Young birds roaming

Hi Guys and Ladies

On average - how long does it take young birds to start 'Roaming'? - going off in different directions for long-ish periods, then coming back over the loft, then maybe going off in a different direction?

I know that is called different thing around the world, but I believe we call it 'roaming' - is that right?

Any help would be very useful.

Thanks in advance.

Phil (blueskylofts)

blueskylofts wrote:

Hi Guys and Ladies

On average - how long does it take young birds to start 'Roaming'? - going off in different directions for long-ish periods, then coming back over the loft, then maybe going off in a different direction?

I know that is called different thing around the world, but I believe we call it 'roaming' - is that right?

Any help would be very useful.

Thanks in advance.

Phil (blueskylofts)

phil with my own y/birds i find they generally rake better when through body moult

hi phil, I think they tend to go off ranging / roaming when they have been bunching together a while and flying round the loft.......once they have done this they will feel the need to explore further afield.

plus I think ybs range /roam better if exercised early mornings, rather than evenings. which is better because they have all day to come back, rather than spend a night out on the roofs.

They just do it when they are ready.

All of a similar age and early am exercise times will get them going sooner.

I think though that it is not the best thing if on darkness. There energy should be used growing feathers rather than ripping the skies.

If they are fed well and fly then thats ok, if it is what they want to do especially if they come in quickly on return.























tthey want to do..

Had a bump on the keyboard in my previous post.

Remember though that the earlier they are in the sky if things go wrong the longer they have to get further away

Phil I would say there is nothing wrong with your youngsters if they were only flying round the loft for 10 minutes max and back into the loft then you could ask questions

But if your youngsters are roaming well think its time to start training them mate

Don Webb wrote:

Phil I would say there is nothing wrong with your youngsters if they were only flying round the loft for 10 minutes max and back into the loft then you could ask questions

But if your youngsters are roaming well think its time to start training them mate

On a hiding to nothing etc Don I would say if you start tossing & they are not roaming type of thing. Even if they are roaming, things can go belly up quite easlier when you have your first toss I've found. A fine example would be me with my first toss here last week, an absolute bone cruncher . Tossed my little mob rushed home to wait, wait & wait & then the first big batch dropped in, 4 4% & my bones told me, your in trouble pal & once again they were spot on etc. Now  for me this is the interesting part, the phone has been running hot here & the missus said this is beyond a joke as it's eating into my coffee & cake budget as I have picked one up, 10 miles to the south of me, one 10 miles to the north of me & one 10 miles to the east of me etc & now I'm waiting on a another call for one10 miles to the west of me type of thing & that will mean it went no where in a week & the puzzle will be complete as such. At the end of the day thank's to some kind hearted pigeon flyers, I finish up 5 down & in the big picture I can live with that.

they wont go off ranging as a group phil, until they have been bunching around the loft for a while......and I think early morning exercise will get them ranging sooner, but there are two ways of looking at this, as caramel says early morning exercise may get them ranging further from the loft, therefor risk getting lost or in with another bunch of pigeons.....but on the other hand if this happens, it does give them all day to get home, ive had ybs missing all day and drop onto the loft as it is coming dark...which is better than them spending the night out sat on a roof somewhere.

evening exercise rarely gets the ybs ranging ive found.....

David wrote:

they wont go off ranging as a group phil, until they have been bunching around the loft for a while......and I think early morning exercise will get them ranging sooner, but there are two ways of looking at this, as caramel says early morning exercise may get them ranging further from the loft, therefor risk getting lost or in with another bunch of pigeons.....but on the other hand if this happens, it does give them all day to get home, ive had ybs missing all day and drop onto the loft as it is coming dark...which is better than them spending the night out sat on a roof somewhere.

evening exercise rarely gets the ybs ranging ive found.....

Firstly - Thank you to all that have contributed to my question.

Secondly - I asked the question about ranging/roaming simply for interest sake.  My birds have only being fling out for 7 days and I didn't expect them to be going off for any length of time just yet.

When I had birds before, I used to really like to see them getting higher and higher in the sky and then, all of a sudden, shoot of in a particular direction, not to be seen again for half and our or more.

As stated already, I think mornings are better then evenings if one is expecting the pigeons to range.  However, I had forgotten that they do a full body moult.

When do young birds go through the full body moult?  At what age? I don't mean the moult at the end of the season.

I have included a few images of my remaining four First Rounders.  They are flying out quite well now.  They go out in the morning and fly for anything from 35 minutes to an hour.  I do NOT flag them or make them fly. But when I can see they are just circling the loft and not really 'flying' any more, I call them down.  In the afternoon, they go out again and fly for 25 - 45 minutes, again no flagging or making them fly.






The top pigeon is a Vandenabeele - next one down is a Geerinckx - next one down is from a David (Dai) Evans pair and the last one is the nest mate to the second last one.  I hope this makes sense.

I have flagged my birds in the past but only when they are really fit and just being lazy.

For me it is a bit of a struggle at times to get the feeding verses exercise right.  I don't believe in keeping young birds hungry, but at an early age, they are normally only motivated by food.

Up to now my 4 little y/b's have been coming in through the loft doors - I open both loft doors wide and just let them walk, hop or fly into their section.  But as from this weekend, I am going to get them used to coming in through the 'Sputnik' I have made.  I have made it in the same fashion as a normal sputnik, but out of 12 mm WBP ply, a polycarbonate roof and a removable landing board.

I will take some pics and let you know how things are going.

That is it for now - time for breakfast.

C U
Phil
p.s. sorry about the poo in the pictures!

David wrote:

they wont go off ranging as a group phil, until they have been bunching around the loft for a while......and I think early morning exercise will get them ranging sooner, but there are two ways of looking at this, as caramel says early morning exercise may get them ranging further from the loft, therefor risk getting lost or in with another bunch of pigeons.....but on the other hand if this happens, it does give them all day to get home, ive had ybs missing all day and drop onto the loft as it is coming dark...which is better than them spending the night out sat on a roof somewhere.

evening exercise rarely gets the ybs ranging ive found.....

Sorry     but I have a tale about one of our hot shot chicken farm flyers here hot of the press as such & it's got to do with ranging/roaming . First things first & to give you an idea what type of day last Saturday here was when the hot shot & I tossed our birds etc I was doing 350 odd mpm & dropped them all to gether etc thank fully the hot shot tossed 220 odd birds & lost 106 & I suspect their out there some where ??? just ranging & roaming the country side .

I just leave them to roam when they are ready, once they are exercising around home freely they will go off on their own.

littlehen wrote:

I just leave them to roam when they are ready, once they are exercising around home freely they will go off on their own.

Simple isn't, Little hen we all work to a differant clock etc & pigeons are no differant as such. No good looking at a calender when the time is right it will all happen .

yes, we cant make them roam, maybe encourage it by time of day we exercise them , but they will go when ready...

David wrote:

yes, we cant make them roam, maybe encourage it by time of day we exercise them , but they will go when ready...

same here david, I agree, they go when they are ready .

A small group won't be as keen on getting up and away roaming as a larger batch of YB's would be. Maybe something about safety in numbers? I'm not sure.

barnie wrote:

A small group won't be as keen on getting up and away roaming as a larger batch of YB's would be. Maybe something about safety in numbers? I'm not sure.

yes I think your right colin, when ive only had maybe 7 or 8 ybs ive found they don't range the same as if ive had 25 to 30 ybs.

I personally have no idea if roaming helps pigeons or not but I know I have had birds roam a lot for several hours, and other years no roaming at all. and I think it doesn't make a difference or at least I can say I haven't seen a difference. One year my birds roamed for hours and all the time they flew all day and it was the worst season I had but weather that made the difference I cant say, but I wouldn't worry either way.

hi martyn, good to see you back on site....hows your season been going ...?

I think you may have a point re roaming, who actually knows if they benefit from it or not.....is exercising around the loft for a couple of hours just the same, or do they actually take not of certain areas which they can associate with on race days...?

an interesting point there martyn, maybe members might give their thoughts on that.

Older young birds roam, I start training. Wether or not it matters, not sure. As you know, I am on the North shore of Lake Erie, can see the lake from the house. Always (98%) of the time good wind here. Hence the 5 wind turbines on the property. More important to me with semi-open loft they can get out in any weather. They do so, rain or shine, gale force wind or not. get some blow aways, night outers etc, but usually they make it back the next day or so. Learning for them, plus good exercise. JMO.

I only have small team of young birds and they definately don't roam as much as a big flock.

Rudderfett wrote:

I personally have no idea if roaming helps pigeons or not but I know I have had birds roam a lot for several hours, and other years no roaming at all. and I think it doesn't make a difference or at least I can say I haven't seen a difference. One year my birds roamed for hours and all the time they flew all day and it was the worst season I had but weather that made the difference I cant say, but I wouldn't worry either way.

I agree

Rudderfett wrote:

I personally have no idea if roaming helps pigeons or not but I know I have had birds roam a lot for several hours, and other years no roaming at all. and I think it doesn't make a difference or at least I can say I haven't seen a difference. One year my birds roamed for hours and all the time they flew all day and it was the worst season I had but weather that made the difference I cant say, but I wouldn't worry either way.

Never a truer word spoken Rudd Certain people think that if a pigeon fly's 4 hrs a day "Like mine today" they are 4 times firtter than the man that only has his birds flying an hour a day etc. Total rubbish from my perspective .