If you have been feeding them carefully and have a good routine they should be rather tame. Just follow the posts on Pigeon-Talk and you will see that there is no shortage of ferals show and racing pigeons in need of good homes.
This is one of the simplest and easiest bir.
How do you catch a racing pigeon. Let them pair among themselves and it will stop giving the feral pigeons an excuse to visit. You should probably keep your birds in the loft for a month or so. It will struggle a little but will start drinking the moment it realises that its beak is being dipped into water.
Capture the pigeon. If you are able to lure him indoors with food either your garage or house and then once inside catch him you can probably find a good sanctuary-type forever home for him or provide one yourself. Such searches will usually work to get you started finding the owner.
Find the initials of the club and type them into your search engine along with the word pigeon or pigeon found or banded pigeon and so on. Water is necessary before all else. Dont pick the youngster up from the floor.
An open container ie a dish an old margarine container tub etc is best. One will either be a rubber band ring or an electronic timing tag a chip ring these are used for timing the. If you are not in a club pick out on direction and stick with it.
Here is an awesome quick pigeon trap that is capable of catching multiple pigeon at a time. There are always orphaned sick and injured feral pigeons needing a good home. If the pigeon is tame or injured you should be able to pick the pigeon up with your hands.
Homing pigeons occasionally get lost while out on a flight. Capture the bird by approaching slowly and throwing a large towel over it and gently pick it up. However your query via the contact us part of the clubs website does not always produce a timely response.
Basket your birds by catching them gently. You can also get in touch with RPRA and ask them to refer you to your local club. You can also use food to bait the pigeon.
Some lost pigeons are dehydrated and hungry and may need time to replenish their strength. According to Pigeon Racing UK Ireland the start-up cost to get birds a pigeon loft to settle them in and underway with club racing is about 300. While a thirsty bird may drink immediately it also may not.
Others will ask you to feed it and. If you ruffle their feathers when you catch them gently put the feathers back into place. It would be wrong in my opinion to catch healthy feral pigeons and subject them to a life of captivity.
Leave it to stand on its feet just holding it over the back and wings with one hand and dipping its beak into the water with the other hand. You might also want to start chasing them off make your loft an unsuitable roosting place. Also when you release your birds let them out hungry so you can call them in.
They will also send you a pigeon racing starter pack. Check Pigeon Talk to find a pigeon rescuer in your area He will be much easier to corner and catch. Please respect them and do that immediately if thats what they asked.
If you cant pick the pigeon up try throwing a towel over the bird and then scoop the pigeon in the towel and place it in the box. Racing pigeons are used to being handled and the bird may let you pick it up with little fuss Check to see if the pigeon has a ring number on its leg and make a note of the ring number eg. The time taken and distance are recorded and the fastest bird is declared the winner.
A racing pigeon may carry two rings one on each leg. Pigeons are not caught unless they are ill or weak from ranging -- you can simply pick these birds up or catch them with a bird net. That does really work and is about the cheapest and simplest trap you could make just get a cardboard box or something similar and prop it up on one side with a stick attached to a string and take the string inside a window or door and bait the trap when he goes under to get the bait you just yank the string and it lets the box drop.
Pigeon racing has been described as the sport with a single starting gate and a thousand finish lines In short competing birds are taken from their lofts and must race home. Some owners will ask you to release it. A bird which has gone without water for a while is sometimes a bit less than itself.
Water is necessary before all else. Since pigeons drink by suction any water container should be at least 1 in. If you find a racing homing pigeon you can either contact the organization which is what I recommend or give it fresh food and water give it a nights rest and release it early in the morning.
