Left -- Unattended

Jack Prescott
(Feathered World) Jun 2000

Anything that is left unattended is at very serious risk. It was always so. Stealing has always been part of human nature. The only difference is, that in modern times, children are taught, from an early age, that they can do as they please and that no one is allowed to do very much about it.

As a flying pigeon man, keeping pigeons on an allotment, well away from houses and very close to a large wooded area, I know about the problems with cats, dogs, rats, stoats, weasels, foxes and hawks. Several potential hazards -but I have always found them easy to deal with.

My lofts are extremely strong and it would take a man with suitable tools, a lot of time and a lot of energy to smash a way into my lofts. Likewise, no rats or even mice can get inside my lofts. They cannot chew into sheet metal and concrete. Once locked up inside my loft, my own pigeons are much safer than average. The allotment itself is protected by one of the best hawthorn hedges -reinforced by many, many yards of barbed wire. The initial outlay in 1960 was considerable, but it was money well spent and certainly the protection will last throughout my expected lifetime.

Some people will keep a guard dog and leave all security to the dog. Have you ever worked out the cost of keeping a guard dog for one year? Personally, I would not enjoy keeping such a dog - it would certainly be more trouble and far more expensive than keeping the 50 or so pigeons that the dog was intended to guard. In all my time with pigeons I have never experienced any thefts or attempted thefts that have been carried out other than by children. Boys, 10 to 15 years old, without tools have easily broken into pigeon lofts locally and taken away specimens of great value to the owners. These days when houses are left for many hours, day or night, it is so very easy for anyone to break in and the pigeon loft in the back lot is no problem.

On an allotment complex that is unattended for many hours the vulnerability is quite obvious. A couple of kids, playing truant, can very easily break into the vast majority of lofts. The damage these kids can do can only be understood by fanciers who have had the experience. A lifetime's dedication, crippled during a mindless act of vandalism and theft. However, if the loft is extremely strong, as it should be, these young savages will not even attempt a break-in.

Another problem is when pigeons are left outside of the loft and unattended. I never do this. I exercise my birds very often twice a day. I sit and watch them. I enjoy seeing their high flying and their performing. Even on the many days when their flying style and their performance is nothing special, I still sit and watch. After such exercises my pigeons always drop on top of the loft and within five minutes I always get them inside and safely locked up. To leave them unattended on top of the lofts and grazing on the rough lawn would be asking for trouble. An open invitation to a cat, some imbecile with an air gun or catapult or even a Sparrowhawk. To a strongly-flying kit a Sparrowhawk is no threat, but hanging about on roof tops, loft tops or lawns all day invites some very well initiated Sparrowhawk to single out the easier and less alert specimens of such pigeons. By starting with the very young and stupid specimens, a local Sparrowhawk may soon graduate to being able to deal with stronger, but unlucky, pigeons. In a couple of weeks such a Sparrowhawk could have a dozen. I see a Sparrowhawk, two on most days, they don't even look at my pigeons and I am not about to leave them unattended and give a Sparrowhawk such education!

However, it is not only for security reasons that I get my pigeons inside directly after exercises. After being lofted for several hours my pigeons, on release, are likely to be excited and more energetic. The same pigeons left out all day would become lethargic and less alert and their escape capabilities would become less efficient. No one and certainly no pigeon can be 100% alert all day. A lofted pigeon not only rests, but it can completely relax.

Ah! - but there we have another point, don't we? Let us suppose that the loft is overcrowded and that the perching is inadequate. Let us suppose that the lofted pigeons are constantly fighting for a window ledge. Let us suppose that the lofted pigeons have too much view of the outside and a lot of visual disturbance from the outside. Can they relax? NO! My way is to cut down their outside view completely. My pigeons can never be seen by anyone who is outside of the loft - even though the loft is not completely dark. So there! I have security and ideal preparation for the next exercise. Of course, I do fly every day barring extremely terrible weather.