Gun Dog Forum

Didn't really know where to put this so I shoved it here... My wife and I just bought our first house and we get the keys in 2 weeks. We have 3 acres and I have said for years once we get out of town and own a place I would be putting a pigeon loft up so I could get back into them, and have some for dog training as well. Now that it is becoming a reality I'm torn.... I want pigeons, but we'd also like a couple laying hens.... and then I get thinking that pheasants and/or quail would be nice to have too... I do not want to build something that is going to take up an acre of our space, but I would like something that could have a decent flight pen and that would allow me to keep a couple chickens and then maybe some quail or pheasants in addition to the pigeons... Does anyone here keep multiple birds together? What kind of a setup do you have? When I was a kid I had pigeons and chickens, but they had separate lofts. I'd like to avoid that (read: the wife doesn't want our backyard to look like a hillbilly bird farm). Any ideas?

I don't know that you can keep chicken together with your other birds, but you've got plenty of space to have both a hen house and a pigeon loft.

I may not even get chickens. But would be interested in knowing if I could keep quails with the pigeons or pheasants with them. In the end, I may just stick with pigeons. I kept them as a kid and I am excited to get back into them. Just thinking about all the possibilities.

I use an old chicken coop for my pigeons and also keep a few pheasants and quail with them...no problems.

A lot depends on how your property is set up. Is the house centered on it, or set to the rear or the front?
If you have plenty of room in the back you could probably do your pigeons, chickens, and quail if you are mindful of appearances when you build their housing. Around here we have companies that build sheds and some of them have some nice cute hen houses. You could set a simple johnny house behind your garage and only keep training game birds as you use them and not bother with them all the time. My friends who keep pigeons built nice looking houses for them. Maybe tou could match the pigeons' and chickens' houses?

IMO little outbuildings don't look junky as long as they're painted and maintained, weed whacked around them, and all that.

Congrats and best wishes for a happy life in your new home

You can put in chicken coop's and pigeon loft's that make you look like a hokie redneck place or the same buiding's that look really nice, they will look like you care!

The house is set to the front of the property closer to the road. The majority of the land is behind it.

Done that and done that and bought the farm. Use to keep Pheasants and pigeons together. and for one summer at least 6 laying hens and pigeons. Depending on the set-up should not be an issue. One thing in my case I did not hold birds for very long I use birds up very quickly. Easily turned my loft over 2X month. my usual inventory of birds was 100 pigeons 10 pheasants. No way would i bother with quail and chukar. My loft 20 X 20 X 12.

I have similar acreage Cass. Agnes and Senga the hens give the wife and I a dozen eggs a week and they like their little space ,they come for a walk occasionally with the Labs,the Cockers and Springers not so much


The pigeons have the end kennel of the outside runs

I have an area behind the kennels we keep 'wild' and it holds the rabbits

Thanks for the pics Rob! I also want to build kennels so the dogs can spend some time out during the day while we work instead of being cooped up in their crates and being annoying in the evenings. I have a nice workshop on the property and think it could be incorporated some how. I will post pics tomorrow when I get the keys to the house. Maybe you guys will have a better idea than I do.

I'll be honest, I hate keeping quail. They're always looking for any excuse not to keep alive.

Just establish a decent homing pigeon flock and, when the preserve season ends, you can buy their game bird inventory for cheap to use for shooters.

CDN_Cocker wrote:Didn't really know where to put this so I shoved it here... My wife and I just bought our first house and we get the keys in 2 weeks. We have 3 acres and I have said for years once we get out of town and own a place I would be putting a pigeon loft up so I could get back into them, and have some for dog training as well. Now that it is becoming a reality I'm torn.... I want pigeons, but we'd also like a couple laying hens.... and then I get thinking that pheasants and/or quail would be nice to have too... I do not want to build something that is going to take up an acre of our space, but I would like something that could have a decent flight pen and that would allow me to keep a couple chickens and then maybe some quail or pheasants in addition to the pigeons... Does anyone here keep multiple birds together? What kind of a setup do you have? When I was a kid I had pigeons and chickens, but they had separate lofts. I'd like to avoid that (read: the wife doesn't want our backyard to look like a hillbilly bird farm). Any ideas?

AAA Gundogs wrote:I'll be honest, I hate keeping quail. They're always looking for any excuse not to keep alive.

Just establish a decent homing pigeon flock and, when the preserve season ends, you can buy their game bird inventory for cheap to use for shooters.

Exactly. +1, Pen raise quail are a bad investment for the amateur trainer who ultimately will have very low quantity usage. Pigeons are easy keepers for the smart spaniel guy!
As for chukars just do not feel they are a fitting bird for the flushing spaniel, size wise and ground characteristics are not all that much different than a pigeon, and in some dogs they may have a tendency to encourage a dog to point that should not be pointing. I have witnessed that over the years.

gundogguy wrote:

AAA Gundogs wrote:I'll be honest, I hate keeping quail. They're always looking for any excuse not to keep alive.

Just establish a decent homing pigeon flock and, when the preserve season ends, you can buy their game bird inventory for cheap to use for shooters.

Exactly. +1, Pen raise quail are a bad investment for the amateur trainer who ultimately will have very low quantity usage. Pigeons are easy keepers for the smart spaniel guy!
As for chukars just do not feel they are a fitting bird for the flushing spaniel, size wise and ground characteristics are not all that much different than a pigeon, and in some dogs they may have a tendency to encourage a dog to point that should not be pointing. I have witnessed that over the years.

About the only thing that I'm not is a flushing spaniel guy.

With some pointers, especially, younger dogs with a very high prey drive, a well held point being rewarded with a killed bird really works wonders.

polmaise wrote:I have an area behind the kennels we keep 'wild' and it holds the rabbits

That's a beautiful spot. I'm jealous.

Give some serious thought to security (as in against predators) when you build it. Weasels, raccoons, fox, owls, feral cats, any of these and more are very smart about locating food in a fixed location and figuring out to to get to it.

After not being able to locate any chukar locally, I picked up thirty quail about six weeks ago and have only lost one so far. I keep them in a small pen, but they've all been strong flyers out of the launchers. Probably not as durable as chukar but they've served my purpose very well.

For what it's worth, when working on steadiness to wing and shot, I tie a 2-3 foot piece of orange surveyor's tape the the foot of each bird before loading it into the launchers. The tape doesn't impede the birds' flight, and they typically cover a couple hundred yards before dropping back into my alfalfa field. When I'm finished working with the young dog that day, I put him up and release my older dog, who quickly finds and points the released birds. I walk through the alfalfa looking for orange somewhere in front of the older dog's points, grab the tape and catch the birds to use another day. I've sure quite a few of my quail have been used five or six times that way, no worse for the wear.

I take good care of my training birds, good feed, fresh water every day, and some melon rinds or greens when possible. I'd heard stories about quail being creative in finding ways to die, but that hasn't been my experience thus far. A friend has a pen in which he keeps ducks, pheasant, chukar and pigeons, and they seem to do ok, although I think I'd separate them if I had the option. I'm guessing quail might not do very well being penned up with the larger birds.

Well, being as summer is coming to an end I am holding off on pigeons till the spring when I can get a team of young birds going. I did however break down and get a chicken coop and so far have 3 hens and 7 squirming embryos in the incubator on the way. Now the big question.... How in the world do I teach my neurotic spaniel to leave them alone?

That's where 'Foghorn Leghorn' comes in . You will need him for the embryos too

Nope, no roos

Cass, we have hatched, brooded, and raised birds for ourselves and for our NAVHDA Chapter tests. It was a PIA, so we went to buying adult birds from Gerber's near Guelph. Much better. Buy 'em, use 'em. We have a "two holer" outhouse which is our homing pigeon loft, and two 12' by 30' flight pens which hold shooter pigeons and chukar separately. The pens have double sides and roofs of 2" stucco wire and 1" poultry netting to deter owls. The bottom of the sides are agricultural steel siding laid horizontally up to the 3' level, which keeps the birds out of the line of sight of most dogs, coyotes, and foxes, and decreases the amount of attraction to the dogs. Some folks keep their shooter pigeons and chukar together, but I haven't tried it. Pheasants are determined to throw themselves at the wire until dead; for me they are a short-keep bird. Chukar are vicious with one another, but if you give them space and somewhere to hide, it can work. We raised 100 to 120 per year for a long time, but buying adults is so much easier, and the cost is not much more. If you would like to chat, please PM me.

I don't keep many game birds around but I do have a couple left over chukar closed up with ring neck dove's. Seems that years ago we had pigeons in with quail for awhile. If I could afford it, I wouldn't mix birds. Like to have a good flight pen to keep some game birds in but maybe later. Problem is I think if I'm gonna have a flight pen I want it pretty darn big. My doves and chukar are in the back of my machine shed, about a 15' x 30' pen but I'd rather a bunch bigger.

Birds