Pigeon Question

[Onk]

Just ordered my pigeon trap and need to know if wild pigeons will rehome for sure. If so how far from the coop can you train or is distance not a problem? Thanks

[mountaindogs]

They have to be "trained to their home" and they will go a few hundred yards, and they are more savvy about surviving so they have little need to hurry back... That's what I hear anyway. But they will... and they are probably much more predator savvy...

[Brittguy]

they have to really like where they are living. People say they will home within a very short distance but I never had much luck.

[phoneman45]

wild pigeons will rehome but you must train them to do so first. I used mine about 250 yards away at most. I did lose a wild female that I had trapped once. She joined a flock of feral pigeons the first time I released her. SHe returned four days later. I have no idea how far she had flown.

eric

[Onk]

wild pigeons will rehome but you must train them to do so first.
eric

How so? I'm doing good to train the dog, now I have to train the birds?!

[Wildweeds]

It has been my experiance that ferals will home at least 4 miles,My uncle has a feedlot and I went and caught a bunch of birds there,I marked those birds with a zip tie on the leg,I hauled them to my house 17 miles away and had a bunch of them under lock and key for about 3 weeks,I was using the birds approximately 4 miles from the barn they came from,When I was out of birds I returned to the barn for another catching mission,I recaught birds that had.....................zipties on the legs.

most likely the best way to get them to home is to keep them under lock and key until they have a batch of younguns,the younguns will home for sure and the parents may get comfortable in the proper housing and set up shop as well.

[KwikIrish]

We use ferals for training. They home back to our house 13 miles away fast and reliable. There is nothing special about our coops that make them "really like it" other than food, water, grit, and perches. They progressed to this point at the same rate as most homing/race birds I suspect what others have been "told" lacks any expierence with a good honest effort?