The "breaking in period" of the young pigeon is all important. Losing a young bird before it's raced is devastating in that a whole year is lost before one realises it's value or the potential of its parents to produce winners. Believe me, after all the effort to match a particular pair(it's not a given that they'll take to each), matter of fact there's a skill in getting them to pair up and it's mostly the cock who'll reject the hen by pecking her to the point where they have to be separated.
So then after losing quite a few young ones I paused and had a hard long think about a solution. Lo and behold the solution I found was quite simple. Young birds are quite stupid, they learn by habit (common to all pigeons) so the trick was to train them to exit and enter the loft before they flapped their wings an became airborne.
The key to it all was a narrow window of opportunity before they'd grown full wings. Oh, I forget, I should explain how they inadvertently take off and never return to the loft. So when they're young and in full feather they test their wings, by testing I mean they flap their wings until their feet become airborne in small measures , we're talking inches but as their confidence grow they make a bigger effort and become airborne......that's when the shit hits the fan because they are disorientated with their surroundings and for that reason never return to the loft of their birth.
But back to the narrow window of opportunity. As I've said, it's that period before they develop full wing, just before they develop the urge to test themselves, we're only talking weeks, that's when it's best to do the breaking in. I want to add one other part to the exercise, do not feed them prior to letting them exit the loft, that would be a big mistake, it's a case of being cruel to be kind. I learned from experience that once their crop was full they didn't have a care in the world. So then pop them out by hand, you know they won't take off, let them walk around on top of the loft for about 10 minutes or thereabouts and once you're satisfied that they've explored their surroundings long enough you'd then entice them back into the loft by showing them some food. Shaking a tin can with some feed is a good habit. Trust me they won't go anywhere on an empty stomach. Continue the exercise on a daily basis until they're ready to fly around the loft. Also, do not put out older pigeons simultaneously with nervy and stupid youngsters........it's a big mistake. Boy, I learned it all the hard way, I guess that's what happens when you're 12 years old without a mentor.