What do you do with birds who lose?

...or returned birds who have got lost? Do you keep them?

Personally, I keep them, but the reality is that stockmanship is a part of the sport and birds that don't perform that are kept are pets and you can end up with a lot of pets. I would say that the majority of owners give their birds ample opportunity to perform before deciding whether they want them as 'pets'.

SGWBrown wrote:

Personally, I keep them, but the reality is that stockmanship is a part of the sport and birds that don't perform that are kept are pets and you can end up with a lot of pets. I would say that the majority of owners give their birds ample opportunity to perform before deciding whether they want them as 'pets'.

Agree with that Steve

do you think many people will cull returned birds? I am worried about returning a pigeon to its owner, as I read that culling of birds who lose or get lost is quite commonplace...:s

also...just out of interest...I hear a lot of racing pigeons (some say around 50%) never return home. Does it not break your hearts if the pigeons don't come back?

by the way sorry for all the questions. I am not being funny or anything, I am just genuinely interested as this is something I know very little about. I'd like to understand more about it.

Hello Sakura, no need to apologise, happy to answer

For your first question, it's a misconception that lots of birds get culled on their return from being lost, in fact that very misconception is, I think the reason why quite a few don't get reported as non-pigeon keeping animal lovers don't want to rescue a bird only to send it to its demise. That's a real shame as I want my birds reported and would happily have them back. BUT, it would be also true to say that a bird that consistently gets lost would be a liability to its owner as it's the owners responsibility to get it home and as it typically costs about £35 per return and that's quite a price particularly if your on a budget.

As to your second question, losses can be high and no fancier wants to raise birds only to lose them but it is a reality of the sport and can be for a variety of reasons ranging from inadequate training, bird of prey attacks, hitting wires, poor weather and simply getting lost to name just a few. I would say that 50% is high but there's no denying a good few don't come home. I've seen several very experienced fanciers upset when they've lost a valued bird but that's the risk they take when they race or train them.

A reasonable question might be why race them then? But that same question could be asked of other sports such as those that compete with horses (not the getting lost aspect but there is a risk of losing the horse through injury etc).

SGWBrown wrote:

Hello Sakura, no need to apologise, happy to answer

For your first question, it's a misconception that lots of birds get culled on their return from being lost, in fact that very misconception is, I think the reason why quite a few don't get reported as non-pigeon keeping animal lovers don't want to rescue a bird only to send it to its demise. That's a real shame as I want my birds reported and would happily have them back. BUT, it would be also true to say that a bird that consistently gets lost would be a liability to its owner as it's the owners responsibility to get it home and as it typically costs about £35 per return and that's quite a price particularly if your on a budget.

As to your second question, losses can be high and no fancier wants to raise birds only to lose them but it is a reality of the sport and can be for a variety of reasons ranging from inadequate training, bird of prey attacks, hitting wires, poor weather and simply getting lost to name just a few. I would say that 50% is high but there's no denying a good few don't come home. I've seen several very experienced fanciers upset when they've lost a valued bird but that's the risk they take when they race or train them.

A reasonable question might be why race them then? But that same question could be asked of other sports such as those that compete with horses (not the getting lost aspect but there is a risk of losing the horse through injury etc).

Well put Steve agree 100% mate

Thanks for your reply, it makes a lot of sense. I can see why racing them would be enjoyable, though I probably won't take up the hobby myself, I am glad to have learned a bit about it
Thanks for your time!

The owner of this bird may indeed want it back.

You boys should count yourselves lucky if you get birds home however late and have to decide weather to keep them at the end of the season, Im always glad to see a bird home no matter how late it is, what luxuries you have......I bred 85 youngsters for myself this year and we have had 1 race, I have 8 injured birds at present and 3 stopped for other reasons, and I have exactly without these mentioned 26 left from 85. WHICH MEANS i ACTUALLY HAVE 37. NEARLY 50 GONE.
Arent you glad you dont race in pembrokeshire??

a lot to lose but as you have said before the fit survive me numbers dont count you know the tryers and none tryers plain simple bin no hopers and put the ones that bred them save your moneyin the same place firm but true
as mark and many more state on here ventilation good feed clean water the bottle does not and never will make a good bird

rudderfet, you will notice if you read the top post it was a guest asking the question not a pigeon man
we all know what your going through . thanks kev

Thanks Kev yes I know that.. just saying how some people do seem to mention that they have difficult decissions to make at the end of the season about which birds to keep, Im just saying if thats the only worry at the end of the season think yourself lucky. And even if you have all your birds at the end you should still keep them as I for one think homing ability is more important than speed and racing ability, birds which always find the way home are best, I have had many winners but they often get lost by the end of the season ....maybe they are just fast followers and only know the way home from a few miles, as soon as they get detatched from the batch they get lost....so what I say is think before culling, keep hold of the best homers, they will always be there to win a top prize.

sakura wrote:

do you think many people will cull returned birds? I am worried about returning a pigeon to its owner, as I read that culling of birds who lose or get lost is quite commonplace...:s

if they dont want the bird the normaly ask if you want them,they wont pay the cost to do away with them,

well i wont i mean i will only pay the transport fee for a good bird.but if a none fancey get them then you got to get it back RPRA rules that i think its 48 hrs that you have to get it sorted,

i think theres too many pigeon men shurking their responsibilities for getting lost/reported birds home........they automatically assume the finder will keep it, therefor solving their problem of getting it back home. yes, i know its expensive to get a courier to collect your lost bird, but this should be taken into account when taking up the hobby/sport and when breeding loads and loads of ybs each season......if you cant afford to get them back, dont send them..........(just my opinion dont shoot me)

tatally agree david, I just had a bird reported in north devon, by non fancier I was going to collect it but he rang back and said it died. But I woud go get a bird from anywhere by courier or I would collect, I had a lost bird back 2 years ago from birmingham and its turned out to be almost un looseable this year going across the water for me and its breed some of the best ybs I have, so even the lost ones can turn out good ones..?

hi martyn, i recently had a blue cock reported in the midlands from a race i sent him to about 6 weeks ago........the elderly lady who found him phoned me and asked if i was going to kill him because he had let me down, she said this because this is what she had heard pigeon men do..........i reasured he that i definately wanted him back and under no circumstances would i kill him, and certainly not if i had paid 35 pounds to a courrier.

a lot of people just don,t give the bird a chance when getting them in ive had 3 or 4 in this season i allways ring them and tell them i will feed and rest it till im ready to let it go with in 48 hrs there ready to go on there way and every one of them as made it home on there own most of them just need a rest cos there dehydrated once thats cured then there capable of getting home cos there thinking straight .

i once had a hen like that kev, i fed her and took her a few miles down the road and she came back.....then a few days later i took her miles away from my lofts and she still came back, so i reported her to her owner and said i would send her with a friend whos a lorry driver up nearer home..........then before i could do this one morning she just looked up in the sky and shot off never to return, i got a phone call from the owner to say she had arrived home...and it was a very long way away so she did well and just got that thought in her head to head for home on that day.

this being my first year i have lost 8 young birds off the loft ,i know it was down to my inexperiance and have learnt my lesson at cost now.
let them out thursday morning at 06.00 all of a sudden the sky went black with around 30 birds coming over took the lot, they came back except for 3, the two came back on there own and one was reported 48 mile away in whitchurch shropshire by a fancier, he said he would rest it feed it and let it go, told him to keep it in as the bugger had only flown around the loft.and i would drive up there and collect it
to cut along story short i would collect or send for all my birds, i believe that as y/bs especialy they are only learning and need a bit of a chance to shine and learn from there mistakes

i would always want my birds back which have been lost, i never ask the finder if they want to keep it on the occassions they have been reported..........

i got a lovelt young hen into my loft last year who had beena fly away from her own loft, the owner came to collect her and he said if she comes back he will kill her........sure enough a week later she came back and i knew she would be killed so i phoned the bloke up and said can i keep her, he transfered he to me and i trained her with my own and even sent her to a newark open race , ive still got her and she has bred me one yb this year who is a beuty and im hoping she will race well.......

I don't cull birds that come back in a box unless there is serious health issues that dictate otherwise.

There are too many factors now beyond our control and that of the pigeon to judge them as rubbish or failures without justifiable reason - 15 years ago it was different but with the mobile phone networks and the serious hawk problems how can we judge a pigeon in such a way?.

Also think pigeon fanciers are too keen to blame the pigeons without looking in the mirror - come and visit my loft there is a mirror hung on my fence and then in my corn section.

The high losses are scary but with regret it now seems part of the hobby now - I will still stick to my strict small team numbers and sink and swim with them figures.

Good look to all

hi redbull, when i raced many years ago the threat of hawk attacks very entered my head, i could let me birds out without having to worry about them.........apart from the ocasional cat attack , now im on constant alert for a hawk attack which i ruining the hobby/sport of pigeon racing..............you only have to read and listen to other fanciers to know how bad it is becoming.