have to themselves. They will be much happier and not stressed and harassed by the chickens.

 

[QuoVadis]

The reason you have heard such mixed answers is that while pigeons and chickens can be mixed there are several "rules" if you will, that must be observed for it to be successful. The people who have said t will work are probably (whether knowing or unknowingly) following these, while those who haven't have seen first hand how badly it can go wrong if you mix them in the wrong way. So basically here is the "list":

#1 You can only house pigeons that fly well with chickens. Breeds like homers, rollers, high-flyers and ferals should be fine. Fancy or heavy breeds that don't fly well (Fantails, Trumpeters, Giant Runts, Croppers, Jacobin, etc) won't work. They will get picked on or killed by the chickens. Some fancy breeds that fly better (Tumblers, Ice, Swallows, Monks, Starling, etc) may work but it would depend upon the bird and the chickens. Play it safe and don't house those breeds together unless you have a back up if it fails.

#2 Don't put young pigeons who can't fly well yet with chickens and don't let pigeons have babies where chickens can get at them. Either don't let pigeons breed that live with chickens, shut them in a breeding box, or give them an enclosed nestbox/hutch with some type of trap/high entrance only the pigeons can get in. Chickens will kill helpless babies.

#3 Have plenty of perches, food, and water. Put some perches high enough chickens can't reach them or at least high enough they won't use them much.
While pigeons can do well on chicken pellets you would have to have to have plenty available or else if you are going to feed pigeons grain it will have to be fed up high or somewhere else the chickens can't steal it.

All in all it is usually easier to just house pigeons separately, but in some cases it may be worth keeping them together. In my case, I live in the city and have a very tiny yard. Between my chicken coop and run and my fancy/breeding pigeon loft literally 1/4 of my yard is taken up. I do not have room to add another pigeon loft which is what I would do if I lived in the county. So I keep my flying pigeons (mostly homers and homerXs) with my chickens. But they have a small area only they can get into with their own food and water. They spend more of their time out in the chicken run or even inside the chicken coop (there are perches all over) but if they want to they have a place they can get away from the chickens. In my situation it works well.

 

[AmandaMBG]

I would never even try to put them together. I've see chickens rip doves to shreds in seconds.