Many people want to keep pigeons and chickens as their pets due to their amazing characteristics, but they are not sure whether they can keep them together or not.
Can Pigeons and Chickens Live Together? Pigeons and chickens can live together in the same place, but it is not ideal to put them in close proximity. Moreover, you have to create a comfortable and safe environment for these peaceful birds by providing separate spaces. For example, make higher perches, place a wire mesh, and observe their behavior to separate them immediately when they are getting aggressive.
Pigeons are peaceful birds that can be housed with different birds like finches, doves, and chickens as they do not feel unsafe in a shared cage, but it takes time to develop recognition.
Furthermore, you can build a shared cage for pigeons and chickens as they can manage to live together, most probably without fighting and killing each other.
Is it possible for pigeons and chickens to live together?
You can keep chickens and pigeons together by following the specific measures to ensure their safety, as bigger ones always try to attack the smaller birds.
Accordingly, the selection of combined shelter for raising them can have positive and negative effects on animals and birds.
Create a comfortable environment
It is better to create an environment that is comfortable for both to avoid aggressive behavior, as competition for food and space can pose a risk to their survival.
You can introduce them for a short duration in the hen coop to make them familiar with each other.
It helps them get used to the presence of other species in their surroundings and makes them feel safe.
Moreover, you can maintain the food source, water, and perching places to keep them engaged in their activities so that they do not pay attention to each other.
Separate space
You have to provide a separate space for pigeons and chickens so that they can live happily in their compartment.
They can begin to fight due to a shortage of space as every pair of birds needs almost 25 to 28 cubic feet of space in the cage to enjoy their life as a pet.
It makes them feel comfortable as maintenance of a safe distance is essential to avoid injury that can also lead to death and makes it difficult for them to survive together.
Additionally, it is not possible to keep an eye on the cage every time to take the pigeons out of the cage quickly when they are getting aggressive towards them.
Observe the behavior of pigeons and chickens
You can observe their behavior for a short duration after putting them together. It can help you know that they can survive together or try to attack each other.
The tolerance of pigeons to share their cage with chickens vary in every species as some are more friendly in nature, while a few can get aggressive quickly.
Additionally, you can keep them together if they are busy in their own activities without noticing each other, like when they freely move on the ground out of the cage.
Maintain separate feeding trays
It can be an excellent step to maintain separate feeding trays as they can fight to access a single tray as they eat the same type of food, like grains.
There are fewer chances of fighting for food when you can keep separate feeding trays in opposite corners. In addition, it can help avoid their direct contact with each other when they are busy eating.
Furthermore, you can offer different types of food to reduce their interest in the opposite tray, as pigeons like to eat sunflower seeds, sorghum, fruits, and food leftovers.
However, the chickens can also consume grains like wheat and barley in addition to fruits and vegetables.
Make high perches
Pigeons need perching spots in their cage to fly; otherwise, they can get bored and become aggressive. In the same way, chickens also have the natural instincts to perch on suitable spots.
You have to provide perches in the shared cage, but be careful in designing perches as pigeons need higher spots to ensure their safety so that they cannot be accessed by hen coops.
Moreover, it makes it easy for these birds to get away from chickens when hens are trying to attack them or kill their babies.
Place a wire mesh
It is better to place a wire mesh to create a separate space that can act as a barrier to keep them away from each other.
It can be an effective way to ensure the safety of pigeons from the larger chickens that can try to injure them with their beak and feet.
Pigeons and chickens living together
Many breeders raise pigeons in the chicken cage and keep them together for breeding purposes. As a result, both of them have peaceful natures unless one of them tries to interfere in the activities of the other.
Moreover, they need a completely enclosed shelter from all sides and covered from the top to avoid the entry of sun rays and raindrops.
A roofed shelter is required as they need protection from air elements and predators, so a mesh-wired cage is suitable for both of them.
So, similarity in their housing requirements makes them ideal fellows that can be housed together without fighting with each other.
Furthermore, they need a dry surface to live as a damp area can make them prone to illness that can affect the health of others.
Is it safe for pigeons to live with chickens?
Chickens can pose a safety risk to pigeons as they are naturally more aggressive than them when they feel a risk to their food and space.
Moreover, they can start pecking on the pigeon’s body and start bullying the smaller birds as they have an advantage of larger size over them.
They can also attack pigeon babies and eggs by pecking to kill them when they accidentally fall from the nest. However, they are peaceful birds that do not damage the nests of other birds.
In addition, hens are prone to disease when they come in direct contact with a sick bird.
In the same way, they can potentially transfer disease or illness to them as they consume insects and bugs with a heavy load of germs like bacteria.
Therefore, keeping the chicken with other birds is not generally advised to protect them from disease, or you have to maintain a sufficient distance between them.
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