I think for mine it's a combination of less exercise (hawk season) and the fact that I've been supplementing their food a few times a week with a feather/immunity oil (mix of garlic oil and some other things). I started the oil at the beginning of their molt, and just kept it up because it made...
Well that is one reason my current birds in my loft aren't going any long distances at the moment, they are too fat LOL. I got to looking at them this past weekend and was like geez guys, time for a diet!
We know they navigate by sight, of course, hence our loft training methods. And since pigeons can see to around 25 miles on a clear day, chances are flying within this distance they are only relying on sight and (photographic) memory. But for the long distance homing, the theories range from...
As a threshold matter, I need to open by saying my research on this has yielded no real conclusion, because it seems there are none yet. And so long as we don't know precisely how homing pigeons home, we may never know.
We do know one thing, that when homers return from long distances and...