Michael J Burden

Asking questions is a skill. If you get it wrong you don't always get the answer you sort in the first place.

I read it and read other stuff too. One team watched the ferals getting caught by the perry, the ones which had no white rumps were taken, ones with white were not. After a while they caught the birds and oainted the white rumps out and the none white rumps had rumps added. The hawks now took the the which had been white rumped but now no white?

Lovely I love pigeons which are colorful even more so Opals.

GOOGLE EARTH I have just read in the BHW about a fanciers experience with his Long & Lat and what happens when they put their co-ordinates in the google system. If you are not familiar with what happens you may be surprised to hear that the loft is no where near where you LONG & LAT put you. Yet the results can sometimes be down to a 3rd decimal! Surely in this day and age of technology the correct way of measuring the position of your loft can be done, quickly and at very little expense.

Tried Louella? They have this colour in the Busschaert strain cocks and hens. You could buy a pair and sell a pair of ybs off them on here and get your money back and get some well bred whites with a good pedigree that may produce that good white one. Back in 1970 my dad had a pure white one which was raced over the channel and won and won many times. Different era. A bird is either good or bad and making a judgement on one in a loft against 20 others of blue etc is not a fair comparison. Some one has put up a picture of their Rolland Janssens this weeks who has bred winners this year, not sure if this site or pigeon chat but they were nearly all white. clcik this link to see Louellas sale list http://www.louella.co.uk/salelist.php?view=1

Any pics of his birds?

Simply this, hens are moreso because they only need one gene in their make up and you see a silver/dilute of the colour. The cocks can carry this gene too, but generally only have one gene, thus the birds looks like the full colour and not dilute. Can breed dilutes but are hens unless the hen is silver too. If the cock gets 2 genes fro dilute then it is also dilute. All breeding is youngsters are hens, silver, cocks carry the gene and produce silver hens. The gene is rarish in most lofts so getting it to double up within a cock takes a bit of luck, time and sometimes a canny purchase.

This is the cock. I have been told he is a recessive opal. Both his parents were of the same colour.

Thank you for all the repiles. I can see now that there are still plenty around even if they are less popular, maybe due to the Vandenabelee virus! I have just got a beautiful opal cock from Louella of Jim Smiths lines. A very nice handling bird. I think it will be crossed with Brian Denney birds. Just for the opal colour. I bet Brian would be pleased, not. :-/ Anyway I like the bird and its colour and hope to get some pretty colours to fly long distances.

Well it is going to be freezing this week so they will be ok ;D You need some good rat poison, they may not eat your bread because it is new to them. They are very brainy little things and are fussy. Rat poison is good because it is grain which they are used to. It worked on mine, who found a way out of the sewage system.

Anyone have / had these? What were they like as racers, did they compete at the distance and what levels did they succeede for you.? Wildesmeersch?

T3 or ETS

I agree with a lot already stated on here. Although some fanciers could not fly a kite, yet buy some very good pigeons every year. These can quickly loose flavour of the month and are up for sale very quickly. Some cannot help themselves and buy and buy and buy and then have far too many stock birds so these come up for sale. Some are just crap flyers and even worse at management and do not breed many off those pairs and in sometimes 1 or 2. They loose these and sell the parents believeing they are rubbish. In reality it is the fancier to blame on many occasions for poor results in racing or breeding. Breeding 2 ybs off a pair once a year generally proves very little. I can see what Budgie is saying too. "Proven stock pair, of such and such breed, bred winners" Like Budgie has stated if these were so good why sell them. Unless you have so many winners being bred by other pairs. I think he is trying to heighlight is the words used in the advertising hype, more so this hype than the birds?

They look like dominant opals.

I think those birds should all go in their own basket. I would be morethan happy if all mine wnet together if they fitted within the rules etc.

Asha thats why I am sticking my tongue out

It is as simple as this Asha. If there were three birds for sale and you wanted one for the stock loft:- A son of a Champion bird a grand son of the same champion bird or a great grand son of the same champion bird. Which one would you buy if they were all the same price? I know which one I probably go for as many others would do too. This is where the good apples come from. Don't tell me you would go for the great grand son because it skips generations

Now I saw things differently Peterpau. I looked and they are a long way from the apple tree in my view which is not so good. Want some distance birds? You have all the tools you require already at your finger tips. Internet and the RP and BHW. It does not take to much reasearching to find out good fanciers. Like has been said above "forget strain names" get some pairs say 2 pair. Get 6 ybs off each pair 8 if you can and test them as ybs upto the last race. The better ones if there are any, will still be with you next year. If I was in your position I would look at the grizzles on EPS, sorry if I have just swarn, but they look like the goods. By buying some from someone like this you can ring them up for advice too, tell them your plans. If they are decent fanciers you may find some ybs coming your way. Cultivate a freindship with these type of fanciers, phone them up. If you don't know what to ask, write some questions down before hand.

I have this week purchased a bird after looking at their website. An opal cock for very little money was paid. The pedigree was all there to see and it is a grand son of some very handy pigeons. I went over this morning to collect it as Louella are open from 10am to 1pm. I have not been there for about 19 years so I was wondering what it was like now. Well the rooms where they do business with the public was an eye opener. Absolutely full of birds in pens at reasonable prices. Not sure what they were etc as no pedigrees, apart from breed. All the same some fine examples of birds to buy if you so desired. What impressed me most was the number of fanciers there, in the few minutes I was there many birds were exchanged for money. Again at reasonable prices. Anyone been there recently and had anything of late, how did they measure up in the breeding department?

Simo you not just got some from Doncaster have you? They are Muleman sprinters but in the USA and Australia they are racing them a lot further than sprint racing. I know an old boy not too far from me that raced them down to the coast with great success, choclates and all.

Strapper I believe you. I hope you sell the bird for what you think it is worth. It is easy to make little mistakes on pedigrees. Don't mean you are a crook. I am trying some of these out next year from Axes birds. Mine will be free though.

I have to say that I have had one. A Wildy' cock of the opal colour. I think they all appear well bred and most seem to be reasonably priced.

I have to say that when I read the pedigree that it did not set me on fire. Grand parents described as being outstanding characteristics etc. Yet there has been 5 to 9 years to have ammended them to show what they had bred in the way of good birds. Something similar springs to mind with the parents. The same none descript phrases are used there too. It may be that followers of this breed understand the fancy names but that pedigree tells the buyer or owner very little.

These are cheap and are quality birds.

I am going to ring him and ask if he can take it to Doncaster on Saturday. The later nest had one in it too. That never went out so I got the one which had because next year she has got to be out flying. I hate prisoners.