[alburger]

How long should I keep my newly purchased homing pigeons in the loft before I can release them without fearing that they will fly back to their previous owner?
Thanks,
Al Burger

 

[spirit wings]

How long should I keep my newly purchased homing pigeons in the loft before I can release them without fearing that they will fly back to their previous owner?
Thanks,
Al Burger

If the pre loft is not far, you can notify the owner and go get your birds. It is hard to rehome homers though, so it is best to start with young 30 to 40 days old and then train them to your loft. here is how one experienced person did it.


http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=372471&postcount=5

 

[LUCKYT]

alburger, i would just keep them Prisoners, and fly the young. it tends to tick off some people that you can resettle HOMERS from their loft.Plus unless the old loft is not there, you will have to go and get them, A LOT!
This is for True homers, not so much for color bred birds mind you.
I tried to settle 6 birds that had been prisoners for 3 years, all went back to Original owner,In 2 hours! about 20 miles away. (Jack was a little TICKED!) LOL! Food for thought Dave

 

[g0ldenb0y55]

Hi Alburger - We get this question alot. Lol. I would recommend to keep your homers as prisoners and fly their young if you can wait a few months. If your birds are 1 to 2 months old and have not been trained to the previous loft then you can train them to your loft. Rehoming old birds is tough even for the most experienced flyer. IMO

Henry

 

[RodSD]

Rehoming is tough because it feels like rolling a dice. I think the Janssens brothers never keep prisoners though. I could be wrong.

So Al Burger, how old are these homing pigeons? The navy, during the war, will rehome birds that can be up to 2 months old unflown in 6 days. How was their success rate, I don't know.

 

[ND Cooper]

Years ago, I had about 6 pigeons (racing homers) fly all the way back to Milwaukee, to their Home loft, after I kept them for about 2yrs.
I live in North Dakota! Knowing them, It probly took them a whole 2 hrs.
They even nested, and had young, and loft flew for 2 months, more than once!
With the pigeons that I bought, there would'nt be any way possable, In My Opinion, that they could settle, Permanently, Anywhere, except, Their own Home loft.
I think that the guy that sold them to me, knew this all along. It's OK with me.
Kinda Sneaky.
I Paid good money to learn a valuable Lesson

 

[Hambone]

Question . Suppose you sell your house and move . If you take the old familiar home loft with you to the new location , will the birds home and stay to that new location ? I'd keep them penned for a month or so . I'd also keep one mate captive while its mate was released for a flyabout for a while until they acclimated to the new surroundings .

In other words , pigeons home to that beloved familiar loft ? .... NOT neccesarily to the physical location its at ? Not really sure how a homers brain works , and what drives them to home .

I'm curious because a move may be in my future . I know keeping the birds captive would definitely solve that problem , but I like to let them fly free.

hambone

 

[RodSD]

Hambone,

I think it is easier for them to stay if they recognize their old loft to your new location, but you will try to resettle them like you got new birds first. I think during the war they use mobile loft where they teach homers to rehome to that loft.

Although unrelated to your question, I did this simple experiment where I moved my small loft to a different area, but in the same backyard and my birds initially landed on the old area without the loft and then they figured it out and landed on the same loft that is moved on opposite corner. So apparently if they recognize their loft, they will try to land there. The weakness of this experiment is that it is on the same backyard. I was not able to test whether they will land if I put the loft in front of the house. The distance from the old location to the new location is probably only around 30-60 feet. It was just a simple test whether pigeons can recognize their old loft and whether they will land on it.

Yeah, I am crazy experimenting stuff on my pigeons. Can't you tell from my other threads?!

 

[cubanlofts]

I sold a pigeon 5 years ago, and she just came back after having a bunch of babies on the other loft,iam in MO, and the other loft is in California, guy never called me, he couldnt, i changed my number some time back, pigeons are just amazing sensing the magnetics fields that come from the ground, she was born in my loft, and she flew here for six month before she sold, she raced one time here, 125 miles, and she place 2 on the combine in 2004. IAM KEEPING HER, LOL she is a blue jansen, now, she did that cause of being a jansen, and cause she is a solid color.
If a true homer is flown in a place for a while, she will always comeback, now, i have one that escape to minnesota, and she left for a week and comeback after she realized her loft was gone, hunger i bet, but i have tried to rehome birds and i wont doit again, i keep 32 prisoners, and I wont even try to think about releasing them, they would just make a couple of circles, a 3r one higher than the previous 2, and by by pigeon.

 

[bcr1]

I moved my loft two blocks and was able to rehome the only homer that I had flown from that location. I went through the trap training routine with him and After being out a couple of times to loft fly with the rest of the gang he decided to make the long trek to his old home. I was still living there so I could keep an eye on him. He spent the night on the garage roof and the next day went back to where his loft was relocated.

 

[cubanlofts]

Always helps when the loft is gone, now, if the building wouold have being there standing, thats harder on them, also if u let them sleep in the older loft, thats bad for them, but if the new loft is closer, that really helps