Yet again another night on the tiles!!

[Guest Denny]

OK What have I not done this time?

 

I fed the birds a 8oz between 17 birds yesterday morning and gave the same this morning because I still have a couple young birds in the loft.  

 

Why are my birds sitting on the roof of the house again this evening?  What am I doing wrong?  Am I letting them out too late for them to have a fly about and come in (6pm)?

 

At this rate the poor things will be stuck in the loft all the time as I cant be dealing with the worry of them out all night and the combination of the PB & cats getting at them in the morning!  :B

 

 

[REDCHEQHEN]

They'll be starving

 

are these old birds - feeding some young birds?

 

or all young birds with some younger ones?

[Guest Denny]

These are young birds with 3 younger ones

[REDCHEQHEN]

Are you feeding them again when they come in?

[Guest Denny]

yes, when they come in I 'reward' them with the balance of food they should have had between them

[wings]

Don't feed them at all in the morning feed them when they come in. when i feed my birds i whistle to them all the time so that they can associate the whistle with feeding time, try not to let them sit on the roof throw a ball at them or something like that, you must try to break the habit of sitting on the roof as you say easy prey for hawks, try to keep them tight on the food as i said earlier and you may find that your problems will end.

[nogin]

OK What have I not done this time?

 

I fed the birds a 8oz between 17 birds yesterday morning and gave the same this morning because I still have a couple young birds in the loft.  

 

Why are my birds sitting on the roof of the house again this evening?  What am I doing wrong?  Am I letting them out too late for them to have a fly about and come in (6pm)?

 

At this rate the poor things will be stuck in the loft all the time as I cant be dealing with the worry of them out all night and the combination of the PB & cats getting at them in the morning!  :B

STOP FEEDING THEM BEFORE YOU PUT THEM OUT  

 

 

[Guest numpty01]

do not feed for two days then let um out they will fly then call them in but only give 12 oz between them for another two days then go back to 1oz day each

[REDCHEQHEN]

I get up at 5.00am and get all my birds out

 

[Guest Denny]

How much should I be feeding these birds?  I have been giving 1 oz per bird a day is that too much?  

[Guest Denny]

I get up at 5.00am and get all my birds out

 

I get up at that time too as I clean the house, walk the dogs and scrape the loft before going to work.

 

Is it better to let them out in the morning rather than in the evening?

 

 

[wings]

How much should I be feeding these birds?  I have been giving 1 oz per bird a day is that too much?  

 

If they are young birds they will need that 1oz a day but given at night not in a morning when you have got them trained you could let them out 2 times aday feeding them a 1/4 oz when they come in on a morning and 1 oz after the evening flight ( I feed young bird no maize) hope this helps

[Guest numpty01]

an oz a day is enough but you have to give um time to get used to that birds hold more corn than peaple think if crop looks full they are haveing to much

[Guest Owen]

You have been too soft in the past. You don't do pigeons any favours by letting them do as they want. The only way now is to be cruel to be kind. Or perhaps it sounds better if I say firm to be kind. Never, never give them that extra handfull at feeding time. They must eat quickly and enthusiasically. Nothing else will do. It goes like this. Call the birds. Food into trough. Allow five mins, or stop feeding when any one of them straightens up. Pick up food. No food to be left in the loft. Latecommers, slow eaters and slow trappers must wait until tomorrow. This is a self adjusting method. The slow birds today will be the fast birds tomorrow. But gradually you will get control. One last thing. A lot of fanciers like it when their young birds fly for hours and think it is good that they have lots of exercise. If they think that, they would be better keeping tippers who will do just that. Fly for hours on end. Racing pigeons have to be taught to concentrate on what the boss wants. If the boss calls them in they must come. It is no use if they want to fly off and do what they want. You must crack down now before the young bird races are upon you. Because when they are racing you must be able to give them that bit extra without running the risk of bad traps and nights out. The idea is to strengthen their attachment to you and their home. What you are doing is the reverse of this which will result in them not racing properly and they will probably get lost much more easilly.

[Guest]

just reading Owens post ,there speaks the voice of experience , wise words that should be listened to .                    andy.

[Guest Denny]

What I have been doing is feeding them, watching them until the 3rd bird has taken a drink then picking up the feed (even though there is seed in the trough).  They are always keen when I do feed them as all 17 birds squabble over the seed when its down - they are still on breed and wean as still have the 3 youngsters (only had them a week now) - should I swop to YB seed?

 

I have been doing this since the first time they spent the night on the tile.

 

How can I deter them from sitting on the roof as they have taken to flying up and over my roof then disappearing over to the houses behind where I have no 'access'.

[flyingteessider]

How can you give your birds 1oz the stronger of the young will get more leaving the younger birds nothing,I have found letting my birds out early evening and feeding untill all have had ther fill works for me i get an hour and a half flying out of them they trap easy and go to sleep well fed i believe its the best routine

[paul10121968]

your at the time with yb,s that will test your patience to the limit.at first i did let my yb,s get away with it for a few days,i thought at least their near the loft but then i started to do as owen has mentioned if you dont come in you dont get fed its as simple as that.that worked well with the more stubborn ones.choose a time when it is convenient for you to let them out and try to keep to that same time every day,feed them as soon as they come in,that way the ones staying out miss the feed and be more than willing the next day.once they fall into the routine you can then cure them of the roof thing.i stopped mine landing on the roof by throwing water bombs at them.a few days of this and they started to get the message that they were left alone if they landed on the loft.my rule is sky or inside loft,bathing is done in the avairy.as they get older,they will get better.you have to teach them what to do and its not going to be easy.i think every fancier will agree that this is the hardest part of keeping racing pigeons.i had four sat on the roof looking at me the very first day out so dont worry it wont hurt them.dont stop now you,ve almost got it cracked,with a little more work they will start to respond to you.

[thunderboult]

denny you've got to make the birds feel safe on the loft and stop them landing on the houses. how i do this is, when they are on the loft i give them some red band(not a lot just a handful or two) everytime they land on the loft i give a little redband above the trap, this makes them feel safe on the loft roof. when they land on the house that's ok when they're first going out because they can get a good look around before flying , but after a few times of going out it must be stopped. keep your red band in a tin and use the same one everytime you go down the garden, i give mine red band nearly everyday(not a lot) but they know what it is soon as they see the tin, any that are on the roof ,shack the tin and call them, the same you do as you feed them, if they hungry they should come down to you.  

[Guest Denny]

How can you give your birds 1oz the stronger of the young will get more leaving the younger birds nothing,

 

What I do for my young ones to make sure they are getting enough to eat is; the slightly older birds are 9/10 in the other section of the loft (I close the sliding door between for a couple mins) when I put down some of the seed thus allowing the 3 younger birds the opportunity to have a bit of a feed before I call and open the door and let the other birds into the section (I normally allow the birds free range of both sections of the loft as they are the only birds in there.  

 

Is it wrong for me making sure they get some feed this way?

 

 

[thunderboult]

 

What I do for my young ones to make sure they are getting enough to eat is; the slightly older birds are 9/10 in the other section of the loft (I close the sliding door between for a couple mins) when I put down some of the seed thus allowing the 3 younger birds the opportunity to have a bit of a feed before I call and open the door and let the other birds into the section (I normally allow the birds free range of both sections of the loft as they are the only birds in there.  

 

Is it wrong for me making sure they get some feed this way?

 

 

no, of course not

[flyingteessider]

No not at all every one to ther own it just sounds abit complicated i wish i could spare that much time feeding, I have a simple method that works and suits me and the birds

[Guest strapper]

denny..there are 3 rules with youngsters that you must follow strictly to the book...

 

1...control them with their food

2 ..control them with their food

3 ..control them with their food

 

if one of mine play up with coming in they dont get food as the rest have been fed ...next time watch that youngster come in on time....if this fails then and it keeps repeating this ,then it will most prob let you down on race day.

you have to decide wether its worth persevering with this youngster.

there are exceptions but attitude when they are young in this manner usually portrays how they will be later on.

 

 

[Guest Owen]

I know that it is difficult to deal with variable ages of young birds. But maybe you should look at it like this. Don't discriminate at all, call the birds, place the corn into the trough, allow five minutes, pick the trough up regardless of whether they have eaten. You can be sure that they will come when they are called tomorrow or the day after. Then you follow on with your method of picking up when the third bird straightens up. The one thing to be aware of is, make sure you have plenty of trough space. It would be wrong to prevent the younger birds from having access to the food because the older ones are crowding them out. As I see it you have Hobsons Choice. You either sort it out now or it will not be sorted out and that will mean trouble in the time to come. Your birds have been trained to accept that sitting on the roof is OK. It's a bit like teaching a child. If you tell it off without following through you will actually teach them that it is OK to be naughty. Then the child gets even more ingenious at disobeying because you have actually taught it how to get it's own way. Pigeons are no differant. I know I must sound like a tyrant, but you must have it your way, not their's.  

[madmaxlofts]

not to put the willies up you but in my expeiance its never a good sign

that to me i would be looking at them as soon as they come in

young bird desiese does that a loss of appitite and they stay out all night