Keeping Pigeons?

[jgregg]

Looking at setting up a pigeon coop and getting a supply of homing pigeons to train my dog with. He's a 15 week old GSP. Just wondering what kind of setup everyone uses to house their pigeons, how much work it takes to keep them, and how to train them to "Home" so I don't have to keep spending as much money on one-time-use pigeons. Any advice on raising, keeping or training Homers would be appreciated!

[ezzy333]

I can tell you everything you need to know but think if you look in the archives yo will find it all. Look at that and then ask anything you didn't get an answewr for.

Ezzy

[jgregg]

Haha yes I tried sifting through the posts and found some good stuff. How big does a coop need to be? I'm not sure how many I need either. I'm thinking about 10 or so.

[ezzy333]

If you stay down around that number a 4X4 will be bif enough.

Ezzy

[TimBuckTwo]

Sorry to hijack. Lots of great info on this site!

I had a question about placement of a coop. I live in a residential area with a fenced in yard. In the spring I want to purchase a coop with some homers to train my brittany (currently 9 months). I am totally new to bird dogging and I will be basing my training using Dave Walker's method as I just received his book. My question is:

Should I not place a coop inside my fenced yard? I have a small yard and my dog would likely be all over it.

Behind me is a few hundred acres of dense woods. I could likely build an enclosure in the woods and put up some type of fencing around it (chicken wire).

Last option, I have a shed with vinyl siding on it, what about putting the coop in the shed? I guess I could put a hole to the outside of the shed for the homers to return...

Any and all suggestions appreciated!

[pinebrookkennel]

tim
The shed will work fine, and save you some coin. we did the same thing to our pole barn. Just partition off a section of the shed, put in a rehome door. you also will need some vent windows.

[jgregg]

I'm going to try the shed idea too. makes a lot more sense

[Lowcountry SC]

Don't use an open container for food/water, or they'll get inside it and crap over everything. Instead, use a half gallon container with a hole cut so they can stick their head inside to feed/drink. Also, I used chicken wire on mine and a red tail hawk tore it to shreds and had a buffet.