Portable or Mobile Loft question

[Dickens]

Hi, I have been searching through the threads in regards to portable/mobile loft training. I live in the city and want to train (German Owls, hopefully) to fly at the local park/green space with me. I have checked out all local bylaws and am good to go, but had a few questions with regards to the training.

1. Does any one have any tips, or links to sites describing flying birds from a portable or mobile loft? Any experienced portable/mobile loft flyers out there?

I found this site but nothing else, http://www.angelfire.com/ks/rollerpigeon/portable.html

2. Why is this technique primarily for rollers and performers? Why not all breeds, if it is based on the birds coming in for food?

3. Does anyone have experience with flying show breeds? They're pigeons too, shouldn't the same principals of flying homers relate to them, with less expectations of course?

Any thoughts would be wonderful thanks,

Daryn

[TAWhatley]

Hi Dickens and welcome to Pigeon-Talk.

I don't know all the answers to your questions, but since I rescue and rehab a lot of pigeons and get a lot of show breeds in because they were out and couldn't/didn't get home, I think you are looking for trouble and a lot of heartbreak by trying to fly show breeds of pigeons. If you are only talking about a short distance from home (a couple of blocks in my mind) you might be OK with OGO's, but I think this is a really poor idea.

Others will be along with their comments, opinions, and advice.

Terry

[amoonswirl]

I've wondered about this myself, and have only come upon the resources that you mention for roller pigeons and mobile loft training.

One other mention I have seen is in the opening chapters of Wendell Levi's "The Pigeon" where military homers are discussed. Some of them were trained to mobile lofts. A special symbol was painted on the loft's roof so the birds could recognize it from the air, even though the troops had moved it.

Maybe looking for military bird training manuals would help? If such a thing exists.

Still - I would not recommend trying to home OGO's whatsoever. I don't think they have the homing ability, whether home is 10 feet away or 100 miles away...I would stick with the performing breeds like rollers or tipplers that people have already had success training to mobile kit boxes. Otherwise you are likely to lose a lot of birds, which nobody would be happy about.

[george simon]

I believe that you are asking for trouble German tail owls are not the bird to use. You need a roller type for this. But if you could do this at the park that you talked about I am sure that you could win over a lot of people that don't like pigeons. I think that your best bet on the info you looking will be found at a Roller web site,as they are the only group that I know of that uses mobile lofts. .GEORGE

[Dickens]

Thanks so much for the thoughts so far. I was thinking, what is so special about the roller breeds, that the Old German Owl/show breeds would not fly back to a portable loft, if I only flew them when they were hungry?

I was reading about falconry, certainly no expert, but the relationship between the hawk/raptor bird and the trainer is based on food. The bird hunts/performs because the trainer will feed/reward it. Predator birds don't really 'home' but they do come back to the masters arm.

Won't show breeds fly back to a portable loft if trained from an early age, despite the breed? I'm only talking about them flying 50 - 100 meters away?

Does anyone know if show breeds will kit/fly together?

Thanks
Daryn

[amoonswirl]

Originally Posted by Dickens

Thanks so much for the thoughts so far. I was thinking, what is so special about the roller breeds, that the Old German Owl/show breeds would not fly back to a portable loft, if I only flew them when they were hungry?

I was reading about falconry, certainly no expert, but the relationship between the hawk/raptor bird and the trainer is based on food. The bird hunts/performs because the trainer will feed/reward it. Predator birds don't really 'home' but they do come back to the masters arm.

Won't show breeds fly back to a portable loft if trained from an early age, despite the breed? I'm only talking about them flying 50 - 100 meters away?

Does anyone know if show breeds will kit/fly together?

Thanks
Daryn

Hi Daryn,
I really don't think there are any show breeds that would be good for flying this way. (or any other way, for that matter)

To chime in with Terry, I've got a few stray show birds myself that I "rescued" through 911 pigeon alert when they got lost and their owners could not be located. They just don't have the homing instinct or the stamina for flight, and are also easy targets for predators. I never let them out of their loft, and they are safer & happier that way.

But rollers can definitely be trained to portable kit boxes. I am thinking of trying this myself very soon. Rollers come in some pretty colors, and they have the flight stamina & kitting instinct too.

Is there a reason you want to try this with show birds instead of rollers?

[wonword]

hello, the reason rollers are used are for a few reasons. 1st, they dont have exceptional homing ability compared to homers, so they wont have a strong urge to try to fly back to your house, or where you store the portable loft. thats the biggest reason. they are also nice in size, and interest people. but even rollers will often get lost out of a portable loft if they get spooked. thats why the area is very important also, you must fly them in an area where they can easily spot the portable loft from a great distance.
show breeds in general have poor homing abilities. they often get confused as is when allowing them outside the loft, i think it would only become worst. a pigeon like a fantail might work for the sole purpose that they can hardly fly, so you could catch it if it got too far.

[Dickens]

Yes, that makes more sense.

I wanted to use show birds only because I preferred them over the regular rollers. It does make more sense now though with regards to flight stamina and the birds ability to locate the portable loft, especially if they get spooked.

Even the instinct for them to kit would be an important factor. Kiting would probably help with some losses.

Anyways, some good things to consider.

Daryn

[ND Cooper]

Do you have any prior experience with pigeons? The reason why I ask is because, if things don't work out, then what?
I think that it would be a neat idea, if you could control them, but what if things went wrong?
Magicians can do that kind of stuff indoors, maybe you could do that first?
Could you learn how they do it?, then try it outside?
I think that it would be a great show!
If you have'nt had any experience with pigeons before, I would learn all I could about them first, before I would even try to do anything fancy with them.
I only have 6 homers, had em for a long time, and to this day they are unpredictable in most of their actions. Every day is different!
ND Cooper