Flying my Homers?

[rackerman]

I have had my young homers for eleven days now and I want them to loft fly. I want to know, is it to early? They know the whistle for feeding now and they come running when i blow the whistle! Should I wait till spring or would it be ok to try them? I love em and don't want to lose them. I want to do all the right things. They come from good stock. (Thanks Dave).


Dave, is who I got them from!

[Trees Gray]

Hi Dave,

How old are they?

At this stage you need to start trap training them,if you haven't, using a wire cage to contain them on the outside of the loft. They need to come in from the cage thru the trap at the sound of the whistle, once they get good at that they are ready for loft flying. This also gives them a chance to get familiar with the surroundings outside without actually letting them out.

Give them a couple more weeks.

[rackerman]

Tressa,
They were born last month. Oh, my name is Russ not Dave..lol

[spirit wings]

trap training is next, you can let them out at about 7 or 8 weeks old. on a calm day with nothing to scare or freak them out, in the evening I think is good about an hour before you feed them, call them in for feeding , they may want to stay out, so leave the trap open, they should go in that evening or the next day, call then feed, if they do not trap they do not eat, wait to feed, stick to the the regular feeding schedule. and do not over feed.

[rackerman]

Do I just open the door and let them fly? I want to try them today! Its nice out!

[sky tx]

If they have not been fed--let them out

[sky tx]

Start training them to trap---you do not want to wait until they are too strong on the to let them out.--They may fly off too far.

[brandonf]

and as long as they know how to trap, then i would say yes let them out.

[Brummie]

Originally Posted by rackerman

Do I just open the door and let them fly? I want to try them today! Its nice out!

Do they have a flight cage?

[rackerman]

I am confussed with it all. I had homers 25 years ago and had no problems, guess I forgot it all? I need all the details, from beginning to end.
I thank you all for helping.

[Lovebirds]

Have ANY of you gone back and seen the history on these birds? WHEN he got them? Far as I can tell, he just got them in his loft on 20 Sept. That was 11 SHORT days ago. Too soon to let them out IMO.
Rackerman.........have you trained them to go through the bobs when you call them? If so, how have they done? If not, then NO, don't let them out.
IMO, they need a minimum of 2 weeks in YOUR loft, going through YOUR routine with them EVERY SINGLE DAY.
IMO, (I have lots of them....), when letting your birds out for the first time, you need to plan ahead. Don't just willy nilly decide to throw them out one day.
I always plan a couple day ahead, cut back on the feed a little and do every thing I can to give the birds the advantage.
Birds sitting in a settling cage/aviary and coming when called is TOTALLY different than them being on the outside in the REAL world. Sitting in the aviary, they've got absolutely no where TO GO but inside when you call. Once they hit the roof of the loft or a tree or the top of your house, it becomes a different deal all together unless they've been trained VERY well and the feed has been monitored closely and I would venture to say that at least 90% of fanciers can not or are not THAT hard on their birds. Myself included. When I let my birds out the first time,, it's a test of wills between me and the birds. That's totally MY fault, but it is what it is.

[rackerman]

Thanks Lovebird, sounds like I need more time.

[Big T]

Originally Posted by rackerman

Thanks Lovebird, sounds like I need more time.

Time is correct. If you do not have any way to trap train then catch each bird, carry it around the loft, hold it at the trap a few seconds, then drop it into the trap. Do this with each bird for seven days. If you have a way to put them outside the trap without them being free, then trap train. Put them all outside the trap wait five to ten minutes then call them to feed. Do this until they all come when you call. Then let them out. But let them out hungry and late in the afternoon.

Tony

[ssfguy]

The way I trained mine, I would put the them in open cage infront of the trap, so they got no other choice but to use the trap. Let them sit there in the morning before feeding and by noon they figured it out. I did the same thing next day and repeated the process literally all day. Day 3 they were all well trained.

[spirit wings]

I do not see the point in leaving them out there for hours, I either catch mine already out there or I put them out there before the pm feeding, never took over 20 mins for them to drop in..but I have a simple drop trap so that may be why....my newest ybs, dropped in, in about 5 mins the first time they were out in the settling cage..those two have been the quickest so far, smart birds. they came from Big T.