Handling the Birds

Handling the Birds

I feel it is important to handle the birds often while they are young. This lets them get used to being held and helps to tame them so they are easier to work with later when you have to catch them for shipping and training. I spend a lot of time holding my birds both when they are young and when they are older. I can tell a lot from the way a bird feels in my hands. By holding them often, I notice what they normally feel like and then on a day when they feel different, it is very apparent to me that something is wrong.

If you never hold your birds, they will not know what to expect when you do. It is important that they feel comfortable being held, because on race nights they have to be handled by other flyers who may not hold them exactly the same. If they are not used to being held, they will be stressed over it and they will not fly well the next day. My brother, my daughters and my sons all hold the birds. I think this is good for them. Each person holds the birds differently and it is good for the pigeons to get used to different styles of handling.

Another benefit of handling the pigeons is that they become accustomed to different people being around them. If on a race day, some of the family wants to be in the yard to watch the race, the pigeons are not spooked by them being there. It is also good to have people in the yard when I am training the pigeons, so they get used to normal activity around the yard. Then if the neighbor happens to mow his lawn when they are coming home from a race, they are not spooked by it.

Pigeons will become accustomed to things just like humans do. If you have a baby and you always keep the house quiet while the baby is sleeping, the baby will learn to sleep only when it is quiet. Any noise will awaken the baby.

If you take the same baby and you let it sleep while the normal noise level is going on in the house, then the baby will learn to sleep while there is noise and will end up sleeping through normal amounts of noise and even loud noises like thunder. It is all in the conditioning.

Take the time to condition your birds so that they will endure the normal kind of handling that they receive in the coop and on race boxing days. Your birds will be much less stressed and better prepared to race.