Using homing pigeons, good idea or bad?

[sirfunkeybut]

Are there any legal issues to raising my own training birds? I've read that homing pigeons are the cheapest and easiest to care for. My grandpa owns a big plot of land that I thought about using to raise birds and train my pup. Are homing pigeons a good idea? Or should I wait and just send her to a training facility? I've trained her so far to sit, stay, heel, retrieve to hand with a dummy. But I can't get her to hold when I plant the scented dummy at all. Plus the only intro to birds she's had are starlings she chases in the park and the random killdeer around.

[Heredoggydoggy]

True Homing Pigeons have been extinct for nearly 100 years.  If you mean the normal Park Pigeons, or Rock Doves as the game pamphlet calls them, they are in the same category as Starlings.  I shoot any that come around my place, because of the mess they make once they take up residence.  they are raised domestically, and I know of no laws against it.  They are the closest thing to wild birds for dog training purposes, and escapees will generally return to their pen.  I'd check the health laws, as the wild ones have been known to carry diseases.

[wildweeds]

Misinformation here.............. I got a coop full of Racing homers.Racing homers can have a  registered pedigree just like a dog.I've seen racing birds for sale for as much as 500 dollars a bird.The birds I have are  racer rejects,but they still home.I just built a new loft,my old one bit the dirt after 10 years,the hawks got all my birds because I was lazy and free ranged them.I just bought 15 "squeakers" for the new loft,you'll get a ton of mileage from homers.Redneck hickerbilly homers are feral pigeons that are kept in a loft until they have a couple of batches of younguns,those younguns will always consider their birthplace "home",they will not have as strong as homing instinct as purebred racers,maybe 10 miles or so.Racing birds race up to 500 miles.My neighbor guy won a pigeon race from redding california back home to bellingham.

 Build a nice loft for them,supply with fresh water and feed,worm them about every 3 months and you'll have more birds to train with than you can shake a stick at,they propogate like rabbits or rats.The birds are going to cost you some money but then they pair up and bam you got free birds,to use and sell off.

 

True Homing Pigeons have been extinct for nearly 100 years.  If you mean the normal Park Pigeons, or Rock Doves as the game pamphlet calls them, they are in the same category as Starlings.  I shoot any that come around my place, because of the mess they make once they take up residence.  they are raised domestically, and I know of no laws against it.  They are the closest thing to wild birds for dog training purposes, and escapees will generally return to their pen.  I'd check the health laws, as the wild ones have been known to carry diseases.

[Stilly bay]

what wild weeds said.

also, build them a proper loft that gets lots of light and minimal draft. there are lots of pigeon loft plans on the internet. for birds to be happy healthy and breeding like rats they need to have plenty of space, so try not overcrowd. two square feet of floor space per bird is the general rule of thumb. you can get by with more in less space if you pay attention to ventilation and general health.

my pigeon lofts are pretty simple. 4x8x6 with wire windows I can open and close for better ventilation. I can squeeze 10 pairs in there, but really five is ideal.

don't build one of those rabbit hutch lofts you see advertised. IMO you really need something you can walk into, the birds are much healthier for the extra space.
I have seen some people retro fit those furniture moving crates into serviceable lofts, either way you should be able to come up with a decent loft for a couple hundred bucks.
or visit a neighbor with grown kids and talk him out of the school bus stop at the end of his driveway.

[ghosthunter]

When I was traing my lab now she's 13. A trainer I used once a month kept his pigeons in a dog kennel with a top on it. The ones we missed with the gun would go back to it. He had wood rods stuck throughfom side to side. Seemed to work for him.

[Stilly bay]

you can keep pigeons in anything you want as long as they can get out of the weather, but if you want them to breed like rats so you can have a steady supply of birds to shoot, you have to pay a little more attention to their living situation.

[JJD]

I have used them to train pups/ young dogs with for many.  I am rural and can snag them out of barns and other farm buildings any time I wish.  Most farmers are happy to have you take them away as they deficate on everything in the building they live in.  Build a trap or use a net & flashlight at night, both methods work well.
With young dogs, be careful how you use them.

[Heredoggydoggy]

Misinformation here.............. I got a coop full of Racing homers.Racing homers can have a  registered pedigree just like a dog.I've seen racing birds for sale for as much as 500 dollars a bird.The birds I have are  racer rejects,but they still home.I just built a new loft,my old one bit the dirt after 10 years,the hawks got all my birds because I was lazy and free ranged them.I just bought 15 "squeakers" for the new loft,you'll get a ton of mileage from homers.Redneck hickerbilly homers are feral pigeons that are kept in a loft until they have a couple of batches of younguns,those younguns will always consider their birthplace "home",they will not have as strong as homing instinct as purebred racers,maybe 10 miles or so.Racing birds race up to 500 miles.My neighbor guy won a pigeon race from redding california back home to bellingham.

 Build a nice loft for them,supply with fresh water and feed,worm them about every 3 months and you'll have more birds to train with than you can shake a stick at,they propogate like rabbits or rats.The birds are going to cost you some money but then they pair up and bam you got free birds,to use and sell off.

 

True Homing Pigeons have been extinct for nearly 100 years.  If you mean the normal Park Pigeons, or Rock Doves as the game pamphlet calls them, they are in the same category as Starlings.  I shoot any that come around my place, because of the mess they make once they take up residence.  they are raised domestically, and I know of no laws against it.  They are the closest thing to wild birds for dog training purposes, and escapees will generally return to their pen.  I'd check the health laws, as the wild ones have been known to carry diseases.

Your pigeons may be called "Racing Homers", and all pigeons will "home", but the Species of pigeon that was a wild native pigeon of North America named Homing Pigeon was hunted to extiction by the early 20th century.  That's why I specified "TRUE Homing Pigeons".  The ones that are wild and kept domestically I've heard referred to as "Rats with Feathers".

Edit:  OOPS!  My Bad--on thinking about it, the extinct species was called the Passenger Pigeon.  I still stand by my opinion that any pigeon except Mourning Doves falls into the Starling category, especially those recent escapees called Eurasian Collared Doves.  Many dog trainers raise the common pigeons to use for bird dog training, and they are excellent for that purpose.  When they go wild, they seek out barns, bridges, underpasses, etc. for nesting colonies.  Years ago, my grandmother became enamored with pure white pigeons, and acquired a pair and put them up in the henhouse.  She soon found out how quickly they multiply, and a pair of white pigeons does not reliably pass on the white color gene.  before long, the farm was overrun with pigeons of every color phase imaginable.  The love affair ended abruptly, and I can't recall what became of the birds.  One of my bird books says pigeons have been associated with humans for thousands of years, so their progeny is no doubt living around there someplace.

[sirfunkeybut]

Thanks for the input guys, BUT, or more question. If its legal would it be safe to try and catch pigeons? I know where a crap load are, I know the adults probably wouldn't come back to the coop but I heard the chicks would. Or do I have to find someone to buy some from.

[bearpaw]

good info thanks....

I saw someone a while back in the Classifieds had pigoens advertised, not sure if they are still listed.

[Stilly bay]

Thanks for the input guys, BUT, or more question. If its legal would it be safe to try and catch pigeons? I know where a crap load are, I know the adults probably wouldn't come back to the coop but I heard the chicks would. Or do I have to find someone to buy some from.

as long as you have permission from the landowner its perfectly legal to trap them. you can come in at night and pick them off their roosts like apples, they will keep still if its dark and you are quiet.

  trying to get feral (aka bridge/barn/city pigeons) to breed so that you could have young birds that would re-home to your loft would be way more trouble than its worth. they are mangy disease ridden birds that will just be a pain in your rear to do anything with besides shoot.
its totally doable with feral pigeons... but IMO if you want to breed and raise your own birds,  you would save yourself a ton of heartburn just looking on craigslist for young birds or old breeders.

your training a lab right? Homers that can be used over and over again are mainly used for training pointing dogs.

 what I would do is build a holding pen and catch all the feral birds I could, anytime I could and work with your pup all summer long . your not going to get a whole lot accomplished trying raise your own birds this summer. its going to take a month or two for young pigeons to rehome and learn their surroundings enough to be of any use to you, and its going to take breeders even longer lay eggs and raise young birds of their own.

[sirfunkeybut]

I took bearpaw's advice and looked in the members clacifieds and there is someone selling pigeons so I'm gonna try and get ahold of them tomorrow. As for my dog, she is a lab mix and I think it could be part pointer    she has a natural instinct to point, I know that some labs have that instinct so who really knows. Her point isn't as consistent as I would like because the birds she points are generally 50-60 ft. out and then they fly and she breaks for the chase down.

Inputs on the breed mix?

[sirfunkeybut]

That's not her point, she will raise her leg in point. That is her attention stance

[wildweeds]

GSP would be the cross I would think is most likely.

[Heredoggydoggy]

GSP would be the cross I would think is most likely.

   Her facial features look just like a friend's GSP.