Pigeons

[sdsujacks]

I have never tried keeping pigeons alive for a few days at a time before but will be doing it this week now. Anything I need to know? I coach HS Football and one of my players is going to catch me about a dozen pigeons tonight and give them to me tomorrow. I won't be able to use them till Saturday evening though, so I am hoping I can just leave them in a box in the garage with a little bit of water and whatever food I can find around the house? Corn, rice? Or do I need to buy a small bag of bird seed? What do I need to to know about keeping them alive for a few days with using minimal money, time, effort, supplies, etc.

[sdsujacks]

Also, in doing some internet search on this topic I came across this from several years ago. http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f5/guy-us ... -4005.html Just an FYI to all of us out there to watch where we train (not releasing pigeons in a public park, etc.). There are some crazy crazy people out there in this world... It looks like 1 guy from this forum found that same link awhile back as well. Unreal...

[RichK]

Make sure they have some food, water, and plenty of air and you'll be fine.

[CDN_Cocker]

Geez man don't give em rice! Go to the feed store and buy proper food - I'm sure you can find a small bag of food for $5 at the most - even if it is just cracked corn. I cannot have a loft where I am so I often keep pigeons for up to a week and use sporadically for training. I keep mine in a small pet carrier with newspaper on the floor and fresh water and food. Pigeons are quite hardy and will do just fine. I wouldn't recommend keeping them more than a week like that however as they do not fly well/strong after being cooped up that long. I try to only have the around for 2 or 3 days. Saturday will be fine - I do recommend using them up or letting them go when your session is done - they won't be much use after that.

[10Sam29]

If you have one available, a wire rabbit cage (hutch) does well to hold them for a few days. I don't let the wild ones I get in my loft with the homers I use strictly for whoa work with a launcher. The wild birds get a one way ride to training, and they don't fly home afterwards.

[sdsujacks]

Sounds good, and the rice, heck I don't know. I was just thinking of a grain that I have a lot of in the kitchen. Thats why I asked!

No I will not be keeping them around after this weekend. I generally use them the day I get them but to make stuff work for both me and the kid catching them for me, I will have to hold them for a few days. Between fall camp for high school football, working 8 hours a day, and doing a 130 mile round trip commute every day, it makes for leaving home at 5:45 am and getting back at 9 pm for a couple weeks here. Then life get's back to normal and time frees up and fall is cooler temps, lots of football, good fishing, and hunting. And working

[CDN_Cocker]

Then life get's back to normal and time frees up and fall is cooler temps, lots of football, good fishing, and hunting. And working

I feel your pain...

[Sharon]

From my experience , 5 days with no flight opportunity may equal pigeons who fly poorly. Try to use some sooner if you can ,. By a week Sat. they'll be walking around only.

[mnaj_springer]

Good info. I'm also in the "I don't have a coop" boat.

[Boolywooger]

I kept 7 pigeons in one of these for 3 weeks and they were still flying strong at the end. I set it up for quail, and I believe a simpler design would work better for pigeons. I bought the barrels for $15.00 each from Craigslist. I think if you were to cut the top out of the 1st barrel leaving a 6 to 7 inch lip, cut the bottom out of the 2nd barrel and slip over the first, then cut 4 doors about 10" x 12" just above the lip that you left in the lower barrel putting a hasp and a hinge on each. I would put the hasp at the top and the hinge on the bottom so that gravity would hold the doors open. I would cover the inside of 3 of the doors with 1/2" hardware cloth and leave the 4th open for use to capture the pigeons. I would cut anther 10"x12" door at the bottom of the lower barrel to use to add food and water. Again, I would put the hasp at the top and the hinge at the bottom. I would cut the bottom out of the lower barrel leaving about a 4" lip and using the bottom from the top barrel I would cut a ring with he inner diameter equal to the portion cut from the bottom barrel and about 3" wide and use the ring to hold down a 1/2" hardware cloth bottom, so that the pigeon droppings could drop through to the ground. My design for the feeder and watering utilizing the 3" PVC pipes didn't work as well as I had hoped, so I'll leave figuring that part out to you.

[Sharon]

Now there's a great idea!