jimmy white

true, the longer you cage them, the harder they are to break maybe a wee true story on how quick birds can settle if treated right, a friend of mine [now deceased] willie pentland, made a challenge for me, , he bred /raced a black cock for two years, in its second year the pigeon raced to him from 60 miles to the south coast 360 miles [dorchester to edinburgh] on the day this bird returned from dorchester, he friendly challenged me to break this bird and send it to the snfc sartilly 21 days later [this was 505 miles], i took up the challenge feeling this was impossible,, i noticed the pigeon had nested in the bottom left hand corner nest box in his loft, so i took the bird, its mate ,its nest pan , even the twigs and droppings,, took this to my loft about 5 miles north, put it in the same positioned box [bottom left hand box] along with everything from its old box [this was his first eggs of the season as he raced w/hood] i put a board in front of the nest box, he then sat on the eggs along with his hen, i shifted this board further away from the front of the box, then further again as he still sat, looking a little dubias at this time , i took some of his twigs out , laid them on the floor , he then carried them back in to his nest, the board was removed altogether while i kept him doing this , he then flew up to the sputnick, and looked around , the hen now sitting, amazingly when the hen came of the eggs , he took his turn, i then took the twigs back out and put them in the sputnick, the black cock , again took the twigs from the sputnick ,down to his [now new box], after three days i let the other birds out let them land, then filled the bath, opened the sputnick, all doors etc, he then after taking twigs in from the , now open sputnick, flew down , and took a bath, he lay in the sun, looking around, dried off ,,,,then went off , i told willie to chase the bird , not to let it in his loft, he did this all day , that evening ,near dark, the bird retuned , landed on the sputnick, then dropped in , and on his eggs, he was out each day after that flying back and forth ,but with willie never letting him in and chasing him. after a few days i had him carrying nesting material [emptying his nest regular] from further up the garden each time, he finished up with a nest almost touching the top of the box after having the bird 8 days, allister mcuddin came to visit me from freuchie about 35miles north of me, i asked him to take the bird and release it, which he did,, the bird homed to me, i took his hen away after having the bird 18 days and placed two big youngsters under him , i had, had the bird excactly 21 days when he was sent to the snfc sartilly, national,, he was timed in to be 101 open in the whole of scotland [with around 4-5000 birds away] he should have been 92nd as the shu had put my wrong distances in, i could have objected , but as the result was out it wasnt going to make much difference, so, after having a new pigeon for only 21 days , he flew the 505 miles from france , to in fact win me a 92cnd position in the whole of scotland :) very true

as said in previous posts a mixture of small seeds,, the linseed in it helps the feathering during the moult, the hemp, they love, but overdoing it will heat the blood up and induce the moult ,, its a tit-bit for them, which in moderation , will do them good ,, just as the saying goes,,, a little of what you fancy does you good

i have found that stock birds keep healthier, last longer if flying out, but if you need to keep them in , the worst thing usually is fat,, with no excercise they will get fat very easy, when breeding and moulting they will need proteins , but at any other times would feed avery light diet, with less proteins, a simple thing to stretch their wings, at least a little is to cut a round piece of ply, the same size as the base of your drinker, place on a pole in the ground of your aviary, as high as your aviary will allow, the then the drinker on this, the birds will have to fly up to the drinker, grip on to the side of the drinker, still flapping their wings while they drink, every time they drink they will at least stretch there wings each day, a few times , allways make sure they have fresh grit/minerals /pickstones, again place these , where they will have to stretch their wings to get at them, plenty baths will also help keep them in better condition as with some greens occasionally

dedication and fondness wee gaz 12 years old

;D ;D ;D

well done blaz,,nice pair of l/b,s looks great breeding ,, a great cause

{MOVED-MESSAGE-PLACEHOLDER}

i hope its not the small tin ;D if their droppings are ok ,, the birds should be ok,,

one finger too ;D ;D ;D

well done gordon,, good luck sapper,, hope the hen repays both of you, in breeding

breed from your own birds , try them out , you will be very surprised,,in my opinion its just getting the management/system right,, , in past years ive paid a fortune for birds, lol,, they were no better or worse than any other pigeon ,,on-form pigeons take a bit of beating lol p,s rung a yb in an old barn,, topped the fed 6,000 birds ;D true ;D,,,, now i cant manage the ladders lol

great stuff the only record i broke was ;D vera lyn singing the white cliffs of dover ;D ;D ;D

yes, certainly great flying,, well done, long may it continue

{MOVED-MESSAGE-PLACEHOLDER}

check" awards for all" on web,, most have had this" grant" a few years ago,,, but nowt to stop you trying,, wish you luck,,

fully agree but the mob fliers pay the small fliers pool money ;D ;D

{MOVED-MESSAGE-PLACEHOLDER}

i would tend to agree with this post , even shorter than 160 miles ,,as long as they have been well trained,, i have found that stopping cocks when they have, or are comming well, is the time to stop them,,[its hard to do this sometimes lol] not when they are worn out, and then have to have this second moult ,in my opinion , only drains them , far better stopping fresh good-comming cocks slightly earlier, then letting them have a good peacefull full moult , this makes for better , fresher old birds ,, only my opinion

well done bakes, bet they have learned a lot,, good luck

this can be a problem, but very rare, the birds usually sort themselves out in pecking order,, and nest where their happy, but sorry to hear of your mis-fortune

;) ;D

snap again [the lothians] ;D ;D ;D can you do mine when your finished lol ;D

well done bakes,,,,great pic

as bruce forsyth used to say,, what do points make,,,,,,,,,,prizes ;D well done jay,, and sorry for the lost birds, [they could still home and win a race,, strange things pigeons]

lovely birds red rocket,, maybe post more pics always nice to see