Homing Ability

[mO]

I have recently read Posts on eye sign and wing theory, in breeding and out crossing as ways to improve homing ability.

But I sent 29 y/birds to 1st race and only got 4 home and one reported within walking distance of the Lib site.

Can anyone suggest where I and other club members are goining wrong, as a club we lost 200 birds.

 

 

 

 

Stop Press.  URGENT UPDATE!!!

It has just be announced on BBC Radio that they attached an electonic tag to a Bumbble Bee and it homed from 8 Miles.

Perhaps I should Try to get a cock bummble bee to add to my stock.

My question is should I breed yellow to Pearl? or father to his best Daughter.

Any suggestions (helpfull ones)

yours trying to still look on the positive side mO.

[Guest shadow]

I think a lot of losses are down to fanciers training on the line of flight and not from all points of the compass. Once the young birds are lost off the line of flight they do not seem to have the ability to find their way back very easily, plus the hot humid weather dehydrates them very easily.

[MsPigeon]

I would check for respiratory or other health problems. Especially if the whole club is having similar losses and they are mixed in the baskets.

Carol

[THE FIFER]

WE ARE ALL LOSING THEM, IT'S FAR TOO MANY BIRDS ON THE GO, WE ALL BREED FAR TOO MANY, AND THEY ARE TRAINED IN LARGE GROUPS SO HOW MANY ARE JUST FOLLOWING THE BATCH, UNTIL THEY ARE ON THEIR OWN IN A RACE THEN ITS LOST.

[ken]

hi i agree with rose make them use there brains the good ones all ways get home

[Silverdale Lofts]

Mo what time did you liberate sunday we was at newark liberated 9am one fancier sent 105 got 40 back another sent 11 got 1 back.

[Guest]

Find the whole homing thing a big puzzle.

 

Cannot understand my experiences this year with my OBs. Lost a lot of pigeons that should have been able to come home blindfold.

 

What really puzzles me was the state that three that did come home were in: (1) half-a-wing and a hole in one side; (2) torn open along one side; (3) gashed foot. How can birds with these kind of injuries get themselves home and yet the others can't?

 

On the subject of youngbirds. They aren't as skilled at using their different homing abilities as OBs. Also they seem to have difficulty with controlling their body temperature, so dehydration is a major problem for them. We know how we feel when moderately dehydrated, the brain goes, can't think straight etc. Must be much the same for a dehydrated young pigeon, can't work out basic stuff to get itself home. Also, one the first places water is extracted from to keep the rest of the pigeon's body going is the breast [flight] muscles. So not only 'No working brain', no working wings either!  :'(

[mO]

yo sil, sorry to not respond earlier, we were liberated at 06:45am @ Melton Mowbray.

In answer to Ms Pigeon, I had thought about respo, but the last 3 fed races were all won by members of my club.

Dehydration??  My birds have been basket trained over night with a drinker on, and should know how to drink in the transporter. Also I added re-hydration product to the loft drinkers the whole day before basketing and the day of Basketing.

Guess I'm still flumaxed.

As i only had 3 return on the day i have continued to train them with later bred birds but one  missed and returned "wired"  yes it was one that had returned ok from the sunday race. how Lucky is that?.

[ken]

hi mo what re-hydration prouduct did you use

[Guest Silverwings]

In the fifties and sixties the clubs had two or three times the birds and members ? but never expereinced the losses they have today , i think that the progress of widowhood and the fassion for shorter distance racing has not helped the devlopment of the natural homing instinct , thus making the natural selection method less extreme , i also that think 60 % of todays pigeons would not have made it to the winter in those years ?  although there are some very good ones still around people are very reluctant to part with them  ,one thing that has evolved and plays havoc with our birds is I T (information technology ) birds of a feather WILL always fly together ? only two at time training  will break them from this and reduce the losses , get them to" home alone " if you can ......ray

[schouwman71]

agree with silverwings ,dont train them in packs,make them home by themselves by single tossing, they not only home faster but they learn there own path and leave the rest behind.pigeons are flock flyers so you nead to break there instinct by single tossing.See the difference in them then.

[Guest]

Dehydration??  My birds have been basket trained over night with a drinker on, and should know how to drink in the transporter. Also I added re-hydration product to the loft drinkers the whole day before basketing and the day of Basketing.

 

Cut your post down to show the single bit I'm responding to.

 

With respect, think you underestimate the scale of the problem [dehydration]. If you have a look at the 'Losses' thread over on the general pigeon board, you'll see that birds just on training spins get lost. These birds haven't been overnight on any transporter, they've been in their home loft, gone down the road  maybe in under two hours ... and don't come back for hours, and sometimes not at all.

 

On the subject of young birds overnight in the race basket. Studies show they aren't very good at drinking, even when the water is on the basket all the time. Those that attempt to get to the drinker spark the others in the basket into 'defending territory behaviours' usually by attacking the pigeon standing next to it. Thats why modern transporters have drinkers on 3 sides. How modern is yours?

[Tony C]

My y/bird team is normally between 25-30 strong. When these y/birds start flying around home the invariably get mixed up with other fanciers teams. These teams are on average twice and some three times bigger than mine. I find mine have to use their noddles at an early age to pull out of these mobs. For a good few weeks they come back in ones & two's but have learnt to break away from the mob and  think for themselves early in life. This year I have 48 y/birds, 27 in one loft and 21 in another. They are let out separately, trained separately and so far (fingers crossed) I haven't dropped one training. Last week our first y/bird race sent 11 got 11. The fanciers that seem to be having the heavy losses around here are the ones with big teams. Coincidence?

[Guest slugmonkey]

I think it is a lot of factors I have started making ALL of my yearlings go 600 miles I started this 3 years ago and am already seeing results we had a HORRIBLE 600 this year and it took 2 days for 1st bird and he was right before dark there  were 300 birds between 2 clubs with 7 in race time most lost the majority of what they sent I had 1 in race time with all but 2 coming home most arrived on day 5 these are Jannsen based birds and by most peoples belief I should not have gotten ANY after day 2 you have to breed a little toughness into your birds

[Guest Paulo]

I agree with Bruno about the dehydration especially in this heatwave we are having. Look at your young birds when they are feeding in the loft. They are just like people you have passive ones and aggressive one's. My old man was down looking at the birds this weekend and he picked a cheq hen out as the best one I had I asked him why and he said look how at how it drives the others away from the drinker until it had its fill and I aksed him what that had to do with it he said if theres a holdover or it was hot it would mean the bird was well fed and hydrated.

 

Plus its easy to over estimate heat when its the pigeons who have to fly and not you!!!! Try going outside and having a workout in this heat and the sweat will pour out of you. You've got to constantly drink to stay hydrated ask any sportsman you don't and performance drops drastically as does the reasoning to think.

 

Was down the loft at 5.00 this morning it was so cool I had to wear a duvet jacket as was too cold in just a t shirt. Its now 9.00 and boiling hot doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that training should be early in the morning and so should the libs on race day. Was watching a mates home for him on saturday the first couple of birds back were parched nearly drained the drinker dry.

 

I wonder if the young birds are dropping for a drink and then the ones that normally follow the mob are left behind and haven't got the training or experience to make their way back?

[David Swain]

I don't think there is one single answer to the problem of heavy young bird losses. Just to give you a couple of examples. A friend liberated 19 well trained ybs close to Lulworth Castle racepoint in Dorset yesterday for a 20 mile  toss and almost immediately they were attacked by two peregrines. They split into small groups, some crashing into trees in their attempts to escape. Result - only six back. We had two ybs come in from a fancier in Taunton (about 20 miles away) which had been lost two days earlier when he had a disastrous toss not far from our loft. They were fed and watered and kept in a basket and liberated two days later by a friend who was going to within five miles of their home loft. One was back at our place within the hour. How and why did it find its way back to a location it had only been at for two days when we have lost several dozen ybs at much shorter distances which were bred here? I am sure other fanciers have had similar experiences.

I think raptors, weather, clashing, people breeding too much rubbish, yb sickness and several other factors all play their part.

[Roland]

www.rarecolorpigeons.com Lot's of little tib bits I look over from time to time... find some quite interesting, hope some of you do too.

[NANCYVIEWLOFTS]

i agree with whats being said  but some fanciers send their young birds 50 miles for their first toss and dont seem to have a problem but they dont have a line of flight for this first toss they just come home

[Wiley]

i agree with whats being said  but some fanciers send their young birds 50 miles for their first toss and dont seem to have a problem but they dont have a line of flight for this first toss they just come home

 

 

I agree and disagree with this post,ive done it and a good majority of birds make it home in about 3 days but your always some missing,and i neva would do it again,Ive also heard fanciers saying this to other fanciers regarding young birds saying take them 40 miles for the first toss,but the person in questions son told me that they start theres off at 5miles and work there way up to 40 miles, so in some cases there just telling ya to do that to get the numbers lower,only my opinion,considering that his son told me one thing but i heard his father saying another :-/ :-/

 

[rlez]

some birds have it others dont,you just got to develop the ones that have it

[schouwman71]

i think to send your birds 50 mls 1st toss is just ruthless to your birds because when they miss you then tend to take it out of there parents.

[Roland]

I tried for two seasons molly cuddling them... losses were vastly greater, performances poor... so am back to just 3 chucks  in any direction of at least 300 miles or more, and then straight into their first race. Saves time wasted efforts and money for better results.

[jimmy white]

300 miles roland?

[Guest]

I think Roland must be an American Jimmy

[Wiley]

lol homing ability is good but it istn racing tho?i want pigeons that can home in quick time,when people say homing ability i look at it a pigeon could home 3 weeks later and it could have homing ability and i dont want that