sending messages

[silverwing]

Hi! I heard that it's possible to use pigeons to send messages. I was wondering how to teach them to do it, and how to fasten the message to them.

P.S can any pigeon do it or only homing pigeons?

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silverwing [Dagny]

[cooter2]

Hi silverwing,

Pigeons aren't used to "send" messages, they are used to "bring" messages. Racing Homers are trained to "Home" to a particular loft then sent out to return with messages. This is accomplished with a small capsule that fits a special band around the pigeons leg. The whole contraption must be very light so it will not weigh the pigeon down so the message must be very short or on microfilm.

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Cooter

[mike_m453]

Yah they will return home with a message.Whenever I go camping out in the forest behind my backyard I pack my bags and go with a few of my birds.I tie messages to there legs and let them go.They fly home with the message for my family members to read.Simple but smart.

[katiedidittwo2]

Hi:
Racing Homers are about the only good homing pigeons to use. All pigeons can home some but not from very far. Carriers & Dragoons have been show birds for a good many years and have lost the ability to home. Here is an article I had wrote about flying pigeons in general and then some on getting the homers out on the road and traning the young birds. It is a allot of fun. Some of the guys I fly with here wrap a message with tape around the leg and send it that way. They can be trained to a moving loft but that is another ball game.

Watching your birds flying and walking around the yard gives many people an eminence amount of pleasure. Some like the beauty of fancy pigeons adjourning their gardens, some like the breath taking performance of the Roller tumbling from the sky, still others enjoy the competition of Racing their birds. All pigeons have a natural homing ability to some degree.

Be aware of natural predator’s in your area. You may not want to loft fly your pigeons if you have many hawks in the area or during the hawk’s migration. A few things to consider when you have decided to loft fly the pigeons. Where to build the pen, how to build the pen and what kind of perches needed for the type of pigeon you are releasing to free fly. Then we are down to how to get them out there flying without them taking off like a plane, never to return.

Build the loft in as much of an open area as you can, in the least restricted area in your yard. The more the young can see of the area the better they are to orientate. When you build the landing board, build it 5 to 6 feet high so cats and other predators cannot jump up on the landing board and go through the traps. A hawk can get through the traps but the biggest problems are the nocturnal animals and cats. A three-foot wide landing board is best. On our lofts we add a wire door we can fold over the landing board so the young birds can fly up on the landing board from within the loft and can orientate to the area. And a door on the inside wall we can shut so we can leave the outside door open for late trappers. We set our lofts to the South or to the East. We live in a very open area. The rain comes most normally from the South & Southwest and most winter storms are out of the North or Northwest. Plan for success and you will succeed.

The type of flooring should be considered. We use both the wood floor covered with natural pine shavings and the welded wire flooring. The welded wire can be purchased at most Iron Co. The wood floor is best for the muffed breeds or breeds that have a low tail set. The welded wire flooring has many pluses to it. First the droppings do not build up and the pigeons are not reinfesting themselves with oocytes and/or diseases that can be picked up by the pigeon through the droppings. The air is cleaner & cooler in the summer due to the added circulation and no build up of pigeon dust. In the winter you can cover the floor with roofing paper and cover with natural pine shavings. Our lofts built with welded wire flooring have 3 solid walls and the fronts are all wire. That also adds to air circulation. The least amount of dust the birds have to breathe the better it is for their lungs. During the winter we cover the bottom half of the wire fronts with plastic to prevent the snow from blowing in on them. Then you will need a good sturdy skirting around the loft.
Wood floors need more protection from the elements and need to stay dry. Cover the first 4-foot from the floor with a solid board to keep the rain out and build an extended flight pen. Pine shavings are 3 to 4 inches in depth.

Now the type of trap you want. I have on my fly lofts 2 basic types. One is the old aluminum trap and then I have the wood trap. Both have bobs to keep the birds in and yet still allow the birds out side to get in. Build a door to cover the trap if you do not build a door onto the landing board. There are many other types of trap. Be sure when you place them that they do not become a way for animals to enter the loft.

Then you need to build the proper perch. There are the box perches, the V perches and the round perches for muffed breeds. We have found the V perches the best for most breeds and with the V perches they prevent the droppings from falling on the bird below. The muffed breeds need a round perch extended from the wall to keep the muffs from breaking.

Ready for the weaning of the young birds? When the young birds in the nest have reached the age of 24 to 30 days old, I put them in the weaning pen. If the young are left too long in the breeding loft they will be hard to train to the fly pen and try to get back in the breeding loft. Look under the wings to be sure they have all their cover feathers. In the weaning pen I have a doweled feed pan with feed in it at all times and an open water pan. Be sure to clean the pan and refill every day if not two times a day. You may have to dunk their head in the water a time or two before they learn. By feeling the crop you can tell if they have ate or drank. Now is the time to start whistling and shaking the can when you feed them. I have found young birds have the natural instinct to pick and learn to eat on their own. Keep an area on the floor covered if you have the welded wire floor so the you have a place for the young to sleep at night without being bothered by other animals.

When the young start to fly up to a perch I put them in the fly loft. In the fly loft the water pan or bowl is covered and I feed 2 times a day. I feed heavy in the morning after flights and light in the evenings. Keep the inside door open so they might learn to go through the trap. Now they can fly up onto the landing board and look around. After 3 or 4 days I open the wire door on the landing board. By this time they are 5 to 6 weeks old and can fly some. The lungs will not be fully stretched yet and the flights are very short. I call them maiden flights. As they will fly 5 feet from the loft and return to the landing board. After 3 or 4 hours of being out I close the door on the inside and will feed. Whistle and shake the can. The key to get them to trap when you want is for them to be hungry. You may have a few that will not trap and I being too soft hearted will open the inside door enough they fall through a small opening. But do allow them some time to see if they will trap through the traps before opening the inside door.

If the young pigeon does not want to go out, I do not force them out. I do not want them afraid of the loft. That is their home and I am the guest for now. As time goes by you will have many in the flight loft and the newbies will learn off the older young birds. By the time they are 2 ½ months they will be stronger on the wing and may (depending on the breed you are loft flying) go routing (leaving the loft for long periods), or may start flying way high in the sky. We loft fly a few Monks, Arabian Trumpeters and Old Dutch Capuchines. I have the White Racing Homers for releases and I have Racing Homers to race. The fancy breeds just fly around the loft. The racing homers will soon start their training when they start the routing business.

When the young racing homers have dropped the 3rd flight and the eye color changes I start taking them down the road. I train every morning. Use different color plastic bands to identify the young ready for training to those just coming into the loft. Then you do not send a 6 week old on a training toss he should not be in. Most will take their young birds off 5 to 10 miles for the first toss. I take mine ½ mile or less. If they come home in good time I take them 1 mile further. At every drop I want them to come home in good time. If they have difficulty getting home, I will take them back to the same spot until they come directly home. During this time you want the birds hungry when you release. After 1 mile I take them a half-mile further till I am out to 5 miles. Once I am to 5 miles I will take them 7 to 10 miles and will keep adding about 5 miles until I am out to 25 miles. Then I start adding 10 miles to the tosses. When I get to 50 miles I will start training every other day until I am out to 100 miles. I try to get to the first race station before I cut them back to 25 mile tosses every other day to keep them in shape, But sometimes my first race is 195 miles. When they are not road training I let them loft fly. Then I can stand back and evaluate how they are doing. They should loft fly 45 min. to an hour on their own. If they are not doing so then you need to evaluate their health. Are they wormy, have a case of coccidiosses or have respiratory problems. Watch the droppings. They should be small. Color should be brown, light brown or dark with a white cap (that is the urates). They may have an off day, so do not panic right away. But if they continue with any other form of dropping it is time to react. If they are green do a coccidiosses treatment. The throat should be pink in color and the trachea should have a large opening. Look for any abnormalities. White Spots, yellow spots, mucous, etc… Send dropping samples in to have them checked or if you are having major problems take a pigeon in for a physical examination. If all seems fine then you need to force fly.

Remember a heavy feeding after flight and light feeding in the evening. If they do not seem hungry when they return from the release you are feeding too much. They should trap right in for you. Cut back on the morning feeding or do not feed in the evening. They will be fine. There should be no feed left after an hour when you feed in the morning. Pull the feeder if there is any left. The earlier the release the better. If they should get off somewhere they will have plenty of daylight to come home. A 20-min feeding should be good enough in the evening. But you be the judge. Feel your birds and be sure the weight is good. You may need to add safflower, hemp or corn for more fat. I do not feed corn in the summer unless they really need it. Safflower gives them loads of energy. I give it sparingly during the week and top the feed on Thursday & Friday with lots of safflower when I am racing. It is also a good time to start adding electrolytes and vitamins in the water.

I record band numbers and like to feel the bird and look for any health problems that may begin due to the stress of training. I write it all down so I can look back if I have a pigeon with problems or a pattern of illness starting. Ron goes out with a pen light at night and he looks the birds over. He is looking for any nasal drainage, discolored spotty wattles or eye drainage. When the pigeons are bedded down for the night is the best time to go out and listen for any respiratory problems and you can lightly spray them with an insect repellant once a week to keep the flies and mosquitoes off of them.

Vaccinating your birds is very important when showing or racing. Protect yourself as well as protect your fellow pigeon fancier/flyer. We vaccinate during the summer months. We vaccinate for PMV and Pox. You can vaccinate the youngsters at 6 weeks of age with the PMV. And you need to vaccinate 6 weeks before hard training or 6 weeks before racing begins. As it makes the birds feel a bit sick while they are developing immunity.

Do not loft fly young birds in stormy, cloudy or windy weather. You want to give them the best chance to orientate to the surroundings and the best chance to get home. If it is very windy out, I do not loft fly the young birds as 20-mph wind can push them into the high line wires and trees. I let them loft fly in the heat. I do not force fly or train in hot weather. I also set out bath pans for them once or twice a week.
Katie