Lance

Yeah, i didn't think so. Though it would be an interesting thing to do.

I finished building my loft, and now it's time to get some birds. I've arranged to go to someone's loft and buy a few young birds from him this saturday. My question is, what do i need to look out for in the birds? What are some tell tale signs that the bird is no good? Is there a quick and easy way to tell gender? and Is grit nessicary at all times?

Do city birds even have the homing ability?

Well thanks. I don't work til next week, and i'm not sure what i'll be doing, might be doing back room stuff all day.. But i'm sure i'll eventually see a fancier sometime soon.

Transportation could be a problem then, as i don't own a car at the present.

I live in Southern Ontario. How far would you have to go to effectivly train sprinters?

There are a few. I also work at a seed shop, where fanciers come in to buy food all the time. (This is how i found out about the sport) It's been a bit frustrating to find club webpages online. It seems that the Canadian clubs don't do much on the internet. (Jealous of hte american clubs here.. ) But finding the club once i decide to wont be much of a problem. And is required by city bylaw to be registerd with a club. Now any recomendations on types of bird?

http://www.fbipigeons.com/small_starter_loft.htm The loft on this page i found would be easy to have. I could probably comfortably double the interior size making it a square. and add a 2nd avairy. I have a family shared 20x15 foot shed that i like to call "the barn" And as it's shared I would have to take a section of it only. I'm thinking 6'x6'x6' with an outside avary maybe 4'4 or 6'x3'. I want a max of 10 pigeons for the mean time as I learn and get used to the hobby and such. But with those proportions, how many could i comfortably house with that?

Well I live in a city and fairly close to neighbours. The wild pigeon group usually hangs out a few hundred feet away. At either rate, if it doesn't draw them in and keep them around my yard, everything's fine, last thing i would want is to p*ss my neighbours off by attracting flocks of pigeons into the neighbourhood. A problem due to living in the city. Well now that all the local laws have been checked, I guess next thing's next, deciding on a loft. I think i want a max of maybe 5 pairs. What would the smallest loft size be for that many, so i have a starting point? Oh and thanks for the welcomes.

I've been thinking about this for a little while now, but I'm worried about one thing, would having a pigeon loft attract wild pigeons from the area to my property? Will they want to "shack up" so to speak? If so what steps could I take to avoid this from happening? There is a small city pigeon(maybe 15 - 30 in it) flock that roosts nearby if that helps.