# how old should your homers be before start tossing them?



## sinister357 (Aug 3, 2009)

2 months? 3 months?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

they do not have to be a certain age, but you want them to be loft flying, and when the group start flocking up and flying around together is when you want to take them away from the loft, you start close to the loft and work your way out.


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

The YB`s should be TRIPPING or ROUTING for at least 45 minutes to 1hr....This means when you let them out,they take off and disapear for that amount of time...What they are doing is,learning the area around where they live...They might go as far as 5 miles around the loft area,learning and enjoying flying...Once they TRIP for the time above,about 2 or 3 weeks after they start,you can take them 2 miles...5 miles...10 miles etc....You must not take them too far from the start...What you are trying to do is give them confidence in finding their way home...2 or 3 tosses from each spot,helps them alot in their homing ability & speed....If you are new to racing/training,this is the way to do it..Once you gain alot of knowledge in 2 or 3 years,you may do it YOUR way,or the way that best helps YOUR birds in your area where you live...Good Luck...Alamo
PS: Only train is GREAT weather....Sun with white puffy clouds is #1......Alamo


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## Peach (Sep 24, 2009)

Almo, 

question.

I am new too. I understand at the races (I saw your web site so that's why I am asking) that all the birds are released at the same time, and they go to their respective lofts. but if every one lives at different locations in different directions - or live 50 or 60 miles from each other how does that work if the birds dont' fly the same distance?

thanks just wondering.


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

All lofts have to have airline measurements......The lofts that fly longer then you do from the release point are allowed more TIME for their birds to return home....Who ever flys a shorter distance then you do,gives YOUR birds more time to get home...It`s called OVERFLY TIME in the sport...I give OVERFLY to EVERYONE in our Combine,so I know about this all to well....You will have to get someone from your club that you join,probally a club Officer,to come to your home/loft and do the measurements...He will send this to probally Bowens Survey`s....They do airline measurements for pigeon lofts....Alamo


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

The winning bird is the one with the fastest speed measured in Yards Per Minutes.
From the release point to your loft. Overfly has nothing to do with speed--It just tells you how many minutes you have to get a bird than the flyer who fly a shorter dintance and many bet him.


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

Maybe some help


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

OVERFLY has everything to do with speed.....If the race birds have a tail wind,the birds with more miles to fly have the wind helping them all the way home,and your birds are allready in the loft,as the wind really starts blowing......If the wind is in thier nose,it slows them up,and favors the short end lofts....It`s just the opposite..Your birds,if you are a short end loft,are in the loft,while the longer lofts birds are fighting the wind to get home...If all the lofts in the club you fly with are within a 5 to 10 mile area,it`s no big deal...But in my club,I give everyone 30+ miles..In my combine,I give as much as 110 miles of overfly..So please don`t tell me that wind & overfly don`t play a big part in who wins,or loses....Alamo


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## conditionfreak (Jan 11, 2008)

Couple of things.

Lofts are now located using hand held GPS devices, so that means they do not need "airline measurements" anymore. It is a simple and more or less free and instantaneous procedure now. Then wherever the birds are liberated for a race, the location of that spot is instantly recorded by the liberator who calls in the coordinates, and then the race secretary or Combine President has both of those locations for YOU, and simply figures out the distance for YOU at that time. This allows the birds to be released from basically anywhere at a moments notice, instead of having "fixed" release points.

Additionally. There are some that say one of the keys to flying young birds is too start them down the road while they are squeakers, and some even toss them the first time FROM 40 MILES AWAY.

I personally do not like nor do this type of training (I don't have the guts yet) and do more in line with what was described above. I merely point out this, so that you understand that there are more ways than one to "skin a cat" (as the saying goes).

There is no right or wrong method to training or winning. There are so many variables. Some single toss. Some tripple toss. Some only train in groups. Some train by taking their birds out with birds from other flyers and training them to "seperate" upon release or shortly thereafter. Some start in the front yard for the first toss (seems silly to me), and some start at 40 miles as I stated previously.

There are so many ways to do you own thing and that is what seperates the men from the boys in this sport. Who figures out the best method for training for their own location, situation and time abilities.

I would go the slow and more sure route as described above by others, before you start taking chances and adjusting to quicker but scarier (is that a word?) methods.

Good luck.


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## Pegasus (Feb 6, 2007)

sinister357 said:


> 2 months? 3 months?


I toss my YB's when I see them flying with the OB's...You will see and know if the YB is/are flying with the rest of your flock...I remember that I had a YB (3months old) and she never want to leave, even I flag her away, she might fly to the other roof but loft not flying, she'll decide if she is really ready...I think they know for themselves if their wings are strong enough to do all the flying...


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

*When To Start Road Training ?*



sinister357 said:


> 2 months? 3 months?


Ask 50 different racing fanciers, and you may get a few dozen different answers. Not only on this subject, but many others as well. There are few "Laws" or "Rules" in terms of how you must, or should do things. 

I have some of my own theories, and in time you will develop your own set of theories. Once you have clearly established yourself as a "Master" of the sport, then your "theories" some how turn into what some refer to as "Secrets", which in reality, are simply a list of "Best Practices". 

What I found to be true in my experience, is that novice fliers will ask such questions, and if they ask and you tell, for the most part they will ignore what you have to say anyway, or it simply goes over their head. So in the end, regardless of the ages you are given on this thread, you will end up trying to experiment on your own, and go through the same trials and errors anyway.

For what it may be worth to you, here is my "Tip" of the day or month.....
In humans, much research has gone into the early development of young children. Parents who simply use a TV set as the babysitter, and then send them off to school assuming it is the school's responsibility to "educate" their kids, often these children develop much differently and more slowly, then the children whose brains are stimulated at a very early age with all kinds of interactive learning experiences. 

I am of the thinking that the same thing applies to our racing pigeons. Pigeons whose brains are stimulated with learning experiences at an early age, have their brains stimulated and they develop differently then if the pigeons are exposed to the stimulus of say finding their way home at a much later date. Call it a "Theory" if you like. But it goes like this, say you have two pigeons with two "good" brains, say they both are banded on Jan 1st. At a very early age, one of these birds is road trained by itself, and forced to undergo the stress of navigating his way home over dozens of training tosses. The other bird is only exposed to loft training, and is given road training only when the last round hatched in April or May is old enough for road training. Maybe it is put off until the summer and road work does not begin in earnest until maybe six weeks before the races begin. 

With my "Theory", the bird which was trained later in life, much like the human child which was not exposed to brain stimulation, will not have a brain which is as fully developed. 

So, my answer would be "Sooner rather then Later". Which typically would mean you would want to start training classes early, and birds would be assigned classes based on their age group. If you produce three rounds, then you might have three classes. This IMHO, is preferred over waiting until later in the year and training them all at the same time.

Like many other things in life, I don't always do what is a "Best Practice", but do what is more simple and easy. This lazyness then shows up later in the year in terms of my local race results. It takes time, money and effort to do things right, and most fanciers, like myself, often take "short cuts" in order to make things more convenient. Where insanity comes into play, is when we do these same things over and over again, and expect different results. 

Before this ends up being a book, let me also add that again IMHO, it is not necessary to "Train" a modern day racing pigeon to be a homing pigeon. That skill is already in their head the day they are hatched. The training is given to turn this "Homing" pigeon into a "Racing" pigeon, which means to come home quickly and enter the loft. You can avoid all road training completely IMHO, and these pigeons will still return home from a race at some point, but it would be rare that they would be home quickly enough to be consistant winners.


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