pigeoncrazy
43 posts
Sep 01, 2008
6:55 AM
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Does anyone fly their birds in the city? How do you keep your birds from taking off with the local ferals?
My neighborhood is somewhat urban, and there are a few feral flocks around. Last night I am pretty sure one of my young birds took up with a flock. Last I saw, he had left the kit and was on a rooftop down the street clowning around with a couple of ferals. It's 10AM and he hasn't come back yet :(
What's the likelihood that he'll decide to come back? And if he does, will this runaway thing become a habit?
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michael salus
26 posts
Sep 01, 2008
7:22 AM
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Hey Crazy, I live a block away from several thousand city pigeons and lose very few birds that want to go with them. The key is that don't chase the young up before they have a good sense of where home is. I do lose a bird once in awhile , but not many. I think when the bird gets hungry it will come home . Good luck... Mike
Last Edited by on Sep 01, 2008 7:22 AM
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PR_rollers
1541 posts
Sep 01, 2008
9:31 AM
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when that bird comes back lock it up so he forgets where he was a few days then when you fly your other birds don't let him out until the other birds are coming down to the last minutes of flying toss that bird up into the group in the air so that he flys with them and comes down with them developing a habit you want him to do which is kit with his own teamster. don't let him eat the whole time with the birds that flew longer than him... once he gets into a bad habit like going with the ferels you will lose him to that and he will only come when its time to eat then he will take others with him .so if you can't break him out that habit get rid of him or put away for a while. good luck..
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Ralph
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sundance
781 posts
Sep 01, 2008
12:18 PM
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pigeons by nature tend to stay with their own"click" group, or in our case, the kit. this is why its difficult to put a new kitbird into an old kit. The newbie hasn`t been accepted by the old group, and, he might not have accepted them yet either. They might get confused by a stray group passing thru but his instinct will be to rejoin his "family" or kit. I wouldnt sweat it but watch him close. like they said if yoou cant break his rambling tendency, cull him before he takes others with him.
I had a small group of what we thought to be some racing homers go thru a couple years ago. This was in the middle of a fly and for a few minutes my kit joined them, or they joined my kit. either way, after a few minutes they seperated and and went their ways. mine all finished the fly and came in as usual. I never saw the homers again.
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Butch @
Sundance Roller Lofts
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norlan hollingate
728 posts
Sep 01, 2008
2:00 PM
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hi not just thinking of ways to make the bird get out of the bad habbit soon as it comes back seperate it them street peckers are full of disease n then do wat the other post have stated maybe if it has got up a bit early it should still come back usually after a night out racers always crash into mine n fly together for a few min/s then they split n i never loose any i would give it another chance if it goes again then i would cull it good luck
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pigeoncrazy
45 posts
Sep 02, 2008
6:41 AM
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It's been over 24 hours and my bird hasn't come back yet. I think he may be gone for good :(
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TheGame
184 posts
Sep 02, 2008
8:26 AM
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Pigeoncrazy give it some more time.... and if the bird never shows up oh well its all part of the game!! You win some you lose some...
Cheer up!! -_-
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Square
447 posts
Sep 02, 2008
9:55 AM
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yea pigeoncrazy, your young bird will possibly live with the feral flock.. When I was a kid growing up in L.A it wasnt uncommon to see a roller in a flock of street pigeons.. sometimes there were more than one,, and I have seen some hot rollers in thease flocks. In fact I would keep a spool of kite string on my bike and I would catch rollers that were with the street birds on a regular.. I rember catching a roller it was banded "Kevin's Super star super roller's" that was the first time I had ever seen a name band... and the bird really lived up to the loft band....
Square
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"Home of the Ghost Town Roller"
K.C.R.C
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jnyce
264 posts
Sep 02, 2008
10:30 AM
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ya give it some time i had a young bird that took four days to come back it may be lost or some one may have strayed the bird u win some and u lose some
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jerry t
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2008 10:30 AM
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pigeoncrazy
46 posts
Sep 02, 2008
10:52 AM
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Thanks all for your kind words & advice! Keeping my fingers crossed it will come back. This is my first kit and it's pretty small, so it hurts a lot to lose one.
Square - how do you catch a pigeon with kite string? Just curious. I've been going around town with binoculars looking for my stray where the ferals hang out, if I find it maybe I can catch it and bring it back.
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ArlenS
103 posts
Sep 02, 2008
1:52 PM
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Sorry to be a pessimist but you probably will not get the bird back if it has joined a wild flock before it was really homed in on your loft. You can try flying your other birds in the hope it will see them and come over. There is still a chance it could fly over or stop back for a visit. If it can see pigeons in your aviary or fly pen and the trap is open you might get it back if this happens soon. There is no practical way to catch an individual pigeon that has joined a wild flock. This happens occasionally to me also. At least it will probably survive and not starve or die of thirst. Best to focus your efforts instead on young bird training to reduce the frequency of this happening.
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2008 1:54 PM
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Square
449 posts
Sep 02, 2008
4:36 PM
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Yea pigeoncrazy, the string was the easy part.. Geting some bread or somthing to feedum was kinda a challenge.. Thats if I didnt already know where I was gonna cachum,, most burger stands of fast food stands will part with a bun or so.. As for the string it was easy all you need to do is make a loop.. slipknot type.. ither a presock, or standard slip knot... spread it into a 18in diameter on the ground,, place the feed in a pile in the center.. give yourself abit of distance depending on how tame the flock is. flush all birds out of the diameter you don't want. Keep the string taunt,,, not much slack.. then when you prized bird steps boath feet into the center pull upward.. and wham!!!!!you got you bird... keep inmind you might catch more than one but make sure the bird you want is one.... O.K no more bright ideas from Square!!!!LOL Kidding.. inside joke good luck...
Square
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"Home of the Ghost Town Roller"
K.C.R.C
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