# First loft flight - lost all 5 homers - did I do something wrong?



## Finster63 (Aug 7, 2015)

I lost all 6 of my homer squeakers when I let them fly for the first time.

Not sure what I did wrong.

I bought 6 AU banded squeakers, Janssen and Janssen-crosses (all 6 were all white) from a local racing club. They were never flown. Two still had yellow down on their heads.

I kept them prisoner for 11 days. 
4'x4'x4' loft raised 2' above the ground
9 perches
Plenty of ventilation
Fresh water
Scraped the perches
All clay kitty litter kept clean

Lost one when it flew past my head on day 2
Hung a towel from the entrance to prevent further escapes

Every morning and evening for 9 days: 
Put them in my settling cage
shook a can with a penny in it
put the food in the loft
they had to go thru the bobs to eat
let them eat for 10 minutes or less
shook the penny can while they ate


Day 10:
Fed for 5 minutes in the morning
Nothing in the evening

Day 11:
Didn't feed
2 hours before sunset opened the bobs
My wife and I sat down in lawn chairs to watch
All 5 came out on the landing board
They looked around for a few minutes and then flew off together
closed the bobs
put their food in the loft
Had several single and double fly-bys
Had one land across the alley and stay on their roof for about 20 minutes
Shook the penny can
At sunset we left the loft area
Went back at dark to check - no sign of any of them
Left the bobs down and the food in the loft

That was last night - got up this morning and no sign of them

We didn't soap/tape/rubber band their wings - maybe we should have?

Any ideas of what we did wrong???
- Bill


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## Pollo70 (Jan 3, 2012)

11 days isn't enough settling time, I usually place them in the settling cage for at least 5 days prior to letting them out and u are correct when the go out the first time a soap down the wings and let them sit out on the loft with full supervision. sorry to hear that hope the come back do u have hawks in your area if so the might have been chased off and when that happens they fly so far out and where they haven't started routing yet the are unfamiliar with the surroundings and get lost..


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## Finster63 (Aug 7, 2015)

Thanks Pollo70 -

Did you mean 15 days?


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## Pollo70 (Jan 3, 2012)

No, at least 14 days in the loft then about 5 days in the settling cage outside the loft and trap training then they go out..


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## talpog (Mar 16, 2009)

You know what? I think you got them a little too old for settling...looks like their flights were fully grown when you got them...


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## kiddy (Feb 5, 2015)

They should at least be kept inside for 4-6 weeks in an enclosure where they have an access to surroundings so they could imprint on the area around. It was too early for them to fly. Sorry you lost them.


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## talpog (Mar 16, 2009)

The best time to settle young birds is when they are still learning how to fly, meaning, their primary flights are not fully grown yet and not when they are fully grown because their tendency is just to fly without getting acclimated in the area that's why they get lost most of the time and I'm saying this out from experience...


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## Pollo70 (Jan 3, 2012)

talpog said:


> The best time to settle young birds is when they are still learning how to fly, meaning, their primary flights are not fully grown yet and not when they are fully grown because their tendency is just to fly without getting acclimated in the area that's why they get lost most of the time and I'm saying this out from experience...


That is correct talpog,most breeders and flyers call it "strong on the wing" that's why when most flyers know that they soak the birds in soap water then place them out, I also had a few birds that were strong on the wing I let them out they took flight and never saw them again, while the other ones stood on the loft checking out the surroundings.lesson learned for me..


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## Wink (Jul 21, 2015)

What does "settle" your birds mean?


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## hamlet (Oct 26, 2004)

Hello. For me settle means: to put confidence in the new bird so it can come home after being free and or having been chased by a hawk and still show up at the owner's new home.


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## talpog (Mar 16, 2009)

Pollo70 said:


> That is correct talpog,most breeders and flyers call it "strong on the wing" that's why when most flyers know that they soak the birds in soap water then place them out, I also had a few birds that were strong on the wing I let them out they took flight and never saw them again, while the other ones stood on the loft checking out the surroundings.lesson learned for me..[/QUOT
> 
> I said that they should be trained when their flights are not fully grown yet, meaning, they are not "strong on the wing" yet because they're just learning how to fly and I've never lost a bird doing this, unlike when you let them out for the first time with fully grown flights, they are already "strong on the wing"...


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## Whytpigeon (Sep 14, 2015)

Finster63 said:


> I lost all 6 of my homer squeakers when I let them fly for the first time.
> 
> Not sure what I did wrong.
> 
> ...


It was a combination of things. First you pushed them too fast. Second it sounds like they needed more food and time to just get used to the place,because they didn't feel comfortable they may just think heck with this. Birds not used for racing just don't have to be pushed and trained so strictly. What you want to instill on your pet pigeons is love of the loft, security feelings of the loft and food in the loft. I would of got the birds and just fed them twice a day and let them settle in for at least a month, so ideal age to get them is about a month old so they have a month to get used to the new loft, train with the settling cage after about two weeks in the new loft, but do it easy and not forceful, just do the routine, they are watching and listening even if you think they are not. before you let them out pull back some feed and do your feed call the same as you should of been doing at the start( the feed call is done regardless of how much is fed or if they are even responding, it's done for repetition so they put feeding and that noise together). Only let out after this time IF, they come in to the feed call fairly responsive, do that for a week, then feel free to let them out by removing the cages only, do not force persuade or get involved with their stepping out for the first time, let it go easy and naturally, call them in after a few hours and see what happens , usually you can get good results all the way to I'm on the roof and ain't coming down, clumsy flying and landing on trees, remember they are babies still and be patient. Some strains of racing homers ( non white) are very quick to settle And fly, I've seen the differences, as I have white homers and race homers and their is a difference in performance. So don't expect much when young, they will get better with age, and by all means if they are not for racing relax, they need to go slow.


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## kolkatapigeonlofts (Mar 21, 2016)

Whytpigeon said:


> It was a combination of things. First you pushed them too fast. Second it sounds like they needed more food and time to just get used to the place,because they didn't feel comfortable they may just think heck with this. Birds not used for racing just don't have to be pushed and trained so strictly. What you want to instill on your pet pigeons is love of the loft, security feelings of the loft and food in the loft. I would of got the birds and just fed them twice a day and let them settle in for at least a month, so ideal age to get them is about a month old so they have a month to get used to the new loft, train with the settling cage after about two weeks in the new loft, but do it easy and not forceful, just do the routine, they are watching and listening even if you think they are not. before you let them out pull back some feed and do your feed call the same as you should of been doing at the start( the feed call is done regardless of how much is fed or if they are even responding, it's done for repetition so they put feeding and that noise together). Only let out after this time IF, they come in to the feed call fairly responsive, do that for a week, then feel free to let them out by removing the cages only, do not force persuade or get involved with their stepping out for the first time, let it go easy and naturally, call them in after a few hours and see what happens , usually you can get good results all the way to I'm on the roof and ain't coming down, clumsy flying and landing on trees, remember they are babies still and be patient. Some strains of racing homers ( non white) are very quick to settle And fly, I've seen the differences, as I have white homers and race homers and their is a difference in performance. So don't expect much when young, they will get better with age, and by all means if they are not for racing relax, they need to go slow.


Can you tell me. one thing while letting the bird out of the cage for first time to fly do i need to feed them out of the loft and then let them fly or just cut of the feed and open the loft door to let them fly and wait for them to return and then give them food and water.


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## billgarb (Aug 26, 2011)

I normally kept mine in loft for 3 weeks and let them come out on their own. They may explore the neighborhood for a day but they always returned. Unfortunately, l lost 4 birds a few days ago which I had kept caged in their loft for 2 months, one pair had youngsters.almost 4 wks old. I left them out as I described and they never returned. I live in Lakewood Park near Fort Pierce, Fl. The area is also a bird sanctuary. I suspect they were taken by hawks. I know of no one in the area who flies pigeons, nor have I seen any wild ones in my immediate vicinity.


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## kolkatapigeonlofts (Mar 21, 2016)

billgarb said:


> I normally kept mine in loft for 3 weeks and let them come out on their own. They may explore the neighborhood for a day but they always returned. Unfortunately, l lost 4 birds a few days ago which I had kept caged in their loft for 2 months, one pair had youngsters.almost 4 wks old. I left them out as I described and they never returned. I live in Lakewood Park near Fort Pierce, Fl. The area is also a bird sanctuary. I suspect they were taken by hawks. I know of no one in the area who flies pigeons, nor have I seen any wild ones in my immediate vicinity.


As per my experince never let your breeding pair out, if you do want then let either the male go out or else the female. cause if the mail goes out, then he will surely come back for the female, vice versa.


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