jimmy white

i think what hes meaning here mark is ,,, who owns the birds ,,,the management, is all important ,,, maybe a little course , nevertheless true

bang on,,,is the pedigree real,, is the management the best, blame the pigeon last , then look in the mirror and ask a few questions

i would put a lookout cage or crate where the birds could see all around,[throw a handfull of grain in this each day] pair them to your own hens let them out when settled to a box and driving,,, then , on no account ever let them in the old loft ,, they will return where they last saw grub,,,and there mates good luck

explained in a nut shell , but maybe a word worth mentioning , if you forget to ring a bird , or a few days late, these youngsters grow at an alarming rate,, in trying to ring these , a little vaseline ,or even butter , may help to gently force the ring on , but great care must be taken at this stage as if done wrong can maim the pigeon for life

this can often happen , allthough its nice to see a perfect smooth egg , not all eggs pass through the egg laying factory of the pigeon perfectly, , anyone who gets calcium tabs for oesteoporrosis [spelt wrong ] these are pure calcium, [and about the size of a ten p peice with just a slight exageration , a little broken off these tabs , popped down their beaks , whilst mating, in my opinion , does no harm whatsoever,, and helps provide the calcium need for their laying many times seen a hen lay its egg , then the legs go from it, again this can be put right with a little calcium ,,,harkers produce these tablets called "elementals" these are just calcium tablets and yeast tablets , they work , but they cost calcium is very cheap indeed

yes, i would leave them and let nature take its own course

hi lee,,,,, in my opinion , to race these distance races , it takes time and patience, , but nothing is unrealistic with pigeons but to race in these races , first and foremost you need the distance blood , as you have mentioned, but , really they need to be set up for these type races starting as young birds ,as this training and racing, will provide the starting essentials, for later in life,,,, as yb,s sometimes trained and raced to 150 miles approx, then as yearlings , maybe 300+ miles , by this time you may have an idea whats suitable for the distance i,e birds that come good in hard races etc, but the pigeon is not really mature untill 2 year old , when , if good enough , can and will fly 500+ miles in top competition , this is what makes ,racing the distance so difficult , its three years before you can really try them , this takes us back to how many birds to keep, unfortunately many birds are lost i,e hawks ,injury ,or simply not up for the job, so in reality it takes well over 4 years to to form a team suitable for this distance, so the amount of birds to keep is a questionable one , but if you were a small team fancier i,e say 40 yb,s this would be [unfortunately] cut down drasticly when trained and raced, probably having half of these wintered [the way things are going nowadays ] leaving twenty yearlings , if these yearlings are managed correctly [and luck is on yourside] would could have say fifteen left , then these birds at two year old could be set up for the distance required of them, say over 500 miles , , but would have to say that these races are the most difficult races to compete in [but possible],,,,,,,,,to cut things down a little, to be able to race the distance , you must have mature ,at least two year old birds that have been well tutored since yb,s , there are many good videos , books etc, one old one is dr barkers book on the racing pigeon , that would help you understand more , but in reality, these are the hardest races to compete in , and to compete in these type races , you must have top class distance breeding and top class management , i certainly wish you well, but in this case , rome certainly wasnt built in a day ,, best of luck in your conquest

all birds, and boxes looking really great ,, they look a picture of health and contentment , best of luck

a very kind and genuine guy

noah,s voyage. pigeons, people, and participation. modern day pigeons ,modern day fanciers. the flying life saver ,the pigeon. all for the love of a pigeon,,,,,,,, [or in scotland ;D thats why i love you like i doo ;D

"doo" men is the scotish word for pigeon men [doo. meaning dove] ive been thinking for a name , some really good ones on,, need to get the old brainbox working ;D

i dont know you billy , but sincerely hope and pray , you make decent recovery, old yellows pm , had me nearly in tears , make a brilliant recovery mate, you shall be in my prayers,very easy for anyone to say,,but please soldier on ,looking for better times this new year ,god bless mate, and look forward to your posts in the future,,jw

my condolences, to family,,, rest in peace paul

good distance pigeons, usually have very strong consitutions, therefore very little need to treat [just good loft husbandry] sir, colin,, used to drink out old puddles etc,, he was never ill in his life

i have allways liked animals birds etc ,, and like nature a lot, at the moment i treat these as my freinds, as i live alone, my company is my few pigeons, pair of love birds 6 new coloured canaries and two ferrets , my parrot "max" died just a short time ago, a real character , having him for 30 years approx [he was reckoned to be over 60 years old] and flew free each summer with no probs [even in the bath with the pigeons ]

i think a lot depends how much ,,the" oversize" is ,, ive had hens lay very big eggs [same hens do this most times] have had no problem with them hatching,,,also hens that lay very small eggs , with no probs of hatching

great stuff , sapper,, i think we could all do our bit, to promote the pigeon fancy,, i beleive we should attract, rather than chase away

after doing this many years ago, i found it very easy to keep their attention for an hour or so [as they thought this was getting away from lessons ] first of all was showing them a lovely 4 week old pure white baby, letting each one touch or stroke it, some did, but some didnt, but the ones that didnt , soon picked up courage , and allthough somewhat hesitant,did stroke it. after this , i showed them two eggs , told them that this white baby was just an egg 4 weeks ago, and that daddy and mummy pigeon , mated like all birds do , to have babies, after daddy and mummy were mated together , they became like man and wife and layed these eggs [only two , about 10 days after they were married in the birdie world , then after 18 days , the eggs hatched , that was 4 weeks ago , then these babies grow so fast, that the one i have here , was an egg 4 weeks ago,, then told them , they now learn to fly , just the same as a baby learns to walk, but when they learn to fly they become homing pigeons , and fly back to their own house , we call it their pigeon loft, when they are older . they can fly hundreds of miles just to come back to you, if you were the owner and had a pigeon loft, i then had a basket of birds with some rubber rings , got all the kids to sign their name on a peice of paper, that was put on the birds legs , then took the kids outside to see the birds being released, i told them their loft was a few miles away and they will go home , then dualy showed them their notes the next day 5 mins b4 the bell, they were all amazed at this , having their bits of paper back, during all this time i exlained to them the first pigeon fancier, noah, then told the biblical story on noah,and the great flood and that , that was thousands of years ago , then went on to the wars and about the pigeons that saved many lives ,as breif and interesting as poss, the story of winkie the scottish ,war pigeon, that many of us might not be hear to-day if it werent for these brave birds , then went on to how we can race these now ,by taking them hundreds of miles away with every other pigeon fanciers pigeons , then the pigeon that was looked after the best and trained the best would win and the owner would receive a trophie , with his name printed on it [showing them a trophy] this is all very breif, as questions were asked by them all [sometimes difficult to answer], these kids were primary school kids , eleven year old , they were absolutely fascinated , the teacher in fact took a list of the war pigeons , that were to be told to them at a later time , there was absolutely no boredom whatsoever,, [i was just glad the teacher was there to keep order ] but can assure you, a fantastic time was had by all,,,,even the teachers one thing i can say,, allthough i planned all this out, on paper etc i found i had to be a good ad-liber as the questions were mind boggling at times

welcome to pb,,look forward to your posts

a very happy , healthy,and enjoyable new year to all

i go straight to the bovril,,, ,, no hesitation ;D ;D ;D an orange drink with the old mum , same as the last six years now and that, folks will find hard to beleive , but true ,,,,, all the very best to all , a happy, healthy, and successfull , brand new year ,,,,CHEERS ;D

would agree with red cheqhen,, paratyphoid [on health thread, may help ],, swab and droppings test from a good avian vet, would prob ease your mind

just put another jersey on,, looking at the pic ;D [its the same here]

made one of my bloomers there ;D it is £202 ,,last time it was £320,,,, sorry ,,,,,tank holds 1000+ litres

i can beleive this,, but do notice the birds want more in especialy cold conditions [as is now brrr ] i must be a little soft , give them a little extra maize , but my few , fly out each day ,,well ,,,more the case of water , changed twice am ,,and pm,,, i beleive this cold frosthard period is could for eliminating nasties [nice when you can just pick the droppings up by hand ;D]