Training Young Pigeon Loft

The training of young birds starts almost from birth, certainly from the time they are weaned from their parents. There should be no problem in weaning the young; just place the min their new home, whatever you have selected for them. Some fanciers build a small box or frame of wood within the young-bird section of the loft, whilst others just lean planks or boards against the side of the loft so that the young birds have corner to run to together and in which to make their home. If it is frosty, put some straw on the floor to keep them warm, for they will not perch at first.

Many prefer a pigeon basket for the purpOSe of weaning.The young birds can be placed in it through the top flap of the basket, which is well lined with wood chips or coarse sawdust,the main front flap of the basket being left open. After a few minutes the youngsters will be poking their heads through the open front and will soon wander out into the loft and quickly find the water-fountain and food-trough. By nightfall they will all be back in the basket huddled together and sleeping comfortably. The front flap of the basket is then fastened, and when opened again early next morning the youngsters very quickly learn to come out from the basket and seek their food.This can truly be thought of as the beginning of training,because the birds are learning not to have any fear of the basket in later life.

The weaning process is quite short, and within a week to ten days you will find your young birds getting up to the box perches and quickly claiming their own niche within the young-bird loft or section. Spend all the time you can spare with the birds at this period, make them comfortable and happy, play with them, build their confidence in you as their friend.

The basket training can now be carried a stage further for,having had your young birds sleeping in the basket, it is useful to accustom them to feeding and drinking in it as they will have to in case of a delayed liberation. With this in mind, after a few nights of sleeping in the basket in the loft, do not open the flap first thing in the morning, but fix a water-trough to the outside of the basket and gently pour some water into it from a watering can. Do not fill the trough immediately, but after pouring in a little water stand back and watch. Usually, within a few minutes, one inquisitive bird will poke its head through the aperture and find the water. When this happens, gently drip in more water, and gradually more and more of the birds will begin to drink. After a time you will find that, even when the trough has been removed, some of your youngsters will automatically go towards the opening on the basket where the water-trough should be. This, like everything else connected, requires patience and should not be regarded as a one-off job; for several weeks, before you actually start on the road, put the water-trough on every time you put your birds in the basket.The next step is to persuade the youngsters to eat in the basket. To do this, instead of putting the normal feeding-train the loft for the evening feed, use a smaller version and put this in the basket. Sprinkle a few grains of corn through the top of the basket on to the tray; when the young birds hear the corn dropping on the tray they will run into the basket. Call or whist le to them every time; for once they have learned there Lisa connection they will respond to the whistle all their lives.lose the large flap, continue to drop food into the basket among the wood shavings and on to the tray, and you will find the majority of birds will continue to feed. If one or two do not feed on the first occasion, they will come to no harm; next morning they will partake of the light morning feed and that evening, when you repeat the feeding-in-the-basket routine,they will join the others and eat.
At this time you should also encourage your youngsters to move into the external cage or aviary described on cp 33. In this way they will obtain a view of the outside of the loft and, if you have your aviary sited correctly, they will have the opportunity to watch your old birds exercising. Then comes the first lesson on trapping into their own section from outside. When the young birds have found their way into the external cage, prefix your Anti-bolt wires and quickly call the birds in to feed. They will soon learn to enter the loft from outside.

As soon as possible after this lesson, preferably in the evening on the first few occasions, take away the cage from the let-board and allow the birds to walk around the board or loft top. Have the birds fairly hungry at these times, and they will readily come in when you call them for food. Quite soon the birds will begin to find their wings and take short flaps around the loft, and after about two weeks will begin to fly quite strongly. You should then see the good results of your earlier efforts in calling the birds in from the aviary to food, for when hey drop from a fly and are called in immediately to feed they should straight away obey your call. This will save precious moments on many a race day in the future - many prizes are lost because a pigeon comes home in winning time and then dithers on the top of the loft so that it cannot be clocked in.You must make the birds realize that the end of exercise means food and even possibly a tit bit in the form of small seed, one of the best for this purpose being goats. As with children,young birds taught good habits early in life will always follow them. As already mentioned, it is not necessary to starve your birds into obedience - growing young birds must have their proper food - but regular and controlled feeding is essential.

Our next step with young-bird training is to induce them treatise that, when they leave the basket from outside the loft instead of from inside, their need is to return to the loft and their owner. In this exercise it is useful to have a helper. One evening gently catch each of your birds and place it, using extreme care, into the basket. When they are all inside, carry the basket gently outside the loft and place it on the ground few feet away. If possible, have a couple of old hen birds, little on the hungry side, outside the loft on the let-board.With yourself inside the loft, your assistant should gently open the release door of the basket and walk away. Let the young birds walk quietly from the basket just as they have previously done inside the loft. When you see them emerge from the basket, start to call them quietly and drop a few grains of corn on to the feeding-tray. As soon as the birds hear this familiar sound and see the hungry older hens making an effort, they will fly up to the let-board and start to enter the loft, as they have already been taught to do in the cage or aviary stage of training. After repeating this exercise for several days, you can feel reasonably certain that your young birds are comfortably basket-trained and will feel almost as 'at home' in one as they do in the loft.

The first flights of young birds around the loft are full of novelty for them, and anxiety for their owner. They go individually, not in a tight flock, avoiding collisions by hair-breadths. They are easily picked up by passing flocks of race birds, so avoid weekends for their first outings if at all possible. Once the young birds have taken off from the loft Hint begin to batch together, flying for a period of about half an hour, it is time to think about their road-training tosses. For the first session, put them in the basket just as before,centering to handle them carefully and talking to each one individually as you place it in. Your helper should then take he birds about 1 mile away and very quietly release them after pause of 12-20 minutes. You will probably find that the birds will go for their normal fly of about half an hour, but East hey will have been circling round the loft, you will see them within that time. Do not call them immediately you see them,but as soon as they show signs of dropping into the loft he there to call them in gently to food. Remember with young birds the maxim for good training is 'out of the basket, home to food and their friend, their owner'.

Repeat this one-mile exercise about three times, then step lip the distance to 10 miles (16km) and repeat this three or lour times. On each occasion the birds should, depending on the weather conditions, improve on the previous time by which they appeared over the loft, but, because they are still young birds and keen to fly, will continue flying around ohmmeter their normal time. After three tosses at 10 miles (16km) increase the distance to 20 miles (32km) and have two or three tosses from this point. Then, after two or three from 30 miles(48km) your young birds should be ready to compete in their first race.

It is important to carry out these training tosses in reason-able weather conditions, so consult the weather forecasts.void cold easterly winds or dense cloud cover, and if there Lisa possibility of fog, heavy rain or thunder your birds are better off in the loft at home.

The objects of training are two-fold: firstly, to train the muscles and organs of the pigeon's body for the tasks we expect it to undertake; secondly, to accustom the bird to the countryside over which you expect it to fly. This is why, on the earlier shorter tosses, you will find the birds take as long to home as they do when the distances become longer - in the earlier spins they have been searching and growing used to the terrain over which they travel, and developing their sense of orientation.

Do not cram all your training tosses into too short a period.By all means train on consecutive days if the weather and your time permit; but try to give the birds the odd day at home between tosses, otherwise they may become tired of the basket or begin to think that it, more than the loft, is their home .Remember our motto: 'We must create in our birds a love of their own home.'

It is worth stressing that you should do your very best to select fair flying days. The birds will run into had weather conditions, but there is no reason to face these conditions unnecessarily. Remember young birds are still growing and are still quite immature; their self-confidence is easily shaken. The successful fancier is the one who is considerate to his birds, particularly in conserving their energy at all times, and who has their health and welfare always uppermost in his mind. The good fancier will always give the bird the benefit of the doubt if there is the slightest question in his mind about its fitness to accomplish a certain task he may be asking of it.