# Bad Habit, landing after release



## cycler (Mar 27, 2009)

As the fall harvest has arrived, my homing pigeons have figured out that soy beans and corn are left in the fields after the combines have harvested the fields. So they fly a few laps around after the release, and coast in and land for a snack. I have been shooting bottle rockets up to get them to get on the fly again, but I must keep doing it. Anyone have this problem before, or any ideas what to do to break them of this?


----------



## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

feed them a bit more and stand out in the field and wave a flag?........


----------



## Grim (Jul 28, 2007)

Release them in the city. Or if you have a dog maybe have him flush them from the open field.


----------



## Kenneth Flippen (Sep 5, 2009)

feed them a little before you turn them out

Kenneth


----------



## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

Your birds are allowed to much freedom, and are too hungry on release. Dave


----------



## Mindy (Apr 2, 2009)

I agree, if they wouldn't be hungry then they wouldn't be stopping for lunch. min


----------



## cycler (Mar 27, 2009)

Thanks for the reply's, I was thinking of feeding them a few hours before a release, so maybe they would not be so hungry, or to feed less so they want to get home faster to eat. I was not sure which way to go, so it looks like the vote goes to feeding them better so they are not quite as hungry. I will let you know how it works out. Thanks again.


----------



## Big T (Mar 25, 2008)

cycler said:


> As the fall harvest has arrived, my homing pigeons have figured out that soy beans and corn are left in the fields after the combines have harvested the fields. So they fly a few laps around after the release, and coast in and land for a snack. I have been shooting bottle rockets up to get them to get on the fly again, but I must keep doing it. Anyone have this problem before, or any ideas what to do to break them of this?


Now, this release, is it from the loft or down the road? If the loft then take them a mile down the road. If down the road then do what everyone else said.

Tony


----------



## bloodlines_365 (Jan 15, 2008)

its time for those scare crow on the field... on the field of scary dreams scare them up till they learn, bit you they wont go back on that field and of course put a little bit of food on their tray....


----------



## cycler (Mar 27, 2009)

*worked once, but not twice!*

the release is a toss from about 12 miles, not a loft fly. Yesterday's toss went great, they did not land, came straight home after getting their bearing, I had fed them about 2 hours before the toss. I thought this may be the solution, but today's toss did not go so well. I fed them 2 hours before the toss, and after the release they circled, and went down into a corn stubble field. Shot bottle rockets evert time they landed to get them up again, they circle and land again. Ran out of bottle rockets, so I came home. I will try to feed them a bit right before the next toss, and see what happens.


----------



## Grim (Jul 28, 2007)

Hey look at the bright side you may be one of the few pigeon racers that don't have to pay for feed.


----------



## Guest (Nov 21, 2009)

I have never heard of anyone ever having this problem  dont think feeding them prior to releasing them is gonna really make a difference thou cuz hungry birds are the ones that return to a loft faster then fed birds


----------



## Flying Jay (Jul 6, 2009)

wow this is interesting. hope you figure it out, i have no cule, good luck. james.


----------



## Flapdoodle (Nov 8, 2009)

LokotaLoft said:


> I have never heard of anyone ever having this problem  dont think feeding them prior to releasing them is gonna really make a difference thou cuz hungry birds are the ones that return to a loft faster then fed birds


I have never had my birds do this, but I am interested in helping you figure it out. 

Do you allow your birds open loft? How many birds are you talking about? Do you feed once or twice a day? How much feed?

I agree with LokotaLoft, you tried feeding before the release. My first impression when reading the post is they are not hungry enough. I few other ideas to try: Do you have a signal you use when you want to trap the birds? (Whistle, shake the feed can, bell, etc.) For a few days you could try to just loft fly before you feed, cut the feed back, not starve them but get their attention. Every time you feed give the signal. After a few days of a little less feed, as soon as you open the door and give the signal they should hit the floor/feeders. Make sure you give the signal every time you feed. Then loft fly them if they will, they might be to hungry to leave the loft. After you get all the birds out of the loft, open the trap to let them in, Crate them up at the loft and while they are in the crates and still in the loft, give your signal put the food down, then take them out to a release point. They will either race to the field or race to the loft. Don't cut the feed back to long. My birds always act a little hungry...but not starving.

You could also with the above crate a few of the birds at each feeding, give the signal, let them see the other birds eating bring them out in the yard and single toss them in the direction of the loft. They should fly from your hand to the trap into the loft. Especillay if you had them out for a loft fly before you fed. 

Just a couple of ideas? Hope you figure it out...


----------



## windyflat (Jul 19, 2007)

Same thing happened to me the first year I raced YB's.. mine were underfed and didn't develop well at all. They would make 2-3 swing around the loft then land 100 yards away in the field. I guess I wanted them to trap well 
They trapped well allright just way too late on race day.
Man I sure made a ton of mistakes that first year!!!!


----------



## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

maybe releasing them a few hours before sundown, they may want to get closer to home faster...???


----------



## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

cycler said:


> As the fall harvest has arrived, my homing pigeons have figured out that soy beans and corn are left in the fields after the combines have harvested the fields. So they fly a few laps around after the release, and coast in and land for a snack. I have been shooting bottle rockets up to get them to get on the fly again, but I must keep doing it. Anyone have this problem before, or any ideas what to do to break them of this?


I would think that once they develope such bad habits, that the birds are ruined as far as racing goes. My guess is that those particular birds will never make real race birds. Time to consider how such habits were developed, and to insure that your next YB's do not pick up that nasty habit. Once you have a bird which has developed a bad habit, they will teach other birds in your colony the same thing.


----------



## cycler (Mar 27, 2009)

*Still trying to figure this one out.*

I did 2 more releases, the first went well, the second release they went down again. I had fed them right before the release, but not too much as I did not want them too bogged down for the fly home. The weather has prevented further releases for the last 2 days, and it does not look good for the next few days. I will try to feed them better before the next release and see what happens. Thanks for all the suggestions. I am not racing these birds, but I have 4 young birds just starting to train, that I will not fly with the older bad habit birds as Mr Smith suggests. I will keep you all posted when the weather improves and I can fly them again, and as I learn more on solving the problem (if it's possible) and to help anyone later on that may have this problem. Also they trap well on command, they always have trapped well, even on full stomachs.


----------



## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

The race season should be over ours is, so just don't let them out till after spring planting and the food sourse is gone.You could turn them out after the snow falls and its to deep for them to feed.
Dave


----------



## cycler (Mar 27, 2009)

*my thoughts also*

Thanks Dave, I also think as soon as it freezes up and snows, the food source in the fields will be gone, so things should get easier after that. Spring planting will prevent them from landing until harvest time next fall, hopefully I can break them of this, and/or they forget about it over the coming summer. Wanted to try flying again this morning, but we have 20 MPH winds again, so it looks like they are grounded at least today.


----------



## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

just wondering if your not racing, what is the problem then?....I let my homers loft fly and they sometimes pick on the ground in the field....seems pretty natural to me...
If I were racing that would be another story....


----------



## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

One simple solution is to find out which bird(s) is(are) teaching them to land. Don't let that bird fly with the others. Usually a bird will do something stupid and the rest follows.


----------



## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

cycler said:


> As the fall harvest has arrived, my homing pigeons have figured out that soy beans and corn are left in the fields after the combines have harvested the fields. So they fly a few laps around after the release, and coast in and land for a snack. I have been shooting bottle rockets up to get them to get on the fly again, but I must keep doing it. Anyone have this problem before, or any ideas what to do to break them of this?


 I had a second thought on this subject. Are you sure they are going down to eat soy beans and corn ? I mean I have heard of situations where birds were so starved for minerals and the like, that they would go down to eat dirt. So....is there any reason that your birds could be starved of minerals ?
It's possible that the grit you might be feeding lacks something. Maybe this is not the case, but if you are assuming it's the corn, and it's not...then feeding them more before they are released will not solve the problem.


----------



## cycler (Mar 27, 2009)

*they went down again*

I will answer a few questions first to update everyone who has tried to help.

#1. I fly whites, and was getting ready to use the birds for funeral releases, that is why I want them to keep to the air, at least until out of sight. 

#2. I do feed minerals, along with a grit, oyster shell/crushed egg shell, charcoal mixture, with a bit of salt mixed in. But the idea of lacking something is something I will look into. I may need a different mineral mix.

Ok, now the update, I released Saturday morning after feeding, I did not see them go down, but suspect they did, watched them fly and lost sight of them, but it took 1 hour 40 min. to get home from 13 mile (GPS....as the bird fly's) toss. Released today (Monday) after a real good feeding, went down 1/4 mile out into a field. So I guess it's time to try the other way, making them real hungry.
We will see, I will update when I get 2 or 3 releases in with real hungry birds.
Thanks for the ideas.


----------



## cycler (Mar 27, 2009)

*no luck*

5 birds tossed very hungry at 13 miles, went down in the field about 1/4 mile out. 4 hours later 2 birds returned, half hour later one more returned, got dark and closed the trap, short 2 birds. This morning one was waiting on the landing board, still short one when I closed up the loft tonight. My thoughts are they got split up from a hawk strike while on the ground. I didn't stay around to watch them once they landed, so I am not sure what really happened. So feed adjustments do not work, so now I will try release of single birds to see if one lands and the others are following, or if they all will land on their own without another bird leading it.


----------

