Need Help- Birds Stay on Neighbor's Roof when they Return From Flying

[mogollon]

I have 9 White Homing Pigeons. The oldest is 4 months old, the youngest 7 weeks old. I have been letting the birds fly and explore from my loft. They do great! When the leave they leave hungry. They fly for approximately 1 1/2 - 2 hours then return. Here's where the problem lies. (A month ago the birds I had were attacked in front of my loft by a hawk.) When my birds return now they land on my neighbor's roof and stay there until almost dark then they'll return to my landing board and trap quickly. I've tried rattling & whistling as I've done each time I've fed them. But there's no reaction from the roof. For a week I kept the birds in the loft. They came to the feed as soon as I start rattling & whistling in the loft. Today I let them out for the first time in a week. They did the same thing, flew, returned, stayed on the neighbor's roof and trapped at dark. Since they didn't return today when I rattled they did not get fed. I feel like it's a habit for them. So I was thinking about keeping them in 2 weeks. I'm a new flyer, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sourland]

I think you are doing all the right things. It will take them a while to recover from the fear of a hawk attack. In addition to whistling and feed rattling I would clap my hands and verbally call them in. Anything to give them confidence and hopefully warn the hawk away. They are still babies. Older birds become hawk smart and more elusive. (If they don't get caught.) My older birds would hit the landing board separately and rush into the loft. My Birmingham rollers never developed this trapping intelligence and I lost far too many to the Cooper's hawks.

 

[mogollon]

to

Thanks for the response. They are babies. I keep reminding myself.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Pretty birds. Sorry for the late response.

How much do you feed your birds? Even through they are scared, they should all trap within 30 seconds. I feed my birds all they can eat in 6-7 minutes once a day. They trap great and fly great. I hope this helps!

 

[jak2002003]

They are not hungry and so are not trapping quickly.

If the birds are not breeding, try putting them on a one meal a day ration.

Feed them at the same time in the afternoon / evening, when they normally come down from flying.

You can fill the feeder up a lot and let them eat as much as they want then, and when they start to drink and fly up to the perches, take out the feeder till the next day.

It will take a couple days for them to get hungry and get the idea to come back quickly on you feed call.

Good luck.