how long should i keep pigeons cooped up for before letting them out to fly

[Duck Guy]

Your saying one tablespoon a bird right? Because that's how I've been feeding them and when ever they are fed, twice a day in the morning and evening, they are all scrambling for the food after I leave them. How long should it be before they come to me with the feed. I do a feed call but they don't come until after I leave the box,

 

[willygog]

ok thats 1/2 a tblspoon twice a day right,, maybe a little more, but if they dont come, it is cause they are shy o f you, as young birds can be.. and wait for you to leave before eatig, my young birds do that too, but there is a side to the feeding, young birds need food, so you could go more but then wait for them to grow a bit more,, you have to really get them to 1 tblsp a day , no matter how you feed them.. then they will come when called.. and just wait till there ready to fly on there own, they should just perch on there house.. then after they are comfortable they will go to wing.. give them time to learn,, yu can start training now of course.. set them on the roof with water.. and leave them,, then later call them in ,,(before feeding them) if they come right in your making progress, if not lower the food, you need to get there attention.. just dont starve them.. let them eat what they want then take the food out... or they will waste food cause they will pick out the goodies, and leave the rest..

 

[willygog]

They all should come in if there hungry, if not cut back the food.. but always wait 12 hours after feeding to let them out,,, you really want them hungry, not starved but hungry.. .. just takes a bit of time.. there pretty smart birds, and they will play you if they can..

 

[samsprik]

Just in case you should decide on getting some homing pigeons:

I bought one adult homer cock back in January 2012 that had never been out of the loft and never flown free. He raised 3 clutches of eggs in my loft and when I finally decided to try and loft fly him and released him May 2012 he returned to his original loft over 100 miles away and there he stays.

I would never release an adult homer until it has raised at least 3 batches of young in my loft.

Young squeaker birds a week or so and they are good to release.
There are no hard and fast rules for homing pigeons is my experience. Some fanciers try clipping its primary flight feathers to impede his ability to fly (or even using dish soap on their feathers never tried that personally) and releasing him that some times helps or sometimes make him more prey worthy. It is a slippery slope.

I have some adult birds in my loft now that I am sure you could never get to stay. They would either fly home or die trying. In most cases life as a  prisoner is the only answer.

In the late 1800 the most heroic recorded flight was from a pigeon that was released in Africa and took 55 days to get home in England.  Traveling over 7,000 miles.

That just seems unbelievable..

What about if the old owner never flew them(kept them in the loft),would they still fly home?

 

[Hokum Coco]

What about if the old owner never flew them(kept them in the loft),would they still fly home?

In a perfect world they should orientate to your loft in about a month.
Then again some homers once they get a taste of freedom they have been know to turn feral,

There is only one guarantee.

If you fly birds whether they are orientated to your loft or not you can expect losses.

Oh just as a side note that pigeon that returned home from Africa to England was so emancipated that it died a day or to later.

 

[ArthurLedd]

I was told by breeder that his barbs had some homing ability to point theyd try to get home when sold and let out to soon. so id air on the side of caution and settle them in first inside for week to month, then settle to surroundings outside. the rollers id say youd be fine inside and out after a week, but told some lines have some homer in for vigor, the larger showier ones. ive had one hen, when first back into pigeons, that when let out finally, took the cock and two squeakers straight back in direction of were seller was. recently a show and performer winner hen, I traded for, did the exact same thing. ive never had this trouble with any other than the largest showier roller hens, so maybe they just retained more homer blood and had stronger instinct to get back to old nests, and i had them nesting but didnt wait for them to have raised any young for me. both were younger birds. those two id had kept penned up one for month and other recent for several months, then finally decided to gamble on them as felt bad for not letting them out to fly with rest. non of my cheaper smaller strictly performing birds ever had that problems in between, and all others were let out after week only and homed then rehomed to new places, and have moved three times since getting these that have had now since got back into pigeons, and got into rollers. I used to be strictly a homer man, and saw signs of homer traits, but figured good looking roller abilities showed enough dilution of homer blood, but guess was wrong.

HELLO I RECENTLY PURCHASED 9 UNFLOWN BIRDS FROM FOYS PIGEONS ALL YOUNG AND GOOD LOOKING i KEPT THEM LOCKED UP ABOUT 3 WEEKS opend the door and let the out it took quite a while for the to come out finally up and away they stumbled watching them fly was funny but only 1 came right back so 1 out of 9 returned the next day 1 more came back so now I have 2 my grandsons see one flying around with a red tag on her leg but now she hangs with the wild pigeons but fly's past every now and then but not sure I guess so I bought 6 more all white i saw them in the nest just 3 weeks ago so I will wait about 1 month or so and see what happens

 

[Hokum Coco]

The age of the bird and type of bird has a lot to do with orientation to a loft.
Show birds or utility pigeons bred for meat as a rule are much easier to orientate but have poor homing ability and have a hard time finding their way home from around the corner not insight of the loft.
For adult paired "HOMING"pigeons I imprison them for 3 rounds of squabs before letting them free fly.

Their first flights are done separately hungry (with hold food for 12 hours) and in the evening an hour before sunset. A good policy for any new arrival to the loft.

I have a small pigeon trap that doubles as an aviary to get them acquainted to their immediate surroundings.
This is my approach for an extreme case. Even so I have suffered losses. You will find almost as many approaches to orientation as there are pigeon fanciers.

The younger the bird the more prone to success.