Back garden fancier

Doh!! Should have seen that one coming

What did the cheaper birds go for?

What's the sand pit for?

What I meant was we have voted to try for a lottery grant. And every member go on to ETS. If the grant fails then members will have to fork out for their own if they want one.

Prices in Yorkshire are £5.60 beans/ wheat / barley. Why the difference I wonder?

Strange how each club differs, my club has just voted to use ETS next year. Several members are in their 80's and even more in 60's and 70's, but no problems here. I think if you get one member who is a strong voice in the club all the others follow.

One of the reasons for feeding tic beans, is that you can put a hopper down and you are right the birds don't like them. That's the point, you can hopper feed without them getting fat. If you put a mix in a hopper they would stuff themselves with their favorite seeds and be fit for nothing.

If colour makes no difference, why do all the coloured birds sell first? Just look at the Louella sale, all the pieds go first followed by reds and then the rest. All the blues and cheq's are left. Is it just fashion at teh moment to have coloured pigeons?

If you find it easier to feed one seed only, make it tic beans. They are cheap and high in protein. Some people never feed anything else. You'll have a good moult, and rear cracking youngsters if you feed beans. Mate of mine fed his widow cocks nothing but beans and pellets and still won loads.

I've got 22 birds, and need to get down to 18!! Bag of corn lasts me longer than a month. Makes it a cheap sport with those numbers.

The point of inbreeding and line breeding is to try and reproduce a good bird further back in the breeding line. Pairing brother to sister will not achieve this. Father/daughter or mother/ son would be better.

Feel sorry for those with a couple of hundred pigeons. Will anyone cut down on birds I wonder?

How come if someone in Belgium / Holland buys a pigeon it takes their name at once. Yet look at people like Chris Gordon etc. How often have you seen a Gordon for sale? It would be sold as a Chris Gordon Vanreet or whatever. Why?

I'd buy 18 or 24 Louella 99 quiders. Race them and breed from what's left. Can't go wrong for that money.

If it's a good crop next year, will prices come down? Will they ****!!

Pigeons have a gizzard, to grind food using grit because thay have no teeth. YES pigeons can survive without grit but give them a choice and they take what they need. If you don't give them grit they'll go off fielding. Grit is dirt cheap anyway ( no pun intended ) so why not give them it?

The plot thickens, love a good mystery!!

Are they racers, or fancy pigeons and what colour?

My birds only peck about at oyster shell grit, but scoff redstone grit for fun. Not sure why?

Depends on lots of things, when your pigeons were bred, if they have reared young, if they've been on darkness. List goes on but yes November usually sees the end of major moulting.

"Small" team? Try 4 pair natural and 14 young birds, that's a small team!!

Stick to Harkanka! Might be more expensive, but sounds easier?

I use cod liver oil once a week, on the corn then either brewers yeast or Provit, the oil makes it stick.

Lots of good advice, but if you're scared of rats then poison would be best option. The other thing to remember is rats only come for food, so make sure your corn bins are rat proof and there's no food in the loft for them. If theres no food they'll move on.

Had a cock hit wires last year, opened his front right up even cut through pipe in crop. Sewed pipe up first then crop and bird made full recovery and bred some nice youngsters this year.