# First flight 3 gone



## LHoss (Feb 23, 2007)

I am kind of bummed I have been raising a half dozen young birds for a few weeks now and I lost 3 birds :-( I made sure they were hungry ( I only feed 1oz per bird ) they had been going threw the traps when placed in the cage where the bobs are. Here's what I did I took the 6 birds out of the coop and placed them in the carrying box that I will use when I drop them, after letting them sit it the carrying box for a good 1/2 hour I opened the hatch for them to walk out fly out etc, they all walked out slowly and started milling around in the pine needles, I was working in the yard and had to go to the shed so when I walked toward the shed they got up off the ground and were flying around the house, so thinking all is well I sat and watched them 3 of the within 5 minutes landed on the roof of the coop and hung around for 30-45 minutes before going back in, out of the other 3 one I did not see and the other 2 were flying around the house having a good time for themselves, they would land in a tree sit a few and fly around some more. Needless to say the sunset and here it is 3 days later and I have not seen them :-( Where in the heck do they go and why would they just take off on there first flight? And how do I make sure this doesnt happen again?


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## Jiggs (Apr 1, 2005)

Not sure - could be a few factors, weak homing instinct etc. I hope the carry box was quite close to the loft?

Strange, as my young ones will stay together on the first hop/flight. then sit a bit before trapping.

You did say young birds - were they hatched in your loft? could have taken off to their previous loft?


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## 1pigeon (Apr 5, 2006)

I am new in racing .I also lost many birds in the beginning.i think first flight i wouldn't (or any flight) put birds in the carrying box(it for trainng i think??) i just let them out though the trap.And for me first few flights are very important.You MUST let your birds fly as they will!! I still remember my very first flight and i wouldn't do that.I lost 4 birds first flight and other 4 next day.
Fly when they are ready is the key let them be a baby run around for a week.And second i think first flight i let them out when they were older(almost 3 months loft problems) they were too storng and fly too far out .they never find the way back home.Hawk also had many of my birds i always stay out till all birds got in the loft by doing this i safe quite a few of my birds.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I think using the carrying box (for training tosses) might be a bit confusing but not everything. The birds should be released from their trap door where they are familiar to training the first few weeks, also they should be able to see the outside of their trap from the training cage when they practiced entering.

Your birds should train inside the coop between 4 to 6 weeks and then released between 6 to 8 weeks of age. How old are your birds?

They become strong on the wing after 8 to 9 weeks of age and will take off.

Don't give up they still may return.


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2007)

i agree the box was a real bad idea  thats like letting them out in nowhere land even if they are close to the loft , to them its like taking them out of their element all together and leaving them to fend for themselves, you should never do that for a first flight or even a 10th flight if you want them to get their homing instincts intact .. dont mean to be brutal but they are just babies and they are pretty lost at first  the trick is to let them out once they start wandering around on their own thats when they begin to explore an take things in and become familair with not only their surrrounddings but their wings as well .. so next time once they start hitting the fly pen give them a go at free ranging and they shouldnt go as far , they are very timid at that point an just like to stay as close to thier safety zone as possible ...this year I have not lost a single one to the strong on the wing syndrome cuz I am letting them out at such an early age ..soon as I know they are eatting on their own they are able you walk out the door an see the world for themselves ..I wont ever say dont sit out their with them cuz even thou I was there a hawk did get one of my babies this year so keep that in mind always too , but getting them out an about as young an early as possible is truely the key to not losing your babies to flying up up and away  good luck and never forget you are what makes them the birds they are


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## LHoss (Feb 23, 2007)

Well I learned a valuable lesson, my birds were older and strong on the wing. I didn't realize letting them out of the carrying cage was a no no even though I basically placed it on the ground in front of the loft I got 4 more young birds that still have yellow fuzz on there head and they are flying up to feed so I let them out Sunday evening and they did great as well as the remaining birds from the first episode. I am in search of half a dozen more young birds so that I can have a small team  I have them locked up all week and have been practicing there trapping so by the weekend weather permitting I will let them out an hour before feeding time and see what happens. One question how many times out of the coop before I start shooing them to fly I dont want them hanging around on the roof of the garage they will surely get picked off??


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

LHoss said:


> Well I learned a valuable lesson, my birds were older and strong on the wing. I didn't realize letting them out of the carrying cage was a no no even though I basically placed it on the ground in front of the loft I got 4 more young birds that still have yellow fuzz on there head and they are flying up to feed so I let them out Sunday evening and they did great as well as the remaining birds from the first episode. I am in search of half a dozen more young birds so that I can have a small team  I have them locked up all week and have been practicing there trapping so by the weekend weather permitting I will let them out an hour before feeding time and see what happens. One question how many times out of the coop before I start shooing them to fly I dont want them hanging around on the roof of the garage they will surely get picked off??


If you let them start getting out of the loft at a young enough age, you won't have to shoo them off of the loft. They will start testing their wings and in a few days will start with small "tests" flights and before you know it, they'll be sailing through the sky. I would caution you though, be careful about putting very young birds out with the older birds. Those young ones can fly better than you think and it wouldn't take much to get them up with the older ones, except they have no where near the stamina and would not be able to go far and maybe wind up sitting down a block down the road and be totally lost. Probably, the best thing to do is put the older ones out and if they get up and fly, wait until they are about ready to come down and then let the younger ones out and let them all trap together.


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