Left -- Unattended
(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.