Could a poorly trained older bird be retrained with untrained younger ones?

[pikelake]

I had two pigeons, hatched April 2018, not sexually mature yet, and they used to live at a different house and were flown, but never taken out for a toss. I moved, and they seemed to have taken to the new loft well, although they were a little shaky on homing when I took them out, the furthest was 4 miles. Sometimes they wouldn't come back at night, even when just loft flying. One disappeared the other night, I assume from an owl, so now I'm left with one bird, who isn't trained very well, as she doesn't come home and trap immediately, and usually goes to the ground to look for food since I mistakenly fed them there earlier on. Would it be possible to get maybe four or so young birds, and train them to home and trap with the existing older one included? Would he adjust and retrain? Or should I keep him separate (and maybe get him a friend) because he could simply screw up the younger birds' training?

 

[biophiliac]

I had two pigeons, hatched April 2018, not sexually mature yet, and they used to live at a different house and were flown, but never taken out for a toss. I moved, and they seemed to have taken to the new loft well, although they were a little shaky on homing when I took them out, the furthest was 4 miles. Sometimes they wouldn't come back at night, even when just loft flying. One disappeared the other night, I assume from an owl, so now I'm left with one bird, who isn't trained very well, as she doesn't come home and trap immediately, and usually goes to the ground to look for food since I mistakenly fed them there earlier on. Would it be possible to get maybe four or so young birds, and train them to home and trap with the existing older one included? Would he adjust and retrain? Or should I keep him separate (and maybe get him a friend) because he could simply screw up the younger birds' training?

My thought is get the young birds flying in a group then integrate the older one for your best chance. The older bird will want to stay in the safety of the group you would hope.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Would it be possible to get maybe four or so young birds, and train them to home and trap with the existing older one included?

That is the route I would take.
First always train hungry take food away for at least 12 hours or more.

Depending on how old the young birds are you may have to delay training for about 2 months to get the young birds settled.

Then I would just fly the young birds alone until they were either gone for about ½ hour loft release flying or able to match your first bird toss at 4 miles.

Then I would kit them all together.

 

[chicken1234]

I would get a mate for your one pigeon and let them hatch young. The young will stay and the pair would more likely stay because they have raised young in your loft.