[Guest]

a few days ago, i bought five homers, beautiful blue bars from a different website (birdsforsale.org) AND I SPECIFICALLY ASKED IF THEY HAD BEEN RELEASED...
so the owner said no, they had not been released, and i believed him.
So today i released them, and eagerly awaited their return. with them, i also released another two of my hens.
SO...
the hens returned...
one blue bar returned...
and it's been several hourse since they did. the rest are gone.
Am angry and frustrated, i wasted good money on them. the next time i buy homers, i am going to keep them for several months before releasing, just in case.
Angry, angry, ANGRY!!!

 

[Charis]

I think a few days just wasn't long enough.
I'm sorry, but there's no one to be angry with but you.

 

[pigeonnewb]

a few days ago, i bought five homers, beautiful blue bars from a different website (birdsforsale.org) AND I SPECIFICALLY ASKED IF THEY HAD BEEN RELEASED...
so the owner said no, they had not been released, and i believed him.
So today i released them, and eagerly awaited their return. with them, i also released another two of my hens.
SO...
the hens returned...
one blue bar returned...
and it's been several hourse since they did. the rest are gone.
Am angry and frustrated, i wasted good money on them. the next time i buy homers, i am going to keep them for several months before releasing, just in case.
Angry, angry, ANGRY!!!

Raising homers is not easy. You just have to know when to release them and how to motivate them to stay in your loft. If you buy older birds, nothing is guaranteed. If you by squeakers, sometimes they just aren't smart enough or don't have that strong of natural instinct to find their way back home. There are lots of factors that come into effect on trying to fly and home the bird. Not everyone will stay and thats just the risk you take when you let them out.

 

[SmithFamilyLoft]

a few days ago, i bought five homers, beautiful blue bars from a different website (birdsforsale.org) AND I SPECIFICALLY ASKED IF THEY HAD BEEN RELEASED...
so the owner said no, they had not been released, and i believed him.
So today i released them, and eagerly awaited their return. with them, i also released another two of my hens.
SO...
the hens returned...
one blue bar returned...
and it's been several hourse since they did. the rest are gone.
Am angry and frustrated, i wasted good money on them. the next time i buy homers, i am going to keep them for several months before releasing, just in case.
Angry, angry, ANGRY!!!

Settling YB's may very well be an art form. If they were older then lets say 40 days old, those YB's would be what we call "strong on the wing" and great care must be taken, some people would "soap the wings"...cut the 9th and 10th flight feathers etc. In hind site, simply turning them loose after having them a few days, may not have been the best way to approach the matter. And if these were not YB's...well...that is a whole other issue. There have been threads and posts on this site dealing with such matters, and you may want to check them out, for "the next time".

 

[conditionfreak]

You did not keep them confined long enough. You also should not have let out any of your previously owned birds with them. I am assuming that your "hens" had been out before and were older than the ones you just got.

As the old saying goes. Do not put all of your eggs in one basket. As difficult as it may be, you should let out a couple today. A different couple tomorrow, etc. Until they all show that they will stay and re-enter the loft. Then you can start to let them out together.

For some reason, many people still think that homing pigeons do not have to be trained AND brought along slowly.

You can rush it, but you will pay a penalty. Heck, even in the best of circumstances, some will be lost.

If you have any old birds, let them out over the next couple of days and maybe the lost birds will join them and come back home. I hope so.

 

[LUCKYT]

Yep, as has been said, a few days is NO were near long enough. The only Fault the Person you got them from has is not warning you... Dave

 

[g0ldenb0y55]

I agree with what everyone else has said. You released them to early.

 

[Alamo]

If they were old birds ie:2008 bred or older,you should mate them up,and when they have babies in the nest,you open the window and let them go out..They will not leave as long as they have the babies...After the babies are grown (30) days,I beleive they will stay with you forever,as they will hopefully have excepted your loft as HOME now...If they were 2009 bred pigeons,you let them out to soon...After 2 or 3 weeks,you put a bath pan in the flight cage..Let them take a bath,and get soaking wet..Then you take the cage away,and pray alot !!!!.......Alamo

 

[Kal-El]

If the birds are young birds (40 days or younger), then you can still settle them. If they are older, even though they have never been released with the original owner will be too strong on the wing to take off. I think you have learned a hard lesson from this. Instead of buying from some random guy on an internet website, talk to people and buy from them.

 

[RodSD]

I believe it is your fault. It doesn't matter whatever the seller told you--flown or not flown. After you got the birds, you are now in charge of what to do. Your knowledge, experience and training get tested.

There are many potential things that can happen on resettling. You probably would expect some losses if the birds are wing strong or for that matter if they suddenly got startled or got chased by a hawk.

To make sure then is to buy a bird that is probably just 4-6 weeks old. I think they still squeaks by then.

I think the goal of settling birds is to make them familiar with their surroundings and not fly because obviously they can't go back to a place where they don't know where. It is common sense. Having said that I have rehomed birds past 40 days old in 4 days, and 6 days. But I usually keep the birds 3 weeks before releasing them while doing all I can by putting the birds in a settling cage and putting them on the landing board, front of the loft, loft roof and even my house roof! I am very successful in doing that. I have rehomed birds ranging from 4 weeks old to 2 years old. Your goal is to prevent them from flying, but memorize their surroundings first.