tomm1e

Can anyone on pigeon basics tell me which courier Elimar Pigeon Services use?

try "pj lofts" of Paul and Jayne Newbold 01754 820027; they have Kirkpatricks based on A R Hill and Carmichael.

try meditechuk. they advertise ivermectine as One Spot. £8.50 enough to treat 50 birds, so they say. They have it for sale on line and they also advertise in Homing World.

bad news. one of the missing seven reported by a non-fancier in thirsk. sadly the bird has died. tom

good news! One of the missing seven has returned. Please keep an eye open for the missing six. tom

This is an open forum which is all about contributors stating their different views. So long as the posts are about facts and opinions about facts and do not slide into personal abuse there is no problem. Some contributors on this thread believe in a rolling programme of treatments; some think it is better only to treat when a pigeon is sick. I think we would be better spending our money on regular testing and treating when something shows up.

Thank you. I hope they are still in the area and get reported. They seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth. I really would like them back.

Can I ask Pigeon Basics users to keep a look out for some lost white pigeons. A group of seven disappeared last week from a 20 mile training toss. All NEHU 08 CR rung. These are not valuable birds but we were getting to like each other and I hate losing pigeons. thanks tom

salmonella can affect pigeons in different ways. It can invade the intestines, the joints, organs in general, and the nervous system. It is the symptoms we can see when it has invaded a pigeons joints - causing inflamation lameness and drooping wings - which we describe as paratyphoid. When these are the symtoms the disease is easy to identify. But if the disease takes any or all of the other possible courses it can be confused with a host of other pigeon illnesses.

Be wary also of wild birds. A few years ago I had about thirty tumblers. I was also very keen on making sure wild birds had plenty to eat. I fed wild birds in feeders in the garden. My pigeons picked around under the feeders and came down with salmonella. I am pretty certain they picked it up from the wild birds in this way. It killed a third of them. I still feed the wild birds but the feeders are nowhere near my loft. I am now extra vigilant and always keep pigeons away from any contact of any kind with wild birds.

For those racing from Durham today. At the moment the weather near Bishop Auckland is not good. Overcast and misty. Not a glimmer of sky or sun. Lets hope it improves.

I'll post a weather forecast in the morning.

not too far away. if its a weather forecast you want. At the moment its very cloudy with occasional breaks and occasional sight of blue sky. no rain.

Something related to this topic. Louella's advert on back page of BHW. "Michael says .......All of of us are gradually adjusting to life without Amtrak and Louella is obviusly working closely with prospective new logistic companies to provide a sustained, viable and quality delivery service. However, I don't believe this will happen overnight. In the meantime we are encouraging fanciers to visit Louella and collect ............Our advice is jump in a car with a friend and share the travel costs......." Buyers in Aberdeen and Penzance take note.

Just spotted an advert in BHW for Bridlington 2008 "East Coast National Show" which has been organised for Nov. 22 and 23. Surprisingly Nov 22 is also the date for the North East Show of the year in South Shields Tyne and Wear. Am I missing something here. Have these two shows been scheduled for the same date deliberately. Perhaps it doesn't matter. Any views.

....the birds for some crazy reason had gone down the eastern side of the country...... That statement does two things: it shifts the blame onto the pigeons; and it implies that the disaster that the race was is incomprehensible. The fact of the matter is the weather that day was unsuitable for a pigeon race from Edinburgh to South Wales. The pigeons went down the east side of the country because the conditions were so bad EVERYWHERE they were probably totally confused and had no idea where they were going.

how many pigeons in how many sections?

in my experience pigeons always struggle to find their bearings when cloud cover is 100%. they need breaks and chunks of blue to get them on their way.

is there such a thing as a pure strain. all strains are blends of others. and even if you inbreed around a few champions for several generations eventually a cross will have to be introduced.

and like small children they will clear the plate if they are hungry enough.

try pigeonnetwork.com john logan - the full article comes up.

As a matter of interest does anyone yet know what alternative arrangements louella are making to transport pigeons? Has anybody bought pigeons, or is planning to buy pigeons, from them this week? For a company setting up an alternative service it would be useful to get a figures from amtrak about the volume of pigeons transported. Then it would be possible to see if an alternative is actually viable.

Just reading this and other threads some rules of thumb which might reduce yb losses are clear: 1. only train early evening. Reasons: fewer hawks hunting (hopefully); and if pigeons do make a mistake they won't have enough daylight to fly themselves into the ground and should work back next day. 2. release in small batches. Reasons: makes pigeons think about what they are doing; and if they are attacked or make a mistake it is one small batch not the entire yb team. 3. i read somewhere it is a good idea to place basket at lib site and leave it for 10 or 15 minutes before release. Its just possible pigeons start to get their bearings even in the basket. any more suggestions

That is something I have seen many times. My pet theory is that ybs have to be trained in a way that breaks the flock mentality and makes them think for themselves. In that group mentioned by rose it's not that the pigeons don't know how to find their way home the problem is that none of them are bothering to; they are all following each other. Perhaps releasing in smaller groups, 10 or maybe 5 is the answer. The smaller the group the more each pigeon is required to contribute. Just a thought.