jimmy white

yes put them on the landing board , and at feeding time just nudge them in through the bobs, theyll soon get the hang of it, :)

i misread your post as well dries, but would say i cubic foot is not enough for each bird, i would say at least a half cubic metre per bird,with plenty ventilation, you can count this out yourself, via, the size of your lofts

the idea of mike lycett is a good one, not only does it educate the y. birds well ,it avoids many injuries , i see batches training near me [a power station where all the pylon wires meet] you see the first ones in the batch fly over them ,then the last ones dont see the wires,then ,, wallop, and you see about 3 dropping, i also beleive thats why so many ybs come back with broken legs,etc,,and also for the hawk problem....if you have the time its worth it, i also wouldnt move them further, till they did half circle then away,each time, i used to start mine at 10 weeks, but were well basket trained before this, i trained from 5 to 50 miles on the line of flight, then train all ways,,,singled up nearer the national races,,, but allways kept a few back from racing or maybe give them the odd race at about 100 miles [as the yb racing can be so unpredictable]

agree with you bruno a BIG advert, explaining all the war pigeons all the charities etc and more??

:)you keep your chin up ,pal we are all praying for your recovery,and all thinking of you, so,GET WELL SOON jimmy

theres a post on ray, but hes not been too well ,so lets hope he recovers quick

hi sbelbin,i see its awkward for you, but you could use a time switch, as alan says you could set it to come on for say 11 am or therabouts, that would let you get the ybs out when you come home from work ,cleaned fed and watered then darkened again at about 7pm, remember the clocks will be changing shortly

be confident ,,there will be racing,, theres no bird flu here now, lets hope it stays that way,,no channel races will cause problems, but problems can be solved

just browzing through the posts, if we could get something organized, there are some geat offers [and probably would be more]....theres mike lycett, pair of ybs, webmaster,fifer ,silverdale lofts westbury lofts andy and myself all willing to give a trophy, what more do you want,,,some great offers there,and off course hyacinth willing to work out the coefficient system, if we want to get something up and running. for the young fanciers it might be ybs only as if its there first year , they may only be racing ybs,,,,,but surely we could come up with something???? :)

happy st patricks day ;D ;D sorry i havent a green cheq for you westy ;D ;D p.s but i did give you a green ring ;D ;D ;D

lets hope and pray he gets on his feet soon, we all miss him,, and danielle im sure craig will be proud of you

explained in a nutshell, see exactly what you mean by the photo,,great photo

very good glassfeather, makes a good change. their some beauties, i thought the second one had a kind of racers head,[b bar] but my goodness their full of life anyway,,,,very interesting,,,jimmy.

chisolm trail health products from america, not too dear really , sent in a few days, all completely natural, worth a try

;D ;D good on ya speck

yes i would agree , i would prefer a small to medium sized bird, they seem to be easier to condition,,,,but as it is with pigeons theres allways exeption to he rule

up to 6 tosses anymore than that and they wont fly at home i might toss them if theve missed races, but wouldnt worry if i didnt,,,as long as their flying well at home with plenty of vigour.

yes craig were all thinking of you,,,,get well soon

;D ;D ;D sorry ray ;D ;D ;D ill rephrase that,,",doesnt sting you" ;D ;D but the nettles" doe sting ya" ;D ;D ;D

i used to flag them at beginning of the season, with doors closed,at first 20 mins then 30 mins then 40 mins.. when i put the flag down [there was a pinch of conditioner in each box] i immediately opened the doors,[ they were 2 x 4ft broad doors,the height of the loft,which left an opening of 6ft by 8 ft] all the birds flew straight to their boxes, after a few weeks like that they learned that ,,, doors closed fly,, doors open land,, no need for flag after that, incedently i never let them out the doors always the 2 sputnicks

old girl freind of mine , cornwall made nettle tea for hers, and she did well, i think she took the top 6 ins off the nettle, and made it as tea, she was a great one for herbs, etc, but could fly a pigeon, but the johnsons pigeon tonic, disnae sting ye ;D ;D ;D;

they work ok ,,my brother in law bought one for his garden, to keep the cats out, but the kids had about a dozen guinnie pigs kept in a wendy hut, i was there when he switched it on,, well , all i can say is ive never seen guinie pigs run as fast , right into the wendy hut. i dont know what kind it was, but it had differant settings, starting at mice, rats, then bigger animals,,,,,i had it set for deer[,didnt realize] :P

widowhood cocks 1 hour in the morning,and one hour in the evening if they dont fly three quarters of an hour each time id make them,but they must get perfect peace during the day [other wise they will not fly] youll know when their in form , when they fly more than this,, on their own

johnsons pigeon tonic, full of iron,if you must give them it?? in my opinion ,do not go for the old idea of putting a rusty nail in the water, it can only be full of bacteria and in fact poison the birds.

i used to put ybs on darkness, as soon as theire weaned, they wre darkened at 5 pm and lightened at 9 am i used to keep them on this , till the longest day, make sure the loft is well ventilated, and not overcrowded,,, hope this helps.