Pigeons and being gone a couple of days.

[CCBIRDDOGMAN]

Do they make a good feeder & waterer that I can put in my coop when nobody is going to be around for a couple of days? My wife has been taking care of the pigeons when me & my buddy go hunting but on our last trip in February, she wants to go with us. I can get my niece to change out food & water if I have to but would like to get something set up where she wouldn't have to unless it's freezing & even then, all she would have to do is set a full thing of water if I have the right feeder setup. Any suggestions? Oh, I have around 15 birds in there.

[RichK]

I went to SD in August for a week with about the same number of birds in my loft and left them unattended. I purchased a poultry waterer that hold about a gallon of water which was enough water for the birds for the week. I also used one of those dog feeders where you put the food into the container and then turn it upside down and the food falls into the bowl area as they eat it.

They all survived for the week I was gone.

[Iowa]

I have 4 of these. http://www.lcsupply.com/7-liter-Combo-W ... fo/7COMBO/ two for water and two for food. I have 2 heat lamps on the water. I can go for 3 - 4 days with out messing with them with about 19 birds in the coop. They are also nice as the birds dont make a mess out of them.

[AZ Brittany Guy]

For my homers, I just fill the feeders and water, open the door and let them fend for them selves. Had a friend across the way from me tell me he had to go on a 18 month work assignment and took his family. He opened his loft and when he came back 18 months later he still had a population of birds still living there. They are survivors if you let them out.

[DonF]

I made my own feeders. large capacity out of plywood and every day feeder out of an old board and some dowels. Made my own water de-icer out of a coffee can. Drilled a hole in it and mounted a 40w light bulb inside. made a wood box around it with a hole about the size of a 1 gal water'er and 1/2" hardware cloth across the top. Kept my water thawed out to -8* last week! 1 gal won't last my birds a week but it would be easy to set a 5 gal metal water'er on the base. My longer term feeder is simply a rectangle box with a triangle piece of wood in the bottom than shoot's feed both ways in the bottom to a tray under it that is bigger than the box itself. Been using these things for years. I tried the heat lamp over the water and it was expensive and didn't work as well as the 40w light bulb. The heat from the light bulb goes up and so does the heat from the heat lamp. never had the water freeze with the heat lamp but never had it out below zero either. The light bulb in the coffee can with the wood box around it and the hole for the water'er to sit on confine's the heat, has to go out through the top. I have about 30 birds living on this system right now. It could be a lot more with just another feeder and larger water'er.

If I was to build another pigeon loft today what I'd do is build the heater right into the floor so the water'er doesn't need a platform around it for the birds to perch on.

[CCBIRDDOGMAN]

Thanks y'all, I guess I will order a couple of those feeders / waterers & will only need my niece to check on them if it's going to be below freezing. It doesn't get cold enough for long enough in East Texas for me to go through the trouble to run an extension cord all the way out to my coop for a heat lamp.

I am just now working my young birds on trapping & have only let them fly twice from about 20 feet away from the coop, and the six that I got for breeders haven't been out at all, so leaving it open probably wont be an option. (plus I have a family of red foxes that hang out near my place that are just waiting on me to slip up.)