How To Train Your Pigeon

The weather this week has finally broken. It's taken until the third week of March to get some much needed sunshine, although the wind has rarely dropped below moderate. I've now got the two young birds taking food from my hand, so I decided this week I would let them out.  Releasing young pigeons is the first rush of adrenaline I've had since starting out. Adrenaline is not something I ever associated with racing pigeons, but I'm quickly finding out that is why so many people have done this, for so long. It's very similar to striking when fishing. When your float starts bobbing, perhaps a little tap, or the quiver tip shakes, something primal takes over and you become hyper focused on the strike to hook that fish. This will be something our ancestors used as hunters. Well I got a similar sensation when I let the birds out. Within a few minutes they were up in the air and I thought, flying away! Luckily they circled once and landed on my garage roof. They flitted ar...

In early March whilst at the White Heart in Old Ollerton, one of the pigeon club members called John, rocked up with a box. At first glance it looked like a box of wine. But when he placed it by the table he said "There you go, couple of young birds for you there". This was a bit of a dilemma, I'd still not finished the pigeon loft, I didn't have any food and I was off to London for the weekend the following morning. Luckily, John Joe's (a feed shop) in Warsop was open Saturday morning so I managed to grab a bag of Breed and Wean first thing in the morning. Then I instructed the wife to give them 30g each and I set off to meet some mates in Camden. Whilst I was gone, the birds, a cock and hen, had to make do in the training crate (a small wooden box that can comfortably fit 12 birds for a training toss) before I could get back and make the loft pigeon tight. Unfortunately after 2 years of covid restrictions and limited social drinking my body wasn't able to ha...

So in my first post I gave a bit of background information into how I got started in pigeon racing. Now I'll talk about how I did it, with a focus on the loft. It might not be the way other people would do it and I don't doubt there are better ways. So I'll just give a report on what I've done so far. Full disclosure, I've had got two young birds (YBs) that I've had less than a week. Firstly, I found a local club to join. If you don't have Facebook (because you're either too young/cool or too old), ask someone who does and get them to ask in the pigeon racing groups on your behalf. I looked on the RPRA website for regional contact details, but I found speaking directly to the local club was the best option. I was invited to meet the club at the pub, always a bonus, and I made the effort to go along. I watched as much content as I could on YouTube. There are some great channels that give you an idea of what's involved and importantly, loft lay outs. I...

Good on you. I'm the only person I know that has any interest in the hobby. At 38 years old, I can honestly say not since my childhood have I met anyone that races them let alone knows anything about them. I was brought up in a mining town in the 80's and 90's, and whilst those decades were 20 years past the glory days of the hobby, we still had dozens of lofts local to us. The allotments near to my school were populated with decrepit looking structures, huge sheds behind metal trellis perimeters, and fences crudely made from old conveyor belts scavenged from the local colliery. From here flocks of hundreds of birds flew circles above our estate. I must have asked my mum about them because I've always known what they were, and it always interested me how they found home. Fast forward 25 years and I've moved back up to Nottinghamshire after studying zoology in Cornwall for the last 5 years. I'm married and have a young son with another on the way. As I drive hom...