Pigeons

[PheasantHunter]

Hey Guys,

I don't know a lot about pigeons because I have never used them before but plan to use them in my training. I know when I look up a picture of a homing pigeon, it looks much different than the pigeons that I have in my barn for example. Do I need to use homers? Or will any type of pigeon have the instinct to return to my loft? Are any pigeons better than others?

Thanks, Mike

[sandhill]

Hey Mike
If you want the pigeons to come home then you need to obtain some young homers that have never been flown before, If you are just gonna use them for training and not have them come back then by all means go catch ya some barn pigeons and they will work just fine. As far as raising barn pigeons and having them come home, well maybe they will and maybe they wont. I would not bet any money on it. Hope this helps

Steve

[ezzy333]

Most young pigeons will come home if conditioned, homers just do it better from further away. Main thing is get young ones that think your loft is home.

Ezzy

[ohiogsp]

What is different? The beek is smaller head looks different? Where did you get the pigeon? My guess would be it is probably a roller or tumbler pigeon. These will work but like sandhill said not as good. I have a coop with a lot of good rollers. Then I have one with homers. This year I will probably kill off the rollers. These are good birds but not as strong as the homers. Plus sometimes they circle alot before taking off to the pen. This is O.K. to a point but when your dog is standing on point watching a pigeon circle for 3 or 4 min. it starts getting old. If you do a search on this site for pigeons there is alot of info that will get into other details. Like keeping these birds in the pen for at least 2 weeks before you fly them. You will loose some buy more than you need keep some in the pen to help get the others back. I could go on forever, ask more questions.

[Donnerhund GWP]

Mike,
Homing pigeons actually came from wild pigeons and , likewise, many wild pigeons are fugitives from private flocks.
You can start with wild pigeons and keep them inside for a while. it may take a couple of weeks to several months to "reset" or "rehome' them. Starting with homing pigeons will be faster because someone else has already bred them to strengthen the homing instinct.
Whichever you start out with, start letting them out of the loft when you feel confident they have "reset". I keep new birds locked-in for at least 3 months.
You will lose some, don't worry because the ones that leave don't have the strong homing instinct. In the mean time, the birds will breed. The chicks will naturally home to your loft. In fact, you may choose to never let out your breeders and only move the fledges to a separate loft to be flown. Particularly if you start with expensive racing stock. Be carefull not to move the fledges until they are getting down and eating on their own.
Let your "Flyers" out daily and never feed until after they are out of the loft. this will hasten their return. My birds are usually back in the loft in about 10-15 min. Unless I take them more than a couple of miles to release them.
When you let them out of the loft each day to exercise their flight muscles, watch for the birds that straggle behind the flock or loiter outside the loft. Cull these out and use them for your "Shooter" birds. You will find that they reproduce fast enough to allow this.
Then SLOWLY start to extend them out by taking them a little further away each day and releasing them.
In time you will have a very reliable flock of homers.
I started with 5 Pairs of racing homers which were culls and old birds from a local pigeon racing competitor @ $10/ pair. I kept them in for 3 months and only lost 1 when I first let them out. Over the next summer, those 9 produced more than 40 offspring. Many of these have been released from over 50 miles away and made the flight back over mountains and large lakes.
They also attract wild birds and I often find a "barn bird" has joined the flock. I don't allow these volunteers to breed into my homers as this weakens the gene pool.
Good luck! and let me know if I can offer any additional info.
-Mark

[ezzy333]

Homing pigeons have been around since Roman times and have not been bred from Rock Doves which are our common pigeon. They are bigger and stronger than the wild pigeon. Donnerhund's advice is about right. However, if the birds are conditioned properly they may fly for an hour before returning to the loft unless you train them to come back for their feed sooner.

Ezzy

[PheasantHunter]

Thanks for all of your replies, very helpful.

Mike