silentroll
54 posts
Jun 28, 2007
11:59 AM
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are we allowed to talk about hawk season if not dont comment back...
my birds are 1/3 gone...due to cooper
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Tony Chavarria
Site Publisher
1416 posts
Jun 28, 2007
12:54 PM
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Hey silentrol, you need to learn to adjust to the hunting habits of the bop and outsmart him.
I flew my rollers in Southern California since 1993 to 2005 and I lost less than 20 birds that whole time. You have to think like a hawk does, understand that bop are creatures of habit much like our rollers are.
I knew guys who would fly everyday regardless of how many birds they lost. All they did was setup a soup kitchen and advertised they were open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
When I lost a bird, I would lock down for no less than a week, often times upto 3 weeks. That bop was not gonna come back and get another meal simply because there was not another pigeon to go after. I found that he just moves on to another area.
I noticed that the last few years in my old neighborhood that bop seemed to come earlier and stay later because other people started raising rollers and were not disciplined enough to not fly their birds when they took losses.
That was one reason why it was easy to move out of state to the country. I have been flying 2 years now and NO LOSSES from bop! But they are all around!
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FLY ON! Tony Chavarria
Check Out Our Pigeon Supply Store
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bman
314 posts
Jun 29, 2007
4:23 AM
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I have learned to deal with the coopers.Tony's advice is solid.A couple of things that work for me when I have a coopers hanging around.
1) Never fly between 10:00am & 2:oopm
2) flying on a schedule (same time everyday) is the worst thing to do.
3)flying evenings after 6:00 pm will avoid a lot of hits.
4)If you do get hit regardless if you lose a bird or not lockdown for a week.
Just what has worked for me.Last year lost 65%
This year ZERO losses!
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Ron
Borderline lofts
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J_Star
1064 posts
Jun 29, 2007
5:19 AM
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Hawks don't leave anymore. They are abundant in the cities. Just have to work around them. In the summer, they are rarely harassing the rollers because of the easy catch of Robins and song birds. They rob their nest and eat the checks also. But comes fall and winter...you better watch out. Hide what you cannot effort to lose; otherwise, it will be gone in no time.
Jay
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Santandercol
1199 posts
Jun 29, 2007
6:58 AM
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I've a pair of henerys(falcons) moved into the bluffs behind our place.Everytime I let my birds out he attacks lost 2 yb's yesterday.I'm locking down for at least a week.Hoping they move back to Valdes Island and their seabird diet soon.
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Kelly
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J_Star
1066 posts
Jun 29, 2007
8:24 AM
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Kelly, you spoke too soon when in earlier post you said that you don't have them and you are flying daily without any problems. Try to work around them...
Jay
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jerries loft
44 posts
Jun 29, 2007
9:22 AM
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I have had my birds on lock for a 12 days already and cannot fly because of BOP.It just hides in a tree about 200 ft away and a soon as i would release them he would head right for them, its just hard not flying but you have to do to fly around that problem.Hope he leaves me alone
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