yeboah

Agree with your post 100% Derek ,why loose good birds to the hawk once the racing is underway if they are fit healthy and motivated as the distance increases will wipe the floor with the one's that are being hammered all the time ,but beauty about this game everyone to there own .

Some of the sites i have visited there are remains of various birds on there plucking point including crow lapwing seagull but must agree a good piece of prime racing pigeon certainly tops the list .funny thing how you are very lucky to find many rings they somehow manage to find a way to disappear .

I have mine back onto half ounce morning and night of good seed,there dropping are good ,let them have a light exercise last night which i felt was a mistake as some of them looked pretty tired afterwards ,one blue in particular has pink skin ,clear throat and handles OK yet it has reverted to walking like a duck ,thought it might be a deficiency so added brewers yeast and energy oil to feed tonight ,has any one any idea's to the cause of this ?

Garry who rings them Walter told me there were 14 pair in the hills around Moffat ,but that was 10 years ago ,I no of 11 pair on our line of flight but it is near on impossible keeping tabs on them as they are being introduced to top up the nest site's each year ,i think in the next few years they will revert to eating each other as there will be nothing else left ,other than the sad f-- who introduce them .

Much better thanks with droppings starting to improve ,but long way to go yet ,some are recovering much better than others the birds that made a supreme effort to home on Sunday are sorry states but they have until next spring to recover suppose they are lucky that the one thing i was blessed with was Patience

Well Done Robert Good Flying .

Who's he got lined up ?

I we cannae complain doon here Andy some good wee pubs wae good beer ,mind you some of the hangovers i have think a had been drinking cheap beer

There is good money in certain area's of the country ours is certainly not one of them ,only chance we have is getting one in the top 20 of a national ,our club only pays first now which is £5 that gets you and your best mate a pint each if you wink at the barmaid or two for yoursel if ye have nae mates

Got it sorted ,put powder in water gave them a charcoal tablet starved them for 48 hours walked them into an empty section tonight whilst i cleaned there section added loft white and went over everything with a blow torch ,put medicated water back down put light feed of seed in troughs and when i opened the section door and whistled it was charge of the light brigade ,hope to see marked improvement in the morning ,then not make same mistake as previous and give them at least 2 weeks min to recover

I think sometimes in the first few races alot is expected of young bird convoy's clearing the liberation area's immediately with just 30 odd miles between feds and with only 30-45 min between liberation's think it is a certainty that clashing will occur ,when my first bird arrived in moffat on Saturday at 12-02 --12-03 there were many many birds flying past in groups of 6-12 and working there way north through the hills ,now if these birds were still in the longtown area as the solway birds arrived 2500 with the main drag going to annan - dumfries area's they would then be many miles of there line of flight if caught in the drag ,we will suffer the same fate on the east route with such a small convoy maybe just 600 by the time we hit 150 mls ,jmo good luck to you all

Yes it will be interesting Derek ,i personally feel the midlothian race-point from carnforth is to far west if the wind is not suitable and the birds go to the workington side there is a mountain range so they would have to continue up the coast which would fetch them into an area across the solway firth def not ideal ,we never had many good one's from leyland or carnforth seems its to close to the fells and the birds don't get a chance to get racing before they hit them hope i am 100% wrong but watch this space .

What i can't figure out is my birds first contacted ybs 3 years ago from gifted birds ,i had it last year and now again this ,but i have never reared a youngster from any of my race team for 3 years now ,so it cant be getting passed through the egg ,this one's got me stumped

Other feds like our own Derek have good races from the appleby / stainmore area's ,the tester comes once down through the shap fells and the leyland / carnforth area's ,once clear of these no problems obviously dependent on weather conditions but sure feds flying east route like ourselves this year will be guaranteed a stinker before august is finished .

If my one turns out a fraction as good as your one i will be a happy wee chappie

Thank's thought i would give him a chance as his sister yesterday if she had not decided to do a tour of moffat having arrived at 12-02 and then sunbathe would have won the club by 80ypm and poss topped the fed 2500 birds but no prizes for sitting on the roof ,however her day will come but not this year

PUT SPLINTS ON A YOUNG BIRD WITH 2 BROKEN LEGS AND HUNG IT UP IN A HARNESS HOW LONG SHOULD IT TAKE THE BROKEN BONES TO REPAIR THEMSELVES ,Thanks Mick.

Total cloud cover looks like rain

Disaster of a day,Birds have been training well and also exercising at home freely for an hour plus and eating well ,droppings OK ,let them out Thursday night and they flew really well in a very blustery east wind ,picked the strong first team one's out Friday lunchtime and gave them a light feed all being well ,Of to the marking station and my friend let the second round out to exercise telling me later they flew for one and a half hours but he noticed when called in they did not eat there full measure,when i entered the loft this morning they were sitting about as if they were dying ,i gave them a very light feed with only 4 of 60 not coming forward i then moved them to another section an hour later to prepare for race arrivals and when doing so 5 were sick ,I then said to my friend if the others are at the race-point in this condition things do not look good ,nightfall only got 3 from 17 cannot believe how quick they went down if only they had shown symptoms on Friday they would never have left the loft,one club-mate contacted it last week now mine terrible disease ,has this started since the importing of birds that have been doped to the eyeballs and over use of antibiotics,whatever it certainly f--- up a lot of hard graft

Glorious Day here ,sunshine blue sky and no wind at present

Not had any from Messac as yet ,but had a very good 5 year old that went missing in a nasty east wind turn up yesterday in Patna Ayrshire

What is the measure for 2 ltrs of water .

Will have to have a recount in the morning but have a very high number at present coming along nicely only prob no rings

Regarding Yb sickness I had never experienced it in forty years of racing until 2 years ago after being gifted some youngsters and they brought it with them ,treated them with an unknown powder which worked straight away ,last year week after first race they came down with it again this time i split the team into 2 sections and treated one with the powder as the year previous and the others with cinnamon that i bought at the Co-op for pennies and it cured them every bit as good . Read a post on here where the vet stated the virus could lie dormant in the dust in the loft for a year so i pressure washed the loft from top to bottom ,so far so good time will tell ,Spoke to a very good fancier at last years national presentation and when i asked him about Yb sickness he told me to inoculate the youngsters at 5 days old for PMV and Para typhus and i would not have any more health issues with them ,if i encounter problems this year will definitely follow that procedure next .

Fantastic decision for the good of your pigeons well done to all concerned