jimmy white

morning all, best of luck coming season,,,trying to contact old friends, especially tam mcleod , Alistair mcuddin, and marshal findlay

a wee bitty late,, but happy birthday strapper

there was actually a misprint in the news,,",it was on a special mission of spying", it should have read,,,it was on a special mission of FLYing

" the pigeon was medically examined and kept in an air conditioned room" in a pigeon chest

couldnt resist geo,, ,,,,,best of luck with your loft

latest news is,, it was trying to do a runner,, but it was" pigeon toed" och yours was better than mine spin

well done geo,, i remember when they were demolishing the margaret rose hospital, the wood that was going abegging was unbelievable ,, you could have built a loft any size , for a packet of fags [if the security guy smoked]

maybe worth a try at some building site,, sometimes they use these 8 by 4 ply boards, to fence the site off,, when the building is finished, they often discard them,, worth a try

a friend of mine had a gold award winning hen, live until 22 years old,,the same friend put "sir colin" down,,, [at my request],,, at 17 years old]

in my opinion, the quicker you break them , the easier in the long run , i have did this b4 in a week or so, with a cage or aviary where they can see out, making sure they are confident in their new surroundings, i would leave the old shed in case i would need to uplift them first time out,, then knock it down, i did this b4 myself , a bird flying dorchester for the previous owner, then 21 days later, the bird scored in the snfc sartilly for me, to my loft, i also shifted its box,its mate ,and its nest pan, along with its nesting material,, with the hen ready to lay,, put it in the exact place in my loft,[bottom left],, with a board in front of the box, after the hen laid , i moved the board further and further away from the nest box, both sat on these eggs, when the board was removed completely, the cock was able to see its new surroundings from the sputnick, i then let the bird out when the rest were taking a bath, the cock took a bath, sat for a while , then returned to the old loft, i brought the bird back the first time, i let the bird out the next day, the previous owner chased it, it was out overnight, then returned, this was all done within 8 days, it flew back and forth from the old loft [about 6 miles away] to mine twice every day , three days b4 basketting for sartilly [505 miles] i put a big y,b under it,took the hen away [this was its first yb of the season] alistair mcuddin released from his home at freuchie [30 miles north of me,,, the old owner , willie pentland [deceased] was south of me,,, the bird dropped to me, then went right on to its yb,, if i remember right, the bird was 102 open snfc sartilly

in the past i have had some excellent old birds from being latebreds, i have found that a few training tosses in the year of their birth, makes a big difference to them,,, as yearlings sent them only when the weather was suitable up to approx 200 mile+, , then as two year old, mature birds, found them very, very good , i find fanciers not having much time for latebreds, but in my experience , by going easy with them,and being patient, they can make excellent, fresh mature, winning pigeons,

hi dave, if your birds are ranging well, they will learn your area naturally, flying further and further afield, once you start training them, they will stop this!!, and once you start training them, they are better for being trained each day [weather permitting], so the more they range b4 training the better, so personally i wouldnt be in to much of a hurry, i would be more concerned in making sure they are very well basket trained i,e. eating and drinking from the basket, and having no fear of the basket b4 tossing them, three weeks b4 the first yb race in my opinion is plenty time, if your yb,s have been ranging well untill then , they will easily go 5,,,10 ,,15 miles within a few days [each stage twice], they should then do 30 miles tosses regular, good luck

after keeping your fancy pigeons for this length of time, should put you in good stead to start the racing pigeons, first obvious things you would need after joining a club, are, apart from a clock and basket ,your loft possibly changed to suit racing pigeons ,,,, my advice would be to befriend a good local fancier, along with your club members, but a good genuine experienced fancier could act as a good mentor, also a good friend ,also, much info can be gotten from this forum regards anything to do with racing pigeons, best of luck to you, you have made the best first move,, simply by asking,, good luck

my thoughts are that this would be the best time to break this hen,,,,,,providing this hen has flown out b4 from a previous loft,,,, and not from a stud,, pigeons from a stud have never really see the light of day, and most are very difficult to break, as this hens already reared in your loft, and hopefully been able to see outside your loft, [and hopefully not from a stud ,i,e the birds flown out b4,,, with a little caution a little luck, hopefully the bird would return, thus resolve your anticipated problem, if not,i would think the cock bird would bring up this y,b , but would put a strain on both cock and yb,, good luck