# how long should they fly?



## coondog (Sep 5, 2003)

Hi
I am new to this site and to rasing pigeons. I recently got 6 young homing pigeons, and have let them fly 4 times. When I let them out tonight they went out of sight in about 11/2 minutes and stayed out for 11/2 hrs. Is this normal? Or how long should they stay out? Also how long do I wait to take them out and let them fly home? And how far do I take them? Thanks for any help you can give.


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## bigbird (Aug 19, 2000)

Here are some suggestions.

Limit the time they fly directly from the loft by being sure they are hungry when you let them out. They will return soon if hungry.

Once the birds are used to the loft, let them fly out latter in the day, this way they will not go far.

Begin training them by taking them 1 mile in each direction, releasing them, and then extending this distance a little at a time.

Regards,
Carl


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hello and Welcome to pigeons.com

When your birds went out for 1 hour or more, that is called "routing". This is where they go a longer distance and mentally take pictures of where they are in relation to the coop. They are familiaring themselves with their surrounding so that they are ready to go the distance. They will "route" in north one day, maybe south another, and so on.

My babies did this a couple of times this year, and now fly around the coop. 

Once they stop routing you can start taking them out on small trips, as Carl explained.

For daily training they should fly continuously for a half hour before they should be allowed to come in. Treesa


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## coondog (Sep 5, 2003)

Thanks alot. 
*******


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## Scuiry (Jul 11, 2001)

Does it matter how old they are? I've heard that youngsters learn better and that older birds have trouble learning. Is this true?

Daniel


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Daniel!

Thanks for your interest.

Yes, that is true. There is an awful lot to learn about pigeon racing, and an awful lot of responsibility involved.
We train the young birds, when you are starting out you want birds who have not homed anywhere. You start out with a clean slate. They need to be precisely trained to your commands.You don't buy old birds for racing, unless you use them for breeding.Older birds have already homed somewhere else, and they do not have the stamina for tough 200 to 400 mile races. 
They already have imprinted habits and some are not good. 

Babies that were born earlier this year qualify for the races. You can however race older birds in the "older bird" competition.
Older birds are over a year old. You really have to be on top of it to race them and keep them well conditioned and give them a lot of nutrition. I have heard of the older birds having memory problems and forgetting where they live. That just makes me mad when owners can be so irresponsible and race a birds who is not in tip-top shape. 
These poor birds get lost, or killed, leaving the safety of their coop and end up getting killed, lost, or living with our dear wonderful feral flocks.

Treesa


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## Thunderbird (Sep 7, 2003)

You are doing a good job if they are routing. This means they feel good and are in good shape! Never release after feeding-always before feeding time, preferrably in the a.m. Start your tosses at 1 mi, then 5, then 10 and so on, always go in one direction for a ways, then start over another direction if you wish.
Chris


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## slugmonkey (Nov 10, 2003)

starting small is the key, that and regularity we start our birds out at about 12 miles and increase up to an average of 40 about 3 or 4 times a week some times going as high as 100 a few weeks before a season dont belive what they say about old birds they go a LOT farther down the road we have had MANY 600 mile day birds a few of us in our club are trying to organize an 800 mile race next year they are right about one thing dont buy old birds to race ONLY to breed a few years ago we had an "old bird" that we purchased from someone in another state nearby after a couple of years he got "inadvertantly tossed" he returned to that same loft and we got him back my birds fly about 1 1/2 to 3 hours a day just whatever they feel like


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## Birdbank Philippines (Oct 23, 2003)

Hi! in the first 3 weeks before they can fly your should let them out on your trapping system so that they will know were to enter. You should use a sounds like wistle when feeding so that your Racing Pigeons will be familliar with it. Feed them a small amount before routing. Dont let them stay out of the loft for a very long time. Everytime a loft flying is over they must trap safely a.s.a.p. using your wistle means its feeding time. Let them rest inside the loft not outside!

Remember if your breeding, breed speed to speed and distance to distance. DO NOT COMBINE BOTH!

For the records your Bird must fly from the release area for atleast 2 minutes per miles to have a winner. Always train leaders not followers. GOODLUCK!

------------------
Birdbank "now a name soon a legend".


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Birdbank and Welcome to pigeons.com

Thank you for your insight.

We use a metal can with seed in it. They go nuts when they hear the sound and go inside immediately. This is not only crucial when racing, but getting them inside as soon as they land, keeps the hawks from getting them also. 

The weather here in Florida today has been perfect. My birds had a great flight this morning and they stayed out a while. It is incredible to watch them fly!
Treesa


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## slugmonkey (Nov 10, 2003)

I try to keep feed in front of my birds whenever they are out of the loft. when I train I put feed down AFTER I put them in the basket I try to let the birds see that there is food there if I kick them out in the afternoon I put down feed after all of the birds have been put out of the loft the only time I try to leave my birds hungry is when im trying to get their attention !!!
when the bird comes in hungry he knows there is going to be food in the loft and he traps some people dont feed on race day to make the bird hungry I dont do this in the case that it is a tough race my bird is coming home instead of looking for food if its a really fast race sometimes they will lolly around here in kansas you never know how much wind or what direction I think in the overall record this has helped me instead of hurt me

JUST ANOTHER OPINION


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## i love pigeons do you ? (Nov 24, 2003)

hi my name is tony i am 13 years old and have kept pigeons for 2 years and already i am top flier in my club in england.i usually let my pigeons out at5.00am befor school and 4.00pm after they fly for about 2 hours.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Tony and Welcome to pigeons.com

I love pigeons too! Sounds like you're a natural! Your birds sound like "mean flying machines". Practice makes perfect!

Good luck to you and let us hear from you again. Treesa


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## slugmonkey (Nov 10, 2003)

Hey Tony
CONGRATS we just bought some pigeons from england dont know if there any good yet whats the name of your club we are in wichita kansas you can see our results in racingpigeonmall.com under wichita homing club what type of birds do you fly we have a lot of janssens and some devrendts one of our birds was nominated to the olympiad we also have some national ace pigeons well i hope to hear from you 
goodbye


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## i love pigeons do you ? (Nov 24, 2003)

> Originally posted by slugmonkey:
> * Hey Tony
> CONGRATS we just bought some pigeons from england dont know if there any good yet whats the name of your club we are in wichita kansas you can see our results in racingpigeonmall.com under wichita homing club what type of birds do you fly we have a lot of janssens and some devrendts one of our birds was nominated to the olympiad we also have some national ace pigeons well i hope to hear from you
> goodbye*


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## i love pigeons do you ? (Nov 24, 2003)

my club is called the british legion.i fly wildermish cocks and hens and also some of the original heart hogs.what do u think about the eye sign and the wing theory?


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## slugmonkey (Nov 10, 2003)

I dont go by eye so much I have had some excellent racers with mediocre eyes I also have had some excellent eyed pigeons that were mediocre racers I try to let the performance of the pigeon do the talking if they dont race well it dosent matter how good of an eye they have they go somewhere else as far as wings go I like LONG wings most of my great pigeons have extra long wings in comparison to the other birds in my loft I just got some Koopman Jansens by way of Pieter Veenstra they have wonderful long wings and great dark eyes I cant wait to start crossing these birds with mine a lot of times we pair dark eyes with pearl eyes these are usually good racers I must be going 
goodbye


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Bumping up


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