I'm looking at getting a few birds 3-4 so I can have them on hand for training. The question I have is when you buy birds should I get really young birds or can I get older birds and keep them in the loft for 3-4 weeks before I turn them out. How long does it take to train the birds to come back.

Get young birds that haven’t been flown yet. If you get grown birds I wouldn’t let them out for at least a year. When I moved I had a loft full of young birds that hadn’t flown long. I moved 80 miles and kept them cooped for a month. All of them ended up back at my old house. If you do get older birds they reproduce quickly. After I lost all of my birds a buddy gave me two grown birds and a year later I had 17.

If it’s the pigeons first time flying they’ll come back, you just have to train them how to get back in the loft. I usually just show mine a couple of times how to get in and they figure it out. If you need them to fly back from a distant training ground you’ll need to train them at distances starting out at 10 miles and doubling the mileage every week until they get as far out as you need them to fly.

Homers only unless you want to shoot then get wild pigeons. I have an ad below that I might have surplus homers available.
See the ad at least for pictures of my reach in loft and wire porch to let them acclimate and learn how to go through the traps.

Must have a loft. Young birds are birds that have not flown outside their loft. Raccoons are lethal plan for their visit.

Loft design and function are KEY to easy access.

Feel free to ask, I have years of experience with homers and pigeons are GOLDEN for training new young dogs.