Training Pigeons for flight-What I know

The pigeon training starts 2-3 weeks before the flying season. Its mid April here in Chennai as May is the start of flying season.


It starts with diet food like millets for the birds. They are put in open under sun for 2-3 hours daily along with diet food. The idea is to make them loose extra weight and get them used to the weather.

After the birds loose extra weight (in 2 weeks), they are left to fly. For about a week the flight time would be uneven. Some fly for an hour, some for 30 minutes and some would just fly for 5 minutes.

Those that pick up timing from 2nd weeks are less problematic ones and we dont have to do any special thing for them other than proper feed and care. When birds dont pick up timing initially, it does not mean they are bad fliers. There could be several reasons for it and we need to spend focussed effort to bring the best out of them. Some of the reason I could point for birds not timing right away are:

• They might have health problems. We need to closely watch their activities, food intake, excrete and check for any symptoms. Its best to treat them and not fly them anymore.
• Stress: Pigeons might have stress due to various reasons like over crowding inside loft, they might be in masti condition (mating stage), hawk chase etc,.

When birds are healthy and without any signs of stress(dullness, not picking up enough food etc,.) but still do not fly, I try the following options:

• Make them swim for 5 minutes in a big basket of water. I hold the bird with its legs and allow it to swim. Swimming makes their body fit and we can see improvements.
• I mix turmeric powder in water and feed them.Dont know specific reasons but learnt this from other pigeon fancier friends.
• Feed mix made from dry ginger powder(sukku) and jaggery (vellam).