Can you keep Pigeons in the woods?

[snakemaster307]

Hello everyone, I am finally building my first pigeon loft! It is not that big but I am planning to keep a few racing homers, the problem is that most of my property is wooded and I have read that it is a bad idea to keep lofts under trees, I have 6 chickens out in the woods and they are doing great but would pigeons be okay?

 

[pigeoner]

probably not because mean hawks would a advantage of getting them since pigeons are not very good at flying around alot of trees.

 

[laughingdog]

My NYC flying flights did great in crowded city and wooded area next to, would lead Hawks to smashing into trees and buildings etc.. homers I dunno about being able to do same though.

 

[pigeoner]

my homers are not very good at dodging through trees. hawks are custom to moving through wooded areas and i have seem them whizzing through woods. pigeons not so much. one time a hawk was chasing one of my pigeons and the pigeon fell to the ground and fortunately was able to hide under some nearby steps while i chased off the hawk.

 

[pigeoner]

also if your considering to put the pigeons in the woods i would suggest some artificial light if the woods are dense and the pigeons are in a shed.

 

[Hokum Coco]

it is a bad idea to keep lofts under trees would pigeons be okay?

I have no experience I do have a few trees on the perimeter of my property.

There is a device called a "CHAIN SAW" that could solve some of your problems.

 

[LamarshFish]

A few considerations to note here.

As a general matter, I think the answer to your question is yes, although it is not ideal. You can have a loft in a wooded area. Ideally a loft will be in the middle of an open field, however, homers can still find their way back to a loft in woods. I forget whether it is on this forum or another pigeon forum, but there is a guy who keeps many pigeons in the Philippines, whose loft is in the woods, and he says he has no issues. I have likewise seen many videos of fanciers keeping their lofts in what appears to be wooded areas. There are also tons of people who keep lofts in urban jungles, of course.

One complication will be that it'll be a bit harder to train them to find that loft. They can do it, they are smart, but it's just not as easy as if the loft was out in the open. My loft is in my small back yard, there are many trees, and houses around, so it is not a ton different than if I had a loft in the woods. The process of starting my loft I think was a bit more difficult than most people, but I did it nonetheless.

If you loft fly your birds and they end up staying out past dark, they will be at a much greater risk of being killed by owls.

 

[snakemaster307]

Thanks everyone for the help! I think I might have found a field. I can’t put the loft down in the field but I should be able to put it facing it, would this be better?

 

[jak2002003]

My loft is in under a group of big mango trees and coconut palms. This is to give it shade.. and I live in Thailand and it can get very hot here.

The pigeons have no problems at all.. they even like to sit about on the tree branches to relax. When I fist let them out I was worried they could not see the loft from above.. but they are smart and it was not a problem.

The only problem I could see is if you were wanting to use your pigeons for racing and winning prizes... because the trees might slow them down a few seconds as they return to the loft, or they might sit on a tree branch for a few minutes before going back in.. so you would loose time.