# First Training toss ...!!!



## boneyrajan.k (Jul 15, 2010)

Hi,I am a homing pigeon enthusiast.I don't race my pigeons,i just keep them for fun as a personal backyard hobby.Its my 5th year with Homing pigeons,but still I only train and toss my birds upto around 100Kms (Around 62 miles) so i am very much still a newbie as i don't have any hand on experience beyond a 100 km toss.A bit about the birds i keep,they doesnot have any pedigree or race records and may be even inferior than some of your culls, for that matter.For the last 5 years i have been keeping them in an Open loft system all throughout the year,where they have complete freedom to come inside the loft and go out whenever they want and i road train my birds only when they are around 6-7 months of age,till that age they will be just loft flying every day or spending time outside the loft all day long just like a feral bird.
During my first two years of this hobby i used to do first tosses at 3 kms,then go to 5 km,10 km,15 km etc.But since the last couple of years,i have been doing my first tosses at 25-35 kms.Right now the first training toss which i am sticking to is around 32 kms (20 miles),i hardly loose any birds during these first tosses.So i am sure that,many of you guys having much superior birds should also have a comfortable return from a 30-35 km first toss,but still many preferred to follow the shorter first tosses of around 5-6 kms.So my question is, when you guys know that the your birds can comfortably return from a 30 km first toss,
why do you still follow the shorter 5 km tosses ?
Is there a particular reason for that ?
Is it to teach them to memorize the path and ensure that they fly faster when they reach near the home on the race day ?
Any inputs will be deeply appreciated and thanks in Advance 
A youtube video of my birds :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7MGbMoiGLg&list=UUJSImvdIDliI-FSZiByT09A


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## pigeonflier (May 4, 2014)

Its just a force of habit for me to start out slow and close and gradually work my way out. You are most likely correct that all birds could handle starting off a lot further than most of us do,, but I am chicken to try that method. Some years I have been behind and in 6 tosses had them in the first 100 mile race before and that year I won our club for that race. Some years I have had them out 20 times to make it 50 miles. This year I am probably close to 15 times out and still hangin in the 30 mile range. You are probably right though,, most birds can handle that right off the bat,, I just like to try and give them a little confidence first?


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## boneyrajan.k (Jul 15, 2010)

pigeonflier said:


> Its just a force of habit for me to start out slow and close and gradually work my way out. You are most likely correct that all birds could handle starting off a lot further than most of us do,, but I am chicken to try that method. Some years I have been behind and in 6 tosses had them in the first 100 mile race before and that year I won our club for that race. Some years I have had them out 20 times to make it 50 miles. This year I am probably close to 15 times out and still hangin in the 30 mile range. You are probably right though,, most birds can handle that right off the bat,, I just like to try and give them a little confidence first?


Thanks brother,really appreciate your inputs on the topic


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