Back garden fancier

I disagree, it is a working mans sport still. Just look at the members of your club! If you wanted to you could set up with a home made loft, gift birds and a loaned clock. You don't have to spend thousands to enjoy pigeons, that's the whole point. However if someone has thousands to spare on birds and ETS and fancy lofts then good luck to them.

In the past I've hopper fed tic beans through winter with no problems. Great if you can't feed in day light

With ever decreasing numbers, some feds send more birds than nationals. What if all specialist clubs had to disband and we just had the UK national club. There would be Scottish / Welsh / English sections. There could be a race every week and possible from two diffeent points. The birdage would be phenominal!! 50,000 plus every week? That would be one to win.

Cheers everybody, I've got a few free downloads to check out and PLO seems easy to use. Has anyone used that one?

Saw a thread for pigeon software, but can't find it now. Which software does anyone recomend? I've seen trial versions of eastcoast and PLO. Are they good or a pain to keep updated? Should I stick to my book or go hi-tech?

Moved similar shed by screwing 3x2 to each side and 4 of us lifting it. Was heavy, but did it without anyone getting hurt!

Sapper, what's a bhoy?

Hope the steady young birds make the best old birds, mine are very steady! Been last every race, but only lost 2, other members wiped out weeks ago. Was last again yesterday, but got all 5 birds home in half hour after 6 hours on the wing. Chap who won only got that one out of 6!

Layers pellets have a colouring in to make the yolks Yellow/orange. Not sure how that would affect the pigeons?

Never had any problems, always on time. Must be luck of the draw.

When do you pair up? I intend to pair up in early Feb 2008. Will that be long enough or do you need to pair up in December?

strange, my bules aren't blue and my reds aren't red!!

Yes I had the same problem in the wet. Ive got an astro turf doormat outside the loft now to stop the wife moaning at me!

Plenty of fanciers don't remove young from their parents. Dale Newcombe of Scotland is a very successful fancier and he keeps them together all year round.

Give it a go mate. I work shifts so I can't scrape everyday and I hate looking at droppings on the floor. As you say the kiln dried sand is sterile when you get it. It's just piled up with all the other sand at B & Q

Just one snag with the cunning plan! Eagle owls are fairly cheap ( £100 ) and breed easily enough. However it it an offence to release any birds into the wild, wether indigenous or not. You have to get a licence to release them and thet's not going to happen. It would have to be done on the QT, but who's going to risk that?

Seem strange thet there's a link at the bottom of this web site to a company the uses hawks to control pigeons!! What's all that about?

I've used sand for the past 2 years and it's the best change I ever made! I use B & Q kiln dried sand, which is fine and bone dry. Provided the rain can't blow in your loft it it ok. I scrape the perches off daily and riddle the sand weekly with a very fine riddle. Because the sand is so fine the pigeons dont eat it as grit and the loft is always fresh and clean. The sand actually traps the dust and feathers. I have the sand about 1 inch deep and change the whole lot every 6 months.

How has anyone found dealing with the ETS companies? I'm trying to get lottery funding for our club to purchase 20 complete systems. Must be a few grand? I've rung the various ETS companies and the response has been dismal to say the least! Two have never rung back and only one has sent any stuff through the post and I'm still waiting for any kind of response from the other.

Hi Debbie, you're right about it being an ordeal for pigeons being " hawked" they never forget. I'm sure that more pigeons are lost to wires and bad weather. But that doesn't frighten the wits out of them. I've lost 6 young birds on the wires round home this year, and 1 to a sparrowhawk, but the others took weeks to get over the hawk attack. They never even look back when the wires cut one out of the flock.

As far as I can see there will never be a legal solution available to fanciers. The only possible saviours are natural ones. Enviromental ones are out, global warming won't effect peregrines as they live everywhere from the Med to the Arctic. One other possible candidate is the eagle owl, which eats peregrines for breakfast! It is all ready breeding here and could spread. Finally how ironic would it be if HN51 turned out to be our saviour?? Peregrines and sparrowhawks are at the top of the food chain and as such would be the first to eat infected birds and die.

I can't see the problem going away, the protection on all birds is here to stay. Back in the 60's and 70's peregrines and other birds were almost extinct due to pesticide poisoning (DDT etc ) These pesticides are now banned and their numbers have inceased. Even if for some reason the protection on birds of prey was "down graded" to the same status as say pheasants and crows etc. You still wouldn't be able to tramp all over the countryside with a gun, just as you can't now. So who would shoot the peregrines? A few gamekeepers would get rid of some on country estates, but what about all the ones in the City centres? There is a pair of peregrines on our local church steeple, I don't think the vicar would let me shoot them! Sorry to be ngative, but the problem is here to stay.

Hi, I started up last year and had a similar problem, I wanted to race my young birds but they would be my only old birds for next year. I had to stop them before 100 miles or I'd have had none left. This year, I trained them well in the warm April sun but didn't send them until the comeback races in June/July. I only lost one bird in 4 races of 130 miles, and will now have some nice 2 yr olds next season. You have to take it slow when starting, this year I can push my young birds a bit harder and further because I don't need as many old birds. Hope that helps a bit?

Just a word on pedigrees, English fanciers can race for years with great success yet they will almost never have a strain of pigeon named after them. Yet Belgian fanciers can buy pigeons from anywhere and they will then take their name! Don't seem right, but that's the way it is.

Hi jason, I'm no expert, but I do know there are loads of reasons for watery droppings. As well as illness, it could be lack of food/hard exercise. A common cause is coccidiosis which is easy to treat, but before treating, have their droppings checked. Brown droppings can be caused by crushed red brick grit, my young birds love this and have red droppings if I let them have too much. One thing to remember, is to keep the loft clean and dry if they do have cocci theres no point treating them without good loft hygene or they'll just pick it up again.