Diamond dave

Once again Jack I appreciate your comments and the elequent way in which you deliver them. As a matter of interest, rather than debate, is the feeding that different in S.A.?

Hi Marmite - Great AKA mate - are we gonna love yer or hate yer?

HI JACK, SUMMER BRED BABIES SHOULD REALLY BE THE BEST OF ALL WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE CONDITIONS THEY ARE REARED IN. i AGREE WITH SADDLER - ONE OF MY BEST PIGEONS WAS SUMMER BRED (LATE). NEVER RACED IN THE YEAR OF BIRTH, RACED LIGHTLY AND CAREFULLY AS A YEARLING, THEN CAME GOOD AS A 2 YO.- hAS BEEN IN THE STOCK SHED FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS AND EACH YEAR I'VE TRIED A LATE BRED OUT OF HIM. IVE KEPT 2 OUT OF THREE NESTS (ONLY KEPT THE COCKS). oNE HAS TURNED OUT SO NICE THAT I AM KEEPING HIM IN THE STOCK SHED. THE OTHER IS NOW A YEARLING WHO WILL GET A COUPLE OF RACES THIS YEAR ( HES ACTUALLY ONE OF MY ENTRIES IN HYACINTH 200 MILE CHALLENGE - sO I'M KEEPING MY FINGERS CROSSED. ONLY TRAIN THEM ON GOOD EASY DAYS WITH PLENTY OF SHORT TOSSES 5 -10 MILES IN A RADIUS AROUND YOUR LOFT WITH AN EXPERIENCED BIRD DURING SEPT AND OCT. tHE FOLLOWING YEAR - ONLY WHEN TEMPERATURE IS ABOVE 16 DEGREES. jUST MY THEORY MATE - GOOD LUCK WITH EM.

JACK, YOU KNOW THAT i HAVE THE UTMOST RESPECT FOR YOUR WORDLY COMMENTS AND WISE WORDS IN SOME OF YOU FANTASTICALLY INFORMATIVE POSTS BUT IN THIS CASE I HAVE TO ASK THAT YOU CONSIDER THE FACT THAT SCIENCE HAS IMPROVED THE WIDOWHOOD METHOD - NAMELY IN THE FORM OF FEED FORMULATIONS. i WOULD AGREE THAT THE PRINCIPLE OF THE WIDOWHOOD CONCEPT IS AN ULTIMATE SYSTEM BUT THERE HAVE SURELY BEEN MODERN DEVELOPMENTS THAT HAVE IMPROVED IT.

"LEST WE FORGET" - AY!!!!!

David, your birds sound experienced pigeons and I am sure that you know that they will home when the weather breaks but in my experience you cannot expect your old birds to RACE home if you turn them round.- particularly if you are on widowhood. I appreciate that you are all on level terms down there on the South coast but I think you are expecting too much from your birds to expect them to perform to that degree. Just my thoughts mate - lets hope we get the channel confirmed soon.

Yeh, Good luck Jimmy.

Hyacinth, If its the memorial wall that it is in Park Lane/Hyde Park, I have seen this wall and it is quite a spectacle. Although it is only a wall it has horses,dogs, mules pigeons depicted in like a war time seen - although it is all in white. It is a fantastic memorial for what those animals did for mankind during that dreadful time and it is a fitting reminder to us all that we dont forget. Ben, I suspect that you are a young person and cannot appreciate the fact that unless such things are brought to mind that they are easily forgotten. The purpose of a memorial is that we DONT forget. - People or animals.

Hi Martin. Still no sign of that cock? Don't worry about the 2 hens, Ive often had a spare widowhood hen that I have put in the stock loft. Your hen will probably lay on her own. The cock that trod her may help her sit but dont worry if not, his main duty will be with the nest that he already has. It could be that the spare hen will sit full term if she doesnt get fed up but you must only let her rear one on her own(keep both eggs in the nest until the hatch tho). The only problem is that the youngun will be termed "bred in the purple" cos you cant identity the sire. Dont give up on the lost cock yet - late breds are fickle- especially in the yearling stage. Good luck mate.

Slatey, I paid for the text message and thought it was an excellent service. It also gave an update earlier on to tell you what was happening at the race point. I'm sorry you had a bad experience but hope that you had a good race.

I've watched youngsters that were about 3 weeks older look after newly weaned babies. This bird was a hen, she saw off other birds that were havin a go at the newly weaned ones and she appeared to show them the water fountain and how to drink - doing it several times then "tapping" the babies beak. They really are truly amazing.

Thank you all - The control/refresh button worked ok Jimmy - thanks mate

Any one help me get on to the mnfc website - I get the title page but wont open the application - do I need a special reader?

MNFC Portsmouth Probably one of the shortest at 91 miles - timer doing 1580. This in the most westerly part of the SE section - They will slaughter us on the East side today. I bet they are doing close to 2000ypm.

Rose, I certainly wouldn't consider "throwing my birds away". I've lost good birds on what you would think would be an easy day and even lost them from a 40mile chuck. I am confident that even if they dont race on the day, they will home after several. I think as long as they get a good start for twenty mile the weather should not stop them. I agree with the Fifer - its up to the convoyer

Hi Jamie welcome to the forum. If you are a new starter you will naturally want to spend more time with your birds and this doesnt suit the widowhood system (check out the problems Hyacinth is having in the post "widowhoods going off the boil") My advice would be to start on natural - if you get the birds in the right nest condition you will have more chance of getting a result than trying to beat a seasoned widowhood flyer at his own game and I am sure you will find the birds more rewarding when flying natural. Good luck whichever way you go mate!!!

We are with the MNFC at Portsmouth. On Wednesdays 5 day forecast the racepoint showed it would be precipating down all over the south coast but todays 5 day forecast shows it to be completely different - do they really know what they are on about? Im giving up on these early forecasts- have a look Friday night and then decide what to send

Yep, gotta go!!! Though I like to look after my yearlings and wont send them if it looks dodgy - plenty of time for them.

I take it you're a natural flyer Ben - Thanks for your help mate!!!

Doesnt it make you mad!!!!!! You spend all week building your birds up, Then when you let them out Thursday morning after about ten minutes flying they pick up a stray hen - thats it, no more flying. So you get em in, scare off the stray then when you let em out in the evening the bl**dy things back again. Any one got any ideas how to get the cocks going again or do you think it's not worth sending them this week?

Sue, I suspect that the three that you have been "chasing around" the loft may give you some problems. Have to agree with the other posts that taming them down starts from the nest and is so important when weaning them. You do appear to have missed this opportunity and young birds are not very forgiving. You will have to work carefully to win back thier confidence. But you sound like a lovely lady and I am sure that they will respond to a "womans touch" Let us know how they are doing.

Pecked Hen, I forgot to add that if you are scaring your birds by catching them for basketing, they are not going to be too keen to trap, when the loft should be thier sanctuary. More so if they see you hanging around. This way, any handling is done down the club and the loft stays as it should always be a safe and happy home for the birds. Just my way. Dave.

Pecked Hen, I forgot to add that if you are scaring your birds by catching them for basketing, they are not going to be too keen to trap, when the loft should be thier sanctuary. More so if they see you hanging around. This way, any handling is done down the club and the loft stays as it should always be a safe and happy home for the birds. Just my way. Dave.

I have to disagree with some of you guys. I dont like to handle my pigeons. It's probably cos I cant spend that much time with them and if I start to try to catch all hell breaks loose and I finish up scaring them. Though they are all tame enough as I hand feed them twice a day. The reason I asked about your trapping arrangement Pecked Hen is I too trap via a sputnik and I use this to basket the young birds. I made a simple stand to the height of the bottom of the sputnik gate where I place the basket with the flap open, up tight. I then open the sputnik gate so the birds can freely walk into the basket or crate. A couple of weeks before I begin basket training I leave it there during the day. I also feed the birds some trapping mix in the basket and put a drinker on the side and take away the water fountain. They are soon happy in the basket without handling them at all. I sometimes usher the birds into the basket while I am scraping out. On commencing training I gently and calmly usher the birds into the basket and shut the sputnik door behind them. At first some go in and out while you are ushering the others which is where alittle trapping mix helps to keep them in, but they very soon get to know what is expected and I dont usuall have any problems. The trickiest bit is closing the basket flap because you have to pull it away from the sputnik to close it and I slide a thin bit of perspex along the side of the basket before moving it away. I personally dont think pigeons like to be handled and while I dont disagree with some of the other posts I can usually see whether a bird is fit and well just by looking. I hope this helps Pecked Hen and good luck with your season.

Does anyone have any idea how they go about a true national race on the continent, or do they suffer the same as us?