Worried About My 3 Outside Their Loft

[Sacred_Covenant]

Hi Everyone. My husband and I are wondering if a homing pigeon can become wild if allowed to stay outside his loft for a long period of time and if so could he lead the others in the loft away?

We have 3 that we still have not gotten in and now my husband thinks that if we do get them back in that they will lead the others away that are now safely in their loft.

What should I do? If we can get them back in, should we allow them to go back in with the others?


Thank you
Loretta

[Sacred_Covenant]

I forgot to say that they have not left us here,. we just moved their loft and now they are still flying free and do not want to be caught. But they are still within the vicinity of where their loft used to be


Loretta

[Lovebirds]

I would say that if only the loft has been moved and they still trap in the same way, that eventually they will enter the loft. Us racing people have to teach our young birds, as yearlings to trap into a completely different loft as a yearling/old bird. I would not put out any food or water for them. Let them get hungry and thirsty and I believe they will return to the loft. These birds can be VERY STUBBORN when they want to be. If the other birds are trapping into the moved loft, letting them out to fly may help bring the others in also. It's monkey see, monkey do with these guys. Good luck.

[Sacred_Covenant]

Thanks to everyone who has been so helpful to me

We finally got all three of the birds and got them back into their loft.

We are planning to keep them all in for about a week so that they can get used to their lofts' new area in the backyard. And then let them out to see how fast they come back in and then began our distance training.

Does anyone have a set number of miles such as 1,5,10,etc that they do in training. This would be a welcome comment to me.


Thanks again,

A very happy moma,
Loretta

[Sacred_Covenant]

I noticed that 2 of my birds fighting a couple of days ago and after we got the other 3 back into the loft we noticed that several of them were fighting. They seemed to be fighting over the perches...........I think.

My husband put up even more perches so I hope that this will help.

Does anyone think that there is a need for concern?

Loretta

[Lovebirds]

as far as training..............if your birds are routing, then don't do the 1 mile thing. Been there and done that this year already. Short story............3 weeks ago my husband took 52 birds one mile. We lost 18. One was 150 miles north, one was 45 miles north, and one was found dead on the highway about 10 miles north of us. They overflew the loft I believe. We only got 9 in that day and the rest have straggled in over a 2 week period. I believe that once they are up in the air they can see for a LONG ways. If I had it to do again I would take them to about 5 miles. As far as fighting, as long as they are not doing any major harm, let them work it out. Someone is going to get the top perches and they have to figure that out themselves. We've got a cock bird that has 3 nest boxes. I've tried everything short of ringing his silly neck. He's just bossy and a bully and I love him dearly so I just let him rule the roost. When it comes time for breeding he settles down in one box and raises his babies without a problem. He's just being "Bo" (that's his name). Some people wouldn't put up with him. I've been putting up with him since 2001.

[zoo keeper]

I recently moved my loft. The first day I let them out, it took 3 days to get them to all trap back into the loft. They did not leave, they just would not trap in. Some sat on the roof other actually sat on the loft, but there were about 40 of the 100 that absolutely were being stubborn and refused to trap in. After 3 days I finally caught the last of the stragglers. Things are better now with the trapping, it was just the initial flight after the move that disturbed them. I actually only moved the loft about 20 feet and turned it the opposite direction. My landing board was facing west, now it faces east and that was enough to make them act stubborn and refuse to trap.

[upcd]

I guess was afraid to lose any birds. I went block by block until I got to miles. I wanted them to fly home and trap quickly. I was adding on and moving things around my loft but they figured it out.

[Skyeking]

bumping up for Loretta to review.

Treesa