# pigeon tricks



## esms4 (May 19, 2005)

does anyone now how to train my pigeons to do trick and if they will be able to do simple parrot tricks.
ethan


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

Hi Ethan~

Well, that depends on how many pigeons you are asking about and the types of "tricks"?

Pigeons are very intelligent creatures and they all have their own individual temperament and personality. 

One problem though...ya ca't get 'em to talk !


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## LuisO (Nov 14, 2005)

Hahah, yea I agree very very smart! I have two male birds that have a self learned trick...SELF DEFENSE! They will slamm my hand with their wings and peck me to death if I get anywhere near them or their girl. They also dance for me too and coo like nuts when they see me. Thats enough tricks for me.


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

That was funny Luis, but oh so true! Yours must get brave when they are in a group of other pigeons.


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## esms4 (May 19, 2005)

*hi*

i had three pigeons but only two of them came home but there still is a chance that the other pigeon will come home. so for now i have two 8 week old pigeon one white with jet black feathers on her tail and the tips of her wings and the other one is half wild so looks like a black wild pigeon. for trick i would like them to do the wave and spin.
ethan


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## Camrron (Dec 19, 2005)

Hi Ethan,

Pigeons just are not made to learn and do tricks like say a cat or a dog might. Even cats are known to be almost impossible to train to do tricks like a dog might. I have had very limited luck even trying to encourage positive behaviors with lots of praise, food, rewards etc, nevermind tricks. The things that pigeons do they do very well, like homing for example, but doing circus acts on command is likely time wasted on your part and an activity that will be unfair to your birds as well. Dogs love to learn tricks though, it is in their nature as a pack animal to imitate and learn from those around them. Do you have a dog?

Cameron


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## LuisO (Nov 14, 2005)

The best training I have ever seen done with pigeons is what they do naturally...HOMING or Perfoming. With all the breeds that there are you would be able to find one that does something that you like. 

Now I am a Parrot Trainer. I work with 8 parrots everyday and pigeons are just not as intelligent in those ways. Training them to come to you for instance when you call them. There actually is very little training involved. Lets say you want to train your birds to come to you on command here is what you would do.

Use a can of food and whistle everytime you are going to feed them. Shaking the can and whistling the same tune everytime, several times. Soon they will realize that can shaking and whistling mean food. What you trained them to do was to respond to a stimulus you provided while you gave them food. Now they understand that these two things mean food and wherever food is pigeons will fly to. Now, you birds can't be afraid of you. Hold them, have them perch on your hand. Not many pigeons like to be held or have your arms wrapped around them, but they will land on your head, shoulder and perch on your finger. So once they know that they ONLY get food from the whistle and the can shaking the next time you offer food to them offer it say across the yard in a specified location...

Locations, now you can choose for it to be 1, 2 or even 4 locations where the birds will eat BUT condition ALL locations for at least 1 week with only just enough food for the birds to be hungry enough to come right back and dock into the loft again. This trick seems hard but it is very easy. With a pigeon it may take a little longer, 2 weeks maybe but I'm sure they can learn it.

Ok so this is where you are at. Can Shaking and Whistle mean FOOD. You go to each of the locations ONE AT A TIME and put food in the specified area (small amount). When the food is ready call them. They will come because they are Hungry...YOU LOWERED their afternoon feeding and in the morning they should be hungry. after they are done eating at that location right away head to the next location get the food ready and call them again. They will fly immediatly to that location, let them finish and then the next location. Once you have done 2 or 3 locations head back to the loft and call them. They will fly back and trap because....THEY ALREADY KNOW WHEN THEY TRAP THEY GET FOOD. So have food ready and feed them a nice meal for the work they have done. repeat this in the afternoon and EVERY time you feed them and it will become conditioned, and before you know it, you will be able to let them out and they will fly to each location with the food waiting for them and fly back to the loft on your command. Some birds will stray and try to go to the third location first. Put him back inthe loft and try him again and so on. I would try with 2 young birds just weaned from the nest and that LIKE YOU ALOT. This will work with the following: HOMERS, ROLLERS, and Lahore. I had a beautiful lahore that did 5 locations and was a star in my backyard. Alot of people like them to feel and know that the LOFT is the only place they can eat but having these locations was soo much fun for me and they KNOW that the big meal is always at the end, in the loft. Its worth a shot...but YOU MUST be consistent and not get fustrated. These birds take a little longer to train.

ok so you ready for another trick.....

lol I'll reply with a little about Kit training Rollers....this is the REAL FUN!!!! I have to gead out for chinese.

Luis


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## LuisO (Nov 14, 2005)

Ok Rollers...There are two types. Performance and Show. Performance are bred to fly out their lofts and do just what their names says...ROLL

Now Rollers dont have much of a Homing Instinct, but are awsome perfomers. Like I mentioned before these birds are motivated by FOOD.

Most People have rollers in kit(s) which is a small loft contruction that are NOT portable. Me however and other people have PORTABLE Kits. My kit right now is really small and I have decided to put birds to breed because their blood is too good to loose, but anyway....Portable Kit Training.

The Idea of this is to be able to put your birds in a small cage (Big enough to move around comfy but not flutter or get banged up during the trip), and take them to ANY open land area and let them loose to FLY and show off!

1st getting good breeder birds that are bred for perfomance to raise up some nice babies for you. The babies you will train. Even before the babies are weaned, they can be started. I like 3 weeks but they still spend a great deal of time with mom and pop to wean them.

Ok, so...lets say you have 4 babies (4-10 is good, 4-6 is better, the smaller the better, easier to train). These babies will get to know you and should not be afraid of you so work on having them close to you. YOU are their Food source and the Kit box is THEIR HOME!

*Portable Kit Box:* (The one you will take with you). Small, just large enough to fit the birds. It should have a trap and a large door for them to take off from. A nice one for 4 birds would be like 3ft long x 2 ft wide x 18 inches high. The 2 long sides I like to make out of wire. The top has a large door and the one end has a trap. I paint it orange inside and out. I was told not too long ago that these guys can see ORANGE from up to a mile away which is great. 

*The HOME Kit:* Should be exactly the same as the smaller kit, color make and model just with bigger dimensions so that the birds can be happy when they arent flying. You can also fly them in a larger loft for a few days at a time if the whether is bad. But they should spend most if not ALL their time in these two kits. These birds I dont paln on breeding unless I want to and then I remove them from the kit and into a breeding loft. The kit birds that are in the kit SHOULD NOT breed so the Home Kit should not have nests in it.

The Training: Like mentioned before. Start teaching them the Can shaking and the Whistling. They have to know that before you start letting them loose. They must also know how to trap. When they trap you immedielty reward them with Food INSIDE the kit. This should all be done before they can fly good. I then took some advice from a website when I 1st started to train, taking them to other locations and letting them just sit and look around in an open cage and then after about 30 minutes put the Portable kit box out a short distance away from them and since they are HUNGRY they will get excited. KIT box is where they get fed so they are excited, then they see the can and you start whistling...WOW You can see birds drooling! lol Keeping them hungry seems a bit unfair but thats how people get their rollers to perform, feeding them just enough the day before to make them hungry for the next day's flight.

You will continue to do that and everytime try to go to a different location. Once they have this down and trap immedietly into the kit you can start flagging them. This will get them to fly. They will fly circles and start having fun. Some will wonder and some will leave and get lost...thats what happens when you train them but the ones that stay, I have 4 good ones, will be your best.

You Never want to fly them after they have eaten...THEY WILL NEVER COME DOWN! lol. Rollers LOVE to fly and with a full crop forget it! Keep them hungry when they fly and they will fly for about half hour and once they get the hang of flying they will start to perform.

This is the real beauty of Rollers. Small birds that do a number in the sky. I love them! Now this may not cover everything, but this is deffinate something to think about. A Parrot learns tricks like "Step Up" and "Swing" but they could never attempt to have a Parrot fly out for half hour and do backflips in the sky for them! lol...I've tried it! haha...the most they will do is fly circles and come back to you. Do some research on rollers, you may like them. If anyone has any input on the training technique please let me know. I am always looking for easier methods and techniques.

Luis


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## andinla (Mar 11, 2003)

*My mom swears my pigeon talks*

I just go along with her and say yeah I hear him saying I love you coo-coo-coo well I kinda hear it...... I think if you spend a lot of time with them you might be able to teach them something, what I don't know. If they are smart enough to find their way home from a long distance they must be smart enough to do a trick.. 

I do have a friend that lays his pigeon in his hand on his back and the pigeon rides a invisible bike.... serious he moves his feet like he is riding a bike. My friend also tells his pigeon to give him a kiss and he sticks his beak between my friends knuckles and shakes his head back and forth like he is kissing him. This friend of mine spends 24/7 with this pigeon, he even sleeps in the same bed... 



I will let you know if he has any other tricks up his sleeve....

Andi


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## esms4 (May 19, 2005)

*hi*

thinks for the help but i still would like to try and train them and one of you said that you train parrot so i was wondering is you could let me now how to train them so that i could try it on my pigeons my brother also has a cocateil that he wants to train.
ethan


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## Poulette (Feb 5, 2002)

My pigeon Tigeon does a very good trick, he helps me with the cleaning  We have small pebbles put on the snow in winter instead of salt, it is better for the environment. Well with all the big boots in the house ( 2 teenagers and a husband  ) we need to vacuum very often... Well Tigeon picks up the small rocks for his digestion  Tigeon does the vacuum!  

Suz.


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## LondonPigeon (May 10, 2005)

I'd like to teach a pigeon to dance to music

but I dont think its possible


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Here is a thread on training to fly to the hand.
Of course, that involved a delicious snack like peanuts...lol


http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=7405


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