Training White Homers

[ptras]

I have been loft flying the birds for six weeks now. So far I have had really good luck with the birds. I have been flying seventeen birds, and have only lost two. The two that were lost were on a day that my son released the birds at 11:00 in the morning instead of their usual 4:00-4:30 release time. They were out until 6:30pm, and only fifteen returned when I whistled them in. That was two weeks ago, and no losses since despite daily flying. Most days they only fly for about an hour all told, sitting on the house roof or the loft roof in between. A couple times a week, they will route out of sight of the yard for fifteen to twenty minutes at a time. Today when I flew the birds, they routed for a good forty-five minutes...completely out of sight, and making me real nervous. However, they all returned in a flock and went right in when I whistled.

Tomorrow I will be starting road training. I have a training basket that is a perfect fit on my landing board. I will put the training basket on the landing board in place of the training cage, and will shoo the birds into the training basket at their regular flight time. The first drop will be from my front yard. It is about 250 feet from the loft, and an area that they have flown over many times. The next day (Saturday), I will take them out of sight of the loft for a drop of about 1/2 mile. I'll keep everyone posted as to the results.

I will be flying thirteen birds, as I have moved Teddy & Skinny over to the other side as "trap-training aids" for my five new birds. I'm not sure I should drop T&S anyway, as they are 1/2 homer, and 1/2 Tippler. Although they flew with the flock most of the time, they had a bad habit of roosting in trees 150 feet behind the loft in my backyard. Sometimes some of the whites would follow them and roost in the trees also. (Particularly one hen that seemed to take a fancy to Skinny.)

[spirit wings]

sounds like all is going good!.. road training is going to be fun..and nerve wracking..lol.. they are just so cool when they fly home.. I esp like doing it early on a sat morning and get home fill a coffee cup and wait for them to come in.. it is nice.. the waiting will be when they are further out.. depending on how far you go they sometimes beat you home..

[ptras]

Originally Posted by spirit wings

sounds like all is going good!.. road training is going to be fun..and nerve wracking..lol.. they are just so cool when they fly home.. I esp like doing it early on a sat morning and get home fill a coffee cup and wait for them to come in.. it is nice.. the waiting will be when they are further out.. depending on how far you go they sometimes beat you home..

I expect that (depending on how it goes!) I will train them out to 50 miles north, 35 miles south, and 50 miles west. The farthest I can train them east is four miles before I hit ocean. I think that once I have them trained, their regular exercise is going to be dropping them at my work (about 35 miles southwest) and letting them come home. Will it be okay to bring them to work in the training cage and release them around 2:00 in the afternoon? That would get them home around the time my son gets off the bus in the afternoon. They would be in the training cage for about six to seven hours if I do that. I could release them earlier during the summer, as he would be home. How long do I have to keep releasing them before their once-daily feeding, before I can release them in the morning?

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by ptras

I expect that (depending on how it goes!) I will train them out to 50 miles north, 35 miles south, and 50 miles west. The farthest I can train them east is four miles before I hit ocean. I think that once I have them trained, their regular exercise is going to be dropping them at my work (about 35 miles southwest) and letting them come home. Will it be okay to bring them to work in the training cage and release them around 2:00 in the afternoon? That would get them home around the time my son gets off the bus in the afternoon. They would be in the training cage for about six to seven hours if I do that. I could release them earlier during the summer, as he would be home. How long do I have to keep releasing them before their once-daily feeding, before I can release them in the morning?

I wouldn not keep birds crated for that long..you may get some bloody fights from the stress.. if you had a crate with seperate compartments like the show crates they can be in those a few hours because they can not see each other, but perhaps not for 7 hours.. I would let them loose as soon as you get to work..your son will just have to wait and see it on a weekend or during breaks..the birds health is more important IMO..

[ptras]

Yesterday I loaded the birds into the training crate, and took them up to my driveway near the street. It is approximately 250 feet from the loft, and in sight of the area that they usually fly in. When I released them, they stood around looking confused for about fifteen seconds, and then all flew in a flock towards the backyard and loft. They circled a few times, and then landed on the house the way they usually do. I whistled them in an hour later, and they all trapped in immediately.

Today, I crated them, put them in the back of the SUV, and drove down the road to a little pond. It is around 3/4 mile from my house. I released them towards the open area around the pond, and the flew up and started circling in a flock. Then, just to make me nervous, they all headed due south, which is the opposite direction from my house. I watched until they were out of sight, got back in the car and headed home. When I got home, all thirteen birds were sitting on the roof of my house. Yay! I whistled them in about a half hour later and they all trapped immediately.

Now a question...tomorrow, should I release them at the same point again, or can I take them further?

[sky tx]

A GOOD day
Had a White Delbar that I gave away 2-3 years ago to come back today.
Its a 2004 bird.
I don't have a record who I gave it to.

[ptras]

Originally Posted by sky tx

A GOOD day
Had a White Delbar that I gave away 2-3 years ago to come back today.
Its a 2004 bird.
I don't have a record who I gave it to.

Very cool. Want to ship it to me and see if it can find Texas from Massachusetts?

[newtopidgeons]

Originally Posted by sky tx

A GOOD day
Had a White Delbar that I gave away 2-3 years ago to come back today.
Its a 2004 bird.
I don't have a record who I gave it to.

Awesome,
Im glad it is safe now.

[spirit wings]

both stories very cool.. not sure if should release again from that spot...prolly would not hurt.. your moving on great!

[ptras]

The birds scared the $h1t out of me again. About five this afternoon, I crated thirteen birds and took them to the same spot as yesterday. I released them, and this time they all took off directly in the direction of my house. I loaded the crate in the car and drove home, and when I got there, there were six birds on the loft roof. There was no sign of the other seven birds. After about a half hour, I put down the feed tray and whistled them in. Those six trapped immediately, but there was still no sign of the remaining seven.

I went up and had dinner (smoked pork loin...it was smoking since 1:00 this afternoon!). After dinner, I went out to the pool with my son, and as I was sitting beside the pool, a Coopers Hawk flew overhead. This is the first time I have seen a coopers in this area. I assume that the resident redtail hawk used to keep coopers at bay. The redtail has been chased away by a pair of crows that nested in a nearby tree, so I guess the coopers felt that it was a clear snacking station for him. As I sat there for about a half hour, the coopers hawk made a few circuits of the area, and roosted in a pine tree for a while. Then he flew off into the sunset. (I must say, that despite my concerns about hawks, that coopers hawk was a beautiful bird as it was flying away silhouetted against the sky!) I went back to the house thinking that I had lost half of my flying stock.

About a half hour later (1 1/2 hours after the release), the remaining seven birds flew into the backyard, and landed on the loft roof. They all trapped in safely, giving no indication where they had been for the previous hour and a half. Mr Coopers didn't get any of my birds! Despite the heart-pounding moments I had today, I plan to release the birds tomorrow. I will toss them from my kids' school, which is about 1 1/2 miles from my house in the opposite direction. I will provide an update after that toss.

[newtopidgeons]

My mentor has a resident hawk in his area, if the birds come home and see the hawk sitting out they will leave and keep coming back to check until hes gone, then they trap like rockets, but thats old birds that are familar with the hawks.

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by ptras

The birds scared the $h1t out of me again. About five this afternoon, I crated thirteen birds and took them to the same spot as yesterday. I released them, and this time they all took off directly in the direction of my house. I loaded the crate in the car and drove home, and when I got there, there were six birds on the loft roof. There was no sign of the other seven birds. After about a half hour, I put down the feed tray and whistled them in. Those six trapped immediately, but there was still no sign of the remaining seven.

I went up and had dinner (smoked pork loin...it was smoking since 1:00 this afternoon!). After dinner, I went out to the pool with my son, and as I was sitting beside the pool, a Coopers Hawk flew overhead. This is the first time I have seen a coopers in this area. I assume that the resident redtail hawk used to keep coopers at bay. The redtail has been chased away by a pair of crows that nested in a nearby tree, so I guess the coopers felt that it was a clear snacking station for him. As I sat there for about a half hour, the coopers hawk made a few circuits of the area, and roosted in a pine tree for a while. Then he flew off into the sunset. (I must say, that despite my concerns about hawks, that coopers hawk was a beautiful bird as it was flying away silhouetted against the sky!) I went back to the house thinking that I had lost half of my flying stock.

About a half hour later (1 1/2 hours after the release), the remaining seven birds flew into the backyard, and landed on the loft roof. They all trapped in safely, giving no indication where they had been for the previous hour and a half. Mr Coopers didn't get any of my birds! Despite the heart-pounding moments I had today, I plan to release the birds tomorrow. I will toss them from my kids' school, which is about 1 1/2 miles from my house in the opposite direction. I will provide an update after that toss.

yeah, things like this will happen.. they know if there is danger about, so it will not go like clock work everytime.. nature has a way of being non perfect for us..lol.. the good thing is is your birds were being savvy to the hawk and they did the right thing..he could of tried to get one while they were landing in.. that is usually when they strike.. you can save a bird though if they do..they can only go after one bird at a time.

[ptras]

Originally Posted by spirit wings

yeah, things like this will happen.. they know if there is danger about, so it will not go like clock work everytime.. nature has a way of being non perfect for us..lol.. the good thing is is your birds were being savvy to the hawk and they did the right thing..he could of tried to get one while they were landing in.. that is usually when they strike.. you can save a bird though if they do..they can only go after one bird at a time.

I'm wondering if the coopers usually lives and hunts down by the pond. Seems it would be good hunting grounds for him, and when he took off from my yard, that is the direction he headed. Anyway, I won't be releasing at the pond any more. Going to the school this afternoon, then will jump out to five miles tomorrow.

[ptras]

I released the birds today from my kids' school about 1.5 miles from the house. After I released them, we drove home, and the birds were nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, there was no coopers hawk to be seen either! I took the kids in the pool, and about half an hour later, a neighbor came across the street. She asked why she didn't see the birds out flying. I explained that I had tossed them from the school, and she asked "When will they be back?" I replied that hopefully they would be back shortly. As if that was a cue, they all came flying into the backyard. They circled twice, and trapped in. Thirteen birds tossed, thirteen birds returned.

Tomorrow, I will toss them at the school again, and the next day will toss them from the center of town, which is about five miles away. I'll keep you all updated as to the progress.

[ptras]

I released them from the school again (from the opposite side), and they arrived home at about the same time I did. All thirteen trapped in immediately. My plan is to release them next at five miles. Does that sound like a reasonable distance after two 1.5 mile tosses?