Built my first bird pen!

[Siskiyou Blues]

Just wanted to share, I'm almost done with the "cubby" rack to give them some proper shade and shelter, but they have some room to spread their wings.
PVC is my favorite. I am picking up a couple quail this upcoming week to add to the flock.
Training is about to get kicked up a notch! I am working with my almost 6 month old Gordon Setter, my first bird dog.

[Siskiyou Blues]

what's the general rules about having a pen in an area the dog can see. There's a fence in between but it is still a couple feet away. Will she get too used to birds being around to want to hunt them when we are not at home? Meanwhile I have never seen her so fired up about anything in her lil life.

[gittrdonebritts]

First, don't put quail and Pigeons in the same Pen ! the'll spread disease to each other or kill each other ! Build a Coop for the Pigeons, the quail will be OK in the pen you Built depending on the # of Quail you intend to have in there other wise build it bigger or build them a Johny house.
Joe

[wems2371]

Good job with the pen. You'll enjoy having birds at hand.

My dogs don't have the bird pens within sight all the time, but when I'm outside (which is a lot), I allow them to run outside their fenced yard. They always run up to the coops and pens to check on their birds, and usually get the flight pen birds stirred up. Hasn't hurt their desire.

First, don't put quail and Pigeons in the same Pen ! the'll spread disease to each other or kill each other ! Build a Coop for the Pigeons, the quail will be OK in the pen you Built depending on the # of Quail you intend to have in there other wise build it bigger or build them a Johny house.
Joe

Is it your experience Joe, that the quail die or both species will? I mix birds a lot, in my larger flight pen, but haven't had quail in a while. Right now I've got 4 chukar, shooter pigeons, a phez, and 7 mallards in the same pen.

Couple years back, when I only had a pigeon coop, I wintered a couple quail over. They got so tame, they'd sit in the door when I went to feed. :roll:

[birddog1968]

might want to paint that pvc, white pvc is not UV resistant.

It will become brittle in a year or so at most.

[Siskiyou Blues]

First, don't put quail and Pigeons in the same Pen ! the'll spread disease to each other or kill each other ! Build a Coop for the Pigeons, the quail will be OK in the pen you Built depending on the # of Quail you intend to have in there other wise build it bigger or build them a Johny house.
Joe

Thank you! I did not know that. (I don't know most things I am learning)
But even still, my plan was to build a pigeon coop and find some homers so I can let them out during the day. I wanted to keep only quail in the pen.

[Siskiyou Blues]

might want to paint that pvc, white pvc is not UV resistant.

It will become brittle in a year or so at most.

Will definitely do that thanks. It is a work in progress.
Things have been pretty financially tight this past year. This was put together with what I could get my hands on for free,
I'm trying to make the most of what I can and do the best job for the pup I can.

[gittrdonebritts]

In my Experience with Quail they look for any reason to die :roll:, and I've had Chuckar kill other birds like Pigeons or Quail

I've just always found it easier to keep them separate in case some disease got in it didn't kill all my birds same thing with Predators.

[Siskiyou Blues]

I hear you on that. Best to cut out as many variables as you can. Also having two separate "flocks" means if something happens to one I am not bird-less.

All good help.

[gittrdonebritts]

I hear you on that. Best to cut out as many variables as you can. Also having two separate "flocks" means if something happens to one I am not bird-less.

All good help.

Exactly had a big fat Coon get in the Pigeon/Quail/Chuckar/Phez/Duck pen once and he had a very nice feast and fun killing all but 1 bird A chuckar that was trying to fight back the coon got a lead injection in the Brain and the Chuckar lived to fight another day.... that was when I decided not to put all my Eggs in one Basket so to speak.

[Siskiyou Blues]

I hear you on that. Best to cut out as many variables as you can. Also having two separate "flocks" means if something happens to one I am not bird-less.

All good help.

Exactly had a big fat Coon get in the Pigeon/Quail/Chuckar/Phez/Duck pen once and he had a very nice feast and fun killing all but 1 bird A chuckar that was trying to fight back the coon got a lead injection in the Brain and the Chuckar lived to fight another day.... that was when I decided not to put all my Eggs in one Basket so to speak.

Yeah no kidding. You only make that mistake once. I went out last night with a flashlight and was pretty sure I saw some eyes staring at me from a tree. Maybe i'll move the coonhounds dog house over to the other side of the house by the birds. (couldn't care less about the birds, but if a bobcat or coon tries creeping I'll be hearing about it for sure!)

[Finelinegundogs]

I know several who keep a ton of pigeons with their TN reds and bob whites and have done it for years and they haven't ever had a problem. I have recently started keeping some together myself and haven't had an issue either.

[birddog1968]

Disease is never a problem till it hits......

Chickens and ducks carry quail enteritis.....now if you got a couple dozen quail and they die, no big deal, if you have 5000 then its a big deal.

Im not sure if pigeons carry anything that effects quail but if you've ever raised 1000's of birds than bio safety and keeping birds separated is second nature, and never a bad decision.

[RoostersMom]

Cool that you got it done! If you're looking at a permanent structure then I'd suggest ditching the chicken wire. It is not predator proof at all. A coon can go through it very easily. If you don't have much in the way of predators - then it looks great!

[Siskiyou Blues]

Cool that you got it done! If you're looking at a permanent structure then I'd suggest ditching the chicken wire. It is not predator proof at all. A coon can go through it very easily. If you don't have much in the way of predators - then it looks great!

thanks! Not much in my life is too permanent right now! That is why this works for me, I can have it broken down into pieces in an hour or two and then relocated. It is not ideal but down the road when I own my own chunk of land things will be different. As far as predators go, I got the coonhound's house right next to the set up. He does a pretty good job of dissuading riff raff.

[Siskiyou Blues]

Building my second structure! Should have it done and the pigeons moved in tomorrow. I'm going to be using 5 gallon buckets as nesting boxes and I am going to build an aviary on the side for feeding with a landing board and a one one door.
Thanks for looking!



Here's the posse stuck in purgatory.

[Siskiyou Blues]

Transplanted!


Now I just have to build the 5 gallon bucket/nesting box frame and then I am done for now!

[ezzy333]

Just build the frame, put a floor on it, and forget the bucket. You will have to fill the bucket with hay so the babies can get out.

Ezzy

[Siskiyou Blues]

Oh well already started building the bucket frame. If it doesn't work out it's nice and portable. This way I can pull them out individually to clean them. It'll go all the way up the one side.

[Siskiyou Blues]

Here's my brooding box with some bobwhite hatchlings,

[Linescreamer]

Nice work!

[Siskiyou Blues]

I'm shocked. Most of the 25 pigeons I got have flown back to the coop after they have been launched. They've never used the trap door before and figured it out eventually. They are just a bunch of barn pigeons from a guy an hour south of me and have only been here about 2 weeks. Its'a-ok by me though. Means that we can train with the launchers every day, maybe even make a bird dog. hah