DECKY

A good fancier can win well with average pigeons up to 350+ miles, but when you get to the 500 + mile races, the breeding and quality of the pigeon is paramount.

Empty yer dookit into Gretna Gareth. ;D ;D

What a cracking first post from Red.yoyo. :D

We havent had our AGM yet but after the horrendous losses the last couple of years , the word is we should probably be going east, but as we all know,it depends on who turns up at AGM.

I heard they may want to go with Lanarkshire.Is that true?

Yes, we are still going .If you check the SNFC results you will see Kirkintilloch in it more than 20 times this year.We have new premises this year and things are looking up.Old Willie Carr left the club to go and fly with another club ( Campsie ).They concentrate more on club racing than National.

Plenty of clubs mate, depends where in Glasgow area you are moving to .

SNFC Liege 2001, Les McKays bird came straight off the sea.Must have flown 350+ miles of water.Flying out the east gave us 7 region winners in the top 10 open.Cant get fairer than that.I think there should be 2 racepoints made available for this International event.One should be the shortest possible, ie Hamburg, Cologne or even into Belgium ( Liege )This should be used if the wind is going to be westerly( headwind ), giving the birds a chance to make land on the night.If there were to be a tail wind, then we can go further.

Your spot on Alf, McAloney would win flying from anywhere.He is one of Europes best and the quicker people appreciate that the better.As you know , we ( THE MIDLAND FED ) have been flying down the west route for a few years now and every year we get hammered with hawks.I dont think we will be going that way this year, as the losses have finally taken their toll. I cannot believe Lanarkshire flying down the west.ITS MENTAL

Ian McGhie and John Cosgrove won Nantes, but thats the real chance we have got to win a National.The further we go , the bigger the chance of getting a top open position.I totally agree with everything youve said ( FAIRPLAY & JOHNO ). Nash and White won Rennes when there were 1000s of birds going from the west, although as you rightly said, National winners in the west are very scarce.

I wish all you Lanarkshire boys all the very best flying down the west.Everybody knows that it is the route to go but the infestation of hawks is unbelievable and makes it impossible to get straight forward racing.If we could deal with the hawk problem then everything would be great.

You are spot on Wullie, we have been hammered down the west this year, especially with ybs.I know a top fancier with 2 left out of 65 bred.Will the doo men never wake up and smell the coffee.The only way you will get a half decent race from anywhere in the Solway is if there is a tail wind and they get up high over the hills.

It is impossible to say who is the best in the U.K.You can only really go by who is the best in each area.That takes away the advantage of loft location etc, but on the other hand if I were to pick someone as my loft manager ,it would have to be Geoff Kirkland.

I have hand bathed my birds in hot water with Radox in it after a hard fly.Watch them go to sleep.The Radox totally relaxes their muscles, this in turn helps them recover better

I heard some widowhood guys use it to calm their cocks in basket.The sugar the sherry contains gives the doos energy for the race the following day