# Feral homing



## mattsmith (May 19, 2009)

Can feral pigeons be taught to home to a loft?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Absolutely they can.


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## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

BUT, not from a Great Distance.... Dave


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

LUCKYT said:


> BUT, not from a Great Distance.... Dave


Oh but they can!


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## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

O.k. What do you Consider a Great Distance? Dave


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

*Here we go again every time this subject comes up we have the pro and con so I ask lets not get into flght over this question.* GEORGE


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## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

I defer to your experience George, i will let it Drop... Dave


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## karijo (Apr 11, 2006)

There are "Commie Races" in some parts of the world where people who can't afford racing pigeons use regular ferals ("common" pigeons) for their races. I can't give you more information than that (distance, time, etc), but I know it's done. Have they been bred for generations to hone the superior homing ability that the racing homer has? No. But they can be taught to home. To what ability and what distance I am sure could be heavily debated and questioned - but that was not the question. Just, "can they". And yes. They can. 

I have one feral who homes back to my loft, but the farthest he's gone is a few blocks away, fully out of sight of the loft. And he goes right home every time.


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## Keith C. (Jan 25, 2005)

I mentioned it before, but a friend of mine had a a feral pigeon that he caught under a bridge as a young squab. 
It kept mating with a hen, he wanted to breed to another cock, so he released it over and over and it kept coming back.
He had a truck driver he knows release it twice on the Mexican/Texas border and both times it flew back to Dayton, Ohio. 
He ended up keeping it.
A lot of feral pigeons have a lot of homer blood and a lot of flocks of ferals locally have banded homers living with them.
There used to be one flock that had obvious modena blood. I doubt they homed as well.
Keith


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## Columba livia! (May 4, 2009)

Cool information!


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## Hambone (Feb 19, 2008)

Keith C , 

Thats a great story ! 

It just goes to show what an amazing bird the pigeon is !

hambone


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## james fillbrook (Jan 2, 2009)

lets just say you can never be sure whats in the ferals like say two racers paired up that got lost under a brige and nested there there babys would be called (FERAL) its silly no one can call a pigeon a true feral if they do not know its parents there mum and dad and there grandad etc


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Just keep in mind, that the question is not best answered by members that don't have lots of personal experience with Feral Pigeons. Personal experience is the only way to answer the question realistically. Of couse the keepers of Homing Pigeons and others of pedigree will tell you that Ferals can't home or can't home well.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

james fillbrook said:


> lets just say you can never be sure whats in the ferals like say two racers paired up that got lost under a brige and nested there there babys would be called (FERAL) its silly no one can call a pigeon a true feral if they do not know its parents there mum and dad and there grandad etc


Well, if Dad AND Mom got lost......don't think Junior stands much of a chance......


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## tuxedobaby (Sep 9, 2008)

i look after a flock of beautiful ferals and a roller and several lost/unclaimed racers,,they all pretty much know the ropes reg homing,they dont tend to fly too far from the roof or the gardens,but they are creatures of habit,and go on regular"fly time"daily(can almost set my clocks by them)


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Lovebirds said:


> Well, if Dad AND Mom got lost......don't think Junior stands much of a chance......


ROFL!!!

I know a pigeon person where I used to live, she took her pet rehabbed feral to a classroom in my town (28 miles difference). The pigeon accidentally got out of the cage and was scared away, and the next day was sitting on the porch of her house. This was an indoor pigeon too. I don't know how in the world they do it???


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

mattsmith said:


> *Can feral pigeons be taught to home to a loft?*





george simon said:


> *Here we go again every time this subject comes up we have the pro and con so I ask lets not get into flght over this question.* GEORGE


We have the 'pro and con' on every subject, George. Why should this one not be discussed? 

With reply to your question, Matt, I don't have a loft, nor would I intentionally encourage a flock of ferals to 'home' to a loft. With that said, I do a feral flock that *homes* to my house every morning and evening to get a bit to eat. 

I have no idea where they reside or where they go during the day, but *I do know* that they can sure find their way to my house at meal time. 

Cindy


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## dixiebuckeye (Jan 17, 2008)

*Another definition of Feral*

I saw the interest generated about feral pigeons and whether they can home or not. 

One of the definitions of feral is: having reverted to the wild state, as from domestication: a pack of feral dogs roaming the woods.

I really beleive that there maybe a few homing pigeons floating around in the wild mating with the "feral" pigeons and actually upgrading their homing abilities through their young. I know we all have seen red check, grizzles and even solid black feral pigeons. If truly the wild variety I would also think they would stay predominately the grey or blue bar/blue check colors as we call them. 

Just a thought.

The Dixiebuckeye


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

dixiebuckeye said:


> I saw the interest generated about feral pigeons and whether they can home or not.
> 
> One of the definitions of feral is: having reverted to the wild state, as from domestication: a pack of feral dogs roaming the woods.
> 
> ...


I absolutely agree...I've seen many banded birds roaming around with ferals.


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

Ferals can home, but with limited distance unless you actually have a real homer that ended with the ferals, then you can teach it like a real homer does. So ferals can be define as the original rock pigeon, escaped/lost homers, crossbred between the originals and homers or other birds.


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