Leroy

So very sad. RIP Lee

Don't be so negative. Whatever attracts new starters into the game should be encouraged. I have a loft full of chocolates and chocolate pieds. I've won nothing...but then I'm not in this for the winning!

Just do a search on YouTube, I was watching a load of them last night, including one guy who was experimenting with a mobile dookit. Lee

Hi Archie, yeah you need to brush it in, which makes it last longer too. I use it in the corners of nest boxes too. Has a nice menthol smell, although that doesn't last for long once you've applied it.

My loft is slightly below ground level and I've always had problem with damp at certain times of the year. Last year I bought respiro-san dry at Blackpool. It dries everything right up. It's not cheap, a £20 tub lasts me one year but I have a tiny race loft. I have another small loft with deep litter and when I remove large amounts of droppings I scatter the same stuff around to keep it dry. Lee

For years I have used a loft with front sliding wire doors which are open all day every day unless the rain is torrential and directed through the doors. I always thought this was sufficient until I added a small aviary on one end of the loft. The birds spend hours actually sat outside in the small aviary rather than in the well ventilated loft. I let the birds tell me what they need, and mine certainly have. I also dont think 4 feet wide is too narrow. Sure I think it will be less convenient and practical, but the birds will be tamer because theyve nowhere to go. Lee

I've sold a few birds to them over the last year or two. They are ok to deal with. If you've got a mobile number for them just keep ringing them and asking, I'm sure they'll come good. They've maybe misplaced your details. Lee

Well done fellas

Old post about it here http://forum.pigeonbasics.com/topic/18413-milers/

I've always liked the birds I've had from Louella, and if you're after 30 I'm sure they'll do you a better price than the advertised price. Just ask the girls in the office if you can speak to someone about a price for a job lot of young birds. Lee

Just paired mine up. How soon did you need them? Lee

"Unless something else makes them move" exactly my point. Say an old boy dies and his birds are sold off. Any birds that have failed to break to a new loft may return to the old loft. This is the homing ability that you are on about. If no one feeds it, it will move on. It's instinct to survive will overtake its homing ability. What's to say that a batch of young birds in an overcrowded loft, where they have to compete for room and food don't just get the instinct to find somewhere better to live? Or is it just that young inexperienced batches get too excited flying and keep going, without the experience or ability to get back? I don't know the answer, I'm just thinking out loud. Are flyaways always young birds? Can it never happen to old birds? Or does it happen to most of us, one old bird at a time, and we put it down to hawks, bad weather etc. When people get old birds back that have been lost for a couple of years, could it be that bird had a flyaway all of its own, because it chose not to come back, until the conditions where it found itself were worse than the loft it left, I.e. the food ran out, severe winter etc? Lee

I don't follow you. That's like saying if their loft was on fire they'd still fly to their perch because homing ability takes over every other instinct. Even with a homing ability the birds can choose exactly where home is if they aren't happy.

Going off what has been said above, if we take it back to nature, look at how we treat our birds. Not all, but alot of fanciers, keep their birds hungry so they trap quickly and dont get fat, only keep as many birds as you have perches or nestboxes, meaning the birds dont have a variety of locations to choose from or even have to fight for a perch or nestbox. We interfere with them on a daily basis, handling them, moving amongst them, basketing them etc. In the wild, a colony of birds that are hungry, overcrowded and frequently disturbed will just move on. I know our birds aren't wild, and they are used to us being about, handling them etc but it makes you think. Not everyone has the time to spend with their birds and not everyone keeps them hungry. but maybe when you have the right combination of all the above, the birds just do what comes naturally and head off. jmo Lee

iPad 99% of the time. PC at work the rest. Lee

The Maldives for me mate. Sun, sand and sea. Ahhhhhhhh!

Silvers were a good example. I've bought all sorts off them, it's just the silver is the best racer I've bred from Louella birds.

I disagree, I bought some silvers that were very closely related and took one young bird off them last year. It flew all the races that mine did and was the first bird back in training and one race.

I like them, always had a great service, if you buy from the web you can see exactly what you're getting. I've bought young bird kits, odd old birds, some certificate of origin, some with good pedigrees. I've generally done ok with them. I'm fairly new to all this and the Louella birds have done no worse than my others. I still have a 3yr old van den bossche cock that has flown from France. Lee

Thanks for the kind words guys. I kept fancies before racers so I've always had a soft spot for the fancies that can free fly. Nice pouters Ovy. I like my fancies clean legged, but I can see the appeal of pouters. I've seen videos on YouTube of Doo men competing against each other, it's fascinating. Lee

these are some of my examples of the above named two breeds. They are Chinese Nasal Tufted Tumblers and Starlings. Both breeds fly out for me.

I'll try and upload some photos of mine later

I keep Chinese nasal tufted tumblers and Starlings. I fly both breeds out. Both breeds bred down from show birds, the Starlings in this country, the Tumblers in Germany. It's great to see other breeds flying instead of the racers! Lee

"Cant really afford to lose any more" sums it up perfectly to me mate. Keep them for next year. all the best Lee

Great offer for the site Jimmy. Always quality birds, winner won't be disappointed. All the best. Lee