3 Young Birds out, wont go back into loft-

[DenverCityCat]

OK, so after the "3 Amigos" were at bay for over 48 hours, 2 huge hawks seemed to circle my house in the evening! Like right directly over my house circling- The little raskels wouldnt get in the loft for anything! I sat outside well into dark, they seemed content with just sitting on my house roof- So I called my wife to hold a flashlight, got my ladder, climbed my fat ass up on my roof and caught them with a huge fish net I had on my boat- (They didnt know what happened, who happened, or anything cause I dont think they could seem me at all)

I put alittle camping light in there for them to get situated, made sure they have food & water, they seemed ok. I checked on them 1st thing this morning & they seemed OK with everything even allowing me to pet a couple with my finger-

HAHA, Glad thats over! Almost couldnt sleep at night!

Anyhow, Appreciate the help from everyone! I so much mean that! I'll try to post some pics later as soon as I can figure out how (I seen somewhere I may needed to post them somewhere else or something)

Big Hugs to Everyone!!

 

[biophiliac]

OK, so after the "3 Amigos" were at bay for over 48 hours, 2 huge hawks seemed to circle my house in the evening! Like right directly over my house circling- The little raskels wouldnt get in the loft for anything! I sat outside well into dark, they seemed content with just sitting on my house roof- So I called my wife to hold a flashlight, got my ladder, climbed my fat ass up on my roof and caught them with a huge fish net I had on my boat- (They didnt know what happened, who happened, or anything cause I dont think they could seem me at all)

I put alittle camping light in there for them to get situated, made sure they have food & water, they seemed ok. I checked on them 1st thing this morning & they seemed OK with everything even allowing me to pet a couple with my finger-

HAHA, Glad thats over! Almost couldnt sleep at night!

Anyhow, Appreciate the help from everyone! I so much mean that! I'll try to post some pics later as soon as I can figure out how (I seen somewhere I may needed to post them somewhere else or something)

Big Hugs to Everyone!!

Well you are destined to keep pigeons! I don't see how you need advice from us! Glad you didn't take a fall.
Now that you have them back, don't be a stranger. There is an active pigeon chat thread ...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pigeon-talk.1276029/page-1041#post-22903465
I look forward to seeing pics of your birds and set up, there or here.
Edit added - Photos you can post directly from the camera icon left of the emoji icon. Videos you first have to upload to YT or Vimeo.

 

[DenverCityCat]

Here is some advice on training. These are just for loft flys, not tosses.

To start, they need to see all around the loft, and go thru the trap 20+ times. They should go inside without hesitation the first time. I put my birds in a cage to move all around the loft, for several hours at a time. Never feed them in the cage, as they then think they can find good on the ground when they should be flying. But do give them water!

Keep them hungry, so that they are motivated to come back home. You want to train them to a call, (like you did, great job!) And if you want them to fly for long periods in the air, always call them in while they are still flying. If you wait for them to land, it will train them that when they land, it is FOOD TIME! You want them to be hungry enough to come back within 30 seconds. This is helpful when Theres a hawk, storm, etc. When training to fly longer, fly at eight in the morning. As this assures them that they don't have to worry about roosting. Once flying for awhile, you can fly them later in the day if you want.

If you have any other questions, let us know. I love to help!

Thank you so very much for all the great tips!

 

[Qwerty3159]

That's very funny, I'm glad everything worked out. If that happens again something I've done that works is let one of the better behaved birds out with their wings taped so they cant fly off. Pigeons are very "monkey see monkey do" type animals and often just seeing one bird trap back into the loft is enough to motivate the ones lingering or at the very least bring them closer