When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

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OceanMon
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When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by OceanMon » Tue Mar 29, 2022 12:22 am

Hi there

My pigeons are about a month old now.

I'm wondering when I should open up the loft and let them fly out freely. Now? 6 weeks?

Is there any advice?

I really don't want to lose these birds though I want them to be strong fliers and to return home.

Thanks!

cjhills
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by cjhills » Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:14 am

OceanMon
Mine start going out into the aviary whenever they want. They sit out there and look around. I have bobs that go both ways so they learn to push through they bobs. I let them go out and sit on the roof whenever they are ready. They will soon start flying on short flights. Not sure of the age, I think around two months. They will start flying and eventually be gone for fairly long periods of time. After they do that it is time to start training them.
The biggest issue is hawks. At least for me. Once they start you have to lock the birds up for a time or you will lose a few every day. The law is on the hawk's side so use discretion. I have had years when I could not let my young birds fly because of the hawks. The birds seem to need to start young or they never get to be real good flyers.
Just let them do it their way. Good luck.......Cj

OceanMon
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by OceanMon » Tue Mar 29, 2022 8:07 am

Thanks for the advice!

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Garrison
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by Garrison » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:51 pm

As CJ mentioned hawks and in my area to a greater extent falcons can be real trouble, especially for the youngsters. Once they find an easy meal they tend to stick around. After I got pretty well cleaned out while I was gone one weekend, 9 gone and a yard full of feathers later, and two peregrines who moved in for a few months. I made an outdoor aviary out of an old dog kennel and moved the door and landing platform to one side. It allowed a bit more space for the youngsters to gain some strength in the wings before they became bait.

Garrison

OceanMon
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by OceanMon » Sat Apr 02, 2022 8:55 am

At what age do you start taking the pigeon out and training it to home? Or, how long after you let it fly out freely do you start the homing training?

cjhills
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by cjhills » Sat Apr 02, 2022 7:06 pm

I wait until they go out on their own and are gone for several hours. probably three months old or a bit older not sure of the age. If you use them near your loft you don't need to train.
Start training at short distances. be Aware you will lose some. when go out aways try to pick clear days and don't fly them in the rain.....Cj

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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by OceanMon » Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:31 am

Thanks again!

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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by RyanDoolittle » Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:35 pm

I start mine pretty early. To start it's on the shed roof on the other side of the yard.

Then to the front yard

Then down the block

Then a mile. This usually takes a while because I will let them go at a mile in all directions.

Move to 2 and same process

Move to 3, repeat the process.

At 4 I start jumping distance quicker and I will vary directions.

Then to 6, 10, 15, 20, 30, etc. Never do I jump more than 50% and I do each distance a few times.

Pigeons homing ability isn't like Google maps. When they are a couple miles out they start using geography and land marks to know where home is. This is why I spend so much time near the loft flying the birds.

Always fly them hungry and always make sure there is food and water when they get home. I also feed them a high quality diet to make sure they have the energy and health to return home. Birds are your most valuable assets, they deserve more than just wheat and corn. This will help get them home and into the loft faster.

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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by RyanDoolittle » Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:37 pm

Also note that they don't like crossing water. So if you have a river or lake to cross between you and the training grounds then incorporate that into your training tosses.

cjhills
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by cjhills » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:19 am

One other issue I forgot to mention.
If you don't let them fly at a young age they will never be real good flyers. They will be good enough for short distance training bit not for long distance or racing.......Cj

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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by OceanMon » Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:35 am

Wow, thanks for the tips!! Much appreciated

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Garrison
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by Garrison » Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:30 am

I believe I had mentioned it once before, but I had one of my favorite birds who didn’t return from a training flight. I can’t recall how far the release was, I believe it was a shorter one, maybe 10 miles. At the time they were regularly returning from 30-40 miles. 5 days later I was driving home and it was walking down the sidewalk towards the house with a broken wing. Have no idea how far it walked, but I like to think it was a pretty good distance! He never flew again, but I kept him around for his effort and offspring.

Garrison

RyanDoolittle
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by RyanDoolittle » Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:30 pm

Garrison wrote:
Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:30 am
I believe I had mentioned it once before, but I had one of my favorite birds who didn’t return from a training flight. I can’t recall how far the release was, I believe it was a shorter one, maybe 10 miles. At the time they were regularly returning from 30-40 miles. 5 days later I was driving home and it was walking down the sidewalk towards the house with a broken wing. Have no idea how far it walked, but I like to think it was a pretty good distance! He never flew again, but I kept him around for his effort and offspring.

Garrison
I like to fly half a dozen or so white birds with my group for that reason. Hawks will go after the odd one out, generally a white bird. It saves my good flying blues and reds.

Fun fact if you have a white flock then the blue or reds will get picked off first.

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Garrison
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by Garrison » Wed Apr 06, 2022 12:36 pm

RyanDoolittle wrote:
Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:30 pm
Garrison wrote:
Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:30 am
I believe I had mentioned it once before, but I had one of my favorite birds who didn’t return from a training flight. I can’t recall how far the release was, I believe it was a shorter one, maybe 10 miles. At the time they were regularly returning from 30-40 miles. 5 days later I was driving home and it was walking down the sidewalk towards the house with a broken wing. Have no idea how far it walked, but I like to think it was a pretty good distance! He never flew again, but I kept him around for his effort and offspring.

Garrison
I like to fly half a dozen or so white birds with my group for that reason. Hawks will go after the odd one out, generally a white bird. It saves my good flying blues and reds.

Fun fact if you have a white flock then the blue or reds will get picked off first.
That does make sense.

My other favorite hobby besides dogs is sport fishing. I have been fortunate enough to own an offshore fishing boats with a good friend for the past dozen years. We sold the last joint venture about a year ago after his retirement so he could purchase the dream boat, a 50’ sport fisher. I have a set of keys and regularly captain the boat to take people fishing in the summer months. The point of this is, although a completely different species my trolling spread experience is similar to your observation. By far the most productive trolling spread I use, is 5-7 rods on outriggers and is a uniform spreader bar pattern.

The spreader bars hold approx 20 small squid clones, dark (black and purple) for low light, bright (blue and pink) for full sun. None of them have hooks, the theory is, it makes it look like a school of fish and will tease the fish up to the boat. When tuna fishing, we place one off color squid of the same size (small 3”) closely trailing the others with a hook. When a rubber squid clone gets hit by a big tuna it doesn’t last long. Not once have I ever had to replace a teaser squid (hookless), I regularly have to replace the off color trailer squid with the hook. They know their target, the different looking one in the back. If the fish are tight lipped, I have a fender that is spray painted like a dorado (aka Mahi/dolphin) that has a weight on the front. It (the toad) darts around under the teasers and looks like a predatory fish feeding on the school. If fish are around, it always seams to trigger more bites than the other boats in the area. Cool to watch it all happen from a couple stories up on the tower. Especially when a big shark or marlin takes a whack at the toad.

Garrison

OceanMon
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by OceanMon » Fri Apr 08, 2022 10:33 am

Garrison wrote:
Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:30 am
I believe I had mentioned it once before, but I had one of my favorite birds who didn’t return from a training flight. I can’t recall how far the release was, I believe it was a shorter one, maybe 10 miles. At the time they were regularly returning from 30-40 miles. 5 days later I was driving home and it was walking down the sidewalk towards the house with a broken wing. Have no idea how far it walked, but I like to think it was a pretty good distance! He never flew again, but I kept him around for his effort and offspring.

Garrison
Wow, that's epic!!

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oldbeek
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Re: When to let baby pigeons to fly out freely

Post by oldbeek » Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:34 am

I use a large landing board that has a removable screen over it. Daily I put my young birds out on the board with the screen cover on, so they learn how to enter through the bobs before I ever let them fly free.. I do this just before feeding time. When they pop right in to get to the feed, I know they are ready to fly free. Usually about 6 weeks old.

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