How common is it for homers to trip/route for days at a time?

[LamarshFish]

My new loft, in terms of flying birds and getting them to trap back into the loft, is just now starting to come along. I am not training them to trap quickly, as I am new to this and I also do not plan to race them, I just want them to home well. Last week I let them out 3 times, and all birds that exited the loft trapped back in the same day. I think I am getting closer to being able to start drops.

This past Saturday, I let all 13 birds out at around 10am, except 2 that wouldn't leave the loft, and all but 3 of them returned to the loft. It was a clear day, with not much wind at all. I withheld food for about 24 hours and flew them hungry.

• One of those 3 birds was gone ALL DAY, and came back and trapped around 9pm that night.
• Another of those 3 birds came back this morning (gone a total of 2 full days). I'd imagine he is all set now for me to be confident he's a good homer and is dialed into my loft.
• I now have one missing bird, and it happens to be my best bird and most favorite bird (a well-tamed silver bar). This bird has already flown and routed several times and came home and trapped before, but never was out of the loft longer than a half day.

I am just wondering how often it is that pigeons decide to route/trip for more than a day (i.e., spending nights away), and how many days is the most common for them to be gone. I wonder what the chances are for my trusty and beloved silver bar (#7) to come home.

Also, does anybody know why they do this?

 

[Hokum Coco]

how many days is the most common for them to be gone

Three days is the number that pops into my mind. That being said I had one gone for well over a month that I totally gave up on. When it finally arrived I thought it was a feral.
It was covered in black soot and I did not even realize it was a solid white and my bird until I checked it's band.

 

[LamarshFish]

Three days is the number that pops into my mind. That being said I had one gone for well over a month that I totally gave up on. When it finally arrived I thought it was a feral.
It was covered in black soot and I did not even realize it was a solid white and my bird until I checked it's band.

Thank you! How common is it to have homers go on these overnight excursions? I do wonder what in the heck they are doing while they're away, but I guess we'll never know...

P.S., when one of my birds returned this morning (after being gone for 2 whole days), he showed up about 5 minutes after I blew the food call and shook the can for my other birds! He had to have heard it! Must not have gone far.

 

[Hokum Coco]

How common is it to have homers go on these overnight excursions?

It really never happens now in my loft now that my initial birds are dialed in. Once or twice a year I get a squeaker that decides to sleep on the roof of the loft for what ever reason or on the landing board. It happens more frequently when doing training tosses. Never on coop releases unless they been lost to a predator or accident.
I kind of suspect your favourite bird has met an untimely end. He definitely knows where the loft is. Then again the late arriving birds may have been scattered by a hawk. Most hawks can not catch a swift flying homing pigeon.

As long as it is still alive it will return.

 

[LamarshFish]

It really never happens now in my loft now that my initial birds are dialed in. Once or twice a year I get a squeaker that decides to sleep on the roof of the loft for what ever reason or on the landing board. It happens more frequently when doing training tosses. Never on coop releases unless they been lost to a predator or accident.
I kind of suspect your favourite bird has met an untimely end. He definitely knows where the loft is. Then again the late arriving birds may have been scattered by a hawk. Most hawks can not catch a swift flying homing pigeon.

As long as it is still alive it will return.

I will keep you posted. I hope this bird is not dead.

 

[laughingdog]

I've found from sounding like, your birds were hesitant to leave then return because of predator/s around the loft. Foxes, smaller owls, etc are all out between dusk and Dawn alone and in pairs at cages, and pigeons sometimes are smart to not want to go out of comfort zone or come to. That said my white homers I had, and two or three good roller lines, would go off to eat somewhere else when released coming home sometimes days to over week later fat and happy having stretched full crops but thirsty n filthy sometimes and beat up (Maybe they got trapped in barn loft etc..). Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[LamarshFish]

I have since had much better luck. I have had the same 9 homers for months now, and they are let out several times a week and come back. Sometimes it takes a day or two for a few of them, but they come back. I now just hope I get some reproduction. I'd like to have somewhere between 15-20 birds at any given time.

 

[sourland]

Any time my birds did not return the day of release they had been chased off by raptors. Young birds especially haven't learned how to trap when raptors are present/chasing so they fly high and far. It get's to be dark before they can get back home. Older birds get to know when you are 'calling' them in they are more safe. Educated raptors learn to stay away.

 

[jak2002003]

Also like to add that if they are overfed and also young birds they will have no real desire to return to the loft quickly.

They will sit about on roofs and not come back until they are hungry.

Once they are breeding age they will come back quickly as they have the desire to defend their nest boxes, mates, young etc.

 

[Hokum Coco]

. I am not training them to trap quickly,

Trapping quickly is very easily accomplished by placeing only enough shelled unsalted peanuts on the landing board or inside the loft to feed half of the flock you released.