I really like that theory. I LOVED watching them fly when I let them out those few times. They had a blast and quite happily came back to the loft. Mom never left, though. And now that she has two more eggs I doubt she'll leave again if I let them out this week. But that brings me to a few more questions...
The babies are now old enough to fly and have been going out on the "porch" for the last few days. If I let them out, I'm worried the babies won't quite know what's going on. Do they need more time in the loft to get strong and figure things out? Should I continue to suspend food before I let them out? Last time I did that they came back pretty easily because they were hungry.
We had a Coopers Hawk attack one of our chickens last week and I had to run outside and chase him off. He often likes to sit on the pigeon's loft also. I haven't seen him in a few days but I'm giving it some time before I let them out again.
It's nice to hear your birds are reproducing successfully! I started my loft last spring, and I have my first egg (of a two egg clutch) due to hatch likely Thursday or Friday this week, and the second due a day or so thereafter if all goes right.
From what I recall, your squeakers should be about 4 weeks old, is that correct? If they have had the opportunity to perch in the aviary and some kind of settling cage (a cage around what would normally be the door they enter in the loft) for a few weeks to get the view of where they live, I think you are close to being ready to let them fly.
The birds need to know how to get back into the loft before you let them out. This can simply be done using a settling cage over the loft door, which may or may not be equipped with bobs... if it has bobs, first session keep the bobs up, second session lower just one bob in the middle to get them used to going in and out and having a bob move and touch them, then another session lower two bobs as far apart as possible, and finally put them in the settling cage with all bobs down and see if they use the bobs properly, and if they do, make sure they can do it for a few days, and then I'd say you're ready to let them out in the yard.
Once you are confident they understand how to get in and out of the loft with the settling cage over the door, try to get them out in the yard at about 4-6 weeks of age. At this age, their feathers should not be full enough to get super far off the ground, and ideally they will just flutter around the ground and mess around. Just open the door and let them exit as they please. If they do not exit the loft, don't force it, wait until later or the next day. Eventually, they will fly out and poke around the yard. I would recommend
NOT allowing the older birds out at this time, as they may fly about too far and the squeakers may not be ready to do that, but may follow and get lost.
Keep letting them out as described above, and eventually, whether it's on the first or second try, or after a week or so, they will pick up and fly around, likely in a circle, and they will start learning the lay of the land. Once that is done, I think you are ready to fly them regularly. If they are not homers and are just performing breeds I think you can only loft fly them and not do tosses from a far (which I think answers your question in post #49 directly above), but if they are homers you should follow the toss training methods of first letting them loft fly, then do a 1 mile toss a few times, then 3 miles, then 5, 10 and 20.
Only fly them hungry. They associate the loft with food, water and shelter. Hunger is your friend when letting them out, as they will not be inclined to stray too far. The best method IMO for a first release is to withhold food completely for no less than 24 hours (but do give water), let them out and wait 5 minutes or so, then put the food down (whether you trained them with the whistle or not, if they are close by (and they should be) they WILL hear you scatter their feed into the feeder, and they'll know food is waiting for them! Scatter a bit of grit on the landing platform. You should have a nice landing platform for them, that they are already used to from the settling cage.
As a side note, while I don't think it's imperative, during the training phases, your're best served feeding them twice a day and only an amount they can eat in about 10-15 minutes, such that they are eager and hungry for each meal (if they do not rush to eat when you put the food down, you're over feeding them for this training process, so give less food) and shake a can with corn or pennies in it and/or blow a whistle when you're about to lay each meal down. This gets them to understand a few things: (1) you mean food, and you control food (2) the loft means food, and (3) the whistle/can signals it is food time. This gives you an option to call them in if they are out and about and you want them to come in. I do not think this is imperative though, it just gives you added control over your birds. To be frank, I did this (both can shaking and whistle) with my homers, and while they do respond when I blowthe whistle when going to feed them in the loft, when I did it when they were flying they would pretty much ignore it and only come in when they wanted to. They know the ques for food, mine will come out in the aviary and beg even when they hear my garage door open!
