Pigeon Freedom

ReseisCL16

Songster
9 Years
May 17, 2014
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So I'm in the middle of researching pigeons, their food, their lofts, and the like. Many say that they let their pigeons fly free during the day and the birds return in the evening for their second feeding. I am interested in fancier's breeds, probably not homing pigeons, so would fancier birds return in the evening? Thanks for any advice!
 
would fancier birds return in the evening?
Yes is the short answer. All pigeons have some homing ability it can be seen in squabs as early as 2 weeks of age if taken from their nest inside the loft. Fancy pigeon in a perfect world will not venture further from their loft than they can return. The main problem with fancy breed pigeons is most of them are poor fliers or flightless and are subject to attack from a variety of predators. For this reason a lot of fanciers keep them confined to the loft or flown under strict supervision.
 
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I let my birds out for the day and they fly around and forage. Mine don’t have a trap on the loft. I have only had one bird taken by a bird of prey, my others never seem to get taken even though they fly high for a good 5 mins then fly in a tree then do it again. Also my pigeons know they get fed at the time I do so. I keep crosses, 1 Serbian High flyer and 2 fantails.
 
So I'm in the middle of researching pigeons, their food, their lofts, and the like. Many say that they let their pigeons fly free during the day and the birds return in the evening for their second feeding. I am interested in fancier's breeds, probably not homing pigeons, so would fancier birds return in the evening? Thanks for any advice!
Remember this is coming from a person fairly new to pigeons, but a bird fed before flying will 1: be an easy meal for predators and 2: not respond to you offering food to quickly bring them in. I would advise using only after birds come back in. Even if your birds will not be trained to fly for long periods of time, being fed before being let out is a recipe for disaster. My experience ( and I have only had pigeons for 2 years and I’m a teenager) is that fed birds fly away and never return because of predators or joining feral flocks. The desire for food keeps them close and light so they can avoid predators. Just my experience so far. About the fancy breeds they are pretty but tend( remember I’m still pretty new) to have bad flying and homing skills. I have flown fancy birds and it’s was quite a site. They would fly less than 10 ft above the ground and were flying fast and uncontrollably. This was with classic frills. They were flown regularly but it’s just not in them to fly. However there are exceptions to this rule and some fancy birds are good flyers. Just my 2 cents.
 
I've kept pigeons since late 2016 and I'm a teen too. I agree with points you have made. I am raising pigeons wrong compared to how you’re meant to, but I've never had any problems. Their are no feral pigeons around mine so I guess that's one reason. And also my pigeons are smart since they fly around for a while then fly in a tree then repeat. Also if there was a bird of prey that attacked they would spread and fly around high above tree line then gradually make their way down to the loft (pretty sure that’s normal pigeon behavior).
 
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Yes, but they likely will not "home" if you take them too far away. My understanding is that the non-homing breeds use the types of things that many other birds use to find home, mainly eye sight.

Training them would require settling to your loft and training them to use the ingress and egress apparatus you have on your loft.

I'm sure you can find good step by step instructions on the web. Best of luck!
 
Yes you have to keep them locked up for about 5 weeks so they know it’s their home. Also you should whistle of if you can’t (like me) make a noise when you feed them so they learn that noise is when feeding is and they should return to the loft.
 
Should I keep mine in their loft for a few weeks just so they learn where their home is and get the feel for the time they get fed?
 

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