# How do i get pigoens to fly around?



## Pigoenwhisperer (Sep 6, 2007)

I have two pigoens when i let them outside they don't do much flying but stay beside the house.

How can i get them to fly more like when they do lots of flying they kind of do laps around the house or the area.
I guess its a pigoen thing.

But how can i get them to fly (laps) around the house more often?


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Welcome to Pigeon-Talk! How old are your pigeons and how long have they been with you? They may need some time to learn their surroundings before taking off and flying. You also want to make sure that your pigeons are very healthy. If they have health problems, they will not want to fly and may not be able to fly. If you can give us a bit of background about you and your pigeons, our members will be better able to assist you.

Terry


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hello

If these are pets, you should not be flying them outside. They are vulnerable to predators, especially hawks. Also, it is best to fly in groups of six birds or more, they are safer in numbers. 

Are your birds trap trained? They need to be hungry as well as healthy to fly outside.


----------



## Pigoenwhisperer (Sep 6, 2007)

> Welcome to Pigeon-Talk! How old are your pigeons and how long have they been with you? They may need some time to learn their surroundings before taking off and flying. You also want to make sure that your pigeons are very healthy. If they have health problems, they will not want to fly and may not be able to fly. If you can give us a bit of background about you and your pigeons, our members will be better able to assist you.
> 
> Terry


They are about a year old lived most of there lifes here.

I don't t hink they have health problems. But i thinkt here problem is they are over eager to come inside.

If i leave the door open they come inside and then i find them all the way at there cage. They just cling to their cage and try to come inside of it. Which is odd because i provide them with food and water outside.

and especially odd because i ddint think they where smart enough to find there way around the house 



> Are your birds trap trained?


Could you please tell me what trapp training is? Im abit confused on that


----------



## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

"Trap-trained" means they are trained to come in through a built-in trap. People who fly their birds have a "trap" built into their lofts, a window where the pigeons can enter but not go back out. It consists of an opening equipped with swinging bars, "bobs" that the pigeons push through to enter the loft. The bobs only swing inward. You have a landing board at the entrance as well, so the pigeons have a place to land and go through the bobs.

How old are your pigeons? We don't fly ours anymore because of hawks but when we did I found that only my young birds hatched that year were really interested in flying. My "old" birds preferred to hang around the roof of the loft or house. This is not good because they are sitting ducks for hawks. 

It's not a good idea to let your pigeons hang around on the roof or to feed them outside the cage. Leaving food outside makes them even more vulnerable to hawk attack and will also attract rodents if you leave it out all the time. Pigeons should be trained to eat only inside their loft.


----------



## RoundAbout (Apr 24, 2005)

PigeonWhisperer, I am just now training five young Birmingham Rollers to get out of the coop and fly every other morning. They also don't want to leave the coop, but I herd them out the trap door (opened) and they take off. At times they sit on the roof and then I toss a stick up near them and they fly. I put the trap door in its down position so that when they come back, usually within a half hour or so, they will be back in the coop, not hanging around outside. Do you fly yours before breakfast? This makes them come back faster, which is good. Once they fly they should come back in promptly for breakfast. I wouldn't leave food outside for them. 

I know lots of pet pigeon people don't believe pigeons should be loose at all, and I feel that way myself about my very favorite five pigeons who live a posh life in the coop without flying, except back and forth in the coop. But at the same time it is beautiful to watch the flying pigeons enjoying their abilities way up in the sky, free wheeling. I do not have hawk problems here, so far!


----------



## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

You're lucky, Roundabout! Some areas are better than others. I suspect if you live where there's a lot of open space it's easier to fly rollers. I miss seeing mine in the sky; they were so beautiful with all their different colors and white flights, which make them appear almost sparkly in the sky. But we live in the suburbs near foothills and there are large trees in our yard and all around. There are just too many places for Cooper's hawks to hide and we have lots of hawks. I've spoken to other pigeon fanciers in this valley and they said they lost birds to hawks every time they let them out. That just doesn't work for me, so I stopped flying them after losing several to hawks.

One thing I wanted to add about training, Pigeonwhisperer--make sure they are hungry. _Really_ hungry. As Roundabout said, flying them before breakfast is a good idea because they will be good and hungry and will want to come in to eat.


----------

