Pigeon Talk

[Old_Strain_Lover]

The yb are just over 2 months. They had never flown as I hatched them at the new property. I haven’t been able to flag as they will sit on the top of our house and or garage once I get them off the loft roof. I had heard maybe a tennis ball?

Definitely old enough to be flying then. Do they come in to the loft when you call them? You have to chase them somehow... throwing a ball, spraying with water... whatever gets them in the air and moving. You can't have them sitting places where you don't want them to, or not flying while they are out without punishing them for it. It's a bad habit that has to be broken. And then if you call them in and they trap and you then feed them it even further reinforces that bad behavior because they are receiving a reward when they did absolutely nothing. With young birds it can be a pain at times depending on the birds. Sometimes it's just one bird that's holding back the whole flock, and if you can find it and pull it from the group the others will take off.

 

[cavemanrich]

I keep one of these on the loft to keep the pigeons off the roof. One or two sprays will get them flying again either to the loft or into the air, though I have one pigeon that actually likes it and will lift his wing lol

I was going to suggest a hose spray but you beat me to it. ;; I do have one of those water cannons, for playing in a swimming pool. It shoots a narrow stream much longer distances, and will reach much higher than my water hose.
I would not resort to throwing a tennis ball. Just me.

 

[Pigeon28]

Definitely old enough to be flying then. Do they come in to the loft when you call them? You have to chase them somehow... throwing a ball, spraying with water... whatever gets them in the air and moving. You can't have them sitting places where you don't want them to, or not flying while they are out without punishing them for it. It's a bad habit that has to be broken. And then if you call them in and they trap and you then feed them it even further reinforces that bad behavior because they are receiving a reward when they did absolutely nothing. With young birds it can be a pain at times depending on the birds. Sometimes it's just one bird that's holding back the whole flock, and if you can find it and pull it from the group the others will take off.

They trap very well when called but I guess I need to get after them the next few days! Thank you!

 

[Qwerty3159]

Been flying these three every day for about a month, no problems so far

 

[-Kiwi-]

Iv been letting my yb out daily and all they do is sit on the roof all day long I had a breeder escape over my head the other day and she was back within 10 after a quick fly. This gives me hope I may be able to loft fly them as well but my problem is that Im worried about the breeders taking the yb out too far as they haven’t routed and losing them all. If the yb were routing I may feel a little better about letting them all out…

Mine do that too :\. I have a pair of young birds that once I scare them off the loft they will fly for around ten minutes and then land where I can't reach them, and the rest fly into a tree that's over their loft. Once I get them all out and flying they'll stay out for thirty minutes or so enjoying themselves and then don't come out for the rest of the day.

 

[Pigeon28]

Was finally able to get the aviary back on after the move so my old birds could get a litte outside time. Got the yb flying a little bit, so that’s a start and will most likely try letting the old ones out once the yb start routing.

 

[Qwerty3159]

Been flying these three every day for about a month, no problems so far

Jinxed myself a little bit by posting that, lol
A few days ago I had a falcon dive after them in the yard, but the pigeons dove accordingly and the falcon gave up after only one attempt. Seemed like a half hearted effort.Today the falcon was back and a lot more determined, it appeared out of nowhere, dropping out of the sky towards my flock like a bullet. Two of them managed to evade the falcon, flying very fast and very low across the yard and directly into the open doors of the shed. The falcon did not attempt to follow them inside and pulled back up into the air. The other pigeon that got split off was chased into the distance by the falcon but came back some time later unharmed.

 

[cavemanrich]

Qwerty3159​

Soon it will be the problem with the migratory hawks. You have that schedule figured out when to stop loft flights??

 

[Qwerty3159]

Qwerty3159​

Soon it will be the problem with the migratory hawks. You have that schedule figured out when to stop loft flights??

I’ll probably keep them in by the end of September as I’ve done in the past, possibly sooner depending on how things go until then.

 

[Qwerty3159]

Henri weakened to a tropical storm before it hit us fortunately. All dry in the aviary, even with the back wall uncovered!