Should I get pigeons?

[Raccoon lady]

I've been thinking about getting another type of fowl besides chickens. What do pigeons need? Are they hard to care for? What types are there? Any other advice is also appreciated!

 

[cavemanrich]

You don't keep pigeons and chickens together. Each needs separate housing, and different care.
No location in your profile,,,, so no idea where you are located. We don't need your address, just general area, like city, state or country.
Reason I ask about location,,,,,, different areas of climate, require different type of housing for pigeons.
Maybe you are a candidate for raising both pigeons, and chickens side by side???
How much room is available on your property to do such??
Are you capable of building a large aviary, or able to train to homeset your flock of pigeons.
Do you desire to get large pigeons to raise for meat consumption??

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[Raccoon lady]

You don't keep pigeons and chickens together. Each needs separate housing, and different care.
No location in your profile,,,, so no idea where you are located. We don't need your address, just general area, like city, state or country.
Reason I ask about location,,,,,, different areas of climate, require different type of housing for pigeons.
Maybe you are a candidate for raising both pigeons, and chickens side by side???
How much room is available on your property to do such??
Are you capable of building a large aviary, or able to train to homeset your flock of pigeons.
Do you desire to get large pigeons to raise for meat consumption??

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

I live in north florida. In the winter, it usually doesn't get below 25 degrees. I have about 150 square feet to work with. I would say if i got pigeons, I wouldn't want to let them fly back and forth from their home because the neighbors are too close. I would build a large aviary if that's what's needed. I would raise pigeons just for fun and maybe as pets, not meat. The place I could build An aviary would be about 20 feet away from my chicken coop. Oh, and thanks for responding!

 

[cavemanrich]

You are in a warm location, so your loft can be an open sided type. That means you can build a 3 walled unit, with the front being wire mesh,, (hardware cloth, or welded wire.) If you choose welded wire,, opt for 1 inch size, to keep larger snakes out.
Your housing would provide/serve as both loft and aviary.
May I suggest you get a few White pigeons, since you are going for pet category. That is what I kept. All were white, and good flyers. I released them daily for loft flights. They would return to loft to eat.
I don't think your neighbors would be bothered with white pigeon pets... THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL,,, especially when they fly in a flock. ,, It's like the Blue Angels, or Thunderbirds, flying in beautiful formation, except live birdies.
If you do decide on keeping pigeons, I and many here on this forum can advise you best ways to provide proper care, and feed. Just ask.

 

[Raccoon lady]

You are in a warm location, so your loft can be an open sided type. That means you can build a 3 walled unit, with the front being wire mesh,, (hardware cloth, or welded wire.) If you choose welded wire,, opt for 1 inch size, to keep larger snakes out.
Your housing would provide/serve as both loft and aviary.
May I suggest you get a few White pigeons, since you are going for pet category. That is what I kept. All were white, and good flyers. I released them daily for loft flights. They would return to loft to eat.
I don't think your neighbors would be bothered with white pigeon pets... THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL,,, especially when they fly in a flock. ,, It's like the Blue Angels, or Thunderbirds, flying in beautiful formation, except live birdies.
If you do decide on keeping pigeons, I and many here on this forum can advise you best ways to provide proper care, and feed. Just ask.

how big would the loft need to be? what other types of pigeons are there? because I was bored, I looked and found German tumbler pigeons near me. what's a tumbler pigeon? I also have lots of hawks, owls, and racoons in my yard. would that be a problem if I let them out? thank you for all the advice! how long have you kept pigeons?

 

[Qwerty3159]

how big would the loft need to be? what other types of pigeons are there? because I was bored, I looked and found German tumbler pigeons near me. what's a tumbler pigeon? I also have lots of hawks, owls, and racoons in my yard. would that be a problem if I let them out? thank you for all the advice! how long have you kept pigeons?

Size all depends on the amount of pigeons you want to have. A dozen or less would be happy in a 4x8x6ish loft. Each pigeon needs to have its own territory such as a square perch or nest box which they can claim, there should be as many perches as you can reasonably have to reduce fighting. There’s so many breeds of pigeon it depends on what you are looking for. Some definitely are not great at flying and shouldn’t really be let out. If you want to get into flying pigeons I recommend racing homers more than anything because of their homing ability. You won’t have very many of them get lost flying from your loft compared to other breeds such as rollers highfliers etc
In short the hawks will definitely be a problem as all pigeon keepers eventually learn. The hawks are pretty bad especially in the Northeast during the winter. You’ll mostly be seeing Cooper’s hawks going after them more than any other raptors. They’re skilled predators but can’t beat a healthy pigeon in a chase, they rely on surprise attacks. They’re cunning and when I had my loft in front of a fence with a wood lot behind the hawks knew to fly low behind the fence and pop over at the last second so the pigeons wouldn’t see them. If you have healthy racing homers or a similar flying breed they’ll be largely successful in evading these aerial predators. Falcons are a much more capable predator but they’re far less common. Owls and raccoons should not be a problem if you have a secure loft and the birds are going in nightly (they do this easily with a bit of training) You will want to rat and mouse proof as much as possible.

Some tips from my experience:
Keep the loft as far away from stands of trees as possible. The pigeons have no problem navigating around or through them but hawks will use the trees for cover to launch attacks, and could also conceal the odd cat or diurnal raccoon that might come after the birds.
It’s fairly easy to teach them not to sit on a particular roof / only lane on the roof of their loft. Mine stay off our house (30 feet from the loft) and the neighbors too
Go the extra mile with a good roof etc to keep the inside of the loft dry if you make something with a floor and walls. It’s extremely easy to keep a pigeon loft clean if it’s bone dry but can be difficult and very messy if you have a leaky roof or rain blowing in.
Don’t be discouraged when you lose some to birds of prey. It’s unfortunate but ultimately unavoidable in some cases and can be tough when starting out. My pigeons fly every day (if they want to) and although they frequently have encounters with the hawks I rarely lose them, now that I am two or even three generations into breeding and flying these pigeons mine are quite hawk savvy and the better traits were naturally selected by the hawks. It’s easy to find retired racing pigeons as breeders that can introduce some excellent genes if you’re keeping homers.
Above all else - never fly a pigeon that you aren’t prepared to lose! Pigeons are extremely rewarding to keep no matter if you’re flying them or just enjoying the company of the pleasant fancy breeds. A few off the top of my head that I like that I know are cheap easy keepers are German owls, Satinettes, and fantails. Some of the meat pigeons like Kings are gentle sweet birds that make EXCELLENT pets. Hope this helps!

 

[Raccoon lady]

Size all depends on the amount of pigeons you want to have. A dozen or less would be happy in a 4x8x6ish loft. Each pigeon needs to have its own territory such as a square perch or nest box which they can claim, there should be as many perches as you can reasonably have to reduce fighting. There’s so many breeds of pigeon it depends on what you are looking for. Some definitely are not great at flying and shouldn’t really be let out. If you want to get into flying pigeons I recommend racing homers more than anything because of their homing ability. You won’t have very many of them get lost flying from your loft compared to other breeds such as rollers highfliers etc
In short the hawks will definitely be a problem as all pigeon keepers eventually learn. The hawks are pretty bad especially in the Northeast during the winter. You’ll mostly be seeing Cooper’s hawks going after them more than any other raptors. They’re skilled predators but can’t beat a healthy pigeon in a chase, they rely on surprise attacks. They’re cunning and when I had my loft in front of a fence with a wood lot behind the hawks knew to fly low behind the fence and pop over at the last second so the pigeons wouldn’t see them. If you have healthy racing homers or a similar flying breed they’ll be largely successful in evading these aerial predators. Falcons are a much more capable predator but they’re far less common. Owls and raccoons should not be a problem if you have a secure loft and the birds are going in nightly (they do this easily with a bit of training) You will want to rat and mouse proof as much as possible.

Some tips from my experience:
Keep the loft as far away from stands of trees as possible. The pigeons have no problem navigating around or through them but hawks will use the trees for cover to launch attacks, and could also conceal the odd cat or diurnal raccoon that might come after the birds.
It’s fairly easy to teach them not to sit on a particular roof / only lane on the roof of their loft. Mine stay off our house (30 feet from the loft) and the neighbors too
Go the extra mile with a good roof etc to keep the inside of the loft dry if you make something with a floor and walls. It’s extremely easy to keep a pigeon loft clean if it’s bone dry but can be difficult and very messy if you have a leaky roof or rain blowing in.
Don’t be discouraged when you lose some to birds of prey. It’s unfortunate but ultimately unavoidable in some cases and can be tough when starting out. My pigeons fly every day (if they want to) and although they frequently have encounters with the hawks I rarely lose them, now that I am two or even three generations into breeding and flying these pigeons mine are quite hawk savvy and the better traits were naturally selected by the hawks. It’s easy to find retired racing pigeons as breeders that can introduce some excellent genes if you’re keeping homers.
Above all else - never fly a pigeon that you aren’t prepared to lose! Pigeons are extremely rewarding to keep no matter if you’re flying them or just enjoying the company of the pleasant fancy breeds. A few off the top of my head that I like that I know are cheap easy keepers are German owls, Satinettes, and fantails. Some of the meat pigeons like Kings are gentle sweet birds that make EXCELLENT pets. Hope this helps!

Thank you so much! This really helps!

 

[Raccoon lady]

Okay, so I have another question, what do pigeons eat, and do they need grit or oyster shell?

 

[Qwerty3159]

They need both oyster shell and grit- you can crush up both types sold for chickens to make them easier for the pigeons to ingest or buy specially made ones for pigeons. Versele Laga products are a bit pricey but high quality- my pigeons go nuts for their grit.
Pigeons need a seed mix which you can make on your own but I find it easier to just buy bags from Chewy (reasonably priced and free shipping). Off the top of my head Versele Laga and Brown’s are both good feed brands for pigeons and both found on Chewy.

They also enjoy things like peanuts and sunflower as a treat. Mine don’t really care for any green material with the exception of snap peas, for whatever reason. A largely seed diet is best for them.

 

[Qwerty3159]

Feed that I use: https://www.chewy.com/versele-laga-classic-pigeon-food/dp/259123
A bit pricey but the bag lasts me a number of months feeding a dozen pigeons.

The VL grit isn’t on Chewy atm but you can find it on other pigeon supply sites. Like I said earlier chicken grit works just fine but they won’t ingest the large pieces and you’ll be doing a lot of crushing.