Flying in winter?

[JasoninMN]

I heard once not to fly homers in winter because they will get snow blindness and not be able to navigate. Does anyone know if this is true? I am just getting into homers. I have had only fancy breeds in the past so I got a bit to learn.

[WhiteWingsCa]

If you are just 'loft flying', not training, winter flying is fine. For the most part....

If you live near a large lake that is prone to sudden "lake effect" squalls, you might want to rethink allowing your birds to fly in winter. We lost 18 of 25 birds one year - let them out in bright sunshine, green grass, lovely day - within 1/2 an hour, we were hit with a sudden squall off the lake, and there was 4" of snow an hour later.

The 25 were all young birds, so I don't know if that made a difference.

We have successfully flown (around the loft) birds in winter other times -- after checking the weather and radar online, to make sure that there is no chance of squalls -- an usually only in the late winter/early springtime. I've pictures of the birds sitting on the loft roof on top of the snow -- they even "bathe" in it! LOL

The other issue is hawks, of course. In spring, they are starting to migrate back north - and there are few wild birds for their meals - so pigeons out in the snow are easy pickins...... I had a very experienced pigeon flyer tell me that you shouldn't let your birds out until 2 weeks after the songbirds return in the spring.

[JasoninMN]

Thanks for the response. I was talking more about training in the winter then just letting free fly. I have always let my fancies free fly in the winter with no porblems unless its really windy then I don't let them out. There are actually very few hawks around here during the winter because they all migrate south so it is a pretty safe time for them to fly. Spring time is when I get hit the hardest. This year I actually had a coopers that came by once or twice a week he managed to get three birds over the summer, which is not alot. For the most part they fair really well so far. I am just getting some squeakers and I am too excited to start training them. I'll let them free fly but wait till spring till I start doing any training. I have trained my fancies to trap for practice while I wait for some homers to train....lol

[Skyeking]

Originally Posted by WhiteWingsCa

We have successfully flown (around the loft) birds in winter other times -- after checking the weather and radar online, to make sure that there is no chance of squalls -- an usually only in the late winter/early springtime. I've pictures of the birds sitting on the loft roof on top of the snow -- they even "bathe" in it! LOL

The other issue is hawks, of course. In spring, they are starting to migrate back north - and there are few wild birds for their meals - so pigeons out in the snow are easy pickins...... I had a very experienced pigeon flyer tell me that you shouldn't let your birds out until 2 weeks after the songbirds return in the spring.

I would love to see a picture of your white birds bathing in the white snow. That must be awesome...

Question: Doesn't the snow help to camoflauge white pigeons, and protect them from hawks?

[WhiteWingsCa]

Figures -- I actually found the package of photos -- but the one that I really wanted isn't there! LOL (that was pre-digital camera). And my computer is out of sorts - and I keep getting errors when I try to scan pictures....

I'll try and remember to post them once I get this computer fixed..

And yes, the whites actually have the advantage in the snow. We do have 'coloured' birds as well - so hawks are still a problem in spring... snow, or no snow....