Pigeon Talk

[WVduckchick]

Wow, just watched that video. Pretty amazing.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Ive had homers be gone over night on a 0.1 mile toss! Ive also had a roller be gone for 2 nights i think. And i also lost a breeder and a neighbor called three days later and then we caught it.

@CCUK has yours returned?

@Pyxis how is your frillback?

So sad. I guess stubbornness is a trait of theirs, as well as smart.

Anyone ever had a bird disappear for an extended period of time, and it return? Like how many days is usually considered definitely gone?
I had a call duck fly off and return about an hour later. I had already kinda figured he wouldn’t return, but was happy when he did.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

In Michigan I think the migrators begin in September, peak in November and the migration is over by late December early January. As others mentioned, residents may stay around, but here they are usually red tails, which I do not think pose even close to the threat that the migratory goshawks and coopers do.

I'm currently training 4 YBs with loft flying, hoping to get to tosses soon, and haven't lost any, but I do have this one old bird of mine that is in the habit of flying out of my loft every time I feed them, he's just a jerk like that, but he is almost always back in the loft within 15 mins. Anyways, he went out with the YBs on Friday, flew around for a while with another OB, and never came back. He's a solid homer, so I have to assume he got killed by a hawk. I've seen several goshawks around my neighborhood lately. My loft is now on true lockdown. Sucks I lost him, he was one of my best looking birds, but just couldn't kick that habit of flying out when he wasn't supposed to, and likely paid the ultimate price for it.

Sorry he hasn't come back!

 

[sourland]

Surprised by this. My pigeons have regular pigeon waterers for full beak dunking, but the pen that I put them in also had pvc tube with nipple waterers for the chickens that were there before (it extends further into the next chicken pen). The pigeons have learned to drink from them. I won’t remove their regular ones, but it’s nice to know they can drink from the nipples too.
View attachment 1600991

Great picture. It really surprises me that they do this. Learned something today.

 

[Pyxis]

@Pyxis how is your frillback?

Well, he's still tilted. But he can get his head to pretty much almost level, he isn't as tilted as when this first started, and it doesn't seem to be bothering him because he still eats, drinks, flaps around, etc.

 

[LamarshFish]

Is it the one who lost its mate?

It is! I liked thinking the reason he was the only one bursting out of the loft when he's not supposed to was because he was looking for his lost mate. I hope he found her, rather than being eaten by a hawk, but my guess is they were both eaten by hawks.

 

[LamarshFish]

So sad. I guess stubbornness is a trait of theirs, as well as smart.

Anyone ever had a bird disappear for an extended period of time, and it return? Like how many days is usually considered definitely gone?
I had a call duck fly off and return about an hour later. I had already kinda figured he wouldn’t return, but was happy when he did.

In the 2 years I've had my racing homers, I have never had a bird come back after the 5 day mark. Most that go at large are back by the next day. I've had many instances of them coming back a few days later, and a handful that have come back on the 4th day. After 5 days of being missing, I have never had a bird come back.

But I have heard plenty of stories of birds coming back weeks later. One racer I know near me had a bird come back years later from several states away. Years later, this homer flew back to his house from Maryland back to Michigan.

In addition to their racing/ID band, my birds wear a band on their other foot with my phone number on it. A ways back I got a call that a guy found a dead pigeon with my number on its leg band. I went and retrieved the dead bird (4 miles away), and by its ID band I was able to determine that I had lost the bird 9 months prior. So, this bird survived in the wild for 9 months. I think some domesticated pigeons struggle with life in the wild, but others adapt to it.

 

[CCUK]

Surprised by this. My pigeons have regular pigeon waterers for full beak dunking, but the pen that I put them in also had pvc tube with nipple waterers for the chickens that were there before (it extends further into the next chicken pen). The pigeons have learned to drink from them. I won’t remove their regular ones, but it’s nice to know they can drink from the nipples too.
View attachment 1600991

Smart birds!

 

[CCUK]

So sad. I guess stubbornness is a trait of theirs, as well as smart.

Anyone ever had a bird disappear for an extended period of time, and it return? Like how many days is usually considered definitely gone?
I had a call duck fly off and return about an hour later. I had already kinda figured he wouldn’t return, but was happy when he did.

The longest I had one stay out was 3 days. It was worrying but eventually returned.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Ideas.. please give me any and all imput you have!
Long story short.. as soon as ds3's bungalow is finished, hopefully in the next 2 wks. Dd3 will be moving into his camper from hers so we can move hers out and start on her bungalow in spring. Its an old camper and dh was gonna scrap it.. but, Im thinkin ,hmm loft?? Its a 20ft.. what say you all?