New here, thinking of getting Pigeons...

[Dazlin]

Hi, I'm new to this forum
I'm thinking of getting some Homing Pigeons, but I really don't know too much about them. My friend has to thin out his flock, and offered some to me. I love to see them fly around his house, and thought they might be a pleasant addition. I have a vacant chicken coop, but it can get slightly wet after heavy rain. There are only 2 nest boxes in it(I could add more).
The other option would be another coop, where I have chickens. There are plenty of nest boxes for everyone. The only thing, I leave a pop door on the bottom open for the chickens to go in and out.
My main concern is...once I let them out, if they wind up in the barn, or under the car port...hubby gonna be MAD.
Can you guy's tell me what some of their behavior patterns are like, and do you have a problem like this? Thanks, I appreciate any advice!

[Yeasmin]

Welcome to pigeon talk. Plz wait for expart opinion...

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by Dazlin

Hi, I'm new to this forum
I'm thinking of getting some Homing Pigeons, but I really don't know too much about them. My friend has to thin out his flock, and offered some to me. I love to see them fly around his house, and thought they might be a pleasant addition. I have a vacant chicken coop, but it can get slightly wet after heavy rain. There are only 2 nest boxes in it(I could add more).
The other option would be another coop, where I have chickens. There are plenty of nest boxes for everyone. The only thing, I leave a pop door on the bottom open for the chickens to go in and out.
My main concern is...once I let them out, if they wind up in the barn, or under the car port...hubby gonna be MAD.
Can you guy's tell me what some of their behavior patterns are like, and do you have a problem like this? Thanks, I appreciate any advice!

If you get adult homers they will just fly back to your friends house, that is why they are called homers. so if you really want homing pigeons to fly, then you have to get young birds 30 to 40 days old and train them to come to a feed call so you can get them in the loft when you want to. If your friend is having population problem he needs to buy alot of dummy eggs..they are fake eggs to put inplace of the real ones., he can get them from pigeon supply sites online. If your hubby gets mad easy at stuff like that then I would say stay with the chickens.

[Hillybean]

As spirit wings stated, you want YOUNG birds....like 2 months old. Old birds will just go back to the neighbors/friends house.

Them flying around the property is very likely, so they could end up in those places, during their time out. A flight pen ia always an awesome idea, and would allow you to have them....

-Hilly

[maryjane]

Welcome to the site and thanks for your interest. Pigeons make lovely and fun pets but I agree with SpiritWings in that they can be messy, and you must acquire them young in order to let them fly free. Unfortunately, pigeons and chickens do not mix for a number of reasons, two of which are improper food mixing and disease spreading. Also, the damp coop would cause them to be ill. I don't wish to discourage you at all, just help you make a good decision for the good of the pigeons as well as you and your hubby. If you were able to water proof the empty coop with some tarps or similar, that would be great, though it would have to be good and dry inside. You could also attach a flight pen to the coop and let any older birds fly in that during the day if he didn't have young birds for you.

And as SpiritWings said, your friend can order some cheap fake eggs on most pigeons sites and use as birth control in order to avoid overbreeding in the future. Good luck and please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

[Dazlin]

Thanks so much everyone. I'm not sure I'll get them as of yet.
I appreciate the advice.
I do have one more question...you mentioned placing fake eggs, does that work the same as it does for broody chickens? If so, isn't that going to keep them broody, and too long on the nest isn't a good thing?
I understand the concept...fake eggs...no chicks, but what about the contstant broodiness?

[spirit wings]

They are given the fake eggs for population control, and they give up in about 18 days or so, because they don't hatch, and then the cycle starts over again. it is good for the hen to sit eggs, if you take her eggs away she will lay more too soon which depletes their bodies of calcium which can cause egg binding and paralysis in the legs if they are depleted enough, because they take calcium from their bodies to form the eggs. Chickens are different in that they lay even without a rooster and are bred to lay almost every day in some breeds and the broody hen does not lay, so people want eggs so that is why they try to keep them from going broody. pigeons are not equipt to lay like a chicken. they just lay two eggs and then sit, and that is what you want....just with the dummy eggs instead of the real ones that may hatch.

[Dazlin]

OHHH that's very interesting!