We went to visit my parents this past weekend in Southern Utah. They live on the edge of the desert and have taken to feeding the local covey of quail. We enjoyed breakfast on the patio and watched as the Quail would come into feed on the free buffet. It was fun to hear them call and I couldn’t help but think of grabbing my shotgun and taking the dogs out for a romp. The neighbors would call the cops in a minute, and my parents would banish me forever. But, still the thought did cross my mind. I would guess that some of the best Quail coveys in the southwest are considered pets for the homeowners that choose to live on the edge of suburbia. They bathe in the water features and dine daily on the mountains of wild bird seed tossed into the brush. There is nothing cuter than a Momma quail leading her brood out for a morning jaunt. When your into gamebirds you start seeing them in the darndest places.
As most hunting seasons are coming to a close, I am getting my pigeons ready for their training season. During the Spring and Summer I often use pigeons in my bird dog training drills. Pigeons are cheap to aquire, easy to feed and house, and they breed like rabbits. My small flock of pigeons doubled last year with all the new squabs that were born. If you can provide ample nesting space and good nesting materials, they will keep you stocked with fresh pigeons for dog training year round. I like to use homing pigeons so that I can release them for training and re-use them the next time. They simply fly back to the coop and usually beat me home from the training grounds.
When you are working with a dog on gun-fire and holding steady to shot it sometimes becomes necessary to shoot one or two pigeons. I usually pick the old birds that are on their way out the door anyway. Seems a little harsh but you can only do so much training without shooting a bird. Plus, most dogs view the shot and retrieve as their reward for a good point and hold. They love to get their mouth around those feathered friends. I have a neighbor who raises roller pigeons and he sells me his worst rollers for cheap. I don’t mind if they don’t happen to roll very well, they still fly and home nicely.
This week I released the chukars into the bigger grow-out pen where they will spend the next few weeks. They are learning to use the big waterers and are starting to fly in earnest. The heaters are only used at night now and will be turned off completely by the weekend. At 6 weeks we will put blinders on them and move 400 of them to the big outdoor flight pens at Rooster Valley Pheasants.
The chukar chicks arrived around noon on Wednesday of last week. I had some great help in preparing for their arrival from my friend Russ Peterson at Rooster Valley Pheasants gamebird farm. I was not prepared for how small the day-old chukar chicks were. The first night or two were a little tricky as there was a bit of a cold spell in our valley. I had to use a propane camp stove to keep the temperatures up in my brooder rooms.
The 250 watt heat lamps were providing great heat in the center of the brooder but the edge temps were a little low. I added a fourth heat lamp on the edge of each circle to help with the problem. The pine shavings seem to work well for a ground covering and an insulator. I used some paper plates for feeders to double my feeding space for the first few days.
I was very impressed with my low pressure nipple waterers that I purchased from Natures Way. It took a little bit of adjusting to get them leveled and working properly. The chicks didn’t take long to figure out how to get water from the nipples.
So far I have only lost about 8 chicks since they arrived 5 days ago. The ones that seem to die are either weak or runts. I wonder if I could set-up a quarantine area and try to save some of the birds that look like they are struggling. They are starting to consume huge amounts of feed now. Luckily I have a neighbor who mixes high protien feeds and he delivers it right to my barn.
Through all of my reading and learning about dog training I have found it impossible to train a bird dog without access to plenty of birds. This week I finished construction on a small pigeon coop in the corner of my existing chicken coop. I framed in a 4×8 area with a raised wire floor next to a window. It should work well for 6-8 breeding pairs of pigeons.
In the rear of the pigeon coop is a small window that opens to an outside aviary where they can perch and get some fresh air. When my little flock of pigeons gets larger I will fly my younger birds and train them to home back to the aviary. The two pigeons in the pictures are common barn pigeons that I trapped.
The nesting boxes were built above the window to the aviary. There is room for 6 breeding pairs of pigeons with the current setup. I placed some grit on the floor with clean water, food and straw for nesting materials. Next week I will purchase a few breeding pairs of roller pigeons from a neighbor. These are basically his culls that don’t fly/roll as well as he would like. Should be perfect for bird dog training.
My little barn pigeon chick died on the 5th day of life. It appears that the mother pigeon was killed because I haven’t seen her around since. I was sad to see the chick died but learned that there were other pigeon folk around. I went to visit my neighbor Mike who raises Birmingham Roller Pigeons to see about buying some pigeons to use for dog training. He was kind enough to show me his coops and gave me some good pointers for building my pigeon coop.
He had several roller pigeon chicks and eggs to be hatched. He seems to know his stuff and says there are a few other folks in town who belong to a pigeon club. He agreed to sell me a couple of breeder pairs when they get done raising their young chicks. He said another month or so and I could come back and pick some up. He feeds his a mix of milo and sunflower seeds and uses the commercial pigeon feed as a special treat once a week. It was fun to see his kit of pigeons flying around doing their silly backflips.
The pigeon chick seems to be doing well and is getting less ugly each day. The mother is very attentive and I have to be really sneaky to get a picture of the nest. I am concerned that the temperatures are going to get below freezing tonight. I hope momma will keep her baby pigeon warm enough. Still no action on the second egg, not sure if I should remove it from the nest or just let it be. On the positive side, the one chick is getting all the crop and attention from the mother. Which means it should grow and develop faster than if there were two chicks in the nest.
The lone pigeon that hatched seems to be doing just fine. He is one ugly little chick. The second egg still has yet to hatch. I am afraid that perhaps this other egg was not fertile to begin with. One chick may be all we get this time around. On the brighter side, more members of the flock are roosting in my barn each night. They are eating the food that I put out, but it drives my dogs crazy to see them walking around barely 20 feet from their kennel. I wonder how Abby and Jake will react to having 500 Chukar Partridge living next to them in the barn. Perhaps it will help to increase their prey drive for game birds.
While checking the pigeon nest in my barn this afternoon I discovered that one of the eggs had hatched. It was an awkward looking pile of skin wriggling around in the nest. I would dare say the second egg will hatch later today sometime. The other pigeons in the flock are starting to come a little further into the barn for the feed I put out for them. Today I picked up the lumber to build a pigeon coop in my barn next to the chicken coop. The spot already has an existing aviary and will work quite nicely for raising pigeons.
I’ve decided to go ahead and raise 500 chukar partridge chicks this Summer. This will be a partnership with my friend Russ Peterson who runs a Utah Pheasant Hunting Club. He usually raises around 5000 ringneck pheasants each year for use on his pheasant preserve. He says a lot of his clients have requested the chance to hunt both pheasant and chukar. In May I will go with Russ to the hatchery to pick up the day old pheasant and chukar chicks. I have a bit of work to do to get the barn ready for the chukars. I am going to sectioin off one end of my bird barn for the chukars. I can use the existing insulated brooder rooms to get them through the first few weeks of life. After their feathers grow in good I will move them to the big flight pen. I am researching the possibilites of raising some quail also.
