Message Delivering Homing Pigeons

[cavemanrich]

After loosing my last 3 beauties to my cat I invested in Electricity. I was SOOOOOOO ----------- mad, and it was one of my favorite cats ,.. I forgave the Lil Devl since I know its her instinct. She does not bother my bantam chickens whatsoever. OEGH minis. Also did not bother my seramas. My pigeons sure have a flavor desired by cats. Raccoons also Wiped out my previous flocks. I know cats and raccoons are smart and do learn well. Both will only get caught into a trap only ONCE. Once they know they avoid that trap. I have experience in this.
I have this set up, but no pigeons until coming Spring. Now it is off.
Last cuties.

Cats will not try to get your pigeons in the trees or on top of your roof, since the pigeons will easily escape. Cats will try to get into loft. That is where it happened for mine. Both cat and raccoon. Pigeons rarely roam the ground, your pigeons are fed inside loft. (feral pigeons eating food do)

 

[TheFluffyButt]

Did you notice in the vid mention of pigeons used by both criminals and police(until 2004) in India?

I saw that. Every time I look up anything relating to Pigeon backpacks, the only Google search results are news reports where a pigeon has been caught delivering drugs!!
Poor things...

 

[TheFluffyButt]

Cats will not try to get your pigeons in the trees or on top of your roof, since the pigeons will easily escape. Cats will try to get into loft. That is where it happened for mine. Both cat and raccoon. Pigeons rarely roam the ground, your pigeons are fed inside loft. (feral pigeons eating food do)

I thought about that too, I figured if I have a small door big enough for the pigeons to get out and a Sputnik trap, the cat won't be able to enter easily.
I'll probably have some sort of locking system for the door.

I won't be able to build my loft for at least 2 more months, plenty of time for planning!

 

[biophiliac]

I thought about that too, I figured if I have a small door big enough for the pigeons to get out and a Sputnik trap, the cat won't be able to enter easily.
I'll probably have some sort of locking system for the door.

I won't be able to build my loft for at least 2 more months, plenty of time for planning!

I'm building a very small loft, wish I had room to go bigger. If you'd like to have a look -

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/albums/loft-build.7427737/

Ps your climate may affect your loft design, what part of the world are you in?

 

[TheFluffyButt]

Ps your climate may affect your loft design, what part of the world are you in?

Queensland, Australia.
Really humid summer's and average winter's, you can get away with shorts and a jacket for winter, it doesn't get too cold, lowest is 3 degrees Celsius I'd say.

 

[igorsMistress]

The crested pigeons are ornamentals. They would return to your loft if they just flew out and not ventured far. Not good for much distance. The spotted doves, I'm not sure if you are referring to spotted feral pigeons, or mourning doves. If they are feral pigeons, then they are good to be homing.
Here is the way to achieve what you want.
Build a loft. Onto your loft build what is referred to as a trap. Capture a few pigeons. You will need a few because you will need to have both males and females. When you see too many fighting, those are males. Thin the herd by removing those males you don't want to incorporate into your breeding. In time, some will pair up and you will have baby pigeons. This may take some time possibly. Pigeons pair up for life normally. What you will possibly have is strangers pairing up since original mates are not available. When your baby pigeons are 4 weeks old, and are already trying to fly, you start to homeset them. Let them out thru the pigeon trap and they will only fly away just to surrounding rooftops or trees. Mom and dad are in aviary behind the trap. Lil junior will get hungry in short, and will attempt to get back to mama. At that stage, it is dad that is feeding him. Mom and dad both feed until about 3 weeks. When he gets back in he is fed. but most importantly he learned how to return to the loft. Keep doing this process. Eventually junior will venture further and keep coming back. This is also when he is no longer being fed by parent. Coming home for dinner. Do this until you get your desired amount of young pigeons in your loft. These are pigeons that will keep returning to your loft. Throughout this whole process, the parents are known as being kept prisoner. When you have enough pigeons, you may decide to let parents loose. Chances are 50/50 after having 3 or 4 litters, the parents to decide to homeset in your coop. Best way for success is to let the male out first. If he keeps coming back, then release female only. If she keeps returning, then you have succeeded homesetting them. Let the whole pack loose and enjoy the beauty of freeflight of your group. View attachment 1201874
Sputnik style pigeon trap. I have something of this style but modified.
Check Youtube for ideas on building lofts.

This is how we trained wild pigeons about 20 years ago. No issues letting out the parents for us after a few hatches. I loved testing how far we could take them from home. We took 3 with us on a 60 mile trip and let them go. They were home when we got there at dusk.

 

[biophiliac]

Queensland, Australia.
Really humid summer's and average winter's, you can get away with shorts and a jacket for winter, it doesn't get too cold, lowest is 3 degrees Celsius I'd say.

Okay, so you don't need a loft like mine! haha More like what they build in Florida.
One thing I did that you may consider - I used window screen over all the hardware cloth vents to keep most mosquitos out of the loft. They are vectors for several avian diseases.

With your queries about messaging and backpacks, it sounds like you have a plan for the birds. I am curious, if you care to share?

 

[biophiliac]

I saw that. Every time I look up anything relating to Pigeon backpacks, the only Google search results are news reports where a pigeon has been caught delivering drugs!!
Poor things...

you probably know that pigeons have received medals for their service in war...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pigeon_Service

http://www.rpra.org/pigeon-history/pigeons-in-war/

 

[Hokum Coco]

homing pigeons that have been taught to deliver messages.

Here is a peak at some ot the devices that carry messages.

Use a spent rifle shell and a zip tie to attach notes.
Any sort of tubing or jacket from a ball point pen will also work as a pigeon canister.
Perforate the canister and thread a zip tie and attach to pigeon leg
EASY PEASY JAPANEASY.

Check out the DIY link (you could substitute Velcro instead of a zipper):
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Pigeon-Backpack/

 

[biophiliac]

Ron- Your link led me to another good one! thanks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_photography

No doubt pigeons are the hardest working birds.