kinda hard to vote pete, ,, flying an hour am and pm, on the face of it seems ok,, ,, but theres weather to think about , probably wouldnt want them to do an hour in pouring rain,lol i think if your birds are flying 20 mins am,, 40 mins pm,, then doing their up and down antics, should be fine,, sometimes i think its not the time they fly its the way they fly, would rather see them doing 20 mins with gusto, zip lol, than an hour trailing low above the chimneys so would answer in my opinion only [1] not neccessary [2]seems fine to me,, out an hour am then an hour pm,, flying 20 and then 40 mins, the racing should keep them race fit [3] dont "flog" them, youll need them for the races lol,, :D only taking micky there pete, but know what your saying,,,flag them lol,, i wouldnt flag them more, the flag can come in handy in certain instances, but would prefer to see them flying with gusto,,on their own,,, but as with pigeons, no define answer, but good luck anyway lol