jimmy white

a few years ago, i handed into the shu about 300 pigeon rings ,[including the letters], given to me by gamekeepers all over the n. of england and the s of scot ,,,,,,,,,these were rings that were found on the ground under the perigrines nests , after the rspb had cleared their nests of rings?? not one of the rspb found rings were reported or given back to the owners of the rings [who paid for them] kinda like stealing really???

very good posts above i have found in the past , without proper excercise they wont have proper rest,,,,,,,,and without proper rest , they wont have proper excercise anything that knocks these two things in the head, i,e showing the hens to often , training on the rd to much etc etc , they dont seem to hold form for long , when their really bang on , they should hold there form for about 10 weeks

hours on the wing more important than the distance,, but ideally, a good testing 8 hour fly 3 weeks b4 race sould really suffice , maybe with a few tosses nearer the time , all depending on the bird itself, all are individuals , but i would be quite happy to send an experienced bird about 3 or 4 races then into a 550 mile race [all would depend on circumstances at the time ]

maybe theres allways exception to the rule , but by giving a distance bird every race this would just make the bird" home " and not really race to win

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D cracker,,fifer ;D

yes, this is the same today ;D i remember running to time in , when my dad couldnt afford a clock ;D [ 4 mins per mile ;D] i also remember my dad setting the bike up [balanced on 2 bricks, ready to jump on ;D in the middle of the front garden ;D [2 mins per mile ;D] when the bird came, off with the rubber , rubber put in his gums [had no teeth ;D] tore out of the front gate, fell off the bike turning the corner to quick ;D rubber fell out his gums ;D fell down the drain ;D next thing ,he was clearing the drain lid ,with a pen knife [a wee tartan one ;D] bike lying in the middle of the road ;D retreived the rubber from the drain [stinking ;D] put it back in his gums, and carried on cycling at great speed ;D ran round to the fancier we were timing in with and scared the fanciers first bird on his loft ;D,,,,,,,,,,,true ;D [think the both of us were at the bottom of the result anyway ;D] great days,,,fun ;D

i like to feed them well. wee gaz,, they fly better at home, and range better

great result , first fed would have been enough to merit good result,,,,,but first and second brilliant

hope these birds are there today, best of luck

when you put him in the shed, david , keep him in [and get a mate for him ;D] till he get used to it , if you get a hen, wait till hes mated b4 putting him outside [just to be safe] then try and home the hen when shes sitting hope all goes well

our" old ;D" forum freind " speckled" is recovering from a fairly serious operation on her foot , not feeling too well . so a big get well and back on forum

great stuff gangster and alf... sadly fewer fanciers are doing this lately

agreed glad to hear your a little better ,, get well regards

thats a cracker wee gaz ,,,,hope pj wins for you some great pics on your thread , not bad for a ten year old ,,keep the good posts up wee gaz

thats a lot of pigeons to eat [and a lot to terrify as well]

probably a nice pencil blue , you know, the ones with the pink mascara probably because i have had some decent ones through the years, but any colour looks good when the bird is right,,,,,, must admit ,some cracking pics above,, all the birds

a lot in this [as they dont know their going 5,,600 miles ]i found when they find the taste of peanuts , they love them,, stop them 6 weeks b4 long race , and as you say when they are right they wont eat much , but will eat the peanuts after being denied them ,,,just 3 or 4 at a time regular, after a few maples and maize [if theyll eat this ] they will, if fed this way ,, same for natural or w,hood [probably better for w hood as their first to become pernickety

no,,,,not at all ;D

it makes you wonder if we had a petition signed by every fancier in the uk , and, through pigeon basics , handed this personally in to 10 downing st ,,,,,,,,,,,it may not do much in the houses of parliament , but the news papers and tv would have a field day, with a few horror stories for the public , then , who knows ,,,,it could be a start

sorry to here this vincent , i know how you feel as this happened to me last week , since then another attack which i managed to wittness , and save the pigeon ;D [all its secondary flights missing the law is drasticly wrong ,,,,,,,,,,,kill a hawk , get jailed or hundreds of pounds fine................knock an old lady down and steal her handbag , youd get off with a lighter sentance ,,,,,,,,,THIS CANNOT BE RIGHT

very interesting bart,, only looked at birds poisoned at last check 2007 no sparrowhawks or perigrines , so no blame on fanciers for that, the other statistical lot from the rspb [my pal in first postings on hawks post on sticky,,,,,,,,racing pigeon page] my old freind duncan hiven ewing ready to give statistics to birds killed by hawks, these statistics are completely and utterly wrong and especially HE should realize that,, especialy the ??? p.c lost , the reason for the ??? p.c lost are a from the direct cause of the perigrine,,,,,,,,,,,i have wittnessed a batch of roughly one hundred pigeons being attacked by one perigrine ,,,,it killed one to eat , i would say the rest of the batch would have a hard job getting home , some were killed in hitting walls [yes walls, straight into them with blind panick] some diving for cover in the pine or fir trees , straight through the branches , some being killed , some being injured and ALL losing their senses by sheer panick . i have also seen this with my own birds about 40 y,bs lib at carter bar , breeder buyer one killed some couple of miles from me , got there , dead , half eaten , the rest hitting cars , lorries [thankfully not causing serious accident on roads] some flying through the dense trees ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,3 pigeons home that night, next day another 9 , some with broken legs , some with secondries missing ,flights broken etc. so when is this Duncan" hiven"Orr going to realize that the percentage he puts down as mere" lost "are in fact lost due to the hawks terrifying them ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,as he works with percentages ,,,, i wonder what his answer would be to, "of the percentage of lost pigeons, , what percentage is" lost" due directly to the perigrine[,terrifying them, causing death and disablement to the pigeon], which have been prooved to be multiplying [with the help of the rspb] speedier than ever ????????

pentlandup 8 30 otterburn n,e wind ,,, sun out at least

pentland fed up at otterburn 8, 30 n,e, wind

the lothians,,,,,,,,,sunny,,,,,,,brisk n,e wind

perches at the back,,,not to low , higher the better [birds usually go for the top perch first ] you would be better with a "drinker " ita a water dish with a top on that keeps the droppings from the water [still very cheap ] some one round about you would give you one most prob. feed on the floor of an evening when you call them in [theyll get used to this ] but just enough as to leave no food lying, after theve eaten [as this is a cause of desease ,dirty food , and would eventually cause mice probs , which again cause serious desease [remember its the grain that causes the mice, not the pigeons ] good luck ,,,looks like your goimg to be a busy man ;D