Pigeon Question?

[NCMTNHunter]

I decided to get some homing pigeons this year to use for dog training. I bought 10 young birds this spring that had never been flown. The guy I bought them from said to keep them up for 3 weeks before flying them the first time so that’s what I did. When I flew them the first time 3 didn’t come back but I kind of expected that. The 7 that came back did great. I turned them loose every evening for three weeks and they would fly around for an hour or so and then get back in the coop. I felt confident that any of these would come back so I set two out and did some dog training with them this Saturday. After the training session both pigeons were already sitting on top of the coop as I was leaving my training field. I thought I had this thing figured out. But when I when to close up the one way door at dark I looked in the coop neither of the birds were in there. So I opened the door back up yesterday morning but they still did come back. Would the extra stress from training cause them to not come back? Should I have waited longer to start training with them or is this just a fluke? Or did I do something else wrong?

 

[cj580guitar]

Interesting. I’d like to know myself. I bought some young homers last fall from a guy. He told me to kelp them up 4-6 months before I flew them. I did have 1 that didn’t come back once I started flying them. Since then the rest always come back. But I haven’t started training yet.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

Interesting. I’d like to know myself. I bought some young homers last fall from a guy. He told me to kelp them up 4-6 months before I flew them. I did have 1 that didn’t come back once I started flying them. Since then the rest always come back. But I haven’t started training yet.

The first three that didn't come back never even hung around. They were just gone when I let them out the first time. I just thought it was strange that these immediately came back to the coop but never went in. I guess there is a chance something caught them. It does sound like I should have waited longer to fly them. I'm getting another pup next year so my goal was to have the pigeon deal figured out by then.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

It was fun though!

 

[cj580guitar]

The first three that didn't come back never even hung around. They were just gone when I let them out the first time. I just thought it was strange that these immediately came back to the coop but never went in. I guess there is a chance something caught them. It does sound like I should have waited longer to fly them. I'm getting another pup next year so my goal was to have the pigeon deal figured out by then.

Yea I’m trying to get the pigeon thing figured out too. Your dog looks great. How old is it ? I’m gonna try to work my puppy on pigeons this fall when it cools off.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

Yea I’m trying to get the pigeon thing figured out too. Your dog looks great. How old is it ? I’m gonna try to work my puppy on pigeons this fall when it cools off.

Thanks! She’s 3. Yeah I like to get up early on the weekends and drink coffee and work her while it’s cool and the rest of my family is still in bed. My favorite way to unwind at the end of the week.

 

[Bigearl68]

Young birds can be kinda funny. I would fly them around the house for another month or two. If you want to be dang sure they home, and I print on your coop, wait until they lay their first clutches. Then you can gradually fly them from farther and farther away. Pigeons have to be trained just like the dogs do. It’s all about build on the day before. They will have to be flown from every direction. North,South,East, and West. Slowly stretching them out to as far as you really want. You would be surprised that moving from 500 yards to day and jumping to 1150 tomorrow can leave some birds struggling to make their way back.

 

[ghadarits]

I trap feral pigeons to train with and can’t believe that they won’t leave in the fall when I try to let them go. I’ll usually trap between 5-10 and keep them from spring until fall. I can’t get them to leave. It’s crazy because if I had been pointed and or retrieved for months like they have I’d be happy to leave. They’ll usually move on after not being fed for a week or two I’ve discovered. I’ve trapped a few banded homers over the years not sure what the bands mean or what the info on them means.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

Young birds can be kinda funny. I would fly them around the house for another month or two. If you want to be dang sure they home, and I print on your coop, wait until they lay their first clutches. Then you can gradually fly them from farther and farther away. Pigeons have to be trained just like the dogs do. It’s all about build on the day before. They will have to be flown from every direction. North,South,East, and West. Slowly stretching them out to as far as you really want. You would be surprised that moving from 500 yards to day and jumping to 1150 tomorrow can leave some birds struggling to make their way back.

Yeah I'm thinking I should have just waited longer. There was also a red shouldered hawk sitting on the aviary yesterday morning around the same time those two went missing last weekend so there's a chance it got them or at least ran them off. Do think it would cause problems to add 8 or 10 young birds to the five I have left if I could find any?

 

[GLS]

A falconer I know recounted a story of a friend who purchased an expensive hybrid falcon. He fed it the meat from trapped feral pigeons which unknown to him carried an avian disease. The disease killed the falcon. According to the experienced falconer, this was a no-no. If one is going to raise homers, may be it would be best not to allow ferals in the coop. Not that it will hurt the dog, but I'd be worried about losing the coop. I don't know squat about pigeons but I thought this would be worth passing on. Gil

 

[Bigearl68]

Yeah I'm thinking I should have just waited longer. There was also a red shouldered hawk sitting on the aviary yesterday morning around the same time those two went missing last weekend so there's a chance it got them or at least ran them off. Do think it would cause problems to add 8 or 10 young birds to the five I have left if I could find any?

Yeah if you find some more homers and want to add them to the coop that’s fine. Here is where the legs bands come in handy to keep age classes separated, because the different birds will be at different stages in their “homing training” if you will.