# Homing ability



## gd71 (Sep 22, 2006)

I have a question for you all about homing ability. Do you think there is any certain bloodlines or type of homing pigeons that seem to just have super homing abiliy. I am not talking speed to get home like you would want for racing, I am talking about being able to find home in really tough conditions or if you were a bad trainer and take them to far before you realize they really wasn't ready for that yet (of course I am talking about myself) . I lose alot of young birds while trying to settle them and it is due to getting spooked off by hawks that are everywhere in my area and they hit my birds everytime I fly except in June - August. I have 1 pair of birds that I rarely ever lose any from and they are settled and trained in the exactly same way and time as the others.


----------



## Snowbird Sue (Dec 31, 2007)

All I can say is from my own experience, is that they have the name of "Homers" for a reason: they fly home. I don't know that any one is better than the other. I do know that the "prisoners" I have as breeders, I was told NOT to free-fly them at all, as they will fly back to where they came from, no matter how long I have them. 
As far as the hawks go, I haven't free-flown my young birds yet because of them. I live in an area of LOTS of hawks. They sure are a menace, aren't they?


----------



## learning (May 19, 2006)

Where I am in Atlanta, hawks are just a fact of life. I lost my first two youngsters to hawks this past week. They were picked of the roof after loft flying them. In years past, guys down here report that they have lost up to half or more of their team to hawks. Up to the point of loosing these two I had not been harrased once by the hawks. The guys here said that I have been extremely lucky in this regard. Perhaps it is because I don't loft fly mine in the morning like most of the other flyers down here. Because of my job (teacher) I don't have time in the morning so I fly my birds in the afternoon before the afternoon feeding. Maybe the hawks have already gotten their meals for the day by then, I don't know. We'll see how the rest of the summer and fall goes. I sure hope I don't loose too many as I am only going to be able to raise about 40 in time to race. That is 1/2 to 1/3 of what most guys down here raise. We'll see.

Dan


----------



## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

gd71 said:


> I have a question for you all about homing ability. Do you think there is any certain bloodlines or type of homing pigeons that seem to just have super homing abiliy. I am not talking speed to get home like you would want for racing, I am talking about being able to find home in really tough conditions or if you were a bad trainer and take them to far before you realize they really wasn't ready for that yet (of course I am talking about myself) . I lose alot of young birds while trying to settle them and it is due to getting spooked off by hawks that are everywhere in my area and they hit my birds everytime I fly except in June - August. I have 1 pair of birds that I rarely ever lose any from and they are settled and trained in the exactly same way and time as the others.


Hello Gd71,

I am sure you could get all kinds of responses here.....in part because you are really asking several different things......

#1 Are there bloodlines with "Super Homing Ability"

#2 Then you break that down to under "Tough Conditions"...and then "Handler Error"

#3 Then you bring "Hawks" into the equation...and the reader may also think of possible handling errors made by the owner in settling the birds.

#4 Behind all these possible points, is the question I think you may be trying to get at, which is...."Does the quality of my pigeons have any bearing on the above" since you have a pair which produces YB's which seem to avoid for the most part the issues above.

I wish I could say, that all you have to do, is get a hold of a couple pairs of XYZ bloodlines, and you will see a dramatic improvement in your loses from all of the above. But I think the truth is, that even with the best bloodlines in the world....a person will incur losses from tough conditions, handler error and hawks. It may be much easier to improve one's handling skill....then to improve the genetics of a colony of racing pigeons. Much debate could be had over the issue of what percentage of influence does genetics play vs. handler skill. And then just to confuse the issue, let's not forget a very important element...and that is Lady Luck........

I wish I could say with some authority, that a particular family of pigeons exsist in the world, which are so super, that they would shine above all the rest, under conditions which you speak of. But, great pigeons come in all sizes, colors, and shapes, and may have many different "strain" names.

Getting to the subject of hawks, all pigeons around today...are decended from generations of pigeons which somehow avoided hawks....and hawks are decended from generations of hawks that managed to somehow catch a bunch of pigeons...this may have been going on for hundreds of thousands...or millions of years...or hundreds of millions of years....I gave up on the fantasy, that I could breed a strain of racing pigeon which will always out fly a hawk. Not in this human life time anyway....most I could hope for, is a colony that would out race some other guy...most of the time.  Don't know if this helps, but maybe it provides some food for thought.


----------



## gd71 (Sep 22, 2006)

Yes you are right that is pretty much what I was asking. I have just heard of long distance bred birds being slow but always seem to get home no matter the conditions and I just wondered if it was just maybe a little more superior in the homing ability compared to some of the speed short distance strains. Wasn't sure just looking for opinions. Thank you all for your responces.


----------



## rayray (May 23, 2008)

*homing*

"I have 1 pair of birds that I rarely ever lose any from and they are settled and trained in the exactly same way and time as the others."

This answers part of your question. Some birds are superior to others and these two breeders aparently produce youngster for you that out perform all the rest of your birds. So breed more from these birds and build up your loft with these blood lines. Breed your best performing birds to your best performing birds. Hawks happen. For the birds that are lost while settling them for reasons other than the hawks these losses may be decreased by improved hadling. Find the person in your area who looses the smallest number of birds while settling not including what is taken by hawks and find out the process they use and implement it. Good luck and good flying.


----------

