Young Birds Wont Fly

shweet · July 20, 2010

My young birds dont seem to want to fly and they seem in perfect health, in fact there droppings are perfect. It started after a bad training toss on Saturday from 60 miles. They hit really strong winds and rain and were coming back all through the day singley, some at 5,6 hours and even through the next day. And they were looking knackered as well. Up until this point they were exercising well and beating me back from training from 23 and 34 miles no problem. Do you think this is what it is ? They have got there first race on Saturday and I am worried they are gonna put up a crap performance. How can I get them to exercise again ?

July 20, 2010

Sounds like they have worked really hard, have they god all the vitamins etc they need? I have heard some people mention that once they are road training loft excercise decreases. If all is well then there is no reason not to flag them.

All the best and if thyre not ready dont send them send the week after

July 20, 2010

Your birds got a bleaching on Saturday. It's rest they need now, not exercise. They'll start that again when they are ready, probably tomorrow onwards.

paullock · July 20, 2010

I had a bad toss last week, got most back by next day, let them all out for a fly day after and they came back in after about 5 minutes, they were flying 1 half hours before the bad toss, so I left them on there perches for 5 days feeding as normal, let them out after this rest and they returned to 1 hours flying, so for me I proved to myself they needed rest after the bad toss, back training now up to 20 miles.

Hope this helps you too.

Paul.

shweet · July 20, 2010

Oh cheers people this is what I was hoping someone was gonna say. I feel a lot better now.

JohnQuinn · July 20, 2010

Your birds got a bleaching on Saturday. It's rest they need now, not exercise. They'll start that again when they are ready, probably tomorrow onwards.

Agree entirely with this, Rest is just as important to them as exercise and bearing in mind the work they've put in getting back i would rest them all week to give them some zest back before the race

holmsidelofts · July 20, 2010

My young birds dont seem to want to fly and they seem in perfect health, in fact there droppings are perfect. It started after a bad training toss on Saturday from 60 miles. They hit really strong winds and rain and were coming back all through the day singley, some at 5,6 hours and even through the next day. And they were looking knackered as well. Up until this point they were exercising well and beating me back from training from 23 and 34 miles no problem. Do you think this is what it is ? They have got there first race on Saturday and I am worried they are gonna put up a crap performance. How can I get them to exercise again ?

Just give them some time, rest does wonders for them.

If they dont want to fly theres something wrong. Have your droppings tested, just because they look ok doesnt mean they are.

I'm a firm believer that healthy pigeon want to fly, thats what pigeons do, if they dont then theres something wrong, flagging them wont make them better, trust me ive been there and tried that.

Give them a few days rest and they will surprise you. Also make sure they are not over fed and are not fed on a food thats to high in protein as that will have an effect on them to.

Good luck.

Jas.

bullcock · July 21, 2010

My young birds dont seem to want to fly and they seem in perfect health, in fact there droppings are perfect. It started after a bad training toss on Saturday from 60 miles. They hit really strong winds and rain and were coming back all through the day singley, some at 5,6 hours and even through the next day. And they were looking knackered as well. Up until this point they were exercising well and beating me back from training from 23 and 34 miles no problem. Do you think this is what it is ? They have got there first race on Saturday and I am worried they are gonna put up a crap performance. How can I get them to exercise again ?

Your birds should be fine, if as you say they usually beat you home then I think they will be ok, remember as soon as you start to train young birds regularly they tend not to fly as much as they used to before training,if you want to keep them flying around the loft cut back on the training and train maybe once a week inbetween races short tosses and they will start to build up the time around the loft again.

Good Luck for your 1st race

July 21, 2010

You need a droppings test. As you have been told your birds are probably tired but they have also experienced a lot of stress. Problems like cocci and canker, especially cocci will become a problem as a result of stress. Birds that are fit and healthy will want to fly without pushing them. If you find that the birds are OK you can give them some light training. However, trying to train tired birds will get you nowhere. In fact it will make matters worse.