Gun Dog Forum

I just got done making me a Johny house for recalling pigeons so i go to the local stock yards on poultry night an i buy the best looking pigeons they got for $2 apiece (nice FAT ones!)I stick them in there new home an about a month later i take one out to see if he will home. I`m kinda excited so i walk around the front of the house an throw him up in the air , he does about 2 thirds of a circle an right back on the ground. I`m madder than hornet the bird`s cant fly no more than 25yds cus they are to %&# FAT or old. We use a a launcher an the birds hardly fit they are that big....What did i do wrong? The birds i bought were not flyers maybe breaders? I have gotten alot birds form this place an never had a problem with flying .. How much exercise do birds need to keep them flying good?? So i guess i`m off to the stock yards again this week to buy sum skinny birds called homers...

LOl LOL Very funny and I've been there. When you go to the bird auction/stockyards to buy birds sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't. I never buy mature homers because they home right back to the seller. I'm sure he resells them every week. I'm told only birds born in your coop will home to you. I buy birds that look like wild pigeons. Sometimes they are. I also buy maybe 20 birds a month instead of more because they will lose their ability to fly well if they are not in a flight conditioning pen. The good news is: you don't use pigeons too long.

There are some breeds that do not fly well but a regular pigeon or a homer will fly for several miles even when out of condition. Birds that are not flown as young birds never seem to be as good but are more than adequate for a training program. I have birds I have bought as young birds that are used as breeders but they still fly very well. Birds do get too fat but they still should fly well for training if they are homers.

Ezzy

Should i keep them an let them breed for my own stock? I now have the set up but don`t no what do with it. Thought i was ahead of the game guess not...I was hoping to keep about 6 birds that home well an use a thrown dead bird for the retrieve so i didn`t have too keep buying new birds. That way i always have birds on hand for training in the evening on the table. Trying to get her broke to shot, i`m figuring its going to take alot birds.. Can you guys lay out a perfect scenario for me with my set so i no what to expect from it an properly use it? my coops is 5'-4'-5' high it is behind my garage i feild train about half mile on the other side of are farm, i do table training 50yards from the coop in front of my garage

If you buy adult homers they will not return to your coop. If you are 1/2 mile from your coop you do not need homers, barnyard pigeons will do (they are much cheaper if you use a net and flashlight to "buy" them). Keep them in the coop for a couple of weeks then take away the food and water for a day, let out a few birds and put in the food and water. They will find the bobs/opening to return. Give food and water once a day and turn out about 1/2 your birds each day for a week. Now they can be kicked out regularly and left with continuous food and water - they will "home" to your coop. They need to get out regularly for free flight conditioning and to learn the country side to quickly find their way home. I have used the same bird up to 4 times in the same night for yard work and can work my birds for a couple of miles from home.

I keep about 20-25 birds in my coop. I've never really cared about what type they are. I'll keep them put up for about 1 month to 6 weeks and then start letting them out a few at a time. Barring cats and coons I've never had a problem keeping them around. I did have a cat get in the coop while I was in Montana in September and kill all my birds but 2. I'm rebuilding now for the spring /summer training flock. I P/U 5 or 10 here and there and just keep them up for the winter and start flying them in March. I won't use a pigeons I've just picked up for training even if it's a shooter. The new ones which haven't been in a launcher will pop up about 6 or 7 feet and flutter to the ground. That's a bad thing for young dogs in my mind. To much temptation.

Sounds like you may have bought some fantails They look like a pigeon, act like a pigeon, taste like a pigeon but they dont fly like what you are wanting.

If you really want to test your dog, buy some rollers/tumblers.

Contact the bird man in Omaha he has great flying training hommers, they fly for miles and he loves to have them go to dog people. Rawhide loft and ask for Don.

Make sure you buy homers. Maybe take the birds you have now and let them go a few hundred yards away and if that goes good then go farther. One thing if they are fat is feed half barley this will thin them out.

Thanks guys for bringing this back to the top:) Its alot guys new on here posting ?s about getting started with pigeons , this thread might help them not make the same mistake i did.... I haven`t gotten any new birds yet its been slow around here with training , 20"s of snow here in the east.. I`m hoping to restock real soon.. Gona try to exercise the birds i have an see if that helps

theres a pigeon thats called a pheasant there not homers but they will home back to the coop if not to far away but they are really fast flyers and as said before rollers work good they dont fly to bad

sjkennels wrote:theres a pigeon thats called a pheasant there not homers but they will home back to the coop if not to far away but they are really fast flyers and as said before rollers work good they dont fly to bad

All pigeons will tend to home and will do pretty good if you stay within a few miles. Rollers or tumblers would not be on my list of birds I would want to use if I have a choice. Never have heard of a pheasant that belongs in the pigeon family. Tell us about them. Must be a brand new breed.

Ezzy

I mainly use homer x roller cross birds, they tend break over to a new coop pretty quickly even as adults. They also fly well.

i know of one guy around here with those pheasant pigeons and he is big into showing them. they kinda look multi colored. they are a show pigeon but can get up and move when you pop them out of a launcher. i like using those to train with just because they don't fly low to the ground and around in circles like the rollers do or the ones i get will. but when i use those rollers/pheasants i shoot them so they usually don't have much of a chance to fly in circles. but the best shooters you can use i think is wild pigeons. i have found a few that come into my coop with my other homers.

Thats pretty cool pigeon bait:)

Pheasant pigeons!! wow, they are extremly rare. Is this really what you are using??? I am going to expect that the guy you get your pigeons from just made up a name for anouther type pigeon?? http://www.internationaldovesociety.com ... igeons.htm

there not that big or that color maybe its another type of pheasant pigeon? if i rember i will post some pics of one next time i buy some. but the guy i get them from shows and races pigeons. he has about a 1000 pigeons in his back yard and there are about 20 kinds from fan tails to some kind of pigeon that is about 5 inchs tall there called figueitas or something weird like that. but i get the ones that dont have the right color or the right eye color so he basicly gives them to me.

I would be interested to see that. I am big into racing and show some of my racers also so I have seen alot of different pigeons and wondering what you are getting. Thanks