# Homing Pigeon (Average Length of Time before Training)



## ishae_clanx (Mar 13, 2011)

Good day...i would like to ask regarding homers, how much time will i need to keep my homers inside the loft before actually releasing them and training them for distance flights away from the loft?

Follow-up question...is it true that if my birds would stay inside the loft for a week or a month and then release them 30 or 50 miles away from the loft would they be able to return home?,,,like what they did on taking on tyson first practice flight?,,,,from my experience...they will get lost...


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## blongboy (Nov 10, 2009)

ishae_clanx said:


> Good day...i would like to ask regarding homers, how much time will i need to keep my homers inside the loft before actually releasing them and training them for distance flights away from the loft?
> 
> Follow-up question...is it true that if my birds would stay inside the loft for a week or a month and then release them 30 or 50 miles away from the loft would they be able to return home?,,,like what they did on taking on tyson first practice flight?,,,,from my experience...they will get lost...


you have to loft fly them first ...that was one of the thing they skipped 
you will lose all your birds if you toss them at 30 miles


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

If you have old birds that were flown by some one else you can't release them, they will go back home. You have to start with young birds 30 to 40 days old.
Dave


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## grundyiaroller (Jan 12, 2011)

Dave is right about the old birds they never lose their memories of home! When my birds are 30 days old or so I put them in my racing loft, i leave them in there for 2to3 weeks depends on hawk activity here in central iowa. then the first time out i leave bobs open and let them do there own thing, if you have kids or animals like dogs or cats keep them inside or how ever you have them, the young birds scare easy and you may not see them also wind needs to be calm to maybe 10 mph max 15mph.I do this tell all birds go in without the bobs down for 3 days then I start the trap training still let them fly around the yard until they trap and it is on the first day of using the traps they are trained.Now the important part I will not toss any of my birds until they kit or flock all together this can take as long as couple of days or week or 2 depends on the birds. Once that is accomplished then i take out 3 mi 1st toss then just keep adding miles weekly


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

ishae_clanx said:


> Good day...i would like to ask regarding homers, how much time will i need to keep my homers inside the loft before actually releasing them and training them for distance flights away from the loft?
> 
> Follow-up question...is it true that if my birds would stay inside the loft for a week or a month and then release them 30 or 50 miles away from the loft would they be able to return home?,,,like what they did on taking on tyson first practice flight?,,,,from my experience...they will get lost...


here is a link from this site that should help you.
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f14/training-young-birds-for-homing-amp-racing-pigeons-8046.html


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

your location would help---may be another flyer close that you can visit and learn.


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

ishae_clanx said:


> Good day...i would like to ask regarding homers, how much time will i need to keep my homers inside the loft before actually releasing them and training them for distance flights away from the loft?
> 
> Follow-up question...is it true that if my birds would stay inside the loft for a week or a month and then release them 30 or 50 miles away from the loft would they be able to return home?,,,like what they did on taking on tyson first practice flight?,,,,from my experience...they will get lost...


If they have been trained, then cooped for a month, a 30-50 mile flight is no problem. These birds are incredible.


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## boneyrajan.k (Jul 15, 2010)

I would say....
1.First get some unflown young birds(1-3 months old ).
2.Then keep them penned in the loft for about 6 weeks.
3.During this time,Place them in a settling cage and take them to different areas around the loft (top,side,front etc),keep them in the settling cage for about 30 minutes per day for atleast 1 week.
4.Also trap train them and teach them the feed call.
5.Then allow them to fly out freely around the loft for the next one month.(so that they start ranging on thereown and become more familiar with the area)
6.so,after this total of 10 weeks(6+4),u can start taking them to 1 mile,5,10,20 miles etc..
its just my personal opinion


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## NO SWEAT (Mar 28, 2011)

ishae_clanx said:


> Good day...i would like to ask regarding homers, how much time will i need to keep my homers inside the loft before actually releasing them and training them for distance flights away from the loft?
> 
> Follow-up question...is it true that if my birds would stay inside the loft for a week or a month and then release them 30 or 50 miles away from the loft would they be able to return home?,,,like what they did on taking on tyson first practice flight?,,,,from my experience...they will get lost...


There is a good deal of argument about what is smart with training young birds. Last year, I took a black check hen 100 miles from the loft on her first toss and she was home in a very quick time. And then, I had a full brother of hers that I simply loved and thought was goprgeous, that I took five miles from home and lost on the first toss. My only explanation was that the area where I let her brother loose was in an area heavy with cell towers and communication equipment. I really believe that it had some sort of bad effect on what happened with him. I've tossed from there before and lost birds. Anyways, I had a remarkable thing happen to me when I use to swim in college. That particular year was in 1969. And some of the guys that I swam with lived in Florida. I had three late hatches that I didn't have the heart to kill and I asked them if they would let them go down in Tenn. when they were headed home for Christmas Break. Well, the guys took the three ybs and we had one of those early snows. About 3 days later I noticed a little blue checker that I had given to them sitting on top of my small loft out in the snow. She came on in and I thought she had done a great feat as I had not trained her one bit. When the guys came back we were all in the dressing room and getting ready to go practice and one of them asked me if any of my YBs came back. I said, yes. When I did that there was a real silence in the locker room. You could almost see that none of them believed me. I went on to emphasize that yes, one of the three did return. Well, the guys about fell over backwards as they had forgotten about the Ybs all the way until they had reached the Florida state line---and I lived in eastern Kentucky. They let those birds out in Florida which was a distance of over 400 air miles from my home. You must know, these were pigeons totally untrained and about 4 months old. When all of this became I clear to me as to just how great this little bird had done I made sure to pair her parents back the next year and as it followed, all their YBS were great racers, helping me dominate my club and helping me win several major futurities in nthe USA and also setting a nw $ earning record in Minnin the Twin City Gold Band Race.
What I learned from all this, as I have now had racing homers some 53 years and have won some 800 first places in my life, is that the key in finding great racing pigeons first resides in how keen their homing abilities are. Once you find that then you can fret over the other physical factors that help make a good bird better. 
My advice in training YBs is to take them 50 miles or farther on their first toss. But only after they have had at least a nicce month of open loft around your area and know the general countryside very well.
Yes, you will probably loose some birds but the ones you do get back will cut through a lot of red tape and quickly let you know just how good their homing instinct really happens to be.
Blessings.


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

NO SWEAT said:


> There is a good deal of argument about what is smart with training young birds. *Last year, I took a black check hen 100 miles from the loft on her first toss and she was home in a very quick time. And then, I had a full brother of hers that I simply loved and thought was goprgeous, that I took five miles from home and lost on the first toss.* My only explanation was that the area where I let her brother loose was in an area heavy with cell towers and communication equipment. I really believe that it had some sort of bad effect on what happened with him. I've tossed from there before and lost birds. Anyways, I had a remarkable thing happen to me when I use to swim in college. That particular year was in 1969. And some of the guys that I swam with lived in Florida. I had three late hatches that I didn't have the heart to kill and I asked them if they would let them go down in Tenn. when they were headed home for Christmas Break. Well, the guys took the three ybs and we had one of those early snows. About 3 days later I noticed a little blue checker that I had given to them sitting on top of my small loft out in the snow. She came on in and I thought she had done a great feat as I had not trained her one bit. When the guys came back we were all in the dressing room and getting ready to go practice and one of them asked me if any of my YBs came back. I said, yes. When I did that there was a real silence in the locker room. You could almost see that none of them believed me. I went on to emphasize that yes, one of the three did return. Well, the guys about fell over backwards as they had forgotten about the Ybs all the way until they had reached the Florida state line---and I lived in eastern Kentucky. They let those birds out in Florida which was a distance of over 400 air miles from my home. You must know, these were pigeons totally untrained and about 4 months old. When all of this became I clear to me as to just how great this little bird had done I made sure to pair her parents back the next year and as it followed, all their YBS were great racers, helping me dominate my club and helping me win several major futurities in nthe USA and also setting a nw $ earning record in Minnin the Twin City Gold Band Race.
> What I learned from all this, as I have now had racing homers some 53 years and have won some 800 first places in my life, is that the key in finding great racing pigeons first resides in how keen their homing abilities are. Once you find that then you can fret over the other physical factors that help make a good bird better.
> My advice in training YBs is to take them 50 miles or farther on their first toss. But only after they have had at least a nicce month of open loft around your area and know the general countryside very well.
> Yes, you will probably loose some birds but the ones you do get back will cut through a lot of red tape and quickly let you know just how good their homing instinct really happens to be.
> Blessings.


You are not alone. Even scientists who study homing ability have observed the same thing. For some unknown reason a toss less than 10 miles seem to make some pigeon get lost. Some speculated that the birds overshot their "home" and went farther and farther in the opposite direction until they got tired and can't fly anymore.


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## Jinglez (Apr 8, 2011)

Hi guys. I hear what your all saying but training them with the expectation that your going to lose some, seems so cruel. In saying that, I have lost 3 myself. I know where 2 of them still are but I haven't yet managed to retrieve them. I only started training about 3 months ago and only use 2 or 3 at a time for the very reason that I don't want to lose flocks at a time ! I love them too much to purposely lose them. 
I only do a flight a week. I don't know if that's right or not but I figured there was no point wearing them out too often. I had 3 main birds i used every time and mixed them with new fliers to train them. 
Mostly it worked but occasionally one wouldn't come home so I'd stop until I got it back. I still have 3 loose in town and really want them back. 

Will they cope enough on their own out there ?

My doves are all born to be free-range in my garden (2 acres). So as soon as they are flying they are out and about with the adults and getting to know our area. Although they don't really leave the perimeter but they're flying all day. 
It's all a learning curve really and sooo much fun as well.


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

ishae_clanx said:


> Good day...i would like to ask regarding homers, how much time will i need to keep my homers inside the loft before actually releasing them and training them for distance flights away from the loft?
> 
> Follow-up question...is it true that if my birds would stay inside the loft for a week or a month and then release them 30 or 50 miles away from the loft would they be able to return home?,,,like what they did on taking on tyson first practice flight?,,,,from my experience...they will get lost...


There are different types of "training", I am assuming you are referring to road training, and not trap training, or coming in when called, etc. 

#1 Keep in mind, that generally speaking if you ask 100 fanceirs a question such as this, you may very well get 100 answers.

#2 Homing pigeons do not have to be trained to find home, that has already been bred into them assuming you have good stock to begin with. During the 2010 YB season, a pair of late hatches I owned were only flown around the loft. Their first training toss was a 192 mile race. They didn't need to be trained to find their way home. 

This is a very simple concept, but even experienced pigeon fliers get confused I think on the purpose of road training. This was drilled into me by my mentor who was a WWII pigeon corps guy. Homing pigeons do NOT have to be trained to find their way home. 

The second part of your question has to do with how long do you have to keep them inside the loft. If they were hatched inside your loft, my question is why would you need to keep them inside for any length of time ? If you are obtaining birds which were bred elsewhere, then your question is really about methods for settling pigeons. I typically don't settle other people's pigeons and mine do not seem to require all the various steps that others take. What has worked for me, may not work for you. I simply place my YB's into the YB loft at about 27 days of age, or when they are starting to eat on their own. I don't force them to fly outside, I simply open the loft, and when they are ready, they venture outside and come back in on their own. I try to make the process as natural as possible. If there is any "secret" to my very simple method, is I get them into the avairy where they can see around, as early as possible, and before they can even really fly. Typically when they venture out onto the landing board, it is before they can even really fly. It is more like hopping up and down a few feet. Not possible to do a fly off at this stage. If you are getting birds from someone else, and they are six or more weeks of age, and strong on the wing, it gets a bit more tricky. Hold them inside until they are strong on the wing, and that is when you get these "lost off the landing board" stories. Good luck !


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

Loft fly them first because pigeons need some visual cues of their home loft to be able to come home to it. Experiments were done with pigeons loft flown and was compared to aviary pigeon only(not loft flown) and those flown pigeons were able to get home straighter and didn't get lost more often than those aviary kept pigeons. But aviary kept pigeons that was able to see their surroundings still were able to come home, but impaired on their first homing flight.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

I think the loft flying untill they are flying well as a group gets the muscles in shape as well so they are strong enough to make a longer road trip..and or if they get scatterd or off course they are strong enough to keep going to find home.. they are athletes you know..so they need to be in shape IMO.


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