Pigeons

[BKMFR]

Asking for some advice from the Bird dog guys, figured you guys are the right ones to ask for some advice on this topic.
Is there a market for pigeons? If so, What is the going rate? And is there any legal issues in selling them?

Thanks for the help!

[ghosthunter]

I think it depends on where you are for demands last summer was hard to find. Even the trainers like Conway were low when I called.

Not sure what the price should be for me when I needed them , I would have paid a lot.
Seems like someone is always looking for birds.

[WRL]

Yes there is a market.

I would say you could reliably get $3 a piece for them.

WRL

[wildweeds]

No rules on selling them either,other than they can't be sold for food.Game department doesn't have them even classified.So when you get the buisness about someone calling the warden/cops and a big to do goes down.You will win,I know been there and done it on the wetside over here.They are the same as rats,feral animals/birds not governed by the game department.No trapping/catching license needed

[Stilly bay]

$3.00? sheesh that cheap. I will pay $5.00 without even flinching.

[BKMFR]

Appreciating the input, Thanks Guys!!

[AspenBud]

$3.00? sheesh that cheap. I will pay $5.00 without even flinching.

I've never paid more than $2.00-$3.00 a piece for them, usually I have gotten them for free. But that was a couple of years ago and from guys who raised their own homers and needed to cut down on the population in their pens...was also in a different state.

I'm honestly surprised more people don't just raise their own here. They're about the cheapest birds to use for dog training...and they're reusable if you raise homers.

[KFhunter]

I bet I got $50 bucks a bird wrapped up in my pigeons by now - feed has gone very expensive.


even if you find someone to give you free birds at least donate to the feed bill 

[bracer40]

I'd raise my own in a heartbeat..........except for those pesky HOA rules

[Happy Gilmore]

no more than $3. Usually it's feast or famine. You won't make money raising pigeons. not a dime. They are free. Guys who sell them trap them all with cannon nets. They have no money invested other than keeping them until they are sold.

[Stilly bay]

$3.00? sheesh that cheap. I will pay $5.00 without even flinching.

I've never paid more than $2.00-$3.00 a piece for them, usually I have gotten them for free...was also in a different state.

  welcome to Western WA! Chukars and quail go for $10-$12 bucks a pop too.

I honestly do not remember the last time ( if ever) I saw pigeons for sale for $3.00-  a price like that is not the standard and if someone passes up birds going for $5.00 apiece they are going to be waiting one hell of a long time for the next guy selling them at $3.00

[Happy Gilmore]

$3.00? sheesh that cheap. I will pay $5.00 without even flinching.

I've never paid more than $2.00-$3.00 a piece for them, usually I have gotten them for free...was also in a different state.

  welcome to Western WA! Chukars and quail go for $10-$12 bucks a pop too.

I honestly do not remember the last time ( if ever) I saw pigeons for sale for $3.00-  a price like that is not the standard and if someone passes up birds going for $5.00 apiece they are going to be waiting one hell of a long time for the next guy selling them at $3.00

Bulk is always cheaper.

[WRL]

$3.00? sheesh that cheap. I will pay $5.00 without even flinching.

I've never paid more than $2.00-$3.00 a piece for them, usually I have gotten them for free...was also in a different state.

  welcome to Western WA! Chukars and quail go for $10-$12 bucks a pop too.

I honestly do not remember the last time ( if ever) I saw pigeons for sale for $3.00-  a price like that is not the standard and if someone passes up birds going for $5.00 apiece they are going to be waiting one hell of a long time for the next guy selling them at $3.00

Just bought some 10 days ago. $3 each.

Yeah its possible you MIGHT find someone desperate and willing to pay more but with ducks at $11 each and chukar for $10 (I actually just bought a pile of them for $5 each) you aren't gonna move MANY at more than $3 ea consistently.

WRL

[Don Fischer]

I raise my own, never a shortage around here. Haven't had to buy a feral in about 30 yrs. Have homer's also now. Started with three pair and will never have to buy another. On thing about it floors me. I've had calls from Portland and Bend from guy's wanting to buy pigeons, no idea where they got my name or ph#. If your not a hunting or training buddy, ferals if I have some I'll sell got for $5 ea and homer's for $10 ea. If that is to much I tell them I'm not interested in selling them any. My hunting and training friend's have got loft's of their own, they got their starting birds from me.

if what you want to do is catch them and have a market go to training kennels and offer them for sale. Don't expect to make a whole bunch of money on then though. Those kennels that go through a lot of birds buy in bulk and you can't afford to sell that cheap. The guy's with canons and net's generally get lots of them with every firing, like 200+ at a shot. You can't compete with them. On the other hand, I have no clue why pointing dog trainer's are willing to pay $6 to $12 for bob white and chukar to train with with all the free pigeon's out there. A lot are simply to lazy to catch and raise their own, some can't do it because of HOA. But the guy's just to lazy will normally want a better price, not only lazy but cheap also.

[Happy Gilmore]

When you live in an area with 8 pro trainers that go through 300-500 a month each none are free. Homers breed easy as ferals and save pointing guys from doing as much killing. No fly always In retriever training. Shackle birds occasionally if times are tight.

[Stilly bay]

$3.00? sheesh that cheap. I will pay $5.00 without even flinching.

I've never paid more than $2.00-$3.00 a piece for them, usually I have gotten them for free...was also in a different state.

  welcome to Western WA! Chukars and quail go for $10-$12 bucks a pop too.

I honestly do not remember the last time ( if ever) I saw pigeons for sale for $3.00-  a price like that is not the standard and if someone passes up birds going for $5.00 apiece they are going to be waiting one hell of a long time for the next guy selling them at $3.00

Just bought some 10 days ago. $3 each.

So why don't you go ahead and share your source with the rest of us if three dollar birds are so easy to come by, Im sure there are lots of westside guys that would love to buy birds that cheap.

Same with you Happy, spread the wealth. No reason not to if they are so readily available at that price 

I will start holding my breath for your answer right now.

[Happy Gilmore]

You know Truman? He traps. Greg? He's got a cannon. Fella in Lake Stevens just off the road by the store who raises homers? John, the quintessential bird man for homers and occasional other random stuff. Wendy or Gary for ducks... in a pinch Bucko for ducks and pigeons because he's always loaded and buys up what I can't use occasionally if I get a deal.

it's a network. If you buy a lot and kill a lot of birds, you get the phone call when people have them available. Folks who train which have enough birds on hand will call me and tell me who has birds and is trying to sell.

Start killing at least 100 birds a month per dog and you'll get the calls.

[AspenBud]

For the record, the guys I used to get homers from had their own pens, were not pro's, and the birds bred like rats. Typically they would post on a forum like this saying they had extras and needed to make room in their pen. Birds that didn't sell or get picked up became target and retrieving practice. Often a six pack went a long way to knocking down the price.

It's worth the investment in a smallish pigeon coop, Lion Country Supply sells some good blueprints, to put a breeding pair into.

http://www.lcsupply.com/Pigeon-Loft-Plans/productinfo/PLP/

[WRL]

$3.00? sheesh that cheap. I will pay $5.00 without even flinching.

I've never paid more than $2.00-$3.00 a piece for them, usually I have gotten them for free...was also in a different state.

  welcome to Western WA! Chukars and quail go for $10-$12 bucks a pop too.

I honestly do not remember the last time ( if ever) I saw pigeons for sale for $3.00-  a price like that is not the standard and if someone passes up birds going for $5.00 apiece they are going to be waiting one hell of a long time for the next guy selling them at $3.00

Just bought some 10 days ago. $3 each.

So why don't you go ahead and share your source with the rest of us if three dollar birds are so easy to come by, Im sure there are lots of westside guys that would love to buy birds that cheap.

Same with you Happy, spread the wealth. No reason not to if they are so readily available at that price 

I will start holding my breath for your answer right now.

Bought 20 of them from a gal in Wenatchee. Don't remember her name but could get a copy of the check if you really wanted it. She had extras from training some pointers.

I also have a contact down by Vancouver. The pigeon racing clubs don't want their culls coming back so they like to sell them to retriever trainers cause they know they will kill them. Last time I bought from them I bought about 60 at $2 each. Over the years, I have probably bought 500 birds from the one guy.

There are 3 or 4 folks along the I-5 corridor that have cannon nets and sell them bulk. They are not normally interested in selling 5 or 10 at a time.

But mostly, you can get them from the game bird guy down by St Louis Ponds. He had some $5 pheasants last year.

Also, craigslist is a pretty good resource to check. I just bought 60 chukars from a guy in Ritzville that raises them for $5 each.

Mostly, though, I use ducks....buy them from Wendy at Westwind farms.

I have bought PLENTY of birds from Jerry Collingham. I usually try to catch him on his bird delivery circuit. I have purchased pigeons and ducks from Jerry.

WRL

[Happy Gilmore]

The guy in Sunnyside sells off Chukar twice or three times a year for $5-6 each. I think when he's between contracts for trials/HT. There is another guy in Madras, OR who raises chukar and sells them for the $5-6 range too. There's the bird farm up near Waterville who has pheasant to sell. Not sure on the price but, I know people bring them home from him regularly. I don't use pheasant often

[HighlandLofts]

I have access to pigeons for $5 each if any one wants any in the Arlington area, 40 miles north of Seattle.

[WRL]

Saw an ad on Craigslist "KPR" for pigeons.....FREE.

Don't know anything about them or how many.

WRL

[wildweeds]

My trainer buddy was all jacked up about the 5 dollar chukars that are being raised over in the basin area,till he got there to look at them,not even close to being old/good enough to use on pointing dogs.Probably good enough to throw out of winger zingers for retrievers to chase down though.Good chukars are going to be in the 8.75 thru 10.50 or more range,preserve quality adults(8 months old),plump and feathered well can be as high as 12.50 each.Look at a preserve package for birds,divide it in half and then divde in half again,the end sum will be appoximately what the intial bird cost is.Per bird chukar shoot here is 25 per bird up to 6 and 27.50 for any add ons.

[Happy Gilmore]

I shot three out of the barn for my female. Going to head out and shoot a few more here for lunch break.

[WRL]

My trainer buddy was all jacked up about the 5 dollar chukars that are being raised over in the basin area,till he got there to look at them,not even close to being old/good enough to use on pointing dogs.Probably good enough to throw out of winger zingers for retrievers to chase down though.Good chukars are going to be in the 8.75 thru 10.50 or more range,preserve quality adults(8 months old),plump and feathered well can be as high as 12.50 each.Look at a preserve package for birds,divide it in half and then divde in half again,the end sum will be appoximately what the intial bird cost is.Per bird chukar shoot here is 25 per bird up to 6 and 27.50 for any add ons.

Don't know if they came from the same guy I got them from for $5 but the ones I bought, I resold half of them to two pointer trainers and they used and shot them up within two weeks after getting them. They flew very well.

I used mine up slowly (kept about 30 of them) and used probably 6 or so every week for a while. They flew EXTREMELY well and were in good condition for the get go. Probably a third of them ended up free range because the gunners missed them. I have some pics of them  after they got lose.

I froze several of them to use for my retrievers after we used them with my pointers.

WRL

[wildweeds]

Yeah those are better than the ones he looked at,the ones he looked at were 10 weeks old,the ones you have pictured are in the 16-20 week zone.

[Happy Gilmore]

Had a bunch of little ones and they flew as fast as a bobwhite. I was shocked. They were much smaller than what Lee had pictured. Three weeks they grew fast. That small they don't eat much. Not nearly as bad as keeping pigeons. Just had 25 homers dropped off day before. Getting used to the shack.

[WRL]

Yeah those are better than the ones he looked at,the ones he looked at were 10 weeks old,the ones you have pictured are in the 16-20 week zone.

Actually I bought them at 8 weeks and this was about 3 weeks later.

I can definitely tell you at 8 weeks they were flying all over the place.

Sounds like the same ones I bought. Its ok.....let your "trainer" not buy them as I will buy them all day long at that age for the $5.00. They were probably just BARELY big enough for retriever work as they were pretty small but they flew REALLY well and never had a pointer catch any!

WRL