Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

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gsp1985gj
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Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by gsp1985gj » Fri Dec 12, 2014 4:09 pm

Looking to pick up b/t 15 and 30 birds for the winter and hoping they will breed so I have young birds in the spring.

Currently the plan is to build a 4'x 8'x 6' loft. Which will exist for the winter inside a garage. (4 wide, 8 long, 6 tall)

How many birds can comfortably fit in a loft that size? What works for those of you that keep pigeons in terms of feed and water? Will the birds be fine if they don't fly much this winter until spring? I don't anticipate that birds home unless they nest in a situation like this anyway.

Any input would be greatly appreciated this is my weekend project.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by aulrich » Fri Dec 12, 2014 4:51 pm

Generally 2 sq feet per bird, but if you add something like nest boxes / shelves sort of arrangements you can add that to the area.

Personally I have had very bad luck with re-homing birds, how far do they need to fly back from your training grounds(the further the better the birds you will need). The key to re-home would be to get unflown young birds if you want a readymade flight team. That may be hard to find this time of year since racers are about to start their yearly breeding cycle. If you could find some (3-6) breeding pairs, and give them proper nest boxes and 24hour light you could have a flight team by spring/early summer but that would be tight.

Feed, personally I feed a mix of layer pellets , whole wheat and field peas, the pellets for trace minerals the grains because they are cheaper and if they hit the floor they still will get eaten.

I use a 3 gallon poultry fountain covered in a 5 gallon bucket with one door to help keep the water clean. In the winter I wrap it with eave trough heater cable to keep it wet.

To have babies in winter you need to have lights. I just left them on 24 hours some folks have it on 16 hours per day.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by greg jacobs » Sat Dec 13, 2014 11:01 am

Don't have much experience but it looks like you might get 10 young per pair. Someone with more experience could give you real numbers. How many young are you needing a year. With 30 birds your going to have a population explosions.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by aulrich » Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:53 am

I have one pair that I get close to the mythical 2 clutches a month but their offspring don't home worth crap but I keep them around for shooters. Most are one set a month to maybe 3 over two months.

Once you hit critical mass you will always be over run.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by ezzy333 » Mon Dec 15, 2014 10:07 am

Since it takes 18 days for the eggs to hatch and then at least 3 weeks for them to be weaned you will be hard pressed to get a set of youngsters oftener than 6 weeks. Some pairs will lay again before the last set are weaned if they have room for two separate nests. But it doesn't always happen. A good figure would be 5 or 6 pair of young ones a year on average.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by aulrich » Mon Dec 15, 2014 10:57 am

Yes I should have mentioned "breeding season" , without lights its April-September around here, and yes I have room for two nests in my nest boxes. Ferrals don't need much to nest, the homers I have seem to need nicer nesting areas. The nicer the nest box the less chicks you will loose accidents.

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Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by gsp1985gj » Sun Dec 28, 2014 10:59 am

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419785788.340315.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419785812.333905.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419785833.864513.jpg
Thanks for the advice, loft is built setting up the finishing touches on the nesting boxes this week. Currently holding 24 birds and will hold 16 for the winter.
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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by DonF » Sun Dec 28, 2014 2:13 pm

Have you got homer's or feral's? With feral's if you keep them shut up for a couple month's, some will come back. Homer's won't likely do that. I'd put some plex glass over the window's but leave a gap at the top, maybe 2" max. Then move the loft outside to where ever it's gonna be. My birds, both feral and homer, have done fine through the winter in temp's to -10! Keep the wind off them but don't shut off air circulation. My honer loft has regular sliding house window's in it covered with chicken wire. My feral's Have one big opening, 4'x4', in one wall covered with feed bags other than the bottom foot or so.

My feral's have done well on nothing other than chicken scratch for well over 20 yrs. My homer's don't even know what it is. Recently I changed all of them over the reg pigeon feed, seed type, mixed 50/50 with layer pellet's. The ferals have a feeder built into the wall that I fill from outside. When I switched them over I started using the wall feeder again. They still take scratch but much prefer the seed pigeon feed. The usually leave some of the layer pellets but I don't give them any more until they clean it all up, homer's do the same thing.

Unless your training ground's are really far off, feral's will home well. I've used mine regularly from 50mi. Homer's, well I don't know. Farthest I've returned them loose is about 100mi, they came home. The stock they are out of regularly fly 300 mi races. Keep in mind with both type's, they won't all always make it home, hawks like to eat them.

I have just a few nesting right now, in fact have six squeaker's out there right now. Normally they start laying about Feb and the closer to spring it get's the more they lay. If you can get squeaker's now, you won't have any trouble getting them back. Look for obviously young birds. The bridge over their nose won't be white yet and they'll still have some long hair's on their heads. But if they are flying in the loft, eating and drinking on their own, they are good to go. Once that bridge over their nose turn's white, they will likely be pretty well settled where they are unless they have never been flown.
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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by DonF » Sun Dec 28, 2014 2:17 pm

gsp1985gj wrote:
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419785788.340315.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419785812.333905.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419785833.864513.jpg
Thanks for the advice, loft is built setting up the finishing touches on the nesting boxes this week. Currently holding 24 birds and will hold 16 for the winter.
I don't see a re-entry door any where. Put it up high, ground predator's can intimidate birds returning. The usuay advice is to get bob's in the door but even though I have them, I don't think their all that necessary any more. On my homer loft the bob's are normally up and when I don't want them out, I shut the predator door on the re-entry.
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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by ezzy333 » Sun Dec 28, 2014 3:21 pm

The bobs are used to keep the birds in the loft while having a place where the birds that are out can get back in. Works well but not always necessary if you aren't trying to keep birds in. There are many times I would take a few out for training the pups but I didn't want them all out. That is when the bobs are essential.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by gsp1985gj » Sun Dec 28, 2014 7:30 pm

Don, the birds are racers, I picked up from a guy a couple hours of where we are. I am going to keep them as captives to breed. The young birds that I get I will use to home, planning on converting/ adding an old window, when I have young birds. February/ March would be perfect timing. I appreciated your advice about the weather and conditions to -10, last winter we hit -30 more often than I'd like to remember with windchills in the -40s. I also can keep artificial light for the birds as long as I need it where I have it set up for the winter. I think the birds could handle the weather but given the ability to have light and because I don't have time to build a real roof I'm planning on moving it or building a smaller loft for the young birds to home to in the spring.

The majority of my training will be within 30 miles of where I'm keeping them. So I think they should be pretty reliable, I'm still very much getting my bearings with the bird raising, all advice is good. Looking forward to hearing more and I'm sure I'll have many more questions moving forward.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by AZ Brittany Guy » Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:32 am

Good looking loft. You may want to consider a design that allows you to easily reach in to clean and grab birds. I can't tell if it is a walk-in or reach in. 4X8 construction gets pretty heavy. Consider putting handles on the sides in case you want to move it from time to time. My lofts are reach in's so I started using hardware cloth for the floors so I can just rake and shovel underneath to toss in the gardens.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by DonF » Mon Dec 29, 2014 9:35 am

Artificial light is a good idea. If you get to -30 I'd think about putting a red heat lamp in there. I kept light in my homer loft last winter. Don't know what it may have helped and I built a water heater into the floor. Large coffee can with a 40w light bulb in it and dropped into the hole flush then covered with 1/2' hardware cloth. Plastic water'er sit's over the hole.
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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by Fun dog » Mon Dec 29, 2014 3:41 pm

My pigeons this year stopped laying is September as predicted, but then the crazy birds, both pairs, decided to have one more batch of youngsters. No more than 6 hours of light a day and no artificial light or heat. Pigeons are very hardy and I just read an article about the pigeon problems they were having in Fairbanks where it often gets to 50 below.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by gsp1985gj » Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:47 am

Az, it is walk in, I have been cleaning it once a week, need to add a door to the aviary half and to throw down a sheet of plywood. Overall size is 7' width x 8' long x 6' height. Lots of fluctuating weather the last couple weeks so it's been a good test for the birds, they are hardy. The framed enclosed section has a plywood floor that I scrape out with an edging shovel. So far birds are doing well couple weeks in. Don thanks for the post about your water heater, good idea and sounds easy to do.

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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by DonF » Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:59 am

I do have a few birds that roost on 2x4's in the ceiling but a lot more on a chicken roost and some rost's I made for them. Made two kind's. First was a short 1x1 with pieces of door cover plywood on them, about 1/8th inch stuff. Put one small sq piece of plywood, about 4"x4" on two sside's of the 1x1. Former a small roof. them behind the roof pieces I put in a 1x2 to nail it to the wall. They look like a small bird house roof on the wall. The second type was easier. Same 1x1 and only 1 4"x4" piece of plywood. Nail the plywood to the 1x1 and the 1x1 to the wall. Make's a flat spot for the birds to stand on. haven't noticed that they like one better than the other. Birds that sit on the 2x4 across the top of the walls have crapped on me a few times! Birds on the small roost's never do that.
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Re: Advice on pigeon loft size and keeping pigeons

Post by RyanDoolittle » Fri Jan 02, 2015 1:44 pm

aulrich wrote:Yes I should have mentioned "breeding season" , without lights its April-September around here, and yes I have room for two nests in my nest boxes. Ferrals don't need much to nest, the homers I have seem to need nicer nesting areas. The nicer the nest box the less chicks you will loose accidents.

Do you have any problems with the cold weather and young chicks? I am thinking I may try the light in the loft idea to get my birds going.

I have a roller box set up for my homers right now but would like something a little bigger for more birds next year.

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