Training an Untrained Pigeon

If your old birds have been flying reasonably well at home during February and March, they will have begun to exercise their muscles and body organs, so what they really iced is mental exercise. This is because they have been largely resting during the winter months and, even if they have been able to venture out for exercise on fine days, their flights have Income somewhat routine to them. The object of short Ii lining tosses for old birds prior to the first race of the seasoning late April is therefore to make them use their brains again,lo remind them that their objective is to leave the basket or crate in which they are sent to the training point and to return home, back to the comfort of their loft and the company of 'heir owner.

About 15 miles (24km) for the first training toss is ab outright; after they have been to that point a couple of times, the old birds can be lifted to a 20 mile (32km) stage. But make sure you pick the right days for training. The object is mental stimulus, but it will be a fruitless exercise if you send the birds away on dirty or sticky days and make them start to worry about the elements.

When should one start training old birds? This must depend on your race programme, but if the weather discoverable it is useful to arrange the first couple of shorter pins whilst the birds are sitting on the first clutch of eggs. Have never liked training birds whilst they are rearing their first young birds of the season. That time of year is one of the most enjoyable of all - seeing your old birds happy and contented and raising their young seems to bring you closer than ever to your birds.

Yearlings can be very tricky to train, especially the cocks. Full of the energy of youth, they can go crazy when sent off to the first training toss, and may fly right past their loft and on for 200 miles (322km) or so before checking. It is probably safer to send yearlings when sitting, and never when the cock is driving his hen to lay.

Remember to take a long a note pad with you during the training of your pigeon. Do not rely on your memory, but make a note of how the birds come in from training spins, whether one or two were outstanding and, if so, what was their condition. Were they sitting eggs, feeding young birds or, in the case of cocks,calling the hen to nest again? What was it that made them that much better than the remainder of the team on that particular day? This is all part of our own training as fanciers. We cannot store knowledge about our birds purely in our minds -human memory is too fickle.