FLYAWAYS

T_T · February 9, 2006

Any Ideas why it happens ? I've been told many times NOT to let my youngsters out BEFORE 10am in the morning, if I want to prevent a flyaway.

CREBAG · February 9, 2006

CANT SEE THE POINT IN THAT, APART FROM ON SATURDAYS OR MIDWEEK WHEN RACERS COULD BE GOING OVER!!!

westy · February 9, 2006

peole told me do not have your birds out saturday afternoon because you will lose at least 1 due to hawks ect.

southbankhs · February 9, 2006

THEY SAY ONE OF THE MAIN POINTS OF FLY AWAYS IS OVERCROWDING

perk · February 9, 2006

best thing to stop fly aways is to train as early as possible ie when on the wing for 30 mins,learn them early

southbankhs · February 9, 2006

PERK I WOULD SAY THAT STILL WOULD NOT STOP ONE HAPPENING

perk · February 9, 2006

i know it still happens, but if their learn,t to come home when released instead of flying around home (some fanciers and me are scared of losing young on the first toss and delay training) have more chance of getting back from a fly away

AlanWilkins · February 9, 2006

Over crowding every time if the birds are cramped there not comfy and will look for a new home then you get a fly away.Its nature.

February 9, 2006

Some guys in our club are always complaining of flyaways the only time I have had it is when something scares them away

Diamond dave · February 9, 2006

Depends on the feeding - when my lad first started he was advised (by an ace fancier) to feed the ybs on beans and peas - all protien - when ever he let the ybs out they was full of "fly" -Had flyaways for the first four years. They took off with any passing batches. Most people train in the mornings and if you are in an area which sees a lot of birds passing over like we are, you must expect to lose some off the loft. We discovered that the ace was doing the same but he was retired and that his birds were let out after mid day and left out until about 4pm before the "working men" started to train again.

Diamond dave · February 9, 2006

T-T

I think you should heed the advice that your friend has given until your babies have got a bit more experience

Best of luck.

Chatrace · February 9, 2006

OVERCROWDING

MsPigeon · February 10, 2006

Too strong on the wing before they are first let out, overfed before letting out, and usually scared off or lured away by passing flock, anyone or combination of are the cause in my experience.

snowy · February 10, 2006

let them out b4 they can fly, b4 they leave the nest, on a good day, while cleaning, i put them in a box i made so they can see out with wire mesh on the front, they seem to have a good look round, the earlier the better

jimmy white · February 10, 2006

COULD BE A FEW REASONS FOR FLYAWAYS, THE MAIN REASON I THINK IS OVERCROWDING, REMEMBER OUR BIRDS ARE CLOSELY RELATED TO THE ROCK DOVES, WHICH LIVED IN ROCKS AND CAVE OPENINGS ON THE COAST, IF THEY BRED AND BRED , THEY WOULD BE STANDING ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER, SO I THINK NATURE STEPS IN , AND SOME OF THESE YBS WOULD "FLYAWAY" AND FORM ANOTHER COLONY ELSEWHERE,, SO OUR "FLYAWAYS". RESEMBLE THAT. OFF COURSE THERES WAYS TO STOP IT, ONE IS BY NOT OVERCROWDING, AND ANOTHER IS LETTING THEM OUT LATER IN THE EVENING [ CERTAINLY NOT AT MIDDAY] UNTILL THEY GET A BIT OF EXPERIENCE [AND THEIR HUNGRIER THEN ALSO

Diamond dave · February 11, 2006

Hi Jimmy

Whilst I dont disagree with what you're saying about overcrowding I think the main cause is our babies getting "pulled away" by passing batches and I think most of that is caused by the position of the loft. We suffered for four years on the trot.

-Lovely batch of youngsters (usually breed about 20) -going to win everything- then

suddenly.... there gone!!!!! We are smack in the middle of racing lines North and South (Milton Keynes). We have London birds training on the North and Leicester birds training on the South.

I've spoke to loads of fanciers when they liberate their birds, sometimes batches of 100 or more- not more than a 1/4 mile from my loft. I'll bet most of them are darkness ybs and that little bit older than mine.

What's also interesting is how many ybs from these batches get pulled down by my old birds. If a batch of young birds get liberated close by and I have let my old uns out. They pull the trainers all over the place and hold them up for sometimes 1/2 an hour. They split them up and i'LL get 3-4 youngsters come down with mine.

T-T - I am convinced this is the MAIN cause of losing birds off the top but there are no doubt other reasons. I think ALL the advice you have been given in this thread is 100% worthwhile and you should heed all of it.

It probably seems that you cant even let your pigeons out but you must take all of it into account and work around it the best you can.

One other thing - dont let the babies out when the sun and moon are in the sky together - I believe that the air is much thinner in this scenario and the birds go too far before they even think about looking up to see where they are.

-Just my own views T-T. I wish you all the very best.

T_T · February 12, 2006

Hi all,

Again, thanks for some interesting reading.

snowy · February 12, 2006

Pigeons wing it home on the sniff of a breeze

By Steve Connor

The mystery of how a homing pigeon is able to fly hundreds of kilometres to find its loft has been explained by scientists who have shown that the instinct relies on an acute sense of smell. A team of biologists found that young pigeons deprived of the chance of smelling the winds around their loft were never subsequently able to learn how to fly home. A study published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London revealed that an early ability to recognise the smells of local winds was crucial if a pigeon was ever to acquire its homing instincts. The first three months of a pigeon's life is crucial. Anna Gagliardo, the lead author of a team from the University of Pisa, said that learning to smell the wind allowed pigeons to associate odours with certain wind directions. "The outcome of this learning process is a map-like representation of the distribution of salient atmospheric odours in the region around the loft," said Gagliardo. The first three months of a pigeon's life is crucial. The researchers found that after three months of being kept in a screened aviary, deprived of wind, the pigeons never regained the homing instinct. Yet older birds, which had not been subjected to that sort of sensory deprivation, could relearn the homing instinct if they were moved to a new loft

this was on this site below i cant remember what page

http://www.racingpigeonforum.com/index.php?&start=75

good reading