Question about pigeons staying

[cavemanrich]

@RiverOtter
Reading all these posts are many good ideas/advice.
Here is my view since I see what you are trying to accomplish.
First; Your friend wants to clean his barn out.
Second; You would like to have some pigeons as pets. Fast racers not important.
I do not know how many pigeons are in friends barn.
This is what I would do, and not saying you should,,,
I would capture all the pigeons at the barn. I would then take and release them lets say 50 miles away. Remember that feral pigeons are able to survive in the wild. I would return to friends barn and capture those that did return. Not sure what percentage, but those would be GOOD HOMERS. Take these and start your pigeon hobby. Those that did not return , maybe decided to take other avenues , or joined other feral flocks. It is a better option to let a feral pigeon free rather than end its life in friends barn. (poison or whatever other means)
Raise the pigeons and the young ones will be homeset at your loft. After 3 clutches try to homeset the parents as well.
More than one person did state that ferals are less likely to be affected by disease, than some domesticated breeds. That attributes to natural selection principles.
I have stated in some previous thread, that if I was not particular about getting white pigeons this is what I would do. Get feral pigeons and keep prisoner for 3 clutches. Then try to homeset parents. The young ones would already be homeset to my loft. I do not race, just want to loft fly and enjoy. I did tosses, so do want homers. All for fun.
If you do go to a fancier that races pigeons to purchase some squeakers, here are my thoughts. They will not sell you their top of the line birds. They don't want you to beat them. Then there is PRICE. Small time breeders may be asking in the area of $100 per bird. All affected by area/location/market. The TOP WINNERS, are for sale as well but start at $1000 and up. You need to keep those prisoners for life for 2 reasons. Your monetary investment, and those are likely to never return to you once released.
I have purchase some discount pigeons. They were pretty, but no homing ability to speak of. They were pretty mutts. Even some of those that were born in my loft split on me.
I would also do this once you have your new farm location.
WISHING YOU BEST...........

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

If you get the pigeons you should keep them locked up for 4 weeks then let them out. During the day they would travel and search for food where they used to live or common feeding grounds they used to visit.

 

[LamarshFish]

@RiverOtter
Reading all these posts are many good ideas/advice.
Here is my view since I see what you are trying to accomplish.
First; Your friend wants to clean his barn out.
Second; You would like to have some pigeons as pets. Fast racers not important.
I do not know how many pigeons are in friends barn.
This is what I would do, and not saying you should,,,
I would capture all the pigeons at the barn. I would then take and release them lets say 50 miles away. Remember that feral pigeons are able to survive in the wild. I would return to friends barn and capture those that did return. Not sure what percentage, but those would be GOOD HOMERS. Take these and start your pigeon hobby. Those that did not return , maybe decided to take other avenues , or joined other feral flocks. It is a better option to let a feral pigeon free rather than end its life in friends barn. (poison or whatever other means)
Raise the pigeons and the young ones will be homeset at your loft. After 3 clutches try to homeset the parents as well.
More than one person did state that ferals are less likely to be affected by disease, than some domesticated breeds. That attributes to natural selection principles.
I have stated in some previous thread, that if I was not particular about getting white pigeons this is what I would do. Get feral pigeons and keep prisoner for 3 clutches. Then try to homeset parents. The young ones would already be homeset to my loft. I do not race, just want to loft fly and enjoy. I did tosses, so do want homers. All for fun.
If you do go to a fancier that races pigeons to purchase some squeakers, here are my thoughts. They will not sell you their top of the line birds. They don't want you to beat them. Then there is PRICE. Small time breeders may be asking in the area of $100 per bird. All affected by area/location/market. The TOP WINNERS, are for sale as well but start at $1000 and up. You need to keep those prisoners for life for 2 reasons. Your monetary investment, and those are likely to never return to you once released.
I have purchase some discount pigeons. They were pretty, but no homing ability to speak of. They were pretty mutts. Even some of those that were born in my loft split on me.
I would also do this once you have your new farm location.
WISHING YOU BEST...........

I would just add to capture them at night to ensure you got them all, otherwise if you during the day and a portion of them are out and about, they come back and did not prove good homing instincts but you thought they did and use them. Doing it at night ensures you catch them all, and also is easier to do and less flying around. If you see birds tending to squabs, I would take note of them and if those parents do not return I would say it is your responsibility to make sure those squabs are cared for.

 

[RiverOtter]

Thanks @cavemanrich !!

I'm really excited, I'll be moving to the new place in about 3 weeks!! It's still snowing here (like, today. It's snowing today) so hopefully they haven't done any breeding yet but I will certainly be very careful of any squabs if they have any when I can do this.
Hopefully soon!

 

[LamarshFish]

Thanks @cavemanrich !!

I'm really excited, I'll be moving to the new place in about 3 weeks!! It's still snowing here (like, today. It's snowing today) so hopefully they haven't done any breeding yet but I will certainly be very careful of any squabs if they have any when I can do this.
Hopefully soon!

I would be prepared to find eggs and/or squabs. Pigeons living in the wild supposedly start laying and hatching later than pigeons in captivity, presumably due to them knowing when they have ample supplies of food, water, etc, but I think the days are getting long enough and there have been enough bouts of warm weather to begin the breeding process. Not sure though, just noting to be prepared for full nests.

Also, keep in mind that pigeons take turns incubating eggs and brooding squabs, so if you find a bird on eggs or squabs that is just the day or night shift, and if you catch all birds not on eggs you are very likely catching the bird doing the other 50% of the work. In fact, the cock bird usually ends up doing more of the work around 3 weeks of age of the squabs, so loss of the cock bird when squabs are 2-3 weeks of age could mean a sure death depending on how much attention the hen can give and how warm it is outdoors. One thing you can be sure of, the bird on the eggs or squabs at night (and generally between the time of 5ish PM through about 10ish AM is the hen, and the cock bird takes the daytime shift from around 10am until around 5pm, give or take an hour or so.

Worst case, have the number ready of a bird rehabber so you can get unattended squabs the food they need.

 

[townchicks]

I don't have pigeons, so I am not going to try to tell you how to do it, but I would say, go for it. What is the worst that could happen? Seems to me, the worse case scenario is that the adult birds return to the original barn, and that guy is back where he started, and, you have the babies to fly around your farm, as you wished. A neighbor of mine has a bird bath that he fills with bird seed, and there is a flock of feral pigeons that hang out around his house all the time. They don't even have a loft, and they don't leave, because they have food and water there year round. They just roost in the trees and on the telephone wires. Seems likely that yours would do the same, once they have raised a clutch or two and gotten used to the free food. One thing I would say, if you do this, be careful you don't get overrun with birds. What I do with my doves is replace their eggs with fake ones, so that they are not constantly laying, but I don't get unwanted babies.