# Survey-What's the longest it took for pigeon to return



## M Kurps (Mar 19, 2009)

This is sort of a survey and to ask people to tell stories about how long it took for a lost bird to return. You see I looked through some old files of mine and I saw how some birds lost in young bird season took months to return. The longest I saw was 9 & 1/2 months lost in a 100 mile yb race. He was put in a 500 mile ob race a little over 2 weeks after he returned and although it took him 12 days to get home he did return.
Kurps


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

I read about a bird that was lost in a race that returned 11 years later.


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## Freebird loft (Jul 17, 2009)

I have a similar bird to that one. He was my 1st nominated in the opening yb 100 first weekend of September and did not return till May the next year. After 8 days in the loft he flew a 200, 200, 300, and 500 always late (twice in the top 20%) but came home. After the 500 I noticed a tape worm hanging out  So I put on the latex gloves and started pulling, it was approx. 16 inches long  Hope this year he comes back without the help from the tapeworm


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## 1981 (Aug 9, 2006)

ace in the hole said:


> I read about a bird that was lost in a race that returned 11 years later.


Sometimes I wonder if the bird was actually kept as a breeder by someone when it trapped in their loft. If not the bird must enjoy the life in the outside better and decided to return home to retire.


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## soymi69 (Nov 12, 2007)

I have one that took over 2 months to return home, he was lost in a 100 mile race, came back all muddy with an injured wing, I guess he got hit by a hawk, crash land, waited till his wings was strong enough to fly, then made it home. Fascinating how he survived becuase he was very skinny, I named him Lucky because after he was healed and loft flying a hawk got him, and was drop in my neighbor yard, now his flying again, all healed and always first one to go inside the loft.


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

I know a guy that sent a bird on a 500 mile race...the bird over shot and flew an additional 500 to the north where some school kids found him walking around on the playground. The kids read the band and contacted him. He told them to give it a little water and some popcorn and let it rest a day or two and turn it loose as it might come home and sure enough it did two days later. I think it only took about a week in total but lots of miles.


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## conditionfreak (Jan 11, 2008)

I had one take three months but it was good and healthy. Which makes me believe it was in someones loft and they didn't know it for that period of time.

Is it a good homer if it comes home after eleven years? Or a bad homer because it didn't come home the first day?  That's the 64 thousand dollar question.


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## M Kurps (Mar 19, 2009)

ace in the hole said:


> I read about a bird that was lost in a race that returned 11 years later.





1981 said:


> Sometimes I wonder if the bird was actually kept as a breeder by someone when it trapped in their loft. If not the bird must enjoy the life in the outside better and decided to return home to retire.





conditionfreak said:


> I had one take three months but it was good and healthy. Which makes me believe it was in someones loft and they didn't know it for that period of time.
> 
> Is it a good homer if it comes home after eleven years? Or a bad homer because it didn't come home the first day?  That's the 64 thousand dollar question.


Wow 11 years is quite a feat, whether he was lost,in another loft,or hanging haha for him to find his way home after all that time ACES IMO.
Kurps


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## Pigeon0446 (Apr 22, 2007)

I've had birds come home after being missing for months. If they come home looking nice I figure sombody had them if they come back looking a lil ratty then I figure they were out on their own for a while. I had my bird this past season that wound up coming in 5th in the money race I won the ITFA race. Well I shipped her to the first 100 mile race and she didn't come home for 4 weeks and when she she looked like hell. I fed her good and gave her some special treatment for a few days. But I figured she'd be shot for that money race since she only had 2 and a half weeks until that race. Well she came around really fast so I started training her again and after a week of 25 mile tosses put her in a 200 mile race and she came in 8th with 3 of my bird beating her even thought she was there b4 them she just didn't clock until the others clocked. Then the next week she was 5th in the 300 mile ITFA and the week after 17th in another 300 mile race. 3 top 10%'s in 4 weeks basically the same amount of time she was missing. Sopmtimes I think it does them good since after being out for a few weeks like that they don't want to be stuck out there again so they have and extra urge to get home.


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## pigeon_racer (Jan 12, 2009)

I have had birds come home after 9 months. ONe of them when he got home he looked great, his breast almost looked in as good of form as if he had been in my loft. When I got to looking him over closely, he was a yearling red with a few white flights in one wing. I knew he hadn't been in someone's loft because those yearling flight feathers looked like see through lace feathers. This is a sure sign that the bird has spent along time out on its own. I segregated him for a few weeks and then put him back in the flying loft. He looked great and flew like crazy when exercising. It was clear he had gained some expierience in avoiding hawks because of his quick dodges to the right and left occasionally when flying. I kept him, let him go throught a good moult and overwinter. The next old bird season he ended up being one of my best long distance birds that year. So being lost and then coming home after a long period seemed to have wisened him up a bunch!


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## conditionfreak (Jan 11, 2008)

Many experienced fliers have told me that a bird that spends a night out in the wilds, will not want to do it again, and can be a very good racer. As someone else stated above. I have limited experience with that, but my experience is that they were very good for a week or two, then regressed back to lazyness.


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## PigeonX (Oct 17, 2010)

Some of my young birds last year actually were just gone for the night, and that really seems to make them a better homer. It usually is thier first night taking flight with the flock and sometimes they are wonder off for a night, but usually by the morning they are almost always come back. I've also have some older birds that when I first flew them, got lost overnight, due to hawk scares and ect. but when they would almost always be back by the morning. Those birds that I've had, had those experiences seem to be a lot more aware when out, they really learn from there mistakes, and come in faster after experiencing nights away from the loft.


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

My longest here is one month. The bird had scar on its chest (talon?) and was skinny when it came back. I really don't know how that bird survived somewhere.


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## Kastle Loft (May 7, 2008)

My longest is six months. He was lost in a 150-mile YB race in the fall and came back almost exactly 6 mos. later in the spring. I remember the day as it was the first nice break in the weather and it was the first day I let my OB back out for loft flying. I'm guessing that my bird must have been in someone else's loft and they did the same thing and he came home. He looked great. Feathers were dingy, but he still had his countermark on. He's been a good racer since.


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

My longest is almost a year. It was the first year I had pigeons and didn't really know how old the birds should be when road training them. I had a group of 4, my first 4, out to 20 miles when they were only 6 weeks old. WAY too fast, WAY too early. Had one get lost at the 20 mile station. The next May, I had a bird show up I didn't recognize. He was HUGE. Had molted out really nice and was certainly cocky. Looked none the worse for the wear at all. Had missed youngbird season, and his first old bird season but he showed back up and still knew how to trap. I read the band number and couldn't believe it was him. Put him back into the team and he was never a really fast racer, but if it was a hard slow race, windy, foggy, rainy, you could bet he would be the first bird home, always was. He excelled in the 800-1200 ypm types of races.


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## M Kurps (Mar 19, 2009)

I looked into the following yb season,and like you Matt these files are from a long time ago when I first started and also not to misdirect this thread but I would like to give a very greatful TY to all those who help beginners with either donating birds or mentoring as they helped me learn alot. Now I noticed that that following yb in back to back smash races ( for me anyway ),a 250 and 300,four of the birds returned the following spring 1 in february and 3 in march,all in about a months time. I do not know the condition of the birds as I was young and didn't keep that good of records,I wish I had.
Kurps


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

Matt Bell said:


> My longest is almost a year. It was the first year I had pigeons and didn't really know how old the birds should be when road training them. I had a group of 4, my first 4, out to 20 miles when they were only 6 weeks old. WAY too fast, WAY too early. Had one get lost at the 20 mile station. The next May, I had a bird show up I didn't recognize. He was HUGE. Had molted out really nice and was certainly cocky. Looked none the worse for the wear at all. Had missed youngbird season, and his first old bird season but he showed back up and still knew how to trap. I read the band number and couldn't believe it was him. Put him back into the team and he was never a really fast racer, but if it was a hard slow race, windy, foggy, rainy, you could bet he would be the first bird home, always was. He excelled in the 800-1200 ypm types of races.


I went back and found his race record...these are just the time he made the sheet, not every race he flew obviously.

4/13/02 20th/172 birds 11 lofts 136 miles headwinds and rain 552.744 ypm

4/27/02 18th/158 birds 10 lofts 201 miles 25-30 mph crosswinds 1189.221 ypm

6/1/02 42nd/107 birds 8 lofts 397 miles 15 mph headwinds 98 degrees 569.037 ypm

6/8/02 37th/112 birds 9 lofts 136 miles 20 mph tailwind 1458.778 ypm

5/17/03 37th/123 birds 12 lofts 319 miles 15 mph headwinds 870.663 ypm

5/31/03 29th/116 birds 11 lofts 397 miles TSTORMS thruout 497.810 ypm

He was stocked after that season due to me having a few of his children in the loft that were flying well along with the rest of that family. But as you can see he was not a fast racer by any means but he came home in what I would consider tough conditions.


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## realtalk72 (Nov 7, 2009)

well i just had a pigeon return from a 10 mile toss it took him 40 days to come back i thought I lost him...he was fine ,healthy and very aggresive...


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## conditionfreak (Jan 11, 2008)

I have had birds out for a while and when they returned, they returned missing the electronic bands.

Glad they returned but really cheap of someone to steal my electronic bands. I guess they figured it was "payment" for feeding my bird for awhile. Those bands only cost about $2.50 each, so no big deal and worth it to get my bird taken care of.

Heck, I would pay 40 bucks for any bird I have, to be taken care of and given a chance to return to me. Even if it is a real loser, it's my loser.


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## 1981 (Aug 9, 2006)

So how much really are you will to pay to get your bird(s) back? I have a club mate who had one of his bird found by the raptor center and they were going to charge him over $2,000 to get the bird back. I don't know if he got his bird back or not.


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

1981 said:


> So how much really are you will to pay to get your bird(s) back? I have a club mate who had one of his bird found by the raptor center and they were going to charge him over $2,000 to get the bird back. I don't know if he got his bird back or not.


That raptor center probably is blackmailing the guy. Your club mate can probably call cops and claim that the raptor center has his bird (stolen).


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## pigeon_racer (Jan 12, 2009)

Unless this is a goverment facility, they have no legal right to keep the bird or make you pay to get it back other than a "reasonable" daily rate, unless the have had a vet treat the bird for something, then you would need to pay for that also. They are protected, I would ask the A.U. for assistance! Just what I'd do. Sounds like they want free pigeons to feed their raptors.


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## Kastle Loft (May 7, 2008)

I just had one of my young birds return home today after being lost on a 270 mile race last October. Five months gone and he looked pretty good. Kinda dirty, but healthy looking. Still had his Electronic band and a snap band on. My ob were loft flying tonight and he came back with them and two other ferals . He went straight for the ladies - wouldn't even trap he was so interested in chasing the hens around.

Coincidentally, I had another YB return on almost the same day a year ago after being gone six months. Makes me wonder if my birds are living out their winters in someone elses loft who let's his birds out in the spring at about e same time.


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

M Kurps said:


> This is sort of a survey and to ask people to tell stories about how long it took for a lost bird to return. You see I looked through some old files of mine and I saw how some birds lost in young bird season took months to return. The longest I saw was 9 & 1/2 months lost in a 100 mile yb race. He was put in a 500 mile ob race a little over 2 weeks after he returned and although it took him 12 days to get home he did return.
> Kurps


 I had sent a YB to a race and he did not return for two years. The bird was in good condition and had a countermark on it's leg. So apparently someone had been keeping him and had sent him to a race, and somewhere enroute to his new "home" his brain sent him back to his orginal loft.


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

My Dad got one back 2 1/2 years after he was lost in a YB race...He then produced a bunch of winners for my Dad the next few years....Alamo


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## jpsnapdy (Apr 4, 2010)

Alamo said:


> My Dad got one back 2 1/2 years after he was lost in a YB race...He then produced a bunch of winners for my Dad the next few years....Alamo


I had two birds that got lost from the first training toss at 10 miles on a foggy morning. One returned 3 days later (a hen) and looked at me in reproach (can you tell that look in a pigeon?), she and her mother were the most intelligent birds I've ever seen, the other one took three weeks to come back, I think he must have taken a free holiday in someone's loft and looked in top condition, three days after his return he won a 200 miler. The other bird was a classy winner too. The speciality of both these was to win by huge margins, like 20 to 35mn in a 200 miles race for instance. My fellow fanciers knew that they didn't stand a chance when they saw any of these two at the club. The cock was also a top breeder and the hen the better racer and a breeder of breeders, her grandchildren still smother the competition.
I've also had distance birds show up after many months or a year and since they generally look ok, I think they must have been kept in some other loft.
Many times birds hit by hawks or shot by "hunters" will show up wounded any time between race day to three days later. Very sadly, some of them don't recover, they've come home to die...


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## dennis kuhn (Dec 29, 2007)

I had one of my Black Knights that I had raced as an old bird, and then donated to a racing pigeon auction about 900 miles away, return six years later. The bird was 8 years old at the time of his return, and I even looked up the shipping label to confirm when he had been shipped for this auction. The furthest I have ever had a bird return from is a bird I sold to a fancier in Middleton NY which is about 1,250 miles away. Bird raised a round of young for him and then accidentally got out the door one day when he was entereing the loft, and took about three weeks to get home but made it in good condition. I put him back on my race team and won a couple more distance diplomas on him before retiring him. This bird was one of the last of my reguloar colored Sions I had left. Still amazed at what these birds are capable of doing even after all, these years of having them.

Dennis Kuhn 
http://www.pigeonsuppliesplus.com

http://www.whiteracingpigeons.com


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