yes i did ,, i think it went as far as penrith 84 miles ,, last every week so stopped it ;D also rung one in a barn [off, what looked like lost racing pigeons ,settled there ] topped the fed with the young one , it actualy flew from france but never ever scored since that 1st fed 62 miles ;D true ;D
sorry to hear that one s,j irvine [know the feeling]
felt the same with sir colin [pased away 2 years ago] 1st region 2cnd national nantes 605 miles also 12 sect 25th open nantes nat. and another two top pos, sartilly 505 miles [he had his wing broken at 4 years old] finished racing at that, also felt the same when a meally hen was 12 sect nantes 605 miles, then burned in an accidental transporter fire
theres not much point putting them on darkness if their bred really early,,as its naturaly dark , but these early bred birds are usually not trained till about 7 months old .. so its really like training late late breds ,, so for yb s on darkness middle of feb is early enough [and put straight on darkness] given normal daylight on the longest day,, these birds should complete their second moult ok [and trained when 10, 12 weeks old, short distances ]b4 real training starts
i had a feral for 10 years,, reared many many winners [fostered] this bird had fallen out the nest under a bridge in belg ,, when at the leir market ,,,this bird never had a days illness and brought up perfect yb,s every time [and reared plenty ] i beleive if the ferals survive the yb stage [which many dont] they have far more imunity than our own" treated" birds.
well done stuart willcox and well done ferry ,,, great going both of you
good for willcox ,,good for ferry,,,, and good for pigeon basics so what more can we ask ,,,,,,,,