Pigeon Companions

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

I keep my pigeons with my chickens, both bantams and large fowl. Most of my chickens are grown and I've got two pullets and a cockerel between four and six months old. One of my hens has taken to laying in one of the pigeon nest boxes, my pigeons dustbathe with, preen and court my chickens. The pigeons spend quite a bit of time on the ground with the chickens, they drink from the same waterer, the pigeons often eat from the chicken feeder and the chickens often eat from the pigeon feeder. One of my pigeons even goes in to roost with the chickens at dusk and spends the night in the coop with them. The other pigeons sleep in their respective nest boxes in the run. When I've added new pigeons, my chickens don't react and bully like they do when I add a new chicken. However, if one of the chickens is feeling a bit grumpy one day, the pigeons are smart enough to fly up to their perches and steer clear when necessary. On the other hand, I've seen my little Francis (the tiny little Helmet pigeon who sleeps in the coop with the chickens) stand in the doorway and refuse to let chickens in a few times! But mostly they're all very harmonious, and I think it's the most adorable thing in the world when the pigeons (mainly that little Francis!) gently preen my Sultan's crest and she puts her head down, closes her eyes and contently purrs

 

[95yj]

mixing pigeons or doves with anything is always risky, it may work it may not, and theres always the fun game of russian roulette of disease. You never know how well mixing pigeons with anything else will work, or how long. I had a rescue white homing pigeon that was in a cage in a seperate part of the aviary from my doves, I was never particularly fond of the stupid thing (our dogs vet knew i had birds and figured i'd take him) but i never expected quite this much brutality. One morning i went into the dove shed to take care of the birds and found all the doves piled on one perch in the corner, i looked towards the bottom corner of the shed and discovered that the pigeon had broken out of his cage and though the divider that seperated the doves and pigeons, after he got out he cornered (literaly cornered, chased her into a corner so she couldn't escape) one of my original doves, just so happened to be one of my sweetest and favorites, ounce she was in the corner i guess he pecked her neck until he pulled off all the feathers and then he kept going, when i found my dove her head was nearly severed, there was blood all over the walls and floor, and the white pigeon was covered in red. I almost killed the pigeons right then and there, and probly should've, because a month later the exact same thing happened, only this time it was a better cage and he killed one of my best silkies. That time i waited for a hawk to fly by and let the homer fight someone his own size, or slightly larger.
I have also had some really good experiences mixing doves and pigeons, this past winter in an effort to save time i cut a hole in the dividor between my russian tumblers and ringneck doves so they could share the same heated waterer. towards the end of the winter the pigeons kept knocking the waterer out of the waterer out of the hole and flying into the dove section, i eventually moved the water and let the doves and pigeons live together, they did great, on cold nights the pigeons and doves would cuddle up next to eachother and i never saw a pigeons picking on a dove.