Open loft thoughts

At the moment I have 20 young birds flying really well, as I am home all day I was wondering about letting the birds have an open loft, I have been toying with the idea letting them out around 3 in the afternoon, they fly for around twenty minutes too half an hour, then drop on the shed for 10 minutes or so and have another go, with regards to getting them in it hasn't been a problem on the can shake,

Would I be opening a can of worms come July when I come to race them ???

just my thoughts but I like control with the ybs old birds different story I would stick to a schedule jmo...have the ybs gone ranging yet chris

I think I agree with Darren, chris.....old birds on open loft are different to ybs on open loft, and I think it could cause problems trapping when racing etc.....JMO

oldstrain wrote:

just my thoughts but I like control with the ybs old birds different story I would stick to a schedule jmo...have the ybs gone ranging yet chris

No Darren still flying around housing estate

keep letting them out at a scheduled time and don't overfeed um 1 lazy yb can pull the lot down ,be in control through their bellys else you will end up with a load of roofhoppers try just letting them out once a day they may fly better atb chris

ive always found letting ybs out early morning encourages them to range......later in the day they seem to stay local, plus if they do range when exercising later in the day, they sometimes don't get time to get home before it starts coming dark, if they range early morning at least they have got all day to find their way home....

paying the price for this last year and this year, bad habbits all my fault, will never do again. up to you chris just what has happened to me and have learnt the hard way, I regularly loose on the trap.

Redrog. It is a depends question. I have always gave my young open loft early season. When circumstances permit. They are roaming and ranging for quite a while. However when the training period starts then one has to control them. Usually by feed or lack thereof. If your old birds are not trapping then they are not motivated to enter the loft, obviously. Or distance too short sometimes. But not motivated is usually the cause.

agree hal but all our club racing is 200miles max before we go over water, motivation is important but I believe good habits from start will greatly help when birds get down the line a bit, one turn round my loft is 20secs that is difference between 1st and 3rd. all my y/b fly to the tin so feeding and control is all I've got, plus I am forever watching for the inevitable hawk attack. if i'm honest i'm glad when y/b are finished it's become heart breaking round here

I have done this a few years ago. Used to open loft in the morning and go to work all day. What I did notice was after 1 or 2 hawk strikes the birds became very street wise and very rare they got hit again. Cats were more of a problem. You never know what the birds are picking up out of gutters and other places which gave loose droppings or made them sick at times. By the time they were yearlings they were hard as nails and many people asked how I got them in such good condition. when told I leave them out all day most thought I was joking. Its a system I found that suits natural flying best for channel racing.

Alot of mixed view, good and bad,
Flying natural I thought it was a good idea, but when you add the gutter hunting it gives a whole new view,
Spose I will just have to pass on this one, my birds if I do say so myself are oil paintings to look at and there droppings are sound, so best to keep control of what I have achieved, and fly them twice a day to keep them fit and as soon as they drop get them in unless its bath time

Thanks guys and girls

Mine are basically open loft. No gutters here. They do go down in the fields etc,. They look good to me.

We used to fly natural when we raced back in the UK.

But natural does not mean the birds can please themselves what they do.

I am on the side of keeping them to a time schedule - regular time to let them out and regular time to bring them in. In that way the birds know what is expected of them.

I have found that racing pigeons do best if they have a fixed routine - day in and day out. That doesn't mean you can't change the routine now and again. You can, but not too often.

ATB
Phil

I think open loft is great for old birds before the season starts, to get them fitter, and maybe if they are raced natural open loft would be good.......if racing widowhood or roundabout I don't think it would be.

as for young birds I dare say it would make them very fit and healthy, but for ybs I think you need more control over them for when racing starts, as I would see problems with trapping.

where hal lives for example a open loft would have its benefits but in a built up area in this day and age with raptor problems and modern living I don't think it is ideal and as c&c has said it suits distance racing best

I am just training young birds to use the landing board and bob wires. I was thinking of letting them out in the morning and letting them come in when they wanted . I dont race , i am going to do Dove release . I wondered what you think would be the best way. I live on a council estate , so lots of gutters .

merrylegs wrote:

I am just training young birds to use the landing board and bob wires. I was thinking of letting them out in the morning and letting them come in when they wanted . I dont race , i am going to do Dove release . I wondered what you think would be the best way. I live on a council estate , so lots of gutters .

Racing, maybe not Merrylegs Your Dove release scenario thou, all ok your way from my perspective etc. Paranoia I suggest hits certain type people in this caper of ours I'm when they continue to think what if I do this or do that type of thing when the crux of the matter is just to have strong healthy birds & 99% of the time they will cope ok I've found.
*****

I reckon you'd be best keeping them under control, fly them out and get them in. I'm assuming they are white? they'll stand out if they're up on the rooftops like targets (some kids round here would be lobbing stones at them) and you'll be blamed for all sorts including crap on washing even if it's not your birds that are guilty.
Maybe put your time into training the from all points of compass because if you do weddings then they're not going to be in any straight line but scattered all over.

I feel that many fanciers do not actually have a basic system but a mixture of what they hear and read about and if Jack is winning and says he is using X they try X etc.


As far as I am concerned the natural system involves the pigeons having as near a natural life as possible.

Completely open loft 24 hours a day, young and old together, the young weaned when the parents decided and not me ( taking young away to suit the fancier I have said for over 50years is detrimental to the young birds well being).

The young go out when they feel able and I lost none in settling them, they settled themselves when they saw fit.

They were never hungry but knew when the food would be available. all I had to do was give them a stable safe home and a desire not to be away for too long.

As many fanciers around could tell you my birds were flying for hours around the loft all day long, at times of the year young and old together.

As for trapping from races, I never had a problem and the pigeons were hand tame brought about by pea nut treats.

When a family of pigeons are given complete freedom then they know what is good and what is bad regarding what is in the garden etc; and very rarely bothered with the roof etc;

I had no ill pigeons for many years other than the odd one going light and I could take them, wash their feet and win in the shows'

The did all I asked of them at racing and I would not have kept them in any other way.

The only additives to their basic feed which thy had every day of the year was garlic in the water every day and lime and sand deep litter, lime was also dusted onto the perches when they were cleaned.

Actual experience beats theory every time.

I do agree that it would be impossible for many fanciers to adopt what I did for many reasons, but if you use the natural system you have to USE THE NATURAL SYSTEM and not part of etc;


Regards.

Thanks guys , i must say i do like the idea of the natural way , as my stock loft with aviary they seem very chilled out . They are white so worry that they are easier prey . The young birds happy enough but just like to do what is best for them and would be nice to let them do every thing when they are ready and it is not me interfering . I am only planning on doing local areas for dove release going to start with funerals first , so will take them to all the local cemeteries , churches and crems so they get to know the routes. Really apperciate your help and advice .

just started letting my rollers out but dont think they are rollers lol just flying birds seen one doind a roll others jus fly round problem is the buggers come back to loft but some dont want to go to bed they just follow me round allotment what do i have to do to get them to go in

denise washington wrote:

just started letting my rollers out but dont think they are rollers lol just flying birds seen one doind a roll others jus fly round problem is the buggers come back to loft but some dont want to go to bed they just follow me round allotment what do i have to do to get them to go in

Sounds like a happy little flock you have there Denise etc with how they follow you as such. End of the day I suggest it's a food issue & you must just find the happy balance where by they trap when required. Would suggest, Never be concerned thou if they miss a meal or two in your environment there, as it will do no harm I would suggest & in fact from my perspective, it could be a good thing .  

my ybs havnt been flying very well at all, preferring to roost in my weeping willow tree....... , so I started to deter them by putting a corn sack on a 16ft piece of 2x2 so they fly straight out of the loft and get up into the sky, this worked pretty well, but they still didn't fly for very long, so I decided to leave them out for around 5 hours coming and going as they pleased......I realised that during this time, they actually did quite a lot of flying, so I`ll just leave them as they are and start training shortly, and hope for the best

thanks all for your replies i think i am overfeeding a bit but i dont feed when im letting them out and i stop with them a few hours but when i have to go i close bob hole as we have cats roaming round but so when i go lock up at about 8/9 pm if any out they take a bit of getting in and sometimes they dont come back till next day so any ideas of what to do the little sods lol

did you make a cat flap denise ...?