# Orchard Loft?



## Omniskies (Jul 10, 2008)

For no real reason earlier today I thought, "Why can't pigeons live in an orchard?" 

Before you answer, here are the details: 

I have a small orchard: around 100x100' with a fence around it. I cycle other birds in the orchard with a livestock guard dog depending on the season. Geese to graze, turkeys and chickens to clean up pests, and so forth. The trees are pretty close together and have been kept between 6-8' tall so that it is easy to pick fruit off of them. 

If I built a loft inside the orchard how possible would it be for the pigeons to make sure of the orchard and be put up in their loft at night for safe keeping? 

I know some breeds are more energetic than others and would fly miles around, but what about some of the heavier or fancier birds? Like Modenas, Fantails, Giant Runts? 

Would they spend more time closer to home? With trees overhead do you think that predation would be more limited? The space is large enough that I could keep a pair of geese in the orchard at all times to help sound the alarm when they see a hawk (it is what they already do - it can't take long for pigeons to learn that the sound means danger). 

I do understand that there would be the possibility of loss. What I am hoping for is that the possibility is roughly the same as free ranging a chicken. Sometimes something happens to one but overall they are fine. 

I'd like a way to sit out in the orchard and enjoy watching pigeons do pigeon things without being in a cage. 

How possible is this?


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