Helmet Pigeons?

[justusnak]

Anyone here have, or raise Helmet pigeons!? I have a friend here she is giveing me several of them, for free....along with some she called "doves" Not sure what they are. I am going to get them tomorrow, but have NO IDEA what they eat. She feeds them cracked corn...but im sure they need something else!?
Also....I dont think I will be keeping them, I am just going to try to sell them I guess.
im not really into pigeons....just taking them as a favor to her.
This is a picture I got from a web site...but they look like this one...

I think I am going to need some info...on feeding and care. She said she just leaves them outside in the winter....in a wore cage, with a tarp over them. She recently lost her husband, and can not take care of them over the winter, and just wants them gone.
I will hang thier pens inside my coop....for the winter...but I need to know if this is safe for my chickens?

 

[ladybug4ut1]

Yes it is a helmet pigeon and i have two of them. They live with my other pigeons. I feed mine wild bird feed and they get some chickens food my bob whites live in the bottom of their cage. They say they are cold hardy....how cold does it get and I do not have mine with chickens but should do fine....just give them perches to fly to and land on...If you have a box they like to get in one. This is my first year with them too...

Annika

 

[poultryhaven]

Quote:
Annika do you hatch the eggs from your pigeons or let them?
If so do you sell the little baby birds?

 

[seedcorn]

Daughter had some until hawks cleaned them out. Again if you weren't so darn far away, I'd buy them off of you....along w/your extra dom hen but I'm too lazy to drive that far.

I fed them chicken layer mash, wheat (always a great pigeon feed), whole corn.

I think your's are a little better than ours because ours had a larger beak. They raised their own babies. A lot of small beaked pigeons can't feed babies.

Ours had a great personallity as they would follow you around all over the place. If I was down by creek (400' away), they would fly down, walk up to me as if asking what was I doing.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

The good thing is, no helmets, show quality or not, should not be able to feed their babies. Even the one in the picture has a beak just long enough to handle it on their own

Which is always good news because messing with foster parents is a pain (especially if you don't already have birds suitable for this).

Helmets were my first pigeons, in a way. My dad got some for me when I was 4 at an auction. Needless to say, I can barely remember them, and I definitely wasn't tall enough to reach up and help feed/water them. So most of my days were spent doing that for the chickens

We let them out a few times but the hawks really hit us all and before long, they were all gone.

I think they're cute little birds and really love the crested ones. They should be fine in the winter outside as long as 3 sides of the cage are covered, or at least partially so that wherever they perch to sleep is out of cold drafts. If they have been raised outside so far, then they will handle it, as they've adjusted to the temperature change.

As far as what to feed them, whatever you feed your chickens is fine. Small beaked birds do have some issues with the larger grain though. Scratch, wild bird seed, and/or mash/crumbles/pellets are fine. Large corn may be hard for them to swallow though. So really the wild bird seed is great because of the milo and millet.
The most important thing here, if you plan to breed especially, is calcium. Some grit has crushed oyster shell in it already, but if not, you need to mix some in. The crushed granite is still important though because it is the digestion aid (oystershell doesn't help much with that because it's easily broken down).

Is it safe for your chickens to have these little guys near them? Yep! Although as with any new birds you get, it's always best to quaratine them first. You can put the pigeons and doves through a round of a broad antibiotic like Terramycin, or maybe just kill a lot of birds with one stone and use Sulmet, since it'll take care of coccidiosis too.
I've never personally had any of my chickens get sick from my pigeons or vise versa. The two big things that are easily transfered between poultry and pigeons is worms and coccidiosis. Pox could also be an issue if you get a bird with it. Whether that bird is a chicken or a pigeon, isolate it until it's gone. I don't know that chickens can get pigeon pox, but I'm fairly sure both can get fowl pox (really, both of these as well as canary pox are all just strains of the same thing

). Anyways...pox isn't very common anyways, at least not in well-kept coops and lofts. Just very contagious from bird to bird.


I have kept pigeons in an aviary with chickens, quail, and pheasant before. Everyone got along just fine, as long as there was plenty of room, perches, and food/water. If you (or whoever ends up with them in the end) are planning on doing this, it will help to have a feeder off the ground for the pigeons so the chickens don't get all huffy when it comes time to eat

If those 'doves' you're getting are actually ringneck doves, I'd take them!

But I don't think I need anymore pigeons right now, LOL.

 

[justusnak]

Here is a picture of the Doves. Its not a great pic...but they were so freaked out by the move, I didnt want to disturbe them anymore.
I am uploading the pics of the pigeons....there are 3 matched pairs, and a single male. They are all in seperate cages, in the coops. They look good...I didnt have a place to quarantine them, as I HAD to get them today. Tomorrow I have to go get a pair of pheasants, same place...and if ANYONE wants a pair of India blue peacocks...mated pair...4 yrs old I think, FREE!!! PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP. I need to get them out of there, and fast...but I have NO place to keep them here...I can get them, and hold them ONE day...but no longer....anyone!???
Doves...

1st pair of pigeons

Second Pair Pigeons

3rd pair Pigeons

 

[deerman]

Those are not helmets, but old tpye frills, or turbits. nice ones at that

 

[justusnak]

The lady I got them from said they were " Owls"?? I thought they were Helmets. Darn.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Those are all Old German Owls. Pretty birds!
The doves are actually doves - Ringneck doves. Man, if only I lived closer! I've been wanting some peacocks. Heck, I'd just take all the birds off your hands!

If you don't mind shipping, and there's no one else nearby to take the doves, I can send you a box and I'll take them. Since they're the lightest/smallest, they're the easiest and cheapest ones to get around

 

[deerman]

Yep, owls look alot like turbits and old type frills, several type of owls also.