Free pigeons

[frankyme]

There is a farm here in Brighton, Michigan who are giving away several dozen white homing pigeons.
www.tuthillfarms.com/contact.html
I asked for 6 to get Teddy some field work, she gave me 15! Her only condition is that her homing pigeons don’t go home. Apparently they have started to harass the other live stock. She is dispatching all that remain in a week. Thought some others near here might be interested.
4 down 11 to go. It's going to be a busy afternoon.
Frank

[ronstout]

I would love to get a bunch of them about now. I already have a perfect setup..I am just too tired to go after the things right now. I woul dlikely drag in a world class case of coccidia....

[Summit Forge]

I hope you have better luck with homers than I did. Most of the homers I bought would not fly...that is to say, my dog caught most of them. I train primarily with chukar and quail. Although I like them better than pigeons...I do not like them either. Any leads on a couple easily programmable bird robots that will flush on command and return to the box in the truck?!

[frankyme]

About 1 in 2 make it off the ground, 1 in 4 four actually make it all the way up and get past Teddy jumping for them. He's been bringing them to me and I toss them out so that he gets the treat of a retrieve. I won't be getting anymore. I imagine they would be great to get a young puppy or a tentative adult dog started. Easy targets will build confidence. I took 4 pigeons out yesterday evening, I'm trying to get rid of them and wringing their necks seems a bit wasteful. The first pigeon was the only brown one and was a good flyer. I let him get out to far and only knocked a few feathers off him. An hour later we were almost home and Teddy took off after a rabbit. He was gone for ten minutes, I got him back by touching off a round. He loves to retrieve! Any way I put him on the leash, unloaded the gun and started back toward home. About fifty yards from my house a brown bird flushed from the ground in the pines and flew 20 yards and went back down. I figured it was the brown pigeon. I sent Teddy into the thick stuff expecting him to catch it. The bird flushed again and landed in a tree above my head. It was a big fat grouse! And I'm standing there with a leash in one hand and an empty shot gun in the other feeling stupid. Teddy rushed up and it flew deeper into the woods. Teddy's tongue was still hanging out from having chased the rabbit. We tried for a while but it was no use it got dark and we went home. Grouse season closed 2 1/2 hours ago, but we'll be back!!