letting pigeons fly one cloudy days.

sniperjon · Post by **sniperjon** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:45 am

My birds have been flying for a month now and know there home but I never let them out on cloudy days just to be safe. Will they be alright without the help of the sun to nav.

Barry Ward · Post by **Barry Ward** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:00 am

Yes, they are fine. I fly mine about every other day because I enjoy watcing them fly. While out, they are feeding, eating grit and building their wing strength.

Post by **ezzy333** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:14 am

sniperjon wrote:My birds have been flying for a month now and know there home but I never let them out on cloudy days just to be safe. Will they be alright without the help of the sun to nav.

They will be ok. No one knows how they navigate but it is probably best to not take them too far away on a cloudy day for their first flight away from home. But once they have a little experience they will manage it and be back home.

Ezzy

sniperjon · Post by **sniperjon** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:32 am

Thanks I let them out. They are sunning on the neighbors house.

DonF · Post by **DonF** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:48 am

On another pigeon note, I flew my homer's first at 5 mi. Couple of flights and mover to 15 mi. They beat me home both times! Friday I had to go to town so took a box of birds with two new ones. 35 mi to town and I turned them loose. Went to the feed store and grocery stoor, killed maybe 20 min. Got home and not a bird in sight. They always come back and lounge around on their loft awhile befor going in. Well went in the loft and their they were! Think I'll move them another 20 +/- miles next trip out.

seacowboy · Post by **seacowboy** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:41 pm

I would have to guess that pigeons or any other bird, or whale, sea turtle what have you that has a huge migration pattern or route to find their home/breeding ground doesn't use the sun. I say this because if they did they would be performing some amazing calculations in their tiny brain in celestial navigation. I think it has more to do with magnetism and polarity than the suns position. Even at its most basic level the pigeon would have to see and remember the location of the sun upon departure from the loft then take note of it when they are released to go in the correct direction. The sun moves and hours can pass before they are released again, so the angle of the sun will be totally different.

Just my .02 coming from using celestial navigation while roaming the seas for years.

ibbowhunting · Post by **ibbowhunting** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:55 pm

i just got my homers today the fellow (15+yrs racing pigeons) i got them from told me the frist flock he ever rasied he let fly around the coop and the frist real flight was 50 miles as he was instucted from the guy he got the pigeons from they all made it home. his racing buddys thought that was nuts. although he didn't suggest this method. what i gather from that is you real shouldn't worried to much about them returning to there home. 50mile there frist flight hard to believe. i'm not going try that. thought it was a great story .

V-John · Post by **V-John** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:21 am

My racing mentor told me to not fly them on cloudy days. Says it makes it more difficult for them to home. And not to toss them on training tosses around 12 as the sun being directly above can mess them up. (Tossing them in the morning is best) But he also said that you can sure do it. Just might have some losses and my experiences have proven him right.
However, he said, this. If you look around and see starlings and other pigeons and such flying around, then you should be good to go.

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