[redleg23]

I have just purchased a starter lot of a dozen young unflown homers. I have an aviary allowing them to enjoy the fresh air and sun. How long would you suggest keeping them in the loft before releasing them? The breeder, I purchased them from suggested a month and was looking for any other opinions. thanks

 

[spirit wings]

what is their age? do you have a trap on the loft so they can learn to get back in without getting back out?

 

[g0ldenb0y55]

If the birds purchased are young unflown homers then a month sounds about right. This is without going into details of course....

 

[fresnobirdman]

if they are three and a halve months or older they aint staying,
people here lie a lot, saying that you can home a old unflown homer,

NO WAY!

and 3 months is old.

 

[Big T]

A month is good, but during that time I would catch each bird and walk them around the loft then release them back into the loft thru the trap. I would also train their feeding to a bell or some kind of sound. So they are ready on release day and tamed to you.

 

[RodSD]

fresnobirdman,

Check my album. I resettled almost all the birds there and they range from 3 months to 2 years old. I can't lie because I can't keep prisoners. I also got the feeling that you are buying too much info on people that say they can't resettle their birds. It is possible and do able. It has some risk obviously of fly-aways. I don't see why people have to lie about resettling birds.

redleg23,

You have to teach them how to respond to your food call first. Then you have to trap train them. Then you have to familiarize them with their surroundings. It seemed that they are already getting familiarize with their surroundings using that aviary. There are 2 thought on resettling birds: One is like you treat them as young birds. The other is when you let them breed first,have children, then you can fly them. If the birds are less than 2 months olds, then you can resettle them. Military people did that often during WW2. If they are older it gets harder and riskier that people would recommend that you just keep them as prisoners, breed them, have babies and fly those babies.

 

[bbcdon]

FRESNOBIRDMAN, If you believe there are alot of liars here, why do you even bother with this forum?

 

[Big T]

I have just purchased a starter lot of a dozen young unflown homers. I have an aviary allowing them to enjoy the fresh air and sun. How long would you suggest keeping them in the loft before releasing them? The breeder, I purchased them from suggested a month and was looking for any other opinions. thanks

Relax folks and stick to the program. He's got young unflown homers, just want advice on training. Please let's not get off subject.

Please,
Tony

 

[whitesnmore]

The longer they are held in the loft and not allowed out the greater the chance of fly off without some kind of hinderance to the flights. A pigeon is very smart and will learn its surroundings in a very very short time. I do not keep mine in more than a week and have very few fly offs. Keys are what was suggested, train to a bell or whistle prior to letting out and trap training is very important. Do not be afraid to settle older birds as they do settle. I have OB racers from SFL usa that have resettled here and I loft fly them. Patience will get the job done.

 

[Skyeking]

I have just purchased a starter lot of a dozen young unflown homers. I have an aviary allowing them to enjoy the fresh air and sun. How long would you suggest keeping them in the loft before releasing them? The breeder, I purchased them from suggested a month and was looking for any other opinions. thanks

As mentioned, the most important thing you can do while they are still inside is to get them trap trained and trained to eat by a whistle or another sounds, that is crucial to successful release. Be consistent and work with them daily, it pays off.

I have an aviary too, and the birds love it and thrive on the sunshine and fresh air. Even though they can memorize what they see from within and that is a lot, they need training, for successful release and return.

 

[[MN]eXist^_^]

I'm not lying but um.. 2 weeks is all you need honestly even for 3month olds who knows no other home.

 

[Lovebirds]

if they are three and a halve months or older they aint staying,
people here lie a lot, saying that you can home a old unflown homer,

NO WAY!

and 3 months is old.

EXCUSE ME???? I'm VERY offended by your statement........most people on here have had birds longer than you've been alive.........think you need to rethink how you talk about people.

 

[james fillbrook]

EXCUSE ME???? I'm VERY offended by your statement........most people on here have had birds longer than you've been alive.........think you need to rethink how you talk about people.

well said peaple on here where doing pigeons when he was in nappies

 

[Crazy Pete]

Now i'm just a novice here but make sure the birds are a little hungry, 1 or 2 tbl spoons per feeding 2 times a day per bird. If you have a way to trap them in attach a settling cage so when you call them in to feed they can get in. Thats what i do and it seems to work.
Dave

 

[Lovebirds]

I have just purchased a starter lot of a dozen young unflown homers. I have an aviary allowing them to enjoy the fresh air and sun. How long would you suggest keeping them in the loft before releasing them? The breeder, I purchased them from suggested a month and was looking for any other opinions. thanks

I would say that if you do what you're supposed to do in training them, then 2 weeks is sufficient.
I would also recommend letting 6 out one day and the other 6 the next day. Number one, IF some take off on you, at least ALL of them won't take off. Second, with 6 inside the loft, it's easier to get the 6 that are out to trap back in when they see their 6 loft mates eating. Once you've let the two groups out and got them back in once, then you're good to go.
The first time you let them out, DO NOT startle them in any way. DO NOT force them to leave the loft and/or fly. They will do that on their own in a few days. If they come out of the loft and want to trap back in right away, let them. Third, pray that you don't have a hawk attack.

 

[redleg23]

Thanks

Thanks for everyones great insight. I feel alot more comfortable with all the great suggestions. It is greatly appreciated.

 

[redleg23]

Would everyone agree that the best time to let the birds out is when they are hungry and in the evening, an hour or so before dark?

 

[fastpitch dad]

I would say that if you do what you're supposed to do in training them, then 2 weeks is sufficient.
I would also recommend letting 6 out one day and the other 6 the next day. Number one, IF some take off on you, at least ALL of them won't take off. Second, with 6 inside the loft, it's easier to get the 6 that are out to trap back in when they see their 6 loft mates eating. Once you've let the two groups out and got them back in once, then you're good to go.
The first time you let them out, DO NOT startle them in any way. DO NOT force them to leave the loft and/or fly. They will do that on their own in a few days. If they come out of the loft and want to trap back in right away, let them. Third, pray that you don't have a hawk attack.

Very good advice on all of the above.

 

[Lovebirds]

Would everyone agree that the best time to let the birds out is when they are hungry and in the evening, an hour or so before dark?

Yes, I think that's a good time. It's near roosting time and they do NOT want to be outside when bedtime rolls around.....LOL

 

[RodSD]

redleg23,

I did my own experiment and released 1 or 2 full birds and 1 or 2 hungry birds during resettling and the hungry birds stayed put while the full birds took and off and went somewhere. That scared the hell out of me. I also experimented with before sunset and in the afternoon and I found out that those birds released before sunset usually don't venture out and stay put. The afternoon birds had the tendency to stay out longer and more stubborn. My guess is that hungry birds are the good thing to do and releasing them 2 hours before sunset is a good compromise. Releasing them say 1 hour before sunset can be problematic because if the bird is stubborn or dumb, it will take time for that bird to figure out how to enter the loft and because it is getting dark, you might ran out of time.

Yeah, I do experiment with my birds and tests all those theory of resettling methods.