Gun Dog Forum

I am getting 10 homing pigeons in about 2 weeks. I am going to build my coop this next week. How big of a coop do you think I need for 10 birds. Also I live on an acre of land and have neighbors on both sides of me. I am afraid they will land on my house and or the neighbors house and make a big mess. I don't want it to become a problem for my neighbors but I dont have much choice. Do you think I am going to be able to get them trained to go directly back in their coop when they get back home?

This is my first coop, and can hold a dozen birds easily, if you keep up on the cleaning. Can't remember the exact dimensions at the moment, but there's a dog crate pan inside, to make cleaning easy. Also easy to move with 2 people.







From what I've seen, how much they sit on your neighbors houses will depend on how much you freefly them. I have a friend that would just open the door every day all day, and those birds got in the habit of perching everywhere. I started out by just flying mine when I used them. I'd use them in the afternoon, and feed 'em when I was done with the training. The birds would home back, sometimes before I got there, and be ready to eat. Sometimes they wouldn't get out all week, and sometimes it might be 3-4x a week. That's the thing about pigeons, is they still stay strong flyers.

wems2371 wrote:This is my first coop, and can hold a dozen birds easily, if you keep up on the cleaning. Can't remember the exact dimensions at the moment, but there's a dog crate pan inside, to make cleaning easy. Also easy to move with 2 people.







From what I've seen, how much they sit on your neighbors houses will depend on how much you freefly them. I have a friend that would just open the door every day all day, and those birds got in the habit of perching everywhere. I started out by just flying mine when I used them. I'd use them in the afternoon, and feed 'em when I was done with the training. The birds would home back, sometimes before I got there, and be ready to eat. Sometimes they wouldn't get out all week, and sometimes it might be 3-4x a week. That's the thing about pigeons, is they still stay strong flyers.

Nice setup, I'm impressed. Setting on the neighbors roof won't be a problem after the hawks find them....

Coveyrise64

If they are hungry, they'll more likely return to the coop quicker.

Look under " Hall of Fame Post" there are two very long threads that should be very helpful. Figure 2 sq.ft for each bird.

By releasing and feeding your birds late in the day and by training them to come immediately to a whistle or waved flag, may reduce the time they might loaf on your neighbor's buildings.

Another benefit for feeding late is the thought that hawks and other raptors would have already fed earlier in the day and would be full and perhaps to lazy to kill then.

My homers lave learned from previous cooper hawk attacks not to dally as the leave or return to the loft. At the late afternoon flight they barrel out and return in a rush through the small door trap without stopping or laying foot on the landing platform.

Thanks for the info it is very appreciated. Nice looking coop too. Now I feel a little more comfortable going into it that this is going to work out ok. I'll post pics of my coop when im done. Thanks again.

I have birds out for an hour or two practically every day and have never had them land on our's or the neighbors houses or garages. Since my loft sits about 3 ft from my shed they will occassionally get over on it but 99% of the time they are sitting on the loft roof or down walking the yard and garden. But like it has been said, fly them hungry and when they come back feed them. They will get used to that and trap quickly.

Ezzy

Coveyrise64,

Glad you like the Coopers I have been letting out in your neighborhood!

bmacinok wrote:Coveyrise64,

Glad you like the Coopers I have been letting out in your neighborhood!

I'm glad someone practices "catch and release". Pretty soon we will have "homing Coopers".

Coveyrise64

If the homers that you are getting are already mature, they will not "home" to your coop. As stated above, they will be a lot less likely to loaf if they are flown when they are hungry. Once they realize that returning to the coop means they get fed, they will not spend much time out of the coop when being flown. If you notice that they are "hanging out" instead of going back into the coop, then you are feeding them too much. It is important that they find food everytime the enter the coop from the return door so that they get "programed" to returning to eat.

I keep around 15-20 homers in my coop for training. They are a great source of birds and fun to fly too.

Rob the birds i'm getting are young birds. They should be ready for me to pick up in a week. What are the dimensions of the coop you keep your birds in. The one i'm working on will be 4'wide x 4'wide x 5' tall. Trying to figure out how many birds I can keep in a coop of this size. Thanks for the info.

The "experts" say 2sq. Ft. Per bird, so 8 is what is suggested for a 4x4x5tall loft to have healthy birds. If your flying them on a regular basis I think you would be fine with twice that many though. I have 32 in a 10x7x6tall loft and plan to let them breed until we've got about 60 unless we have people looking for young birds to train with or start their own lofts. Fresh water, good feed/grit, and keeping up on the cleaning will go a long way in keeping healthy birds if your gonna crowd them a little. Having perches of atleast 1.5 times the number of birds will also keep the fighting down and allow for more birds in a smaller space. So.... to answer your question you should be fine with 10 birds.