Pigeons with chickens nesting Question

[pastorj]

I have my pigeons with chickens.....I have enough boxes but...should I put my pigeon nesting boxes
separate and higher? Right now I have a one nesting box unit of 15 boxes.

 

[sourland]

You will want to put your pigeon nest boxes higher for sure. Chickens can and will overpower pigeons and eat the eggs and squabs.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I have my pigeons with chickens.....I have enough boxes but...should I put my pigeon nesting boxes
separate and higher? Right now I have a one nesting box unit of 15 boxes.

Chickens and pigeons are not a good mix. You will probably have some success if you cohabitate them. You can expect some losses if you try it for a prolonged period of time..

 

[av8torcrj]

I have some pigeons mixed in with a variety of chickens. They are tolerated by many, less so by some. Those "intolerant" ones will occasionally chase the pigeons when they land on the ground or attempt to bathe in a water dish. The pigeon usually just flits away a bit and really seems unconcerned. They are not afraid of the chickens. My pigeon nest boxes definately are up high as I have the noseiest chickens that are always sticking their faces in places they don't really belong. I would be very concerned that an active pigeon nest, either eggs our young squabs, would fall victim to the chickens during a period when the adults were away. I've also been concerned about a young bird leaving the nest and ending up on the floor unable to get away from the large birds. Once this last batch of squabs leaves the nest I doubt I will allow the birds to breed amongst the chickens for the above reasons.

 

[jak2002003]

I keep my fancy pigeons with Japanese Bantams.. no problems..... no fighting etc,

BUT I don't allow them to breed in the same coop.

This is because sometimes a chicken will kill and eat the young pigeon squabs. This happened several times with mine.

I did all sorts of stuff, like clipping the chickens wings so they could not fly up to the pigeon nest boxes... but then the problem was then the young squabs flew the nest, they used to get pecked and stressed out by some of the roosters.

In then end.. if I want to breed a pair of pigeons... I take them out and house them in a large dog crate. Then once the squabs are independent I can put them all back in the main coop.

I also do this with the pairs of Bantams I want to breed.... so that the hen does not get other hens laying eggs into her nest.. and also to make sure I get the right colours I want.

 

[fowlsessed]

Good posts by everyone. Just wanted to say that I have had pigeons killed and injured by chickens.

 

[ridinglizzard]

I have had pigeons and assorted heritage chickens together in the past, but the chickens harass broody pigeons and crack their eggs. That said, this spring I put a pigeon pair in with a trio of gentle banty silkies and they promptly started nesting and so far the chickens haven't bothered them (they've been on the nest for a week). We'll see once the squabs hatch though, but these silkies are super gentle and the chicken house is pretty spacious so it just might work.

 

[av8torcrj]

I agree. I have 4 silkies in a coop with numerous white homing and fantail pigeons. They seem to essentially ignore each other. In another pen where a few rollers are with some RIR and black sexlink hens things are a little less tolerant. That's where some of the chasing by chickens goes on.

 

[Curtiejlee]

Dont do it if youre gonna have baby pigeons around. Just dont. Our rooster proved that to me the other day. One of my squabs got adventurous and went out into the aviary. I had all my birds out so the rooster was in the aviary too. The baby got too close for his liking and, bam. He grabbed and flung the squab. My mother and I sewed him up and hes good as new, but still, ive learned my lesson!
Before stitches:

After stitches:

 

[ridinglizzard]

An update: The pigeons hatched out their 2 chicks and the squabs are now 2 1/2 weeks old. The silkies haven't bothered them, and actually now one of the silkie hens has gone broody two nesting boxes over. So far so good. That said, I don't think that this would work well with any other breed of chicken, but silkies are just so lovely.