Frustrated with my Homing Pigeons

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Keith White
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Frustrated with my Homing Pigeons

Post by Keith White » Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:39 pm

I've have 10 young homing pigeons that I have kept in my coop since the first part of January. I wanted to be sure they were homed in to my coop. I have been feeding them in the evening so that they get used to being fed at the same time and so I could hopefully call them back in. Yesterday, I decided to let 6 of them out to fly and see what happened. I let them go in the front yard and they started to fly all over the neighbor hood in circles. They were landing on everyones houses, my fence, in the yard but would not land on their coop. Finally before dark I had 2 come back to the coop and go inside. I left the trap open and this morning 2 more flew out. Tonight only one of them came back and reentered the coop. There were 2 more tonight that were flying all aver the neighborhood but would not land back on the coop. What did I do wrong????? If more don't come back I'm down to 5 birds the first rattle out of the box.

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Brittguy
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Re: Frustrated with my Homing Pigeons

Post by Brittguy » Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:50 pm

Did you train them by letting them walk outside on a landing board? When you feed make a noise maybe shaking a can with pebbles .That way they associate the noise with food and will come in. Let them out before you feed. There is a good post in the hall of fame section about pigeons

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RoostersMom
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Re: Frustrated with my Homing Pigeons

Post by RoostersMom » Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:53 pm

Check out the pigeon sites, but here's my take on how to get them to "home" better to your coop. Spend a week or more teaching the birds to "trap" to your coop. Don't feed them (or feed lightly) the day before..... take one or two of them out at a time... feed inside the coop and place your birds either on top of the coop or at the entrance with food visible. I would say that letting all of them out at once was a mistake - to do even better, you would have an older bird that knows how to "trap" to the coop. If you don't have that, then just keep the training up for a week or so to teach them to come in to your coop. I lost 5 birds first flight this spring by letting them all out at once. I won't make that mistake again until they know where "home" is.

Grouse Dog Guy
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Re: Frustrated with my Homing Pigeons

Post by Grouse Dog Guy » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:00 pm

You have to open the call back door and let them venture out on their own or they will never know where home is.

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ezzy333
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Re: Frustrated with my Homing Pigeons

Post by ezzy333 » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:34 pm

Grouse Dog Guy wrote:You have to open the call back door and let them venture out on their own or they will never know where home is.
Bingo! And do not try to get them out but let them decide when they want out. Normally they will end up flying up to the roof of the loft is all and then come back in. With in a few days they will all get out on the roof and start flying.

The other method is to put them in a wire cage and set them out on the landing board for a couple of days before releasing them. The oldest of my spring hatches are out flying with the older birds already but they have had the opportunity to go out for two or three weeks. Once they have been out and come back in they should be OK as long as something doesn't scare them away.

Ezzy
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=144
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=207

It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!

Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.

Keith White
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Re: Frustrated with my Homing Pigeons

Post by Keith White » Thu Apr 14, 2011 7:56 pm

Thanks for the replies. I got some of them back. As of tonight I had 7 of the 10 in my coop. I think 1 maybe 2 of my birds hooked up with some ferrel pigeons. I rarely ever see pigeons flying over my house and the day after I let my birds out I saw a group of 9 to 10 pigeons fly by close to my house and it appeared that my all white pigeon was in that bunch. I have not seen them since. Oh well, I still have seven and one has been sitting on eggs for a couple of weeks now. I think I'll do as suggested for a while and just let them come out on there own for a while instead of taking them out and releasing them. At least till they get good at coming home.

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ezzy333
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Re: Frustrated with my Homing Pigeons

Post by ezzy333 » Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:16 pm

Keith White wrote:Thanks for the replies. I got some of them back. As of tonight I had 7 of the 10 in my coop. I think 1 maybe 2 of my birds hooked up with some ferrel pigeons. I rarely ever see pigeons flying over my house and the day after I let my birds out I saw a group of 9 to 10 pigeons fly by close to my house and it appeared that my all white pigeon was in that bunch. I have not seen them since. Oh well, I still have seven and one has been sitting on eggs for a couple of weeks now. I think I'll do as suggested for a while and just let them come out on there own for a while instead of taking them out and releasing them. At least till they get good at coming home.

Keith, after a few days out they all should start flying as a kit(group). Once they do this you may notice that they will leave for a while and then show up again. When they do this it is time to start training by catching them put them in a basket or cage and take them a mile or so from home. Then you can start working them at greater distances.

Ezzy
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=144
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=207

It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!

Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.

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