New to pidgeons and doves

[RogerTheChicken]

I am pretty good at raising turkeys, chickens, and ducks but I have been thinking about getting some pidgeons next week and I have a few questions.

Can you raise them with chickens?
What do they eat?
Can you eat the eggs?
What do they need as a shelter?
Can they live in the chicken/duck coop?
Do they need smaller nest?
Are they easy to raise and breed?
What special things do they need to be cared for?
Will they get out and scratch around with the chickens?

Sorry for so many questions.

 

[Twistedfeather]

-What do they eat? Normally commercial seeds, depending on where you are I would ask a feed store
-What do they need as shelter? A loft is probably the best
-Can they live in the chicken/duck coop? I've seen people raise them with chickens but I've also seen a lot of accidents happen that way.
-Are they easy to raise and breed? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. It all depends on the breed,Kings for example make horrible parents and sometime eat the sqaubs (baby pigeon) unlike chickens pigeons rely on the parents to feed them.
- What special things do pigeons need to be cared for? Most pigeon breeders keep all their females in one pen, males in another, and squabs and young premature birds somewhere else. In the summer I provide mine with a bath to clean themselves off with and I scrape their roosts every night
-Will they scratch around with the chickens? I would not recommend keep them anywhere other than an enclosed area, even homer pigeons because once they fly away they won't come back to your house. I would also recommend keeping them far away from turkeys because they can give them some diseases that chickens don't normally.

 

[jak2002003]

I am pretty good at raising turkeys, chickens, and ducks but I have been thinking about getting some pidgeons next week and I have a few questions.

Can you raise them with chickens?

What do they eat?

Can you eat the eggs?

What do they need as a shelter?

You can also build them an outside flight - aviary attacked to the coop to give them more space.. and get them used to their new home.. for when you first let them out to free fly.

Not without problems. Better have their own coop if you want to breed them.

They will nest in anything! Better you made your own nest boxes.. and use a dog bowl lined with newspaper for the actual nest.

Very easy!!!

Nothing. Just keep them clean and tidy.. and they also like a bath in a pan of water a few times a week to keep them looking sleek.. and keeps their feather dust down.

Yes.

Sorry for so many questions.

Nice you know you are going to care for them properly.

 

[RogerTheChicken]

Thanks for the help guys, what is a good breed to start with?

 

[Twistedfeather]

I would recommend a roller breed, and not a breed that has a special feature that would be to hard to maintain for example a fantail or a frillback. Homers are good too.

 

[RogerTheChicken]

I would recommend a roller breed, and not a breed that has a special feature that would be to hard to maintain for example a fantail or a frillback. Homers are good too.

thanks I will try to get some this weekend

 

[jak2002003]

If you want them to be friendly easy to care for and handle pets that I think the best will be garden fantail pigeons.

They are very placid and tame... and the garden fantail can also be let out to free fly. Don't get the show quality fantails.. they have such big tails they can't really fly and they get killed by predators!

If you want to keep pigeons to see them performing and flying high around you property, then rollers are great, and they come in many colours. They are small and friendly too.

I like my utility king pigeons.. they are huge fat white balls of cuddly feathers.. they are very placid.. but some people find them boring as they don't fly much.

There are so many breeds to choose from!

The only ones I don't recommend are show king pigeons... I found them to be super aggressive with each other and the other pigeons.. and they were nasty and unfriendly with people too!

Homing pigeons are also good.. but I found mine a big aggressive too... and there were some problems with a few flying away with other flocks that passed over my house!!!.. guess they wanted a more sporty lifestyle to my quite lazy loft.

 

[RogerTheChicken]

Do I let them fly around my property or do they need to be kept in a run

 

[Twistedfeather]

I would keep in a run/loft only because it will attract predators and there is no way of telling if they'll stay.

 

[jak2002003]

Do I let them fly around my property or do they need to be kept in a run

Its up to you.

They don't have to be let out to fly if they have a large enough run / aviary.

But for me I love seeing them flying around my house and walking around my garden.

If you want to let them free fly you must let them settle into their new home first. If you let them out too soon they will fly away and not come back.

Make sure you buy young birds.. not adults (as adults will be more prone to flying back to their old home).

Keep them in for at least 8 weeks.. and make sure they can see outside the loft so they get used to their new area.

Train them to come to you by using their favourite treat (mine like peanuts).. shake them in a can.. or call them when you feed them.

When they are tame with you and come when you call them.. and after 2 months in their new home.. you can let them out. Only let them free fly for a short time to start with.. calling them back in.

Never allow them to come and go all day on their own.. because that will attract predators. I only let mine out when I am at home to watch them. After an hour or 2 I shut them back into the loft. Have not lost any to predators when they are out of the loft.

But if your area has a lot of hawks, then be extra careful!

You can be sure the pigeons will stay with you when they start to nest and rear their young.