Just Jed

You could use the wood for clapboard, but I’m not sure how that might save time. If you were to cover the bales with clapboard you would need to add nailers, but you will still need to have plastered the bales to control moisture and rodents. I don’t see that it could increase performance, unless you’re worried about rain or other weather. That said, maybe it’s just aesthetic preference, which is understandable.  

I used to raise and race pigeons, and yes depending on where you’re located and the time of year/other potential food sources in the area, hawks can definitely be a problem.  I wouldn’t recommend adding any additional weight to a pigeon, as I think it would just slow them down. Pigeons can fly quite quickly, and in many instances actually outfly hawks, the biggest problem will be if the pigeons are taking off, landing, or just hanging out around he loft. For that reason, having an open loft (allowing them to be outside for much of the time) can be dangerous, as the will be spending most of their time in these vulnerable activities. Instead, I would only let them out for expertise and once they’re done with that, get them back into the loft so they’re not at risk of predation.

That being said, there may be some things that can help.

Crows often attack or scare away hawks, so having crows around can be helpful. If there’s not a way of attracting crows to your location, you can try to trick the hawks. I used to put out plastic crow decoys. In my experience they helped. I would move them occasionally to make it seem like they weren’t just plastic decoys.

I’ve often heard that hawks dislike shiny or mirrored surfaces. Some people put out mirrored gazing balls and believe they work, but I’ve never tried it.

Lastly, I have seen a guy paint large dots on a pigeon’s wing (shoulder  area) in a bright color, like red, to mimic large eyes when the bird is flying and viewed from above. I don’t know what paint he used, but it just looked like spray paint when I saw it. Some people say it works, but I never tried it. The idea is that something with such large eyes must be a predator and might scare away a hawk.

As others have mentioned,  having more birds means each individual loss is less impactful, but that also means more feeding and such. Depending on what breed of pigeon your fancy bird is I might not let it out to free fly, as many aren’t actually bred to fly well and may just be a sitting duck out there for the hawks to find.

First question I think that would be good to know is: how far would your pigeons need to fly to find corn/other grain that they would eat? And if they are eating out of neighbors fields/hanging around your neighbors silos are they likely to get shot there by someone else?

I think the idea of having free ranging pigeons that forage on their own is doable, it used to be done in earlier times, that’s where the big dovecotes in Europe came from. People wanted the same things in a meat source you’re looking for.

I wouldn’t recommend feeding bread, I know some freaks in cities will eat it, but it’s not really great for them and doesn’t really sit well with their digestive systems. Peanuts, on the other hand, some pigeons love. I used to feed my racing pigeons peanuts as a treat sometimes. It can take some getting used to for the pigeons because peanuts are so big, it can be hard to get into their beak and oriented so they can swallow them. Feral pigeons are a bit small than homing pigeons, so I could see them having a harder time eating peanuts, but it may work. I’ve had pigeons eat whole kernels of field corn, so if some people’s birds don’t eat it I think that’s just a matter of them not being hungry enough/picking what they like best.

The key to your system is getting the pigeons to come back, so that means making their home appealing in some way so that they want to return. That could mean having a nice place for them to roost, their mate being there, or food or water. If you started off with mated pairs, leaving one bird from a pair out at a time would likely be a bigger draw for the other to come back. That mate at home being on eggs or young would also increase the odds of its free ranging mate returning.

When I raised and raced homers I fed about an ounce of feed per bird, per day. I would not ever just leave feed out for them to eat whenever, it’s a good way for them to waste it. If I were you I think I’d feed in the evening (maybe starting out with half an ounce per bird) before it gets dark, because the birds should already be coming back to roost. Then they could leave in the morning, do their own foraging and come back the next evening to get some food again. I would probably start developing this routine of feeding at night with all birds locked in so they get used to it, then start decreasing the amount of food they get and releasing hem throughout the day.

I know everyone says pigeons mate for life and it’s a nice image, but they don’t. I have broken up many pairs and got them to mate with other birds, as well as having some already mated birds take on a second mate. The key to relating birds is essentially locking them together in a cage, it helps to start this at night so they hear each other all night and by the morning are somewhat used to being close to the other pigeon. Based on your initial plans, I wouldn’t cross in any utility breed pigeons, it could possibly make the offspring bigger, but will likely negatively impact their foraging ability, homing, and possibly flying ability (some utilities get pretty heavy and don’t really fly much if at all).

I guess one question I have is are you planning on eating the adult pigeons or the squabs? I think when dovecotes were popular most people kept them to have a constant supply of squab. If you’re used to eating pigeons that have flown a lot and don’t find them tough, great, but I think that’s why the tendency has always been for most people to eat only young pigeons.

For predators, hawks can be a pain. One thing I used to use was crow decoys, which I would move around every few days. Most hawks don’t like crows because crows tend to chase/harass the hawks.

I sent you a pm with my info

I would definitely try to figure out the weight rating of the trailer before anything else.

Some ways of doing this or clues:

Most commercially build trailers have a tag somewhere on the tongue that says when built and weight rating

Check # of lugs on tires/ measure diameter of the axle

Does the trailer have 1 or 2 axles

Do the axles (or just one of them) have brakes?