Training YB System

[Guest]

How far do you train your ybs on the first time for yb's ?

 

Some fanciers trained at 10 miles..or 5 miles for a week or two weeks to let ybs learning to get home.

[Guest]

How often do you train ybs on the same miles ?

[Mike Lycett]

Ours start at about 5 miles or so, have a few there & then move on to 10, have a few there & move on to 20 where we like them to have about a dozen before going to 30.  They don't go any further than that - normally.

 

I think it important to start them at about 12 weeks of age though if possible

[Guest]

I train 15 miles until they are doing one turn and off, then 25 miles until they do a turn and off, then 40miles as many time as possible with a few 2 ups and single ups, I did that this year and didnt lose any YBs. I train at 6am (in most weather conditions) while there are no pigeons in the sky to distract mine, then a few times let them go with a few batches to make them think.

[Guest]

Mike,

 

Do you train them when the ybs about 12 weeks old ?

 

[Guest]

Do you train them only at 6 am in the morning, but what about afternoon?

 

Twice a day for train is it to much for the birds ?

 

 

I train 15 miles until they are doing one turn and off, then 25 miles until they do a turn and off, then 40miles as many time as possible with a few 2 ups and single ups, I did that this year and didnt lose any YBs. I train at 6am (in most weather conditions) while there are no pigeons in the sky to distract mine, then a few times let them go with a few batches to make them think.

 

 

[james_mc_laughlin]

I start at 10 miles and gradually work up to 40. I think the y.b.s tell you when its time to move them further by the way they clear the area on release. This I usually find happens around the 4th toss from the same area.  

[Guest]

I know people do train twice a day, but I personally think its too much for them, as they get sick of being picked up all the time, and I couldnt be bothered to drive up the road twice a day to be honest. I basket mine in the semi-dark so they aren't flying about all over the place, release them at 6am and have them fed B4 I go to work, then let them out on an afternoon to have a fly.

[Mike Lycett]

Yes, I think it important to train them early in life.   12 weeks is ample & I know they're right when they just see the door down on the basket and go "ping".........   Don't want no circling around - straight line for home. Once they've had a race or two we find they clear the liberation site ever so quickly.

[Guest]

Wow, I start training my young birds at between 40 and 45 days.

 

I wean them at 23/24, spend a week or so bell training them to come in and out of the aviary through the trap, then give them their freedom.  I have been told that the birds learning curve is sharpest at this age.  Once they are flocking well round the loft, in the basket they go.

 

I train very cautiously and they are taken out to 1/2 mile for the first toss,given a trapping treat of a fee grains of safflower then back in the basket they go, we can taken them out as many times as 4 a day in the early stages.  We then go o a mile,, two miles and build up from there.

 

I feel it is important, once we get to about 10 miles, to loft fly the birds before training to take all the pee and vinegar out of them.  Ours are trained out to 57 miles on the east to west racecourse with a few tosses from the North and south thrown in.  Then, about 2 weeks before the first race which is 80 miles, they are trained 4 days a week with the other members birds from the 57 mile release point.

 

Hope this helps

[jimmy white]

i think weve missed out one of the most impotant things,  is basket training, many many times, when they are very young,it takes the fear out of them , gives them confidence, they drink, eat no bother, and go through less stress when you start tossing them used to start about 5 miles then 10 then 15 then repeat the 15 toss everyday if poss, , after this a few times their off before you can get the basket tied up. at this stage i would give them a couple of 50 mile shots, then train 10 miles in differant directions

[Mike Lycett]

Yes, we basket train ours every weekend of their lives April - July inclusive

[MsPigeon]

I agree with Hyacinth, I like to make sure traping is secon nature and get them used to the basket with several tosses within sight of the loft. Then like Hyacinth, just a 1/2 mile working slowly out. I train in all directions in our valley and on the hills around our valley and then the big scary toss that is out of our valley which is only about 25 miles. If they make it home from that toss I've got it made. I train them at least 60 miles but really like to get them out to the first race station. But start young, don't wait for all the rounds to be ready.

Carol

[Guest]

Find letting my young birds out around 6am they'll disappear and go ranging for around an hour and a half. I don't start training them until around 10 days from the 1st race when they are started at around 20 miles. Any less I think would be an insult to their intelligence. Usually kept going out unless they make a mistake, when I'll do a repeat from that training point.

 

Last year trained with others with 600 - 1000 birds going. Reckon helps to give them a good grounding on what to expect on race days, and that they have to break away from the mob (somewhere) for home.

 

  

[westburylofts]

 

We start training our yb's at 5 mile's  3 times, Then move upto 10 miles 5 times

Then out to 18 - 20 miles  15 plus times  and we also like to see them come out

of the crate's and head straight home,  

They are always out flying first thing in the morning for at least 1 hr.

We are lucky that our club has its own transporter so we can have them

on that at least 4-6 times before the 1st race.

 

We basket train all our yb's from beeing weaned off.  we have a spare creat that

we place in the yb section on the floor and they go in and out of this as they want

when we are sure all yb's are eating and drinking from the crate then we remove

it from the loft,  also we will basket the yb's over night before they go on to the

club transporter.

 

RAY

 

[T_T]

Very important that the youngsters are basket trained.  A lot of losses occur with youngsters dehydrating.  Once they start to roam, I train at 10 mls and no further than 20mls but as often as twice a day every day for two weeks prior to the first race.  Contrary to belief, they don't get fed up with it, They get USED to it.

[MsPigeon]

Wow, thats great T-T, only 20 miles out! I think thats the way of the future with gas prices so high.  

[Guest slugmonkey]

I train mine at 5 then on up to 50 then 75 then 100 about 2 weeks before race I often train twice a day but only about 15 - 20 miles I do this not for condition but to sharpen them up I also train in rain and light fog and I loft fly daily while training

[Guest]

Who voted 22 miles and 28 miles for the Young birds first training?

 

This is to far for the yb's to learn from 22 miles and 28 miles is it ?

[Mike Lycett]

Speight

 

There's plenty of guys down here start 'em at 20 miles & get 'em ok.  We just like to build their confidence a bit.  When the youngsters are exercising/roaming for 2-3 hrs a day they're covering this ground anyway.

 

Mike

[Guest WINGS 04]

I AGREE  WITH BRUNO IF YOU ARE ONLY TRAINING THEM FROM SHORT DISTANCES IT  IS INSULTING THE BIRDS INTELLIGENCE WE START THEM AT 10 MILES THEN 20M THEN 30M I ALSO DO NOT THINK YOU HAVE GOT TO TAKE THEM MORE THAN 30 MILES TO GET THEM RIGHT AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THEM GOING AT THAT POINT BUT YOU HAVE GOT TO GET THEM TRAPPING AS THIS IS WHERE RACES ARE WON AND LOST WITH YOUNG BIRDS

[perk]

when i move the young birds to the loft i have a skip open on the floor so they can go in or out when they want to,i start training one week after they start roaming at 5 miles then 5 mile jumps to 30 miles. one new starter a few years ago took his young birds to the race point for their first toss thinking this was what was done,he only dropped one (70 miles)  

[Guest]

Who voted 22 miles and 28 miles for the Young birds first training?

 

This is to far for the yb's to learn from 22 miles and 28 miles is it ?

 

 

I polled 22 miles Speight, and qualified that by saying that my birds had been ranging for weeks on end, with training beginning around 10 days before the first race i.e. mid July, when the youngsters are 5 months old and, I believe, have already covered their home territory. My next would be Newcraighall, 28 miles and then onto maximum, Longniddry or Drem railway stations, 35 and 40 miles respectively, then into 1st race Kelso, 57 miles.

[MsPigeon]

I start training them before they are roaming on there own. I start getting them used to sitting outside in a basket as soon as they know how to trap. Then start letting them out of the basket within sight of the loft, and start working them out. So our difference in traing practices probably has a lot to do with the age of the pigeon we are training. I think it also depends on where you live and the lay of the land. I make sure they are routing before I take them out of our valley. But there is lots of training both in traping and getting used to coming out of the basket before they go down the road over 10 miles.

[ribble]

mine go less than 10 mile,because i live in a valley i start them on the edge.if it was flat id go further.