Raising Homing Pigeon

Raising Homing Pigeon

The problem with raising homing pigeons is not that it's hard (it's pretty easy), but that it just doesn't seem to work. We have all read about the stories of homing pigeons that somehow got away and found their way back home. But most people know what happened only from hearsay: some old guy, who had no idea what he was talking about, said "I used to raise homing pigeons, and I can tell you . "

A few years ago a friend of mine, who had done research on this problem, decided to try raising pigeons himself.

He bought a couple dozen pigeons in a pet store. But he also bought some white mice (to make sure the birds would be able to recognize each other).

He put the pigeons into cages in his basement and began training them. He gave them treats and praise when they did well. He made little paintings for them out of snippets of newspaper (to keep them quiet) and filled one end of the cage with dry sand. He taught the birds to peck at the sand with their beaks so they would make little holes in it and get a treat of bread crumbs from inside the cage. He trained them to peck on a

The idea of raising a homing pigeon to find your way across the Atlantic is not as crazy as it sounds. Birds can navigate with their brains, and if they are young they can learn how to do it. A few years ago I read about a man who raised pigeons in his backyard, trained them to follow a tiny red light, and released them. They went to Africa and got lost, but eventually made it home.