Gun Dog Forum

Tuesday and Weds. I opened my coop to let the birds fly. It was the very first nice day in a long time.
Weds. afternoon, as I stood in my kitchen chatting on the phone, I noticed something strange looking in the "Playpen" area of my coop. After a second, I figured out it was a ferel cat.
The cat managed to kill 2 of my birds. 5 were still in there.15 were out and about watching the chaos erupt.

As expected, the rest of the b irds would not go in to the coop last night. But, I thought they would head in sometime today. Nothing. SO I went and kicked out the 5 that remained, thinking that they would get everyone else back..............NADA!

SO, now we have rain, sleet snow and expected 50 MPH blizzard coming. I have 19 birds in a branch that I cant reach.

I let the dogs out and I guess one of the birds fell from the tree? All I know is a dog had it. The bird is a butterball so it was healthy, just icy.

So, if they make it through the night, what are the chances of getting them back? How can I get them back in? Any help at all?

I know they are just dumb bird, but they are also equipment I need. Training for the invitational this year. They are kinda in a way some really nasty pets too. They have names for gripes sake!


BTW, Mocha and Stripe were the slow ones that Tom ate.

Last fall just after getting a few pigeons settled and homing I had one spend a couple nights outside. When they get hungry and cold I think they will go in.

Had they been homing and trapping well before this? I can't believe they would leave if this is where they have decided home is. The fatter they are the longer they will probably try to stay out. I had a heck of a time getting mine to trap yesterday. No cat around, just fat birds.

Good luck,
Tim

they have been homing here since last spring.
\

Put sum food in front of bobs and the rest just inside as to trick them to go in.

Give them time, when they get hungry they should go back.
I had he same thing happen when a hawk got into my coop.

I had the same thing happen a couple years back----they never came back. They would fly over but not get close to the landing board(even with grain on it). They sat around a couple different neighbors houses for about 10 days and then just disappeared. I had to get all new birds and start over. A mink dug in and killed all my replacement birds. I concreted around my shed and I'm on my third set of homers. I hope you have better luck than I have :roll: Did I mention I HATE CATS & MINK

Give 5them time and they will probably go back in. You might hurry the process by putting just a little grain on the landing board.

Ezzy

What Ezzy said.

And don't name them, that dooms them as soon as you name them.

I raise homers and I've had that happened a few times and they may come back if you leave trap open it may take several days, feed may help. you may want to look for new ones in couple weeks

Well, they at least survived the night.....minus one.

One time I had an owl get in the loft house, not a pigeon in sight. Got rid of the owl and the birds were back in in a day or so. Same thing happened with a copper hawk another time. About 80 birds had vacated but were back in a day or so after the hawk was removed. ai would suggest that being that has happened, the landing pad is to close to the ground and a cat can jump up there. Or perhaps something fairly close to the pad they can climb whatever and jump in.

COOK UP THE CAT! I have heard pigeons love cooked cat!

you have a good cat recipe?

I have had Hawks, Owls and cats plus one of my dogs in my lofts. The birds always came back. I raise dumb birds I guess

Cats taste just like squirrel. Both better be young or wet cooked for a few hours.

ezzy333 wrote:Cats taste just like squirrel. Both better be young or wet cooked for a few hours.

Little garlic and onions and a dash of catnip?

The cat is no more. I opened the door and it flew out at me. I ducked and it hit the ground running. The dogs caught it. The 2 girls had it for a few seconds befor Max ended the battle. I see more cat tracks tonight. Still no birds in the loft.

Forgot to put up my predator/platform doors last night and when I went out to get some firewood, I noticed I had my Great Horned Owl friend in the sunning cage on the front of the loft..again Only got one bird and just age the head. I thought I might knock him around a little and when I went to do that he hissed at me and started making some weird noises. I reconsidered my "thought" and let the big sob out. Can't blame anyone but myself.

It made for a good WING SHOT when it was fly away-----RIGHT???

Rod W wrote:It made for a good WING SHOT when it was fly away-----RIGHT???

We're not going to talk about that

Still no luck. I will give them until Wednesday and i will stop feeding them. Then maybe they will move on and not piss off the neighbors!

Don't feed them. Just put a few kernels of corn or what ever you are feeding on the landing board. Once they are there they will remember where the feed is and probably go in shortly.

Ezzy

ezzy333 wrote:Don't feed them. Just put a few kernels of corn or what ever you are feeding on the landing board. Once they are there they will remember where the feed is and probably go in shortly.

Ezzy

You might also try opening the side access door for them so they can see it is safe to go back in.

GOT EM!!!! Thanks for the help!!!

Got 17 of the 19 back!

Munster wrote:GOT EM!!!! Thanks for the help!!!

Got 17 of the 19 back!

Good deal! I thought you would.