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white bird
2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  ND Cooper 
#1 ·
I about six months into keeping pigeons now. Back in December I purchased 4 white racers, the kind used in the release business. They were about 5 weeks old. In late January I started to let them fly outside the loft. After returning with no problems 4 or 5 times, one day 2 of the four failed to return. I stopped flying for a while thinking a hawk had gotten the two lost birds.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I've been flying again since (supposedly) the hawks are gone from south florida for the summer. I come home on sunday and there's a white bird on my roof. At first I thought I'd left the loft door open. But I hadnt. It was one of the two lost birds from January! It was still on my roof the following morning so I let out my other whites (I have 12 in all now). Unfortunately, it didnt come back with the others and I've seen no sign of it. I'm kicking myself for not going on the roof to get it on sunday night. But my wife would have killed me since we live in a two story home!

I guess its just good to know that at least one of my two lost birds wasnt eaten by a hawk. And who knows, maybe it will come back for a visit again soon.
 
#3 ·
i used to keep pigeons about 5 years ago and only about 4 of the 15 that i had were born at my house... anyways i was young and stupid so i let go the whole flock one day and my 5 birds followed the other 11 birds back home to their birthplace(stupid me lol) after about 6 months the whole flock returned stayed around my house for about an hour and then left. and every once in a while after then i would see one or two birds come by for a "visit" lol but that ended after about a year. i am now starting to keep pigeons again ...... now that i am a little smarter.lol
 
#4 ·
It weird when your birds are missing. I basically look at every pigeon (and anything flying) wondering if its one of my two lost ones. The worst part about it is now that I know for sure they're out there I dont think I'm ever going to stop looking! :)
 
#5 ·
I assure you, you'll never stop looking. If I look out at my loft once, I look out at it 100's of times a day, simply to see if there's a stray/lost bird sitting out there. And on quite a few occasions, I've looked and there actually WAS a bird sitting out, wondering why he couldn't get in the loft.
When I drive down the road I live on, there's a couple of small flocks and I always look to see if I see any "new" birds or strange colored birds.
 
#6 · (Edited)
The next time it comes around, don't let your birds out. Try putting some food out for it, time and time again, untill it knows that it can feed and feel comfortable around your place again. (and water)
Some times a young male will pair up and lure a female away, to find a more comfortable nesting site, and if they did, the female might be sitting on a nest some where, but the male will fly back home for food.
Make sure that you have enough room in your loft, so they are all comfortable, and won't want to leave.
I don't know if you will ever get your birds back, or not, but if you can feed the one, and it gets used to it, the one should eventually guide the other to the free food.
 
#7 ·
ND, Thanks for the advice. When I woke up monday morning it was still on my roof in the front of the house. I let the other birds out from the loft in the back of the house. When I went back to the front of the house the lost bird was gone. I never occurred to me that the others could have wondered scared it away. I had just assumed it had been lured back in by the other birds.

Next time I'll try the method you suggest. You left out one thing though . . . once I've got it coming back over and over again for food and water how do I get it in the loft? :D
 
#8 ·
Well, you might not want to get it back into the loft right away, because, it could lure the other bird back home too. (if it's sitting on a nest somewhere)
Birds will always return to a good feeder, time and time again.
Once you do decide to try to get the pigeon back into the loft, you could set up a trap (box+stick+string or chicken wire box trap) over the food. To catch it.
I think, on this site, you can do a search: Pigeon Trap, or Box Trap
It might work :cool:
 
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