training youngsters? (for a beginner)

[chrisbonnie]

how`s it going lads

 

myself and my dad made a loft, and today we got our first pigeons from a friend fancier, only 2 arrived today, we`ll be getting 10 all together, only a small amount i know, but better than nothing

 

now, im going to ask for as MUCH advice as possible, so be please be patient

 

my dad had pigeons as a kid, but that was over 30 years ago now, so he`s basically a beginner as well

 

the loft is pretty sweet, if i do say so myself, nice perches, insulated, 2 windows, a good effort for a newb  

 

so here`s the deal, the little fellas are only 4/5 weeks old at the minute, so cant fly, what exactly should we be doing to get them to fly, should be be letting them out of the loft during the day, for a mess around while its getting cleaned, or should they be left in the loft, until they show signs of flight?

 

how much feed? (i got some Versa Laga specialised youngster feed in the pigeon shop)

 

as i was saying ,the other youngsters will be arriving within the next 2 weeks, so regarding introducing them, anything i need to be aware of, or do i just let them in?

 

i appreciate any help lads, no matter how small it may be

 

cheers

 

Chris

[DAVIDL]

hi chris, if they are 5 weeks old they should be able to fly around the loft so the sooner you can home them the better, before they are too strong on the wing.  you want to be opening your loft door for them to walk out  or just stand at the door so they came get familiar with the surroundind area.....just let them do this every day but dont be in a hurry to get them up flying as you want them to take note of landmarks and the area around your loft.....dont forget, do not feed before they go out and when feeding get them to recognise either a whistle or call to assosciate with food.....

hope this helps....

[pjc]

As David says they are or should be capable of flying at that age. Before you think about letting them out get them used to you, when you feed them, call them, shake the food tin or whisstle, doesn't matter which you use but the birds will get to know which ever call you use means its feed time. When you do get the birds going out you can then get them in easly asuming they are hungry.

If you can also put some kind of cage on the front of the loft this will allow the birds to aso have a good look around the area before going out.

[chrisbonnie]

i bought a door in a pigeon supply shop for the inside of the loft, this one here

 

 

but i put clear perspex down the bottom instead of the wood, just for more light, so im going to take the main loft door off, but leave that one up, so do that every morning to let them get their bareings? then tomorrow, let them out for a while, in the mean time, ill clean the loft, then shake the tin and hopefully get them used to the sound of the dinner bell?

[Guest bigda]

i bought a door in a pigeon supply shop for the inside of the loft, this one here

 

 

but i put clear perspex down the bottom instead of the wood, just for more light, so im going to take the main loft door off, but leave that one up, so do that every morning to let them get their bareings? then tomorrow, let them out for a while, in the mean time, ill clean the loft, then shake the tin and hopefully get them used to the sound of the dinner bell?

 

good you are on the ball if you or your dad is about the loft stay with the birds when they are out as they might get a visit from a cat or a hawk  when you let them out  no food  till they come running to you then give a little shake the tin  when giving food then return about one hour and shake the tin  feed some more  4 times a day  small amounts  when young to brainwash them  into the  call for food,  that should  take up  about a week to get them running to  see you, get a mixture without maze in it,   for a few weeks , manly peas, maples, beans, a mixture called leige is a good one to  feed your growing youngsters, then buy a bag of moulting barley and  feed your birds with half barley and half mix,   till the racing starts, then you can ask  for more info, if you just  do  this for now  and no more  than this, your birds will be in fine fettle

go to your club and see if some fanciers will jag your birds for you as its about time they where  jagged, if  they are not done  all  ready

[chrisbonnie]

what does jagged mean?

 

thats snart about feeding them alright, keep shaking the can every time they`re getting fed

 

any limit on the portions? a friend was saying 2 and half spoonfuls of feed per bird

[Guest bigda]

jagged is a term for  a injection,  you have to get the  birds inoculated for paramyxovirus or pmv for short, ask  the guy you are getting the birds from,  to see if he has given them a jag,

if not  ask at your  nearest club to see if any fanciers have  any spare, to use on your birds this year.  the   young birds  are  give them 3 desert spoons in a day  a spoonful in the  morning after flying, then out at 6-or7 at night  back in two spoon fulls or get your self a measuring cup to suit per bird or per 10 birds

[DAVIDL]

i give my ybs one and a quarter ounce per day, they need good feeding when they are growing....dont know if you are going to race but you have to get the balance right, food for energy to race but not too much so they wont trap...

[Guest Owen]

In this day and age it is very important you vaccinate the birds against paramixo virus. Get a vet or a fellow fancier to help you for the first time. It is also very important to identify your birds. You can do this by fitting an address ring or wing stamping them. Again ask advice.

Keep your birds slightly hungery while you train them to your loft. Never let them out with food in their crops. Open the door and have them walk out by scattering a very small amount of corn or seed just outside the door. Keep them interested in the corn for two or three times. The idea is to stop them getting excited and flying up. Over several occasions work them a bit further away from the door and feed them back in. /the duration of this exercise need only be short. Five minutes is enough at first. Once their confidence comes they will fly around and more importantly land without fear. Later on when you have birds broken and confident in landing at your loft it will not be quite so critical. At the moment your birds have nothing to draw them back if they do take off suddenly.

Under no circumstances clean the loft or walk away until several weeks from now. You need to be on hand and concentrating to make sure that a predator does not strike. Ask your mates about the damage a Sparrow Hawk can do. There is plenty on this Forum to give you an idea.

Feed a no maize young bird mix in a trough or hopper. Definately not on the floor. Make sure that there is never food down after the first three birds have stopped feeding.

Best of luck, I hope it all goes well for you

Owen  

[chrisbonnie]

In this day and age it is very important you vaccinate the birds against paramixo virus. Get a vet or a fellow fancier to help you for the first time. It is also very important to identify your birds. You can do this by fitting an address ring or wing stamping them. Again ask advice.

Keep your birds slightly hungery while you train them to your loft. Never let them out with food in their crops. Open the door and have them walk out by scattering a very small amount of corn or seed just outside the door. Keep them interested in the corn for two or three times. The idea is to stop them getting excited and flying up. Over several occasions work them a bit further away from the door and feed them back in. /the duration of this exercise need only be short. Five minutes is enough at first. Once their confidence comes they will fly around and more importantly land without fear. Later on when you have birds broken and confident in landing at your loft it will not be quite so critical. At the moment your birds have nothing to draw them back if they do take off suddenly.

Under no circumstances clean the loft or walk away until several weeks from now. You need to be on hand and concentrating to make sure that a predator does not strike. Ask your mates about the damage a Sparrow Hawk can do. There is plenty on this Forum to give you an idea.

Feed a no maize young bird mix in a trough or hopper. Definately not on the floor. Make sure that there is never food down after the first three birds have stopped feeding.

Best of luck, I hope it all goes well for you

Owen  

 

cheers for the advice, regarding cleaning the loft, when will be the best time to do it at the moment, just as they`re there?

 

i see what you mean about not leaving them alone, i know of at least 1 cat in the area, my next door neighbour, that sneaky little sh** will be getting an almighty kick up the *expletive removed* when i see it next, just as a pre-warning  8)

[Guest Owen]

I would clean the loft with with the birds inside for now. Take it slowly, and definately do not stare at your pigeons. Pigeons are prey species and hate eyes. It will be good for your birds to get used to you in an unthreatening way.

The best way to keep cats out is an electric fence unit. It is what I use. It is a case of everyone winning. You, because the cats will not pass it. The cats, because they can carry on doing cat things, but not on your place. The cat owners, because they will not even realise what you have done. Neighborhood relations, because there will be no rows. So as I say everybody wins. I have a way of dealing with hawks, but I will tell you about that some other time.

go for it Man

[Guest CINNAMON SPUNKMEYER]

leave the birds in the loft for 3-4 days,

 

change water every morning, and one teaspoon of food between 2. (breakfast)

 

let birds out at 6 every evening when they return feed as much as they want remove any left over feed after 15 minutes.

 

 

whistle each time you feed.

 

you need to do nothing more than this..

 

 

 

[pigeonpete]

hi chris bonnie, welcome to pb, hope you enjoy it on here, well firstly you will be very suprised at how far they can fly at 5 weeks old! so try not to leave them to long, are you getting your next lot of pigeons from the same fancier? try and avoid getting ybs from various different sources if you can, the feed you are feeding them is fine, as they need a good diet as they are still growing, but what you must have with ybs is control, so i would make sure they are that bit hungrier than normal when you let them out, as they are less likely to fly off, and from the star you will have control of them when you shake the corn tin, whistle etc, ybs never forget and you will get them that bit tamer, you dont want wild birds or bird that are to tame in my opinion, even though most of mine are as wild as hell!! lol anyway good luck and you will always get the best advise and top people on this fantastic website, its helped me loads over last 4 years, speak soon,

[pigeonpete]

also try and get them in your baske at least once a week for a couple of hours or so, then they get used to the basket and wont get stressed as much, when they are a bit older i feed them there morning feed after being out, and dont give them any water, then basket them up, and they now learn to drink from the basket, very valuable lesson to learn, i was shocked at the amount of people over the years who say they dont do that!! or thats what they told me ;-)

[edthekid]

all i can say is watch there feed ..young birds are very good liers.....it wont ert to get em hungery for one day.when they know they can fly in open air they will.

but try to get em to walk the garden first...when some get air born and head strong,your numbers may decline and end up paying big courier bills...

if your worried about fly aways you can always soap them up.

all the best mate good luck

[wilkins]

i work on late shift ,so let them out in the mroning and i feed a mixture by hand to they get to particular then i remove and offer then water

i then put a hopper of peas down, from late may  the hopper will contain barley only . they wont over eat on this

[NW USA]

Nine perches is not enough for ten birds better to have fifteen or more. Every time you feed them whistle and shake the feed can. Build an aviary where they can be outside the loft and see around. Keep them in for a week. After a week feed them a half ration in the morning open the aviary late in the day (low or no wind) let them out. When you are ready for them to come in whistle and shake the feed can. Do this daily until they are disappearing for a half hour or more. At this point you can start putting them in the crate and training them, release them from their own garden the first time or two. Take them 3 miles, if they return fine take them 5,10,20.....make sure the are coming good before moving them farther. On these short tosses you may want to loft fly them first, call them in for a few seeds (only a few) then basket them for the tosses. This will take the play out of them and they should come staright home. Good Luck!

[chrisbonnie]

i just got back from the gym, and the news is the took flight!!!

 

my dad damn enar cacked himself, he thought they where gonna do a houdini, after 10 minutes of walking on the roof of the loft, they calmly dropped onto the trap, and ran inside

 

so hopefully more to come  

[Ronnie]

i just got back from the gym, and the news is the took flight!!!

 

my dad damn enar cacked himself, he thought they where gonna do a houdini, after 10 minutes of walking on the roof of the loft, they calmly dropped onto the trap, and ran inside

 

so hopefully more to come  

 

Thats good mate

just let them get there bearing's.

where about are you mate?

Anyway all the best and keep us posted on how things are going and if ya need advice just ask theres a lot of good people on here

[chrisbonnie]

 

Thats good mate

just let them get there bearing's.

where about are you mate?

Anyway all the best and keep us posted on how things are going and if ya need advice just ask theres a lot of good people on here

 

im in Ireland

 

yeah, they where out of the loft again this evening, no bother to them, i cant get over how alert, and quickly they accustom themselves to what they should be doing, its amazing how quickly they`re progressing, as i was saying, my dad had pigeons when he was a child, so i never saw them, so i just imagined they`b be walking for ages, but the`yre advancing so quick, id be surpised if they`re not up in the air by next weekend

 

oh, and they definetly seem to notice the tin can with corn now as well,