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How pigeons train

Pigeons

...As the birds grow older, they become stronger and smarter and are therefore allowed to fly further and further away from their home loft....As confident flyers, the young pigeons are taken on progressively longer 'training tosses', driven a distance away from their home and released. This is like the format of a real race, however on a much smaller scale and it is usually not timed in the same way as a race. This practice of loft flying and tossing continues throughout a pigeon's career.

Training methods are as varied as the pigeons themselves. Lots of fanciers believe their system is the secret to their success and guard these hard learned lessons closely; most will tell you of their basic strategy but few will share the details of their success. One of the most popular systems is widowhood. This system uses motivation to try to give the bird a sense of urgency on race day. The use of widowhood is usually begun by first allowing the racer to raise a baby in their nest box. After the baby is weaned the hen is removed and often the nestbox is closed off, from then on the only time these birds are allowed to see their mate or enter the nest box is upon returning from training or a race. This conditioning is one of the key elements in a lot of racing programs.

posted by Michael |

Comments:

Hmm, what exactly are you implying for orienteering training here? :)

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:48 AM

Boris is only allowed to see Kat after training or a race.

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:29 AM

My wife uses reverse widowhood training to try and keep me from racing. I can go weeks without seeing the nest box if I spend too much time racing.

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:22 PM