young bird training? (exactly what should i do???)

[chrisbonnie]

as stated before, my dad got pigeons, and when im around, ill give him a hand with them

 

yesterday, after 2 minor training tosses, he brought the birds a little further away, about 2 mile, out of 8, 2 never came back, and the rest took over a night to come back

 

the birds are between 9 and 12 weeks old

 

he had only brought them out twice, they got home ok, but not really quick, about 20 minutes for a mile away from the loft,

 

i reckon the father was just a little impatient, and should have kept bringing them to that one spot until they where beating him home

 

how do you lads do it, any help would be great

[pigeonpete]

It's really tricky to explain on here, everyone does things differently, but the birds need to flying well around home and at least going out of sight for longer periods(ranging) are the birds flying well around home? (healthy?) how long has he had the birds? and how many times have they been out? i would probably say he has taken them training to early. Need to be very patient with ybs? where they in good condition when they came back?

[chrisbonnie]

It's really tricky to explain on here, everyone does things differently, but the birds need to flying well around home and at least going out of sight for longer periods(ranging) are the birds flying well around home? (healthy?) how long has he had the birds? and how many times have they been out? i would probably say he has taken them training to early. Need to be very patient with ybs? where they in good condition when they came back?

 

they seem to go out for a fair bit alright, there`s another loft behind our house, and they tend to go off with them, then come back about about an hour or so, but i know what you mean, they generally are within sight

 

the birds are healthy alright, all good and big, obviously some are larger than others

 

actually, ive just checked the dates, the majority of the birds are only 7-9 weeks old, thats way too young to start training isnt it??

[BLACK W F]

if thats the age of them 9-12wks he should wait untill older untill they be running and flying for long peroids say 1hr a time i think he is far too early too young to start training  them

[North road racer]

Id suggest that if you have a feeling that its too early, you should hold them back a week or two atleast, let them range around the loft and get there bearings before putting them in a basket. Id suggest that a mile toss is not really worthwhile. My first toss is always atleast 5 miles. If your birds are ranging well and going out of sight, they are most probably going further than a mile away from your house when exercising.

[pigeonpete]

I would say 7 weeks is far to young!! if they left the nest at 4 weeks  walking about outside the loft at 5 weeks flipping about at 6 weeks!! and 7 weeks training?? Be patient with them, keep them back a bit longer, let them get confident in there surroundings first. :-)

[chrisbonnie]

I would say 7 weeks is far to young!! if they left the nest at 4 weeks  walking about outside the loft at 5 weeks flipping about at 6 weeks!! and 7 weeks training?? Be patient with them, keep them back a bit longer, let them get confident in there surroundings first. :-)

 

yeah, i just checked the dates, i was in Rome 4 weeks ago when he got 8 from louella, im guessing they where only 3 weeks old at that stage, so thats only 7 weeks altogether, way too early

 

parents, sometimes there`s no talking to them though, i went out and got coil rings with our phone number on it, do you think he`d put them on the birds? not a hope, so from wanting to race pigeons, he says he`ll never bring them away again, its not worth a head ache

 

i appreciate all the replies lads, ill try and turn him back onto the racing  

[pigeonpete]

 

yeah, i just checked the dates, i was in Rome 4 weeks ago when he got 8 from louella, im guessing they where only 3 weeks old at that stage, so thats only 7 weeks altogether, way too early

 

parents, sometimes there`s no talking to them though, i went out and got coil rings with our phone number on it, do you think he`d put them on the birds? not a hope, so from wanting to race pigeons, he says he`ll never bring them away again, its not worth a head ache

 

i appreciate all the replies lads, ill try and turn him back onto the racing  

 

And rome wasnt built in a day tell him :-) We have all done it, keen to get going, but more haste less speed and all that!! ;-)

 

 

[Roland]

It's really tricky to explain on here, everyone does things differently, but the birds need to flying well around home and at least going out of sight for longer periods(ranging) are the birds flying well around home? (healthy?) how long has he had the birds? and how many times have they been out? i would probably say he has taken them training to early. Need to be very patient with ybs? where they in good condition when they came back?

 

Now I agree with that 100%.... but know one or two that train before they go ranging.... have heard their reasoning but can't get t grips with that. Best time, as far as I'm concerned is after they have been ranging and are roof hopping.

With my old stock I could then just send the for 3 chucks the week of the race, three different direction, 2 of 30 miles or so and a 65 miler on the Thursday.

But am quickly re learning a few things I'd forgot, so in this new learning curve will be training them up to the 20 miles and then 20 miles every day in all and any direction.

[chrisbonnie]

so what would the average age of the young birds be before they start training, just a ball park figure like

[pjc]

as has been said be patient but also let them out for excercise before you basket them and take them for short training tosses otherwise if you just take the birds up the road they will treat it as excercise period before coming home.

You need to teach them to leave the basket and head for home asap by making sure there is a treat waiting for them etc.

[ritchie1]

yoing birds away first toss 10 miles all back it 20 minutes very pleased there all home in a bunch

[Guest Owen]

As someone else told you, it is not as simple as it sounds. And to make matters worse, we all do things our own way. I am very careful with young birds. They are basket trained for a couple of weeks before I think of training. I have a basket fixed to the loft so that they can walk in and out of it. I then remove the drinkers and teach them to drink from basket dinkers. And I would'nt dream of training until they are flying really well at home. I probably put more emphasis on trapping than most and less emphasis on ranging. When I train,I always stand the birds for at least 15 minutes before I release them. When I release them I open up and let them walk out and take off as they will.The last thing I want is the scare them. They will be scared enough by the whole experience, without me making it worse. I don't rear many birds these days so I want to be very careful. When I release them I always release in tens. That way, if they meet a falcon or a bunch of other pigeons I have a chance of having some of them return properly. A lot of Fanciers like to have their birds take a long time to get home because they say that they like them to have a look arround. I don't. I want mine to head for home straight away. I think that the stress of training and other things in their lives can bring on young bird sickness, so that is another reason to be careful and take it easy on them.

[chrisbonnie]

As someone else told you, it is not as simple as it sounds. And to make matters worse, we all do things our own way. I am very careful with young birds. They are basket trained for a couple of weeks before I think of training. I have a basket fixed to the loft so that they can walk in and out of it. I then remove the drinkers and teach them to drink from basket dinkers. And I would'nt dream of training until they are flying really well at home. I probably put more emphasis on trapping than most and less emphasis on ranging. When I train,I always stand the birds for at least 15 minutes before I release them. When I release them I open up and let them walk out and take off as they will.The last thing I want is the scare them. They will be scared enough by the whole experience, without me making it worse. I don't rear many birds these days so I want to be very careful. When I release them I always release in tens. That way, if they meet a falcon or a bunch of other pigeons I have a chance of having some of them return properly. A lot of Fanciers like to have their birds take a long time to get home because they say that they like them to have a look arround. I don't. I want mine to head for home straight away. I think that the stress of training and other things in their lives can bring on young bird sickness, so that is another reason to be careful and take it easy on them.

 

thanks for all thw info lads, more of the feathered fellas came back, so out of the 8 tossed, only 1 didnt return, not bad, going by the age of the poor little chaps

 

the old man has come round as well, he realised the errors of his ways, and racing is back on the agenda, ill report back with his actual results from training properly,

 

thanks again