jimmy white

good to see you back on the computer billy , seems youve had a real rough time of it, may you have a speedy recovery, and enjoy the forum,, best wishes

i would agree with this posting in fact, wouldnt hesitate to jump yearlings ,[ that had been well trained/raced as yb,s] to over 100 miles in the middle of may,, this is when yearlings come to themselves , not being ruined by training in march /april in bitter cold east winds [by this time they would be well hardened up by flying more than an hour, just ranging] when yearlings hammered in these early months are finished for the season , with the odd exeption

it was qouted by a well known ,now deceased, b,h,w, vetenary scribe ,, that a half to one cubic sq metre per pigeon,,depending on ventilation birds are happier, healthier, and in fact race better, when there is a fewer, selected pigeons in the loft, rather than overcrowding it with non-selected pigeons my opinion only

looking great ,, at least the b. pied has no lice under its wing ;D ;D ;D really class looking yb,s

just a few goes ;D 125 ;D ;D ;D, managed 9,334 secs ;D

very nice birds,, must say have heard little mentioning the "tusks" of late, but have found these birds with" tusks " especially the hens, turn out very good birds [maybe just a whim of mine but i have had some great pigeons with these" tusks",,, but all very nice birds

they look very good,, must be very easy to wash anyway or as you say, replace after use

allthough im not a great lover of barley,, but would use it as a weight controller,,, but would suggest if feeding a certain percentage of barley, would feed this percentage first b4 the other mix

with due respect les,, how could you manage this with all perigrines, the length and breadth of the whole country :-/

im honestly dont know if this would work, i could imagine it would work to some extent,, but , you would have to be their continually when the birds were out, and the chances of keeping these hawks away , i would think , would be slim , as these sparrow type hawks, work with stealth , and surprise, mostly direct on to the loft or ground surrounding the loft, but,,, once these sparrow hawks kill once , they will be back , so there can be deterrents after this happenning !!!! the main problem is the perigrines , which unfortunately [at the moment] we can do nothing about , when a pigeon is homing from 20 miles or 600 miles ,it is during these flights that most perigrine attacks occur , when the pigeons are out our view,, a pigeon flying 600 miles is like a pigeon flying the gauntlet, nowadays. its not even the bird the perigrine kills ,its the damage to the rest of the batch,which, will lose all faculties, and smash into most anything ,through pure terror , this is the big problem nowadays ,,,,, made worse, by the rspb placing nest boxes in towns, cities etc and infact releasing perigrines in some areas to multiply, this cannot be natural,,

hope things go well,, get well soon

;D ;D ;D ;D its really his younger sister ;D ;D ;D,, bet that loft would be as good as any the poshy,s nowadays

very very sad,,indeed

please see notice board "sticky" for phone nos,, to contact

list of couriers on" sticky" any courier wishing to add their name ,please apply to webmaster, members please contact couriers by phone for any info

ive seen the carrion crows, catch and kill yb,s in mid-air, but found the magpies to be the worst at entering the loft and taking eggs [even the dummy ones ;D]

the rule in scotland is , old ,birds cannot be entered into any ob race with a marker ring on,, young birds can,, [a taped up ring would be deemed as a marker ring], so the bird [if in scotland and under shu rules] can only be sent as a yb , with the current years ring, being counted

this would seem the fairest in my opinion,,but i think judges outwith the forum, should have the ultimate say,, as a pigeon being say 6th out of 500 birds , be it club fed combine national,, then another being say 6th,, from the same amount of birds [highly unlikely would in fact be a draw,, so creditable judge or judges should be selected and agreed by the forum, that would be able to determine the outright winner by taking into consideration, various facts ,i,e distance ,weather , time on wing , high vel,,,, low vel, etc etc. but could be poss if ironed out

i bought 4 of these white pigeons from pecked hen, as a present to a young beginner even allthough they were bred very late for racing, this young chap in fact manage to race them, and as far as im aware, one of these birds was his second bird home in his 5th yb race his first bird scoring well and this bird comming 2 mins after pic taken when 25 days old

on having a small stock loft,, with birds kept in,, these stockbirds really only move from perch [or box] to floor then back up again,, cutting a round ply wood circles , smaller than the base of the drinkers /feeders/grit /minerals ,,, placing this on stands about 4 ft high,, keeps the stock birds excercising their wings , when flying up to feed and drink each day,,, they can only grip the edge of the feeder/drinker , and will flap their wings more often every day this def. keeps the birds healthier and will stop them getting over fat and stodgy

, i think it would be safe to say, that most fanciers have had sparrow hawk attacks , i have tried two methods. i,e letting them out for an hour or so,each day in the winter,,, and keeping them in all winter, , i have personally found , that when pigeons have been kept in for months , they are more vulnerable to hawks , when eventually let out ,,, have found ive lost more to the sparrow hawks, this way, pigeons that have been out regular , seem to become sharper, keep healthier, also build up a good immune system[and allthough mr sparrow hawk will still get the odd one ],,,,, in my opinion these pigeons become more" street wise" and soon know very quickly if theres any sparrow hawks in the vicinity , by thir own sharpness ,and warning calls of other birds etc,, maybe some thoughts on this!!

its been bitterly cold here , last few days just as i thought we had seen the last of the snow,,,,,,,,,,its just come on now 6am lothians

this snow, has cerainly not stopped the farmers around here, ive noticed in the last week, their ploughing the fields ,,,in the dark,, with lights on, in their tractors ;D "time waits for no man" [certainly not a" snow man" ;D]

i should pm,, webmaster, hopefully he could help

wtll done indeed paul , it shows the great side of many fanciers , wish you luck in starting