# weather conditions...training



## birdkeeper (Jun 24, 2009)

what are the ideals when it comes to road training?

is it ok to do road training even though the sun is not out and its somewhat cloudy...would that make it difficult for the birds to find their bearing? how about light rain?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

birdkeeper said:


> what are the ideals when it comes to road training?
> 
> is it ok to do road training even though the sun is not out and its somewhat cloudy...would that make it difficult for the birds to find their bearing? how about light rain?


Imo, when first starting them out, release with fair weather, when they get more experience, test them with the not so fair weather.


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## birdkeeper (Jun 24, 2009)

i always thought that its not good to fly them when the sun is not out because they can not locate themselves without the sun...i am glad that's not the case


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## 2y4life (Apr 5, 2010)

birdkeeper said:


> what are the ideals when it comes to road training?
> 
> is it ok to do road training even though the sun is not out and its somewhat cloudy...would that make it difficult for the birds to find their bearing? how about light rain?


Ideal conditions for road training would be clear, sunny skies with no wind at all lol. Seriously, as long as it's not too cloudy and the winds aren't over 10mph, you should be good.

With that said, if the birds are older birds or birds that have trained up to 30-40 miles, a really cloudy day or a bit of a windy day won't be too bad. But with young birds and with the first 10 tosses or so, try to do them early in the morning on sunny days with little to no wind.

BTW, the sun isn't the only way the birds supposedly find their way home. My birds have made it home on a dark, cloudy day and even in light rain. But of course it's not advisable to purposely do so especially with ybs.


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## soymi69 (Nov 12, 2007)

Its good to get your birds to accustom to this type of weather if this are the climate they will encounter during the race season. If I do have some cloudy or ugly weather then I just loft fly the birds.. Loft flying is still a kind of exercise that will benefit your birds that is why you need to keep track of the weather specially when the race start.


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

Okay...this has been bugging me since I first started reading up on pigeons:

When you bring homers out long distances for racing or training, is that always done by the handler/breeder? Do you ever ship birds to a release location?


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## 2y4life (Apr 5, 2010)

For training, most racers/breeders toss their own birds. The only time the racer/breeder doesn't toss his own bird is when it is put in one loft races.

As for the actual race, all the birds are released at the same place and the birds are released by the driver and possibly another handler or two.


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

2y4life said:


> For training, most racers/breeders toss their own birds. The only time the racer/breeder doesn't toss his own bird is when it is put in one loft races.
> 
> As for the actual race, all the birds are released at the same place and the birds are released by the driver and possibly another handler or two.


So...if I decide to get into racing pigeons, and I want to train them for a middle distance race, I have to drive them across a few states for training?


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

ptras said:


> So...if I decide to get into racing pigeons, and I want to train them for a middle distance race, I have to drive them across a few states for training?


No you really only need to train the birds out 50 miles. Many will train to 100 miles. As most races start at 100 to 150 miles and work up from there. As for just training the birds and NOT racing I would say 100 miles lets you see what you have and can be select from.


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

re lee said:


> No you really only need to train the birds out 50 miles. Many will train to 100 miles. As most races start at 100 to 150 miles and work up from there. As for just training the birds and NOT racing I would say 100 miles lets you see what you have and can be select from.


Still...from where I live (south shore of Mass) 100 miles is a major hike - North through Boston, South through Fall River into Rhode Island, or west out the Mass Pike. Seems like a long drive.


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## birdkeeper (Jun 24, 2009)

that's pretty cool that your so close to other states.


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## conditionfreak (Jan 11, 2008)

If you train out to just over 50 miles, you will be good for the races. No need to go as far as the races actually are.

But some flyers will disagree with this. There are many ways to train and that is what separates the winners from the losers. It ain't so much the pigeons, but mostly the handlers and the decisions and methods they choose.


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

birdkeeper said:


> that's pretty cool that your so close to other states.


Welcome to New England 

100 miles north of my house puts me in New Hampshire
100 miles west of my house is almost to the New York border
100 miles south of my House is through Rhode Island into Connecticut
100 miles east of my house is in the Atlantic ocean


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

LOL, I swear we have counties bigger than your states.


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

Matt Bell said:


> LOL, I swear we have counties bigger than your states.


I'm sure you do. Take a look at your map...all of New England, New York and New Jersey and the Canadian Maritimes would fit comfortably inside of Texas


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

As long as it isn't raining, the wind isn't too strong, and/or the fog isn't too thick, all should be well. I do agree with Spirit wings though, you should start them out with the best weather possible for their first trips. For young birds it's really stressful their first tosses, not knowing what's happening to them. But as they get older and more experienced, they can probably handle a lot more than we give them credit for.

The sun is an important tool they use, but it's not the only one. Homers have been tested and proven that they can home without their sight to guide them. In my opinion, I think they use a lot of different things. Or at least the best ones do - whatever it takes to get home.


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## saku4me (May 7, 2010)

ptras, just train to about 40-50 miles and then your birds should be ready. You rarely ever train, I never do, to the race point. After a couple times at 40/50 miles, your birds are ready for the race.


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## Pigeon0446 (Apr 22, 2007)

birdkeeper said:


> what are the ideals when it comes to road training?
> 
> is it ok to do road training even though the sun is not out and its somewhat cloudy...would that make it difficult for the birds to find their bearing? how about light rain?


What I normally do is try to get them out to my furthest training point, which is 80 miles, in the best weather possible. Then after that I start taking them in all kinds of stuff. If they are there they are going on a toss now if it is raining lightly they can go on a longer toss and still make it home if it is heavy I'll take them on a short toss. If they can't make it home my birds know how to land and sit up in trees my birds are pros at that especially when they get home in good time from a race. But if they go down in a tree they'll be back later on when they dry off. But it teaches the birds they can fly in anything and maybe that one smash race where nobody gets birds because of rain or somthing my bird might keep flying and go into the rain and make it home when most of the birds try to go around it and get so far off course that they never make it home. 




ptras said:


> Still...from where I live (south shore of Mass) 100 miles is a major hike - North through Boston, South through Fall River into Rhode Island, or west out the Mass Pike. Seems like a long drive.


It sure is a hike I usually try to get my birds to the first race station b4 the first race. I normally don't get out there but do get them out to 80 miles on my own but even then I still gotta almost all the way across New Jersey for that toss. Anything anything past that I go on one of the handful of training trucks we have here on Long Island. It's cheaper for 15 to 20 dollars you can send 30 to 35 birds 120 miles. If I went myself it would cost 60 to 70 dollars on gas then another 29 dollars in tolls just to go over the bridges to get off Long Island and back on plus it saves me alot of time and I don't have to sit in all the traffic in NYC. But the best part about the training truck is that I get to see the birds come home.





ptras said:


> Welcome to New England
> 
> 100 miles north of my house puts me in New Hampshire
> 100 miles west of my house is almost to the New York border
> ...


100 miles to the south west would put you on the south fork of Long Island.


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## Pigeon0446 (Apr 22, 2007)

saku4me said:


> ptras, just train to about 40-50 miles and then your birds should be ready. You rarely ever train, I never do, to the race point. After a couple times at 40/50 miles, your birds are ready for the race.


That maybe true for most areas but I know here on Long Island most of the guys get them past the first race station b4 the first race. Well maybe not most but pretty much almost all of the top flyers have them out to the race station already and the races aren't until the end of August. I know I'm not gonna have them out there since I didn't even start training my birds this year. I only started letting them out 3 weeks ago, I was side tracked with some family health issues, and about half of them are just starting to route. The other half only do circles around the the loft. But if I'm gonna get them ready I gotta start tossing them. I'm gonna start them next week with lil baby tosses, front of the house the corner a few blocks away then half mile, and work my way out. But atleast half these guys are starting to go and the other half is actually flying in past years my birds wouldn't fly for anything. And I had to baby toss them just to get them to fly.

There is one guy that always seams to win the first big fururity race of the year almost every year which is a 300 mile race and the longest race on the schedule b4 it is a 150 miles. But he gets his birds ready for that race by taking them all the way up to the 300 mile station on his own 2 weeks b4 that race. I know it's way overboard but thats what some ppl do to win.


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## birdkeeper (Jun 24, 2009)

today i took my ybs to 50 miles and they did a great job...it took them about an hour and 10 minutes. im going to do another toss at 50 and try 60 the following day. i was thinking of 70 but a little scared that its too big of a jump. whats your thoughts on that guys?


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

birdkeeper said:


> today i took my ybs to 50 miles and they did a great job...it took them about an hour and 10 minutes. im going to do another toss at 50 and try 60 the following day. i was thinking of 70 but a little scared that its too big of a jump. whats your thoughts on that guys?


After the birds have gone out 50 miles, they can go to 100 even No problems. Many people just train to 50 miles And then some train to the first race station. In europe Some people only train to 25 35 miles because of borders. So 70 75 mile would not be to much Or even that 100 mile.


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

Yes Texas is large Texarkana to El Paso-----735 miles
Amarillo to Brownsville--714 miles


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

sky tx said:


> Yes Texas is large Texarkana to El Paso-----735 miles
> Amarillo to Brownsville--714 miles


If I went 735 miles west from where I live, I would go through five states and be somewhere in the middle of Ohio. 735 miles north would put me in Northern Quebec, and 735 miles south would send me through seven states and the District of Columbia, ending on the South Carolina border.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

sky tx said:


> Yes Texas is large Texarkana to El Paso-----735 miles
> Amarillo to Brownsville--714 miles


Lucky! I bet most of your clubs/combines don't even need to worry about health certificates. I wish that was the case for us - it'd be a lot cheaper.


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## soymi69 (Nov 12, 2007)

birdkeeper said:


> today i took my ybs to 50 miles and they did a great job...it took them about an hour and 10 minutes. im going to do another toss at 50 and try 60 the following day. i was thinking of 70 but a little scared that its too big of a jump. whats your thoughts on that guys?


Couple more tosses from 50 to 60 miles and your birds should be ready. If I were you try to do a toss in the morning just to get them use to the suns location in the morning. If you do a trial of 25 miles in the morning you will see that your birds might take too long in getting home because they were used in the afternoon toss. I know that there are other ways in how pigeons home but the location of the sun on certain time of day help the birds navigate more. This is just a suggestion I too can only train my birds in the afternoon but on weekends and my day off I make sure I loft fly them in the morning and do a morning toss just to help them out and very important is to teach your birds to drink in the racing crate, specially when it gets too hot and the distance is over 150 miles.


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## birdkeeper (Jun 24, 2009)

i will do a morning toss this weekend. when you say morning...are we talking about 7sh or earlier when the sun rises?


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## soymi69 (Nov 12, 2007)

Alot of races start very early like as soon as the sunrises, I highly suggest do a 30 to 35 mile toss and have them start learning to drink in the training crate very important.


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## JRNY (Nov 17, 2009)

As far as loft trainning I let out my birds in all weather. But when its raining it has to be that misty rain. You'll never know how that race is going to be. At least they will be a little prepared. Also there are people that train for night flying. 

But when I am tossing I like cool and clear not to cloudy. Early morning release I think are the best.


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## birdkeeper (Jun 24, 2009)

unfortunately here in seattle for the past 2 weeks it has been foggy and cloudy up until around 11 but i guess they will have to get used to that weather if they encounter it in the race.
soy, should i do small groups when i do the morning toss or should i do the whole flock?


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## soymi69 (Nov 12, 2007)

birdkeeper said:


> unfortunately here in seattle for the past 2 weeks it has been foggy and cloudy up until around 11 but i guess they will have to get used to that weather if they encounter it in the race.
> soy, should i do small groups when i do the morning toss or should i do the whole flock?


I prefer the whole flock if they haven't been toss in a morning and just around 25 to 35 miles. You do need to see if it is a good weather. If it is foggy then just loft fly them in the morning. I rather have them loft flying for 1 to 2 hours than take chance losing them in a very foggy day. After couple of toss and they are homing good in the morning then do a single toss just to build the birds confidence.


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## blaundee (Jul 24, 2010)

ptras said:


> Still...from where I live (south shore of Mass) 100 miles is a major hike - North through Boston, South through Fall River into Rhode Island, or west out the Mass Pike. Seems like a long drive.


In my area, 100 miles is "local"!!! LOL The nearest "real city" to me is at least 2 hours drive, one way. If we want the ER, groceries, or Home Depot, we have to go 120 miles one way. It is just funny how differently 100miles can be viewed, depending on a person's perspective!


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## birdkeeper (Jun 24, 2009)

today around 9am i did a 50 mile toss and it was around 68 degrees but the temp went up so fast to 84 and that seem to have hinder my bird to come home...only 4 came after an hour and about 10 more after 3 hours but unfortunately i have about 15 birds that did not come home...don't know what happend to them but i just hope they make it back home tomorrow.


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## Goldenbars (Nov 28, 2020)

conditionfreak said:


> If you train out to just over 50 miles, you will be good for the races. No need to go as far as the races actually are.
> 
> But some flyers will disagree with this. There are many ways to train and that is what separates the winners from the losers. It ain't so much the pigeons, but mostly the handlers and the decisions and methods they choose.


My suggestion is that if you don't want to travel vast distances that you train the birds from different directional release points.
your area will have dominant winds and you always want to consider the direction and strength of the wind before release cuz it will affect the birds flight home. from where I live 50 miles and either direction puts me on a ferry going north or south and so that's a wonderful way to release the birds if I'm doing a day trip to somewhere else. I can release them and they can fly up the coastline and it's an incredibly amazing scenic route.
So this gives them the opportunity to be up in the air and seeing the topography from their perspective which is inherently different than yours. you want them to be able to locate their loft from any direction ideally. Once they get that how to access the loft from above,they will have a much more tactical l ability, to easily find their way home.


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