white racing homer first release advice

paloma blanca wrote:

   
    Can you say a little about your pigeons Barnie, are you a racer or a pigeon keeper/Fancier?  

Yes certainly: I'm kind of between pigeons right now, but might have a few pairs settled by early 2020. However I have been involved since 9 yrs old mainly with tumblers and fantails at first but into my teens it was 100% racers right through until about 20 years ago when I stopped keeping them. I've raced with decent success and bred some exceptional birds through the years right up to 1st National over 22,000 entrants and also supplied the parents of 1st National at 540 miles. I've never kept a lot of birds, usually @12 old birds to race and maybe 35 young birds at the start. I know what it's like to be miles behind on race day, and I also know how it feels to take the first 5 on a strong head wind, all the ups and downs experienced.
When I'm up and running I'll only be keeping them for enjoyment, maybe race when I feel like it, train when it suits me etc. I'll probably also get a pair of fancy pigeons to fly out once the racers have been exercised, take me back in time a bit.

Nice post, barnie. I'd say a lot of us can relate very well to your post.
When kids me and brothers also had tumblers and tipplers. Fascinating birds to watch and enjoy.
Had many other kids visit and some took some. Only ever had two pairs of Rollers, more the pity.
Dad was a mediocre flyer. Doing shift and no money... but loved the pigeons. His main worry was affording feeds. which was a pain lol.. Got mad a few times if our birds enjoyed mating with his.
Would take the birds on a bicycle sometimes for training chucks lol - But like most fanciers then, training was seldom afforded, let alone done.  However, the pigeons would go straight into races.  Still flew the programme and had to make room every year for perches and nest boxes.
Dad's success, like many in the days, was few and far between. However, the banter and stories etc.! Yes, it was great and unbelievable compared to the so-called fanciers of today. Times have changed, and sadly I feel not for the better. However, then what has?
Even changes of the betterment- when lol - have been made, it still causes discontentment along with the immediate …
 
Now I feel, as have posted, would like a few Tipplers, Tumblers etc. However,  we have to accept that it won't happen. So not living in the past, but often recall those cherished moments eh!

cheers! Seems a lifetime ago......infact it pretty much was!

barnie wrote:

cheers! Seems a lifetime ago......infact it pretty much was!

Lol, how true.

I have a couple of young rollers that just paired up and laid an egg they are decent rollers so even though its really late in the season I think I will let them raise the young if it is fertile.
Thanks for your post guys it helps paint a picture of who your talking back and forth with!!
Oh I hav't heard any more sneezing from the white doves, Thank goodness.

The three birds on the bottom perches are common pigeons (feral)
Also the three lowest ons flying, They can't keep up to the rollers!
I have 8 rollers that I fly in total. Soon to be 9 I am just getting him or her settled.

I flew 10 birds last night! They all take off at the same time and go every which way then all come back in about 30 seconds. They did that twice. It almost seemed like something scared them but I know nothing did! I have a question - When they all go to the ground they look like they were eating, so I took a closer look and they were eating and swallowing a lot of stuff from the ground. Its not food. Is this normal? Also sorry I rambled on on my last postings , It seems that no one liked that!

enjoyed the pictures, lofts and birds look great ..............(allso liked the g/shepherds in your avatar .

yes its normal for pigeons to peck about in the ground.

No problems here with you sharing all your different experiences, it's good to hear upbeat enthusiasm!
Glad it's still going ok, don't rush them, keep to the plan
As David says pigeons generally peck around, they are supplementing things missing from their diet, minerals, salts etc, stuff they don't get from corn and grit alone.
Depends on what you have available at hand, or what you can manage to acquire from pigeon or poultry feeds supplier. Typical popular supplements can include pink minerals, charcoal, clay blocks as well as various grit mixtures. Just do your best to ensure what they peck around is clear of anything harmful, like no slug pellets or weed killer down for example. Well done settling the birds so far!

Probably no one commented on your last pic because I for one have never seen a loft so clean!! Shames me!!

I've never made a youtube video before, Take a look and tell me what you think!
https://youtu.be/LuBP8xCCh2M

paloma blanca wrote:

I've never made a youtube video before, Take a look and tell me what you think!
https://youtu.be/LuBP8xCCh2M

I would suggest, you have done a good job their Palamo etc being your first go as such . Skill level there also from a building aspect slightly up on our mate Hal here I suspect, but our birds learn to adapt to many different aspects with how we may treat & house them in the end, fortunately .
*****

Great first attempt, shows a lot in a short time, birds look well and happy in their surroundings. Get your whites going in a while and put another video up whenever you can. Can see you needing extension to lofts once the breeding starts now you got the bug.

Thought I would give it a try! Sometimes seeing a short video can say a lot more than a paragraph could.
I do enjoy those rollers!
When I let out the whites last night (13 of them) they flew a lot more.
I had trouble getting them all back in for the first time. After they flew (not all of them) they started eating on the ground again.
when I started to whistle for them to come in they started to gobble the ground like it was corn!!
I let that nonsense go on for a while then realized I had to get them off the ground. I pushed some back up to the landing board and went around and call some through the trap. I had to repeat that process about 5 times! the last one was very nervous so I lifted the trap for it.
The last one got no food yesterday!
I'll try it again tonight with just the same ones and see what happens.

When I flew the 13 tonight the fly around a little more each time. Also it went better at the end because I had my wife push them up to the landing board as I called them in.
I will make a video soon so y'all can see them!
If there are any roller flyers -I wonder will they become better at rolling if I flew them twice a day?

paloma blanca wrote:

When I flew the 13 tonight the fly around a little more each time. Also it went better at the end because I had my wife push them up to the landing board as I called them in.
I will make a video soon so y'all can see them!
If there are any roller flyers -I wonder will they become better at rolling if I flew them twice a day?

Know nothing about Rollers etc Paloma But then come to think of it as such I know very little even about my racing pigeons on average, also .

I know what you mean the more I learn about them the more questions I have.
Kind of like women. ha-ha
I let all 18 out tonight, they seem happier with the entire loft and being all back together. They flew everywhere but mostly stayed within sight. Should I let them out earlier now. I have been letting them out 30 minutes before sunset?

Not for me to say. Seems you are doing good following one members advice. Pigeons from the same loft like to flock together. They seem to be bonded. Time to let them out? In your case no idea. Here early morning and hungry. But just my thoughts.

Yes Barnie has great advice, got me this far with no problems. I think he will be surprised that I lost patience and put the last five in there all at once.!

Take your time, it's not like they have to be ready for a certain date, like training and racing just round the corner. You may have them flitting about but they're still not truly settled. Get them out a bit earlier on evenings by all means, maybe 2 hrs max before darkness, but they need to be kitted up in one batch and flying freely for 15-20 mins at least, plus up above those trees and going out of sight of the loft at times.
Don't frighten them up they'll fly longer as confidence in being outside grows.
They're your birds at the end of they day but I would wait until they were flying freely, straight out the door, batched up and away as a group doing this on evenings for at least 7-10 days. I wouldn't advise putting them out on mornings until they were at this stage.
Now you got them all going in and out, try feeding only pellets on a morning, but rationed at @1 level soupspoon per bird. (Pellets will digest a lot quicker than corn) and by evening they'll be looking for food so helps keeping them under control. Then on an evening, feed your corn mixture slowly till 2 or 3 go for water then stop.
Glad it's going well for you, it's no mean feat settling so many birds that haven't been outside before.

Hey Barnie, Thanks for the advice. It's so insightful. I am very excited to keep with the program and also to HAVE a program! So I'll add 15 min to the release every night until I get to two hours and then keep it there for a week or so. Is it important to split up the feedings - (pellets in the morning and corn mix at night). Is this better for them instead of letting them stay hungry all day?

paloma blanca wrote:

Is it important to split up the feedings - (pellets in the morning and corn mix at night). Is this better for them instead of letting them stay hungry all day?  

Yes because you want them flying not just hanging about waiting for food. If you miss the morning feed they won't be keen on exercising at all as there's no fuel in the tank by evening. You need a working balance, so just because their crops are empty doesn't mean their stomachs are empty too. the pellets will digest quicker than corn once they get water in their crops. So I think the pellets on a morning will give them a bit in the tank but still leave you with some control over them when you want them back in the loft later in the day. I admit I don't know anything about Rollers but could you put a few Rollers out with them at some stage, might help get them flying up and about?

Yes I understand about the pellets now, and this will hopefully get them off the ground and stop eating everything in sight.
Great Idea with the rollers because they are what got the ferals up and exercising. It might be to early though because there are some that haven't flown really at all yet.
At some stage it would be good because they very rarely leave sight but after the doves are up, flying and strong I wouldn't want them to take the rollers for a ride. I don't think they are very good at homing although I haven't lost one yet even after a hawk attack and two rollers came back the next day in the late afternoon and it rained the night they were out!

posting mike`s (paloma blanca) youtube video for him .......

its a good video mike, you should do some more .