Ian Gill

Maybe things are slightly different on your side of the pond, though I seriously doubt it..Take this forum for instance Larry,started by Richard when still at school, without a "team" of celebrity fanciers to promote it for him and he has done a fantastic job of it, without getting the true recognition he so rightly deserves !! Then we have the the websites started by "names" in the sport, who assemble a team of well known fanciers and tell us its the best thing since sliced bread..many of the names contribute interesting and informative posts for while or more to the point, until the membership numbers are sufficient to introduce the endorsements,sales of pigeons and any other number of commercial aspects to their captive audience. Whether you agree or disagree, this sport of ours is dying on its feet due to innumerable curcumstances and there are those amongst us who care enough to speak out and say it as we see it ,without any prejudice or bias I might add. I know through your vocation in life that perhaps you see the good in all men,so to quote a line from your "manual" I will finish with this Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves

One hell of a post Roland and as good as Ive seen on any forum in 9 years...many of these "Names" are now celebities in their own minds and have a following of disciples who jump all over anyone who queries .

Maybe they have worms ;)

There is an Avian Vet out there mate though he lives over here I first went to him a few years ago with two Game Cocks and had a very interesting chat with him for a couple of hours while he determined what was wrong with the birds..I have recommended him to many fanciers and the majority have found his service excellent..there are those who didnt but then they have used other vets and rubbished them to because they found nothing wrong with their birds...typical of some when doubting the vet instead of their own pigeons.. I will contact him tomorrow to see if its ok to post his name and contact details because some are funny about that ;)

One or 2 lol ?? There are hundreds ..its just we are a tad modest this end ;)

Like I said only introduced after Dean Pallet had bought his lot...the original and the best are the lines that where in England before Dean bought his ;)

The original van reets had no Soontjen in them ..they came about after Pallet bought most of the birds

Staffy hasnt raced a Rene van de weyer in a right while mate ..I have them here to and havnt even paired them up in 3 years

Geeezus your up early mate lol ;D ;D

Self appointed "Pigeon Police" ..what will be next I wonder?? What would give you the right to do such a thing Jamie?? You are going to base part of this "database" on the sellers loft etc?? Does your theory hold up that only people with top of the range lofts keep good pigeons?? I have seen lofts that many would describe as atrocious and they contained some of the best pigeons I have ever seen and ive seen 30 grand Petron lofts full of rubbish ..Hardly a fair way to list someone on your "blacklist"

Do you not think the organisers would have been busting a gut to get their camera crew buddies there?? ;) There have been some very legtimate points and questions raised on this thread and rightly so given the circumstances but the responce to some has left me astounded ..I have no birds in the race though I have in the past (purely to make up the numbers in a syndicate) but tell you one thing if I had birds in it this year Id as sure as hell be asking plenty of questions to the organisers and wanting answers. Is there a touch of elitism surrounding one loft races in the fact that us mere mortals are not allowed to ask or question??? Seems to me that anyone and everyone has the right to ask questions on something that might have a detrimental effect on their sport..if any of our organisations have a bad race then we have to deal with it, safe in the knowledge that 99% of the time our birds welfare has been taken into concideration and the best decision regarding a lib was made..if the press get a hold of that then we bite the bullet and deal with that to ..but for us to suffer from something that we as a sport have no control over??? Dont think so !!!! Do you not think that Mr Nicholls new found celebrity from his tv show could come back to haunt him here?? The press love to fill pages these days and no doubt some animal rights people will love to get their teeth into this

I see mentioned earlier that the hen has bred winners and an RPRA Award winner ..maybe I missed it but what where they ,,birdage etc and what RPRA award was it?

Ace is a top man with top pigeons !!! What is is with you guys that continually jump all over anyone selling pigeons ?? If your interested in it then why do you feel the need to comment ?? It beats me because that yb in the pic has class oozing out of it and the price is reasonable ...yes I did say reasonable because you will see a lot of lesser bred pigeons for sale for bigger prices and Im sure of that

Your welcome Duncan ..Michael rang me last week when he got the ybs to thank me and said they were settling in well ..he seemed well pleased with them and hopefully they will do him a turn.

Is there a smell from the droppings? Sounds like a stupid question but if there is its more than likely canker ..I noticed you mentioned they were picking around the bottom of the aviary ,,maybe a good idea to put a wire floor in the aviary to keep them from doing that. Once you sort the problem a good thing would be to give them a small amount of grit and pickstone fresh everyday ..dont leave grit and pickstones in the loft..

If you use turkey finisher pellets they are antibiotic free as these are fed to the turkeys for a couple of weeks before slaughter

It wasnt Staffy because first of he isnt a millionaire and I was talking to him this morning lol ..it was a guy called Paul whose ets clock was set wrong ..its been checked by diester already ..and the bloke has only been racing a couple of years but when you buy the right gear you are half way there ;)

Hi, Anyone who bought at the sale should keep an eye on their purchases because I seen two of them on Sunday evening ..one was dead and the other dying

If your young uns have a wavy keel before they feather up ..give them a cod liver oil capsule and check them the next day ;)

It would be up to the breeder to replace the bird.. What I can tell you is that in John Boyd and Bernard Mairs you will have two of the finest fanciers in Ireland taking care of your entries..what these two havent won in their time racing pigeons isnt worth winning ..two top men!! On the subject of keeping fanciers informed as to the progress of their entries ..there will be a blog ,newsletters and a weekly mailing list to keep people up to speed..I would go as far to say that no other race(apart from the Barcelona Challenge ) will be in that position. Then I would say that as I set up the site lol

This is a link to the rules Gangster http://www.pigeonportal.com/nlps/story.cfm?ID=41&NLID=127 Check out rule 3

What are the few things your not happy about mate??

Of course I will stand over the offer and they are yours to do with as you please but the offer wasnt meant to be patronising in any shape or form Dovescot or out of sympathy either ..just an honest gesture and Im sorry you thought it to be patronising.

Tell you what Dovescot ..how many pigeons did you get took on with ?? 8 wasnt it ?? Well I will send you 8 ybs to race next year to replace the ones you didnt get and they will be from my best ..thats if you want them. The reason I am doing that is that it might help to stop all this negativity that has developed on this site lately and one thing I know is that this forum doesnt deserve this type of crap going on all the time and most importantly Richard doesnt ..

You have a great ability to read anything into a post that you want Dovescot.I stated that you were not buying a National winner for that price,not that a £30 pigeon couldnt win a National.I think if you recall the pigeon that won the Europa Classic last year was a £22.50 bird from the Natural Breeding Station beating all the latest designer pigeons in doing so. I dont think you know me well enough to judge me on who I am or what I buy....