need help pigeon keeps going back to original loft

[aarontheman]

I got a pigeon in december and let it out late january it went back to his original loft he is a homer how could i make him stay here
i have him in about 3 days now and how long should i keep him in i have 8 pigeons

 

[fowlsessed]

If he's worth his salt, as they say, than he will go back home no matter how long you keep him up. He's a prisoner, and you'll most likely have to wait to fly his young. Some "bad" homers will stay around after only about a month or so, some with even less time, you can hardly call those homers, though!
After a LOOONG time you could try letting him out again, once he has a nest and family, and see if he's one of the 'not so good ones' and sticks around.

 

[Hokum Coco]

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.

It all depends on the individual bird. There are no hard and fast rules for homing pigeons is my experience. You might 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 in your loft they would either fly home or die trying. In most cases life in prison 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 is what a good bird is capable of..

 

[laughingdog]

wow! theyll go back even if never flown or orientated to the original loft you got them from..??? i figured they had to be let see all around them out side in open are cage or coop to see orientation of sun land and landmarks ect. (anything else im missing?). i thought closed off so they couldnt get to experiance everything around them or free flown, they wouldnt/couldnt orientate? im concerned now about trying to let some white doves im hopefully getting soon, to free fly.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Loszolo (the fancier and the name I gave the white homing pigeon) was just as amazed as I was laughingdog. In a perfect world by all accounts that bird should have orientated to my loft and stayed with the bird it had paired with. Buddy seems to refer to all his bird by band number (he races his birds competitively).

It is best to buy squeaker birds if at all possible from that fancier was my conclusion (however he told me that was an isolated case). That bird has since homed over 600 miles in one flight for my buddy Loszolo. His birds originate from Belgium and are top quality in my opinion.

The up side is I have 5 birds now with Loszolo blood line and I am just about positive they will die or die trying to get back to my loft.

My birds have homed 60 miles to date in almost all directions in one flight and I would not be afraid to double that distance with most of my flock. .

 

[larrylofts]

free flying doves is not good at all they will take off and will likely never be seen again

 

[laughingdog]

oops, I ment white racers/homer breeds bred and used for "white dove" release, and maybe show type.. also just having opportunity to get about a dozen sprinter racers from local retiring from racing, maybe gear and all.