Pigeon johnny house questions

[evans213]

I have built a johnny house (4' x 4' x 8'). I am in the process now of putting in nesting boxes, the bob door (order on online), and a few open and close-able windows for air flow. I am also going to build a cage on the outside with a close-able door, so I can completely close them in when I need to. My questions are, how many pigeons will this hold, how many and how big do I need to make the nesting boxes, and do I need to put the food and water on shelves, off the floor? I don't want to over crowd the walls with nesting boxes, perches, and feed/water platforms.

I am going to just catch my own, instead of buying some. I am hoping that I can get some to start laying so they will home back, plus I can have young/permanent homers.

I will posts some pics tonight.

[oldbeek]

Get some plastic or paper nesting bowls. Your local feed store should have them. Build nesting box to fit them. Have an open front on the nest box area. the nesting bowls make much easier clean up. The flight platform? 2X2 with wire on sides triangular and a wire door that is on a 45 degree angle. Young birds can set out there and look around. I use plastic Folgers coffee cans with 3 round holes 2 1/2 from the bottom for feeders. Set your water where droppings from roosts above will not hit it.

[rinker]

Pigeons need 2 square feet of floor space. So, your loft as described has 16 square feet of floor space, and will house 8 adult pigeons. Put your water and feed on the floor.

Ferrel pigeons will generally start coming back to your loft if you keep them up a couple of weeks. As soon as they realize that there is a reliable food source there, they will come back. They will never reliably come home from great distances.

[evans213]

So the cage on the outside needs the top at an angle? It can't be flat? I was going to put the bob door just above it so they could land on the side porch thing and hop through the bob door.

[ezzy333]

So the cage on the outside needs the top at an angle? It can't be flat? I was going to put the bob door just above it so they could land on the side porch thing and hop through the bob door.

You don't need to angle anything other than for looks. Make your aviary at one of the windows and fix it so you can close it off. Put your bobs at another window and make a landing board for them so they can land on it and then go through your bobs make that so you can close it also. That is all you really need. Your arrangement will work just fine.

[evans213]

Cool. I am gonna put the bob door right above the aviary. The bob door will fold down so when open it lays on the aviary and they can stand on the back side of the door and walk in.

[ezzy333]

Sounds good

[evans213]

Well, about 4-5 weeks ago (maybe 6) my dad, wife, and I went to an over pass late at night and caught 12 pigeons in two nights. I put them in the loft and have been feeding them everyday or until all the food is gone. After about a week of them being in the loft two paired up and laid two eggs. Then a week or so later, I had four more pair up and lay eggs. So that makes 3 pairs and 6 loner pigeons. Yesterday, I went up to the loft to feed and water, the pair that laid the first eggs now have babies, one pair that laid two eggs has one baby and still one egg. The other pair has two eggs under them (noticed them sitting a couple weeks ago) and 2 more have paired up and laid one egg yesterday evening (it wasn't there when I gave them feed and fresh water, and I went back up to just check on em and there was an egg in another box). So I am now a pigeon farmer, lol. I just don't know what I am going to do now. I talked to a friend and he said to build another loft and put the babies in it in about 5 weeks and teach them to home to the new loft. Guess I better get busy building!

[greg jacobs]

Yup. Got three now. Use to worry about predation. Not so much any more. The old birds may leave but you have all the young.

[evans213]

How could I go about this with out having to build another coop? Mark the young one with a ribbon on the leg or something and discard the older ones?

[greg jacobs]

Once you have enough young to continue on I started opening the small door up high into a settling cage. After they got use to going in and out I took the settling cage off. I started only opening the door a half hour or hour before sundown. At this point I don't have close neighbors and mine come and go as they please. If I want to train I close the doors after dark so I can catch them for using in a launcher. Don't think I have any of the original birds. Use to know who was mated to who. But not any more.
By the way I have 3 coups at this point. Built the second for young. Then they had babies. Built a third for white homers now they all fly together. Move from one coup to another can get out of hand. I remove one egg from each two and the cooper hawks get several every winter

[Urban_Redneck]

I wish I had put a traps into and out of the aviary as my birds won't re-enter unless I prop the bobs open.

[evans213]

I have 6 young ones and now 10 original. 3 of the young hang out on the bottom of the house and just eat and drink. One of them is getting real big and has almost lost all its baby feathers, the other two are still smaller. I have 2 that were born the first of this week and one getting bigger in another box. I am going to a buddies house this weekend to get another cage a get some of the originals out that don't have babies and seem to have stopped laying. I have been feeding them wild bird seed, but am thinking of going to some kind of scratch feed for young chickens and mixing in oyster shell. Any recommendations?

[ezzy333]

A layer feed pellet will work well and they won't need grit on that either.