Another dumb question about homers.

[seismic wonder2]

I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around the Idea...

1. If I take a homer in a cage to a field, let it loose, will it come back to my cage or go back to my house?

2. If I buy a homer, take it home, how does it know this is it's new "home" so it won't fly back to the guy I bought it from?

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

1. It will come back to your house. Pigeons come back home, that's why they're called homing pigeons!

'Home' is usually where they are born, but young birds can be resettled at a different location and they will return there. Usually once they get sexually mature, it is too late to rehome them anywhere else, and will return where they currently are kept. There are exceptions those. Some yearlings have been broke to a new home, but of course they had skillful trainers who knew just how to motivate them to stay at their house.

2. When you buy new homers, try to get the youngest ones you can. Preferably those under 5 months old. 5 months and over can be very iffy and hard to break, depending on the individual bird. Some will stay, some will be very picky about going back where they came from

Usually if they are still squeakers, up to 2 months old, they can be let out from the loft after 2-3 weeks of being kept in your loft. 3-5 month olds should be kept in for a month before being released from the loft.
Once they learn how work the trap and release doors, and they start flying for about 30 minutes to an hour around the loft, then you can start taking them on road tosses, starting at say, 5 miles or less, and working your way up.