# pigeons gone!



## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

ok so i have had my pigeons for about two months now. i have been trap traning them for almost two weeks. yesterday i let four of them out . i was getting them and putting them on the roof of the loft one at a time. when i was putting the third on top. it got spooked started flapping and all three took off. i put the fourth, but the fourth didnt join them he stayed by the roof of the loft then went to the roof of my house after a while it went to the landing board and trapped in by itself, now for the bad part. the three homers took off and i stayed out there for hours everynow and then i would see on fly over the house. they didnt come home last night, i think they slept around one of the trees in my neighborhood.today i was out all day and again they didnt come home. . do you guys think they are not comming back? or will they eventually get hungry enough to come home. thats if they are not lost. oh well .. i know you lose pigeons in this game. but i didnt think i would lose the first three i ever release lol


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## chappy (Jun 1, 2009)

how did you acquire these birds? if you got them as adults from someone close then that's where you should check. did you pull their flights when you got them? this is a technique you could use when acquiring adult birds, pull the flights completely, that way you could let them out the yard to familiarize themselves with the soroundiings, by the time the flights grow back they would be more homely and would more likely stay.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

jtrujillo707 said:


> ok so i have had my pigeons for about two months now. i have been trap traning them for almost two weeks. yesterday i let four of them out . i was getting them and putting them on the roof of the loft one at a time. when i was putting the third on top. it got spooked started flapping and all three took off. i put the fourth, but the fourth didnt join them he stayed by the roof of the loft then went to the roof of my house after a while it went to the landing board and trapped in by itself, now for the bad part. the three homers took off and i stayed out there for hours everynow and then i would see on fly over the house. they didnt come home last night, i think they slept around one of the trees in my neighborhood.today i was out all day and again they didnt come home. . do you guys think they are not comming back? or will they eventually get hungry enough to come home. thats if they are not lost. oh well .. i know you lose pigeons in this game. but i didnt think i would lose the first three i ever release lol



I would not say they were gone. but if you didn't do your job right in training then they may be not inclined to come back or confused. you said you trap trained them for two weeks, that is fine, but how were they responding? Iam going to assume well as one did get in. young birds usually are left to venture out by themselves when ready, they can be jumpy out for the first time and they need to do it on their own..not you taking them out of a secure place all at once. so if they come back stop doing that. 

they need to know a feed call so you can have comunication with them to let them know when feeding time is, that is how you call them back.

they need to be hungry to respond to the feed call to come back. so over feeding before letting out will ..well that is not hard to figure out. ..make them NOT hungry.

you really need for them to know all these steps for you to have a bit of control of the birds and call them back and for them to learn/taught by you on sound of the feed call, how to get back in and not be full when let out. you may have to start over with a feed call and cut back on the feed to get them in from the settling cage, when they respond without too much hesitation you know you have the feed right and they know how to get in when they are called to eat. when that happens then open the loft on a nice quiet day. personally this time of year is crazy to be letting young birds out for the first time IMO, hawks are starving and there is not much wild food out there for them. it is just a bad time of year.

also you did not mention how many young birds you have..Im assuming they are young birds bought and settled to your loft. IMO, more birds are better then just a few, I think they do better in a flock like 10 or more. a few birds are not as secure with themselves as they don't have that flock protection with more eyes to the sky and flock defensive flying.


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## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

yes they were young birds, well maybe the problem is i didnt have them hungry enough, every time i fed them i whistled. when i was trap training them. they progressively got better to the point that as soon as one went in the rest followed right away. the first time i ever trap trained them it didnt go so smooth lol but they learned. im thinking i was overfeeding them because one of the birds did look a little fat.


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## tommy martin (Jan 17, 2014)

*gone*

If those babies don't come home in a couple of days then they are gone. 

I use a settling cage and put babies up on the roof of the house where they can see the loft, the yard, and the street. I leave them in the cage for 3 hours and I do this 5 times before I let them out to fly. 
I will put the blue bars out one day then the checks one day and then all other colors. this helps me to know which babies have been in the cage.


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## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

yea i figured. the guy who gave me my birds told me he had a pigeon .had never seen the outside of the loft, gave the bird away at 2 months. and two years later returned. i know they are most likely gone but i keep looking to the sky everyday lol. idk why i do that. any way i have been letting out my 3 other homers. and they just sit on top of the loft or on top of my roof observing for three days now. and when icall them in they trap in. they seem a little timid to fly. but they are definitely observing their surroundings


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## TheLaw818 (Mar 12, 2012)

jtrujillo707 said:


> yea i figured. the guy who gave me my birds told me he had a pigeon .had never seen the outside of the loft, gave the bird away at 2 months. and two years later returned. i know they are most likely gone but i keep looking to the sky everyday lol. idk why i do that. any way i have been letting out my 3 other homers. and they just sit on top of the loft or on top of my roof observing for three days now. and when icall them in they trap in. they seem a little timid to fly. but they are definitely observing their surroundings


Hey buddy keep doing what your doing..Remember you have to learn to crawl before you walk.


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## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

hey man thanks for encouraging words. its true i know im new, hell 1 year ago i didnt even know people raced pigeons. i have alot to learn, i try to read on here and other places online to learn as much as i can. this forum is great when i have had questions i always get helpful people giving me advice. the guy who gave me birds has raced pigeons for over 30 years. but has not in recent years. he offered me more birds to replace the ones i lost. i said no because i wanted to wait and see if they would come back. but it appears they are gone oh well


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## TheLaw818 (Mar 12, 2012)

jtrujillo707 said:


> hey man thanks for encouraging words. its true i know im new, hell 1 year ago i didnt even know people raced pigeons. i have alot to learn, i try to read on here and other places online to learn as much as i can. this forum is great when i have had questions i always get helpful people giving me advice. the guy who gave me birds has raced pigeons for over 30 years. but has not in recent years. he offered me more birds to replace the ones i lost. i said no because i wanted to wait and see if they would come back. but it appears they are gone oh well


I'd grab them! Keep learning, every day we learn something different, something new and meet flyers with great input..Keep building your pigeon bank account everyday add something new too it..


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## The_Rookie (Dec 18, 2012)

TheLaw818 said:


> Hey buddy keep doing what your doing..Remember you have to learn to crawl before you walk.


See this is why I love coming on here. Guys like TheLaw818, ThePigeonShack and many others help new flyers like me and jtrujillo707. Still kicking myself for missing out on the Futurity 350. LOL. Maybe next year.


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## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

i agree this forum is very informative, and there are alot of people who care about the sport and are willing to help.


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## ozarkbill (Aug 17, 2008)

I think your mistake was in you taking them out and not letting them come out on their own. Usually they come out and hang around close on the roof for a time or two before they fly much. They were scared of the newness.


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## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

yes i agree. because like i said. the first two were just hanging out on top of the loft, but when i took out the third one he spooked them and they all took off


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

It sounds like you got the idea, you may want to give young birds more time on the feed call before letting out, two weeks may not be enough..try three.
I sold some young birds to a fella that had a fly off as well and I just could not figure out why that would happen as the guy did everything by the book. well I found out later and he told me when he got the birds he was in their loft all the time picking them up trying to make them tame. basically I would of taken off too when let out for the first time. they reacted just as if a predator was in there stalking them..so that was the reason for that flyoff poor birds did not have time to even get used to the new place without that big goof pawing at them. Im not saying your doing that it is just something if not mentioned could explaine the actions of the birds.. there are allot of things that can affect them. I had a hawk swoop in when mine first were let out, I thought what a disaster! but the birds suprized me and did well, they were about 8 weeks of age, old enough to fly fast if need be but still young enough to not go too far out the first time.. IMO 8 or 9 weeks of age is a great age to work at for their first outing.


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## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

yea i didnt pick them up or pet them too much. i mainly went in to feed them and would whistle as i fed them i did that for about a month. than trap trained them from a cage to go through the trap for about two weeks. then i let them out. i think what happened is that they just didnt have time to look at their sorroundings since it was their first time out. they got spooked flew off and got lost. thats what im thinking . i have been sucessfully flying my other three homers since then. they dont trap too fast but i think they are still learning since its only been a week


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

Any time a bird is 2 months and older ,it will have a strong enough wing to fly well enough to get lost. Now when you are training the birds to a feed call. YOU CAN also get them trap trained. Just put them out in the settling pen before you feed. Then call them in with the feed. And use you feed call ecah time you feed. Holding them past 2 months makes you have a greater chance to lose at least a few. I liked to get them out by 6 weeks. Used to get them out by the second day after weaning BUT hawks changed that for many people. AND in hawk season I went to letting them out about 30 min, befor dark. Worked well as most hawks had found a meal Or moved on to get ready to roost. You can use a settling pen and lock your trap to protect them. While keeping them out to learn the sky. In todays time many people hold there birds to long and lose up to 50 percent from wing strong birds. MORE then if the hawks would get or scare away. When breeding where hawks are strong just delay the breeding season As the holding of the young is no different then breeding later. Any way good luck and Take your time.


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## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

yea i see what your saying. teach them before the have the ability to get lost. well the other three homers have started flying around the loft. i had one not return a couple nights ago. and the next morning i whistled. and 5 minutes later the bird was sitting outside the loft. so i didnt like that he didnt come home the previous night. but i sthink sitting the first 2-3 days helped him know where his home is cause he came back


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

Yes sitting the loft lets them learn the sky. Many will sit the loft from 5days to 2 weeks. And make short circles as they build up there wings. But that is when they are young enough. The birds being out all night and getting home NOW may be much smarter on where it lives. Just keep doing what you are and let the birds work on there flying.


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## jtrujillo707 (Oct 3, 2013)

lol yea the bird was out flying with the other two. after about 1 hour 2 birds trapped in. the last bird would fly then land then fly again. then i saw him fly past my house. it got dark and he didnt return. I couldnt believe i had lost another bird haha. but the next morning i went outside i whistled. went to the bathroom and when i came back he was sitting on the landing board. i was so relived


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