# Live birds



## 400BULL (Nov 16, 2007)

At what age do you start to introduce live birds to your retriever? I just found out over the weekend that my brother-in-law is going to start raising quail and selling the eggs as a hobby. He told me if I was interested I could have most of his males and all of his females that were not laying eggs. He’s thinking that it will be Late March- first of April before he will have his first batch ready. That will put my pup right at the 5-6 month of age. Would this be about the right age to start introducing my pup to live birds or should I start sooner? 

400bull


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I think that is the perfect time to get them out and let them experience birds. I honestly started playing fetch with bird wings as soon as I got my dog and took her dove hunting at 4 months old. She isnt an amazing dog yet, but she likes to get after birds already which makes me happy.

I would say the sooner you can expose her, the better. But dont expect a perfect performance.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=39757


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## katorade (Sep 23, 2007)

I introduced at 10 and a half weeks, I was shooting pigeons out of the launcher and having my pup retrieve them.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Six weeks. Get a crippled bird that cant hurt the pup like a small quail or pigeon and just turn em loose on it. Let em catch it, pack it around and do whatever it wants. There are no such thing as bad birds. The sooner the better!

This is my Draht pup at 8 weeks packing around a full grown live mallard drake and loving every minute of it. Not every pup will be this bold, but it's never too early in my book.









Here he is at eight months in the duck boat on his first hunt. He sat in the boat like a good boy and retrieved 9 ducks that day. 8) Lay the foundation early and you'll have a better dog in the future.


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## Pops2 (Jul 28, 2010)

you can buy a pinion harness for pigeons & quail so they can't fly. after a bit you can take it off so the pup gets used to flushing birds.


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## TAK (Sep 9, 2007)

If it can walk it needs birds!


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## wilky (Jun 19, 2011)

i want to itroduce my dog to birds he is big enough now and loves fetching and chasing cats they dont dare enter the yard (not that im complaining) where do i get birds


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## wapiti67 (Oct 2, 2007)

Come out to Tooele and pop a few Eurasian Doves


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## 400BULL (Nov 16, 2007)

I went on to KSL classifieds and found a couple guys that sell pigeons for $5-$6 a bird . Here is a link to the guy I purchased a couple pigeons from.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad ... =1&search=

400bull


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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

400BULL said:


> I went on to KSL classifieds and found a couple guys that sell pigeons for $5-$6 a bird . Here is a link to the guy I purchased a couple pigeons from.
> 
> http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad ... =1&search=
> 
> 400bull


Should be able to find them for $3 a bird, especially kill-birds.


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## mjbarney12 (Feb 13, 2011)

*My $.02...as soon as you can!*

I got my Lab pup on birds the first day I brought her home at 7 weeks. Clipped the flight feathers on a pigeon and let her chase it around the back yard. It only took her about 15 seconds to realize that this was the most fun she could ever have and the chase was on. Carried it around like pro when she caught it. I kept several pigeons in a cage for a few months and continued to use them up slowly. I used them when I introduced her to gun shots a few weeks later. She's never struggled with gun shots and just LOVES birds!


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Let's give this a shot. I uploaded this video to YouTube to show a few people, but only privately listed it. Let me know if you can see it or not. If not, I will make it public so you can see it.

This is my chocolate lab pup "Odie" when he was about 9-10 weeks old. I caught a pigeon at work, brought it home, and tied it up so it couldn't get away. Then I let Odie loose on it to see what he could do.


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## Dannyboy (Oct 27, 2010)

Any one find problems with people calling the cops or anything like that for using live birds? I want to try it when I get my new dog but am a little worried about some people. Any laws about this?


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## mjbarney12 (Feb 13, 2011)

Never had a problem with anyone calling the cops. There are no laws against using live birds though if you want to use live game birds, especially if you raise them yourself, there are laws regulating where and how you can raise them. It's been a while since I raised a clutch of Chukars so I don't recall the details and it may well depend on where you live etc., but pigeons should not be an issue at all.


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

> Any one find problems with people calling the cops or anything like that for using live birds? I want to try it when I get my new dog but am a little worried about some people. Any laws about this?


There are some laws about using live birds, yes. You can use pigeons anytime, no questions asked and no laws other than stay out of city limits. Commercial bird launchers work great to get them into the air before your dog can grab the bird, teaching the dog that it has to point.

If you use game birds, you have to either have a permit for raising them or a receipt from where you bought them. The game bird is supposed to have a 12 inch streamer attached when it is released if you are not releasing the bird with a permit to release. Hunting clubs and field trial organizations can legally release birds without the streamer because they have the permit. I use a zip tie on the bird's leg. That orange or pink stuff hunters use to mark trails works good also.


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