Pigeon friends for a disabled chicken?

[Cheekychook12]

I thought I would come back and provide an update to the whole situation, in case anyone is ever in a similar situation.

After MUCH research and discussion with some folks that have ample pigeon experience, we moved forward with adopting 4 young pet pigeons that had been surrendered when their owner passed away:

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They were quarantined for 6 weeks away from my chickens (3x the time the rescue suggested to me) to be VERY sure that they were not dealing with any disease. If anyone is interested in adding pigeons to their flock, I think it is absolutely vital to read up and be prepared for the kinds of diseases that can be shared between birds. I feel VERY prepared to handle anything that comes my way, and have approched ALL of it cautiously.

After that 6 weeks, we started testing out some integration, and I have to say - it could not have gone more smoothly. When I say my chickens did not care even one tiny bit about these pigeons, I feel like I am not stressing enough. My chickens DID NOT CARE that these birds were there. I never saw ANY chasing, even when there were treats involved.

We added lots of high perches (like in the picture) in our chicken yard, and came up with some off-the-ground places to house their feed, so the chickens cant get to it.

After about a week of supervised interaction without any issue, I left the door to the chicken yard open, and they have been living fully integrated ever since without even so much as a side-eye from my hens. The pigeons surprisingly spend a LOT of time walking around on the ground, mingling with the chickens, they occasionally peck at their feed, but prefer their own seed, so that hasn't been an issue.

I don't know how to explain what I witnessed when I blended these birds. It almost feels like, my chickens knew these were pigeons, and they were not a threat in any way. I have no idea how, as none of my chickens have been exposed to pigeons before?? The pigeons also, do not seem phased/bothered/stressed/or even remotely worried about the chickens.

Although the pigeons have access daily to the chicken yard, they do have their own separate run/nesting area, and that area is the one they share with my disabled chicken. It took her a bit to get used to them flapping in and out, but she seems genuinely happy to have something to look at every day now, and like I said, they do spend a surprising amount of time on the ground, collecting sticks for their nests, etc.... She has a covered space to get under if they are bothering her with their flapping.

All in all, it has worked out BETTER than I could have imagined, and these birds are SO fun to observe and get to know. They are really like little puppies, and I love that everyone is getting along, and thriving together...

If anyone has questions, let me know... I am still learning, but trying to do the best I can for all of my birds!

That’s very sweet
My free ranging bantams are sometimes joined by wild crested pigeons and they seem to get along fine unless the pigeons come after their wheat seeds

 

[Zenmonkey]

Homing pigeons - if I remember correctly - and it has been many years.
Are taught by - the young go out with some older birds from the same flock - who they follow home.

That's interesting. I enjoyed racing pigeons, but I was never terribly successful. The older gentlemen I flew with said to toss old birds and young birds separately. Their logic was that the young birds took too long to group up. The older birds would fly off without them. And so effectively you'd be tossing small numbers of older birds and still have a group of young birds together.

But it was also common in my club to wean the young birds early and keep them separate. Maybe if they stayed with the old birds longer there would have been more of a bond and it would have worked better?

 

[Finchbreeder]

I am going on a very old memory - from when my dad used to train and race pigeons.

 

[cavemanrich]

I have been reading and following this thread,, and the topic sometimes takes turns, so let me chime in.
It is still not totally known how pigeons find their way home. Theories are,,,,, using earths' magnetic field . As well a visual memory of certain terrain features. But when you consider a 600 mile race. no way can a pigeon have visual memory of terrain it never flew over before.
This is to releasing racing pigeons for races, and training. In my area. Chicago Ill. all releases were always due west. Fanciers that I knew, also trained their pigeons using releases from WEST.

Other area clubs in different parts of the US, released their races to fly different directions.

So here is one observation I have often read about. A lost pigeon that normally should have flew to his home in Michigan,,, ends up in Wisconsin.
Those pigeons were released somewhere in Southern Indiana,, and most made it home,,,,,, But some,, that may have gotten wind blown west,, ended on the wrong side of Lake Michigan.
Releasing a lost pigeon as such,, after recovery, and feeding,,, was feudal. Pigeon would never find his home,, because they will not fly over bodies of water. Lake Michigan is equivalent of a sea.
Many of the found pigeons, the owners were contacted. They usually declined to come pick them up, and offered them to be kept by the finding party.
2 reasons here.
Long journey to retrieve pigeon.
They didn't want pigeons that easily got lost.

Zenmonkey​

You are located in Wester PA. Which direction were your racing birds take to??

 

[Zenmonkey]

Zenmonkey​

You are located in Wester PA. Which direction were your racing birds take to??

To the best of my recollection, the birds were always taken west for an easterly travel home. The "Big" race was released from St Louis, which most of us was about 600 miles. There may have been an short, early race that wasn't from the west, but if so, it eludes my memory.

For us it wasn't getting birds to cross bodies of water, but rather they wanted to follow the mountain ridges. They didn't like to change altitude.

Your assessment regarding racers not wanting their birds back is spot on.