Clip wings of Racing Pigeon

10388 Views 27 Replies 10 Participants Last post by tipplers4life, Sep 19, 2011

sushil

Discussion Starter · Apr 5, 2009

Hi Guys,

I have got a pair of Racing Pigeons. One has its wings clipped. While the other has full wings. Since these are new Pigeons and for them to recognize the new place is it really suggested to have their wings clipped so that they do not fly away. If yes, please guide me how to clip the wings since I have never done this before.

Thanks
-> Sushil

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spirit wings

· #2 · Apr 5, 2009

sushil said:
Hi Guys,

I have got a pair of Racing Pigeons. One has its wings clipped. While the other has full wings. Since these are new Pigeons and for them to recognize the new place is it really suggested to have their wings clipped so that they do not fly away. If yes, please guide me how to clip the wings since I have never done this before.

Thanks
-> Sushil

he does not need his wings clipped, what if someone took your legs. you would be pretty bumed.......the homers can not be let out, they will try to fly to the preowners no matter how long you have them, best to start with young birds 30 to 40 days old. they call them homers for a reason ...they will try to find home. it is a big gamble trying to resettle homers, you could lose the birds, so they will have to be prisioners in the loft.

UncleBuck

· #3 · Apr 5, 2009

I have re-homed some homers, but not all of them. If I intend to eventually let them fly, I always make sure they have a nest, some young and a mate waiting for them back at my home. That being said, it is not a fool proof way to keep them here.
I do not like clipping the wings on any of my pigeons. I figure they are going to be inside at least until I decide if I am going to take a chance on them flying. I do not want them on the floor or getting hurt trying to get to a roost with clipped wings.
But again, that is just my opinion.

spirit wings

· #4 · Apr 5, 2009

UncleBuck said:
I have re-homed some homers, but not all of them. If I intend to eventually let them fly, I always make sure they have a nest, some young and a mate waiting for them back at my home. That being said, it is not a fool proof way to keep them here.
I do not like clipping the wings on any of my pigeons. I figure they are going to be inside at least until I decide if I am going to take a chance on them flying. I do not want them on the floor or getting hurt trying to get to a roost with clipped wings.
But again, that is just my opinion.

Yes, Thats why I say it is a gamble as it has been done before, but IMHO, I would not let out ANY bird that had alomost hatching eggs/young in the nest, they may not make it back due to something else like a hawk, or they may just fly the coop too...you just can't be sure. and I would say the percentage is low in rehomed homers.

george simon

· #5 · Apr 5, 2009 (Edited)

I have also rehomed race birds this is not a easy task and I do not recommed that a beginner try.There many things that need to done clipping the wings is not one of them.... This is how I did it first I mated these birds up WITH BIRDS that I have been flying I let them raised a round of young. Second you need to know where their old loft is and if it is over 25 miles away forget it. 3rd you need to work with the flier at the old loft, he must trap them in and MUST NOT FEED OR WATER THEM,he must remove them from the loft. You must pick these birds up that day and return them to your loft and their mates and you feed and water them, NEVER let these birds stay at the old loft over night.4th The day that you let them out you let them out with their mate. In my case the old loft was 15 miles south of mine and our race course was from the north.When I did this I had 10 birds from the same loft, the day that I let them out only 4 of the 10 when back The next day I let them all out again on this day only 2 went back, and on the 3rd day 1 went back, and on day 4 none, zero, went back,so I rehomed all 10. I might add that these birds were good fliers for me and one of them even won a club race.Now after having said all this I recomend you don't even try. GEORGE

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Reactions: 1

LUCKYT

· #6 · Apr 5, 2009

Take the advice given... When i was young i tried the wing clipping idea, had a bird constantly try to WALK away from the loft, NO KIDDING! Dave

learning

· #7 · Apr 6, 2009

You may have heard of the clipping of wings to speed up the molt. I do this with the ninth and tenth flights and they are subsequently pulled after they have dried out. They are locked up during this whole process to protect them from predators while they are short flights.

Dan

RodSD

· #8 · Apr 6, 2009 (Edited)

That pigeon you got already has a wing clipped. That bird probably can't fly no more until it gets another new wing. If you are thinking of resettling/rehoming, there are other methods like what George mentioned. But, you only got 1 pair and because resettling/rehoming is risky, you can loss one easily and you almost got nothing.

Now to answer your question (even though I haven't done wing clipping), maybe you can look the way the wing was clipped. I suppose you cut the feathers in some distance length and blood will come out. To regrow probably you just have to wait until the feather dries out because it is not nourished anymore with those blood, then you can pull it out. The feathers will probably grow back. I also suppose that the wing clipped are the primary wings (which ones I am not sure). I'll search the internet.

For chicken: http://www.poultryhelp.com/wingclipping.jpg

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sushil

Discussion Starter · #9 · Apr 6, 2009

Guys, I would like to thank all of you for your opinions. I have decided not to clip the wings and will try to re home them. Let's see what happens. I have got another pair which has laid eggs. Will try to follow your suggestions.

Thanks for taking out time from your busy schedules and helping starters like me...

-> Sushil

spirit wings

· #10 · Apr 6, 2009

sushil said:
Guys, I would like to thank all of you for your opinions. I have decided not to clip the wings and will try to re home them. Let's see what happens. I have got another pair which has laid eggs. Will try to follow your suggestions.

Thanks for taking out time from your busy schedules and helping starters like me...

-> Sushil

to see what happens, means you will lose birds, they can have a hard life in the wild, that is IF they even survive to find food, some can starve to death, so think twice, as George said,he would not recomend it. you are responsible for this domestic birds life, don't just take it lightly. just flying the trained ones is risky with hawks and all, but at least I know they will come home to food and shelter, and not be off starving somewhere.

sushil

Discussion Starter · #11 · Apr 6, 2009

I am not taking it lightly. I know what can be the consequences of this. But if I don't do this do you want me to keep them caged for months if not for ever.

spirit wings

· #12 · Apr 6, 2009

sushil said:
I am not taking it lightly. I know what can be the consequences of this. But if I don't do this do you want me to keep them caged for months if not for ever.

there are birds that homing pigeon fanciers have, and they are called prisoners, they can not be let out as they are not trained to the loft. so yes, If you keep pigeons they should be in a loft where they can live even if they are not let out, you then can train the young birds of these prisoners to home to your loft, a cage is not a good place to house pigeons, unless it is huge, 2 ft per bird. prsioners need an aviary to get sun and sit in the rain and fresh air. many flyers have prisoners in their loft it is nothing unusual.

g0ldenb0y55

· #13 · Apr 6, 2009 (Edited)

Sushil - Man your tag name makes me hungry! Lol....It's got "sushi" in it and that's my favorite food!

Anyway....back to the topic.....like everyone has stated, rehoming old birds is a very difficult task and you need a lot of experience to do it. The beginner can sometimes pull it off but it's very rare. I had an experience of my own with some old birds that were given to me. I couldn't wait to get them flying and trapping to my newly built loft. I read threads on this forum stating exactly what everyone has said here but I went and tried to rehome these birds anyway....stupid idea!.....to make a long story short, I had these birds rehomed!....at least I thought I did.....I was road tossing them from 20 miles out and loft flying them without any problems! I was truely happy with what I had accomplished. But then one morning I let them out to loft fly and a hawk attacked them. They were chased around for a good 5-10 minutes until I lost sight of them. The hawk scared them away and I figured they would return when they felt it was safe but they never returned that day and I haven't seem them since.....

Listen to the folks here, keep your birds as prisoners and wait until they have youngsters for you train to your loft. You will not have to go through the heartache that follows when rehoming old birds. It happens to the very best of us. And if you don't like keeping prisoners, after you get youngsters from them maybe you can hand them down to someone who wants to start keeping pigeons!

Henry

Henry

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RodSD

· #14 · Apr 7, 2009

If you insist, then read on resettling/rehoming. I think it is a good idea to breed them first. That way you have young birds to train. Training youngsters will teach you how to resettle those adults. In other words if you are successful on those young ones, then you can apply what you learned for the adults. It will only take about 2-3 months before those babies will start flying. I have resettled/rehomed all my birds because I got them as adults, but they gave me heart attack during resettling phase.

There are basic theories somehow of rehoming. One is when you breed them first. They stay they say because they have babies to take care of. That is their motivation. The other probably is because they love their home/mate so you train them like squeakers.

sushil

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 8, 2009

Thank you all for the valuable suggestions. I think it would be good idea to keep them encolsed as of now and let them breed and home the young ones.

I went through other posts as well and the essence of those posts were also the same.

Thanks for your valuable support.

-> Sushi (l)

g0ldenb0y55

· #16 · Apr 8, 2009

sushil said:
Thank you all for the valuable suggestions. I think it would be good idea to keep them encolsed as of now and let them breed and home the young ones.

I went through other posts as well and the essence of those posts were also the same.

Thanks for your valuable support.

-> Sushi (l)

That's great to hear! You will have a more enjoyable experience and a better piece of mind when you get your youngsters to a point of loft flying rather than taking a chance of loosing your Old Birds from trying to rehome.

tipplers4life

· #17 · Sep 19, 2011

george simon said:
I have also rehomed race birds this is not a easy task and I do not recommed that a beginner try.There many things that need to done clipping the wings is not one of them.... This is how I did it first I mated these birds up WITH BIRDS that I have been flying I let them raised a round of young. Second you need to know where their old loft is and if it is over 25 miles away forget it. 3rd you need to work with the flier at the old loft, he must trap them in and MUST NOT FEED OR WATER THEM,he must remove them from the loft. You must pick these birds up that day and return them to your loft and their mates and you feed and water them, NEVER let these birds stay at the old loft over night.4th The day that you let them out you let them out with their mate. In my case the old loft was 15 miles south of mine and our race course was from the north.When I did this I had 10 birds from the same loft, the day that I let them out only 4 of the 10 when back The next day I let them all out again on this day only 2 went back, and on the 3rd day 1 went back, and on day 4 none, zero, went back,so I rehomed all 10. I might add that these birds were good fliers for me and one of them even won a club race.Now after having said all this I recomend you don't even try. GEORGE

can i ressetle racers that are just 5 month old but have flown round other persons loft

tipplers4life

· #18 · Sep 19, 2011

can i resettle 5 month old logan racers they are untrained but have flown the previus owners loft,cheers

spirit wings

· #19 · Sep 19, 2011

tipplers4life said:
can i resettle 5 month old logan racers they are untrained but have flown the previus owners loft,cheers

This thread is from 2009, but to answer the question 5 months old and flown is too iffy and the birds probably will fly back to their home loft.. that is if they are decent homing pigeons.

tipplers4life

· #20 · Sep 19, 2011

there logan racers,the bloke said they shouldnt do,ile get em on eggs first,ime keeping them in till next year, i think there more 4 month old hached may he said there untrained but flew his loft,

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