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Re: Young birds landing in trees
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 8:50 pm
by Andy
Hi Pete. I have probably a 40 foot fur tree directly behind the loft. I also have a house beside the loft that stands a good 15 feet above the loft. My birds would have trouble coming directly down onto the loft, certainly as a batch. They do land in the top of the tree or on the roof of the house. I don’t worry about it though. Up there there is no fear of a sparrow hawk getting them as they would see them coming and take off immediately. They do mostly however come straight down when called and certainly from races, especially the widowhood cocks if coming singly, they do land straight on the trap or at very worse just pitch on the house and drop down onto the loft. They lose less time doing that than they would circling once.
Unfortunately now that yours have started going up into the tree you will have trouble stopping them so probably better to not get to worked up about it. Not everyone has an ideal flight into their lofts without obstacles.
Re: Young birds landing in trees
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 10:09 pm
by Murray
That's true Andy.
We each have to work around our own situation. It is in fact half the fascination of the sport in my opinion.
Re: Young birds landing in trees
Posted: Fri May 09, 2025 10:12 pm
by PeteDerby
Andy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 8:50 pm
Hi Pete. I have probably a 40 foot fur tree directly behind the loft. I also have a house beside the loft that stands a good 15 feet above the loft. My birds would have trouble coming directly down onto the loft, certainly as a batch. They do land in the top of the tree or on the roof of the house. I don’t worry about it though. Up there there is no fear of a sparrow hawk getting them as they would see them coming and take off immediately. They do mostly however come straight down when called and certainly from races, especially the widowhood cocks if coming singly, they do land straight on the trap or at very worse just pitch on the house and drop down onto the loft. They lose less time doing that than they would circling once.
Unfortunately now that yours have started going up into the tree you will have trouble stopping them so probably better to not get to worked up about it. Not everyone has an ideal flight into their lofts without obstacles.
Thanks Andy.
They’re better now save for a couple serial offenders. One little shit flys straight from the loft 500m then roots in the biggest tree. Something tells me the first decent training chuck will sort that one out!
Re: Young birds landing in trees
Posted: Sat May 10, 2025 12:26 am
by Murray
Good to hear they are coming right, Pete. If you keep the routine up they do in the finish.
I'm like Andy, I still have a couple of trees in the middle of my back yard which obstruct the loft. Mine are now good, they are all in quickly after a fly, but sometimes they have to land on a branch then drop down.
Sometimes you just have to be a bit patient. I took several big trees down when we moved so the pigeons could actually see the loft, but my wife put her foot down and told me I wasn't to cut down every tree. Now she's got the veggie gardening bug and decided those two trees need to come down to let more sun on the garden,
So in the still of the morning, you can hear the soft sound of me running the file over the chainsaw.

Re: Young birds landing in trees
Posted: Sun May 11, 2025 9:14 am
by Trev
Re: Young birds landing in trees
Posted: Sun May 11, 2025 9:17 am
by Trev
PeteDerby wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 10:12 pm
Andy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 8:50 pm
Hi Pete. I have probably a 40 foot fur tree directly behind the loft. I also have a house beside the loft that stands a good 15 feet above the loft. My birds would have trouble coming directly down onto the loft, certainly as a batch. They do land in the top of the tree or on the roof of the house. I don’t worry about it though. Up there there is no fear of a sparrow hawk getting them as they would see them coming and take off immediately. They do mostly however come straight down when called and certainly from races, especially the widowhood cocks if coming singly, they do land straight on the trap or at very worse just pitch on the house and drop down onto the loft. They lose less time doing that than they would circling once.
Unfortunately now that yours have started going up into the tree you will have trouble stopping them so probably better to not get to worked up about it. Not everyone has an ideal flight into their lofts without obstacles.
Thanks Andy.
They’re better now save for a couple serial offenders. One little shit flys straight from the loft 500m then roots in the biggest tree. Something tells me the first decent training chuck will sort that one out!
Well done Pete, good to hear that they are sorting themselves out.
I used to have a massive pine tree next door to me, the birds loved it, especially at nesting time as they used to love the pine needles. I think they enjoyed the shade and protection it gave them, I didn't seem to have problems on race days though. The tree is gone now so it's not an issue anymore.
All the best