Question

[someusername]

Where the heck do you get a pigeon? All the ones on Stromberg's are WAY too expensive, is there any where you can get pigeon eggs at least?

 

[biophiliac]

Where the heck do you get a pigeon? All the ones on Stromberg's are WAY too expensive, is there any where you can get pigeon eggs at least?

I got my starter birds off Craigs List, $50 for 6 nice racing homers, then 2 more given to me by the same seller. Fancy breeds are likely to cost more. Find some pigeon keepers in you area - they will be very helpful. The shipping costs for birds bought from Strombergs or similar sellers is a barrier for many. Good luck!

I don't recommend eggs - young pigeons need to be raised by their parents, unlike chickens.

 

[biophiliac]

Alternatively you could try to capture some feral pigeons, preferably nestlings about 10 days old or older, and finish raising them by hand.

 

[slorider18]

I got mine from craigslist as well. Local flyer that was thinning out some of his older birds. I got 4 birds for free and some good advice. Have you checked if there is a club close to you? You can go to pigeon.org and then check by state for clubs.

 

[Kusanar]

Mine is a feral that can't fly, I know a guy that raises them for hawk bait (he's a falconer) so I can probably get another off of him.

 

[slorider18]

Mine is a feral that can't fly, I know a guy that raises them for hawk bait (he's a falconer) so I can probably get another off of him.

that almost makes me sad but everyone got to eat. I'd love to get a hawk someday down the road. Gonna be a long while though before I can dedicate that kind of time.

 

[CCUK]

Mine is a feral that can't fly, I know a guy that raises them for hawk bait (he's a falconer) so I can probably get another off of him.

You might wanna be quick!

that almost makes me sad but everyone got to eat. I'd love to get a hawk someday down the road. Gonna be a long while though before I can dedicate that kind of time.

I love hawks. They're such graceful birds. It's a very demanding job if you have one though. A friend at work has a Goshawk and it escaped. It took him three days to catch it. Needless to say I kept my pigeons in!

 

[Kusanar]

You might wanna be quick!

Lol, he doesn't actually feed them to them, he uses the pigeons to catch wild adult raptors. Apparently there is a vest you can put on them that has a lot of loops on it, the hawk attacks the pigeon and gets stuck in the loops and can't leave.[/QUOTE]

 

[CCUK]

Lol, he doesn't actually feed them to them, he uses the pigeons to catch wild adult raptors. Apparently there is a vest you can put on them that has a lot of loops on it, the hawk attacks the pigeon and gets stuck in the loops and can't leave.

[/QUOTE]
Sounds like pretty scary stuff for the poor old pigeon!

 

[Kusanar]

Sounds like pretty scary stuff for the poor old pigeon![/QUOTE]
well, the pigeon doesn't survive, so I doubt it is scared for long... but I agree, but, the again, how else are you going to catch a mature raptor?