[cocoblack]

Hi all my name is Corey from South Carolina. Growing up my grandfather always keeped pigeons. Numorous times I have spoken to my wife about building a loft and keeping pigeons in memory of my recently deceased grandfather. We had been putting the loft project off for abit due to recently moving and were not quite setteled yet. But, Recently I ran across a customer of mine that had numorous pet pigeons. This fella proceded to tell me he didnt want the birds anymore and was planing on discarding them.. You dont want to know what he ment by discarding, beleive me.. So my wife and i jump into action and built our 1st loft this past weekend & the man deliverd the birds yesturday. I was hoping for some opinoins and beginer advice. So far this site has been wonderful, everything weve done up to this point " loft building & bird care" is come from the post on this site.
Heres what we have so far.



I still have to place the aviry on the loft. And Im pretty sure I need something across the front of my nest box's?

I have the diposable nest bowls, some grit containg oyster shells, & a better water/feeder system.
Do ya'll see anything else i need to focus on or any advice, like how much grit do they need or amount of food per day? Heck does anyone know what kind of birds I even have?

 

[cocoblack]

My new birds


Note acouple of the birds have alot of feathers missing case this old man drove them here in a cage placed in the back of a pick-up..
Any Help would be appriciated.

 

[Revolution Lofts]

They look like Homers So it looks like you've got yourself a team of OB's

I don't keep homers so I don't know how much to feed them or their feeding schedule if you wanna race them. We've got tons of people here that have homers so they can help you

The nest boxes definitely should have something in the front, don't want the egg/baby to fall out for what ever reason. What are the dimensions of your loft? How big will the aviary be?

Also, i don't think being in a pickup would cause those feathers to fall. Either the pigeon is molting...but that usually happens around July/August for my birds so not sure. If I were you I'd separate any birds with feather loss until someone here can tell you whats going on

(A lot of people I know take their pigeons in pickups when training and they don't lose feathers so thats what I'm worried about)

 

[cocoblack]

My loft is aliitle over 8'wide x 4.5'tall x 4.5' deep roughly. The aviary is extend out 2' width will be slightly over 4', any sugestions on its hight?

By the way thanks for the info, I will place these birds in a seprate cage till I can find out there possible issues. And i'll pick up some 1x4's in the morning to place over the lower half of each nest..

 

[Revolution Lofts]

The height seems fine Also you have 2 doors as I can see which will make cleaning easier. Just get a long garden hoe, I used this for my loft and it works great, gets into the far places, but you might wanna get some scraper too.

Seperating the birds just in case is best, don't wanna take any chances. Make another topic asking if there is anything wrong with your birds and explain how they were brought to the loft and all. Take a couple more pictures if you can.

Adding the 1 X 4 will make the babies much safer than nothing there

How many pigeons do you plan to keep? What do you wish to do with the pigeons? They are homers and for all I know they are racers. Pretty soon you're going to start having baby pigeons. Also be ready to build at least one more loft haha Once you start you always want to add on, and plus with the possibility of having youngsters you may wanna build a loft with 2 sections to keep the youngsters. It seems you like you have a lot of open area in your pictures so I'm guessing space won't be a problem But for now stick to this loft, if you have any questions feel free to Personal message me or email me at [email protected]

 

[Columba livia!]

You did a great thing for these birds. I cant imagine anyone "DISCARDING" of these beautiful birds!

Good luck with your birds. I hope they bring you years of joy and amazement!

LISTEN TO GURBIR he knows what he's talking about!

-Columba livia!

 

[Columba livia!]

Also, your loft looks great! I think it should work fine.

 

[Revolution Lofts]

Thank you Columba

There a couple things you need to keep in mind and you'll have many years of keeping pigeons ahead of you:

1. Never over crowd, usually people say 1 bird for ever 2 Ft square, could be less or more. But if it looks like they're overcrowded they probably are.
2. Good, fresh, nutritious food should be available. People use different mixes for their flyers and their breeders.
3. Grit. Grit is needed for them so successfully digest their food. Also has extra nutrition.
4. The loft should be dry at all times. There should be no wetness in the loft. The loft shouldn't be too drafty but it should also have good ventilation.
5. Fresh water should be available all the time. Unlike humans they can't ask for water when thirsty, last thing you'd want are thirsty, dehydrated birds :O
6. Do not let them breed all year round as it is not healthy for them. But when you do breed them, only let the best of the flock breed. Now since you do not know how these birds fly, do they have bands on their feet? If yes I believe you can find out the results of the pigeons if they had been in any previous races. Once you know how the pigeons did, let the top ones breed if you want to. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.
7. Have a few handy medicines on hand, you can get a beginner kit from Foys. Baytril is one medicine that you should have on hand cause its like a magic worker for a lot of things


If you have any questions, feel free to ask, you're not among strangers

 

[spirit wings]

If let out they would most likely go back to the original owners loft or place where the loft was, so these are prisoner birds, but you can train and fly their young, if you don't want to keep alot of prisoners and have more birds that you can fly then perhaps you could find good homes for a few pairs, or not if you don't mind having birds you can't fly. the bands on them should have the year inwhich they were hatched, that is if they have bands you are going to want to treat them for lice/mites and deworm them too.

 

[Lovebirds]

What are the nest boxes made of? It looks shiny in the pics......hope it's not aluminum?
You do need to treat these birds for lice/mites. The feather loss isn't from molting..could be bugs or it could be just general bad health from not having a good diet. If he was going to kill them anyway.....I doubt they were getting very much food or very good food.
It seems from the pics and what I can tell, these are feral pigeons. I don't believe they are homers.
Do you have any idea where he got them from?

 

[spirit wings]

What are the nest boxes made of? It looks shiny in the pics......hope it's not aluminum?
You do need to treat these birds for lice/mites. The feather loss isn't from molting..could be bugs or it could be just general bad health from not having a good diet. If he was going to kill them anyway.....I doubt they were getting very much food or very good food.
It seems from the pics and what I can tell, these are feral pigeons. I don't believe they are homers.
Do you have any idea where he got them from?

you know when I looked at the pic something about them did not look quite the same as Im used to seeing homers......but I could'nt put my finger on it....good eye! pre owner could be a dog trainer.

 

[Lovebirds]

you know when I looked at the pic something about them did not look quite the same as Im used to seeing homers......but I could'nt put my finger on it....good eye! pre owner could be a dog trainer.

EXACTLY my first thought.........

 

[Ivor]

What a great heart you have for saving all these birds from that man, if they are feral let me tell you ferals are also good pets I had one that I will never ever change for any fancy bird, he was the most lovely bird that I ever had, so I hope you give them love and attention and a good quality food of course...

Thank you for been so kind.

Ivette

 

[g0ldenb0y55]

I would have to agree with Renee on these birds being ferals. They don't look anything like homers judging by the pictures. Great job on the loft!

 

[Lovebirds]

I would have to agree with Renee on these birds being ferals. They don't look anything like homers judging by the pictures. Great job on the loft!

Not that it's a bad thing.........you asked, so we answered.
You get some good food into them and give them some vitamins and they'll be slicked up in no time.
Even I didn't realize until a couple of years ago what a truly bad diet can do to these birds. I took in about 20 or so from someone who had been feeding straight corn, and not much of that for months........the birds were in horrible shape. I got them on a good pigeon mix, got some vitamins in them and they finally went through a complete molt and they looked like brand new birds.

 

[g0ldenb0y55]

having ferals is just as good as having homers don't get me wrong. It all depends on what you do with the birds. Renee and I prefer racing homers because we race pigeons. To my knowledge and I could be wrong....ferals are not usually used for racing, but if you just enjoy watching your birds loft fly then thats a different story. Ferals can be perfect for that. IMO

 

[Jay3]

Yes. They look like ferrals. I have a loft full of rescues, half of which are ferrals, and they're great pets. Pretty too. They're right. Put them on a decent diet and they'll be beautiful. Mine are.

 

[cocoblack]

Hey all, just giving an update. These birds are doing great, There responding well to a better diet.Its amazing to see them run to the loft door when i blow the feeding time whistle. I think they have never been on a schedule or even had a truly high nutriant feed.
I wanted to say thanks again for all the help. I know i will still have millions of questions yet but the more i read on this forum, the more info im soaking up. I still havent found out exactly what type the birds are but i am finding out who the bullies are...
I'll get there dances figured out and if there hens or cocks soon enough.
Will post pics of the loft & more detailed pics of the birds soon.

 

[cocoblack]

btw this is the closest pic of birds looking like mine that i can find online. Only difrance is acouple of mine have white to gray on there tail tips.

 

[RodSD]

They could be a cross or ferals.

My tip: Don't take quick action when you get angry with your birds. I was adviced patience myself.