on pigeons..

[KFhunter]

I've got 5 YB's that haven't been able to free fly yet. 

what I've got going on now is a cage allowing the birds to come in and out of the pigeon bob catch door and landing ramp.  The cage allows them to come in and out of the door and walk around on the landing board.  Before they had no way of getting through the bobs so they could see around.

How long should I allow them to walk around on the cage looking around before I can use one and have it fly back to the pigeon coop?


Basically it's like the cage on this picture that's bungee'd to a landing board  (google image)


My coop  (was given to me) doesn't have any way for the pigeons to look outside, it doesn't have the chicken wire on the top it's just solid plywood box with nesting shelves inside.


I'm eager to put them in the launchers and have them fly home, not sure they'd do that right yet and can't afford too many losses.  Hard to source the homers.
I'm going to start here soon catching them and putting them in the cage with the bobs down and train them to push through the bobs,  I'll feed them so they'll want to go back in the coop.  Right now the bobs are all up and they're coming and going out of the cage pretty good,  they like to look around.

thanks

[Happy Gilmore]

put the water and food into the wire basket to train them to go in and out. Put your return bobs on top of the wire cage. They learn to go in and out of the wire cage. When they flight home, they'll land on top of the wire cage and the familiar one way wires will be right there.

[Don Fischer]

I would move the bob's to a much higher spot. Down low like that is a invitation to varmint's to get in. You said the birds were young, never been flown? If so, keep them shut up and feed them a week or so and them open the bob's for them and let them come and go as they please. Are they pushing the bob's aside to get in now? If so, after a few day's just drop the bob's. If not, every couple days drop a bob on them, not next to one another. To close together and they won't push. Leave a space and they will get it. Week or so and you should be on your way. Next simply work your birds out to the training area your using. Move them to several area's. Are these homer's or feral's? If five birds is all you have, I wouldn't train with them till next year. Let them pair up and nest. May get as many as six more birds per pair, probably be the early spring before they start but I've had mine start as early as Feb. In fact I have several on really young one's right now.

I should have mentioned, close up most of that front opening with something to block the wind. Might leave about 4" open on two for ventilation.

[KFhunter]

Thanks for the input Don Ficher, but that isn't my pigeon coop in the picture.  I just snagged that pic off google to show how I have a separate cage attached to the front to get them used to going in and out of the bobs without being able to  fly off.

eventually I hope to build another coop that'll house a lot of birds. 


They're doing pretty good pushing through the bobs now,  I've got a couple that hang up still.   I've been catching them in the wire cage and shutting the bobs and letting them push back through to get to the feed on their own.  3 of them don't hesitate and just push though right away ...but 2 of them are slower to learn.

[KFhunter]

I let them fly and thought I lost them all,  but they returned in a few days and now they're all trapping themselves 

Nice start to a flock of pigeons, at least I can train with them now and not have a string tied to their feet for recapture.


maybe I'll put a light on a timer and see if I can get them nesting.

[AspenBud]

I let them fly and thought I lost them all,  but they returned in a few days and now they're all trapping themselves 

Nice start to a flock of pigeons, at least I can train with them now and not have a string tied to their feet for recapture.


maybe I'll put a light on a timer and see if I can get them nesting.

Don't worry about the light. I have friends whose homers nested and had chicks regularly and they did nothing special.

A word of advice, slap some sheet metal on the bottom of your coop and run it up a ways on the side. It will help with climbing predators...and if you aren't doing it, shutter the entries when you're not around. Again, I know guys who have found hawks (coopers) inside the coop when they didn't do that...and that was even in very urban areas.

[Don Fischer]

They don't need the light. I've got a few on nest's right now and a few more hatched out. next few month's it should pick up good!