Homer

[uplandrsb]

Yesterday my pigeons were out flying and when i went to shut the trap door and check on the birds i notive i had 1 more pigeon from when i let them out. Ends up being a one i was training with about a month earlier. I figure he was gone. I thought it was a little odd he came back after that long of time.. He must have found food and water close by perhaps. I just thought it was kinda cool

[SetterNut]

Thats better than what I have going on. I flew 7 from my new training area yesterday.
Last night none of them were back, still none at lunch time, and tonight 2 were back.
Hope more show up tomorrow.

[Hattrick]

If ur flying birds now ur going to loose sum to hawks. I hear the rule of thumb is dont fly them till you see robbins thats when the hawks mirgrate out.

[uplandrsb]

I typically dont fly them this time of year.. Every so often i have a hawk that sits on top of inthe trees by the loft.every so often yetso i have my eye on him.. He hasnt got one yet. I have.had a coon get in but not get out

[Rustyoar]

All the pigeon sites say you can't re-home bought birds that ave already flown, I am going to give it a couple weeks and see if a little light can make some squawkers before I let any out. I might be in the same boat...

[uplandrsb]

My luck with that has not been good.. I know some are able to keep them up for a.few months and then they will come.back.. Didnt qprk that way for me at first. Now all the birds were born im my loft that i fly now

[Rustyoar]

How long does it take to get the mating, hatching and flying of new birds, could I be flying new birds, my babies, by early spring if I put a light in there now?

[ezzy333]

If you are going to try and rehome them I would suggest you wait till they have nested and are on the nest.

Ezzy

[Rustyoar]

If you are going to try and rehome them I would suggest you wait till they have nested and are on the nest.

Ezzy

I won't let them out until I know I for sure have a batch of up and comers. I am just going to assume I am going to loose some if not all of the bought birds so want to be sure I have back up birds in the waiting at minimum.

[V-John]

I had a pigeon that came back from a race probably three months after the race was held.

Granted, he didn't place that race but he (rather, she) did real well in a couple races earlier.

Another thing is to make sure that the pigeons know how to get back in the loft, as part of the settling process. Dont' think enough guys do that and thus end up losing birds they didn't have to.

[Rustyoar]

I had a pigeon that came back from a race probably three months after the race was held.

Granted, he didn't place that race but he (rather, she) did real well in a couple races earlier.

Another thing is to make sure that the pigeons know how to get back in the loft, as part of the settling process. Dont' think enough guys do that and thus end up losing birds they didn't have to.

Do you do that by placing their food on front of the bobs?
Here is the new loft.

[V-John]

Here's what I do. Build you a little "settling cage" that is a cage that is wire all around and fits over the landing board. The pigeon is enclosed, and the only opening is back through the bobs.
Take the cage, and place the bird on the landing board, with the settling cage over it. Step back away and don't disturb the pigeon.
The idea is for the bird to be able to look around get a bearing on it's surroundings, and at the same time the only way it is able to go is back through the bobs into the loft.
A few times doing this and the birds will know where to get back into home.

Some others do it other ways, I'm sure and havent had problems or whatever but.... That's the way I do it.

[Rustyoar]

That wire care on the left actually goes over that hole on the left as well, its kind of a mini aviary to look around outside of the loft. I could block that hole and just put the birds in that cage set on the bench in front of the bobs to achieve what you are talking about.

[V-John]

Here is a picture of a settling cage. Obviously, it's bigger then what you need, but hopefully it gives you a general idea of it's purpose. (it's the cage on top of the aviary)

[V-John]

That wire care on the left actually goes over that hole on the left as well, its kind of a mini aviary to look around outside of the loft. I could block that hole and just put the birds in that cage set on the bench in front of the bobs to achieve what you are talking about.

Yeah you could but seriously, it's really easy to make and as you acquire more birds and even the chicks that are born in your loft, you do that with them as well. Seems like to me, that you would be moving the avairy on the side alot.
Just a thought.

[Rustyoar]

Thanks for the advice V-John!

[V-John]

Thanks for the advice V-John!

No worries, good luck!

[uplandrsb]

Are you using the gallon jug for water or feed? What are most feeding out of? Or do yoi through on floor

[steamer]

to water i use the plastic quart jar and get the plastic screw on base. i get the base that says quail feeder/water it doesnt have the big lip that sticks out . i have found it helps keep the birds from fouling the water. to feed i use long tray with the moving bar on top the birds dont perch on it as much and helps keep the feed clean. here is a link for training birds to get back in the loft basically the same thing v john posted http://www.freewebs.com/kjcii/trainingtips.htm

[V-John]

Are you using the gallon jug for water or feed? What are most feeding out of? Or do yoi through on floor

I'm sorry, that was just a stock picture, I found online. That's not my loft.

But for water, I use these.

http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/drink ... er-drinker

It seems like that a favorite activity of pigeons is to crap in their water and their feed. This waterer pretty much prevents it. They will still crap in their water as it seems they still really like to try, but this makes it more difficult.
For a feeder I have something very similar to these.


http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/feede ... der-39-1-2

If you are handy, they can be made easily.
Again, it doesn't total prevent the crap from getting in the feed, but it helps.

[DonF]

I made my own feeder's and they are like the Foy's one. Made a few other's but was bored one day and changed them out. I've made water's like those out of 1.4 gal clorox jugs. Only problem with them is I needed a lot of them around. Now I'm using chicken water's. They do crap in them but i only have to refill them every two to three days. On getting the birds to come back, young unflown are obviously the best but, get them nesting and they don't desert the nest. I have a big enclosed flight pen out the back of my loft, that's where young one' learn to trap. When I start letting them free fly, I open the bob's on the front re-entry door and just let them come and go for a while. First time out, they normally stand on the landing platform and look around, don't force them to fly out, they are getting their bearings. Once out they are gonna hang around close for a while, don't worry about that, as they get comfortable, they start to range out. When i start taking them away to fly, I go about five mile's first two time. Then extend it to ten mi two times and then fifteen. From fifteen I got to thirty and then 45. i sent a few home with a friend from Bend last summer, about 70 mi. they all made it back that day. One more thing I didn't see mentioned, if you fly them hungry, they'll trap quicker. I don't do that but I have a lot of birds and it doesn't matter to me how fast they come in. What I want is them coming from a long way off.

I've also had stray homer's come in a few times. They usually stay around a few days and leave. The one's that have done this were all homer's in a race, timing band on their legs.

[ultracarry]

I have bought a few homing pigeons but had one falcon hit all of the white birds (12) within two weeks of free flying. I hit a guy up on craogslist who had young homers that had never been flown for 5.00 and I bought 10. He said they were good birds and after a week and a half I had them free flying and the falcon came for a visit and got the youngest two, two more were struck in my yard , got up and flew low through the flood control and out of sight.
The two that were hit about 3 weeks ago came back after only beinng flown twice. For being only a few months old these guys are fast and have been homing really nice. The guy said the parents were 500 mile racers and I got to check them out. Serious pigeon guys are like dog guys. Pretty cool stuff.

[V-John]

I have bought a few homing pigeons but had one falcon hit all of the white birds (12) within two weeks of free flying. I hit a guy up on craogslist who had young homers that had never been flown for 5.00 and I bought 10. He said they were good birds and after a week and a half I had them free flying and the falcon came for a visit and got the youngest two, two more were struck in my yard , got up and flew low through the flood control and out of sight.
The two that were hit about 3 weeks ago came back after only beinng flown twice. For being only a few months old these guys are fast and have been homing really nice. The guy said the parents were 500 mile racers and I got to check them out. Serious pigeon guys are like dog guys. Pretty cool stuff.

I had one come back with a broken leg and another that was almost torn off. Just dangling. The homing ability is amazing. I found him on the landing board sitting there, he was unable to crawl into the loft.
As dumb as this sounds, I felt terrible when I had to put him down.

You aren't kidding. You would be shocked at the prices that some of these pigeons go for. Money that I would never dream about are being spent on these birds.

If you are around pigeons even for a short while, you will soon notice a difference between racing pigeons and ferals. I've trapped probably hundreds if not thousands of ferals and they are almost a different species from racers.