Fat and lazy..help me get them fit.

[jak2002003]

My pigeons are mostly white homing pigeon mixes. Some are quite large.. as years ago they bred with my utility kings.. and some are small.. like normal racing pigeons. I have about 20 + now.

But they are all LAZY AND FAT and they won't fly in the air for any length of time.

I let them out for 3 hours each day... most don't even bother to come out.. but I gently chase them out.

They fly up onto the house roof.. then just start sunbathing and preening and running after each other.

Then they fly down to our swimming pool to bath on the steps before flying back up to the roof the laze about and have a sleep in the sun!!!!!!!!!!!

How can I get them to do some real flying?

They are all very healthy.. its just as they are overweight.

My mistake is they have feed in the coop all the time.. and I just top it up when its empty. This is because many are raising squabs.. and I worry if I just feed once or twice a day the squabs won't get enough food.. is that right?

They also steal my chickens food from the chicken run.

I stopped feeding them peanuts as treats about one month ago.. and now they just have a wild bird seed mix (and the chicken pellets).

What can I do with the feeding schedule and how much to feed?

At the moment they are living the good easy life like they are at some 5 star hotel and I am the hotel staff serving them!

Thanks for any help.

PS.. I know the larger size birds won't be much good as flying for long.. but they used to do at least several laps around the house roof before they landed.. now they don't even do one).

 

[Hokum Coco]

My pigeons are mostly white homing pigeon mixes.

But they are all LAZY AND FAT and they won't fly in the air for any length of time.

How can I get them to do some real flying?

Thanks for any help.

Start flying your birds.

Take away their feed and leave them plenty of fresh clean water.

First and foremost do not fly any birds that you are not prepared to loose.

Feed your birds twice a day all they can eat in 10 minutes. Morning and evening.

Skip an evening feeding bring your birds out hungry a short distance (maybe 3 or 4 telephone poles away from the loft) leave only enough feed in the coop to feed ½ of the flock on their arrival.

Do NOT provide extra feed on their arrival this will instill competion among the flock to fly home first.

Feed again in the evening only what the flock can eat in 10 minutes.

Do not fly your birds every day skip a day or two depending on the length of their last fly.

Keep repeating this cycle and increasing the distance until they can fly 30 miles. Do this gradually. Where you have a utility bird mix you can expect losses.

I lost all my birds over the winter to weasels.

I am now training my new flock of 12 birds. I got 6 flying now from a distance of 4 miles from their loft.

My birds are Belgium blood line and can fly 300 miles and more from their home.

It cost the same to feed a good homing pigeon as it does a poor one.

My grand daughter and I do dove releases for special occasions as well.

Do not consider it a loss if you loose a poor bird. You are bettering your flock ultimately.

This works for me good luck to you BYC Buddy.