Blue Chequer Pied

I raced natural for years due to strange work patterns. I can honestly say that I have never had to kill a youngster to achieve any success. I think if the youngsters get to that size it can be to your advantage in longer races if you feed them yourself that takes pressure off the parents and they take more food on board to feed youngsters who dont call (squeak) for it and it gives them added nuitrition. Just my opinion but i think the killing of youngbirds in the nest other than for health or development reasons is wrong and i think that to tell a 15 year old they have to do this to race natural is very wrong. It is not the end of the world to miss a race after all is it. Racing natural and not killing youngbirds in the nest won me the Fed averages so cant be that wrong. Paul.

Well done Ally, great job mate. You have done Phoebe, the family and the pigeon fancy as a whole proud. Paul.

Ian, Graet result, I am absolutely delighted for you and the fancy as a whole. These are the occasions that make me proud to be a pigeon-man. Well done to everyone. Ian keep up the good work. Regards, Paul.

Forres 120 mile up the A9 close enough?

Well done Kevin good on you. All the best, Paul.

Stuart I might just have to tell the wife she is going to see her sister in Glasgow that weekend, if she is lucky she might get some shopping time as well. Hopefully see you there looks good to me. Paul.

Come on lads & lasses only ywo more to go. Think of the positive publicity this will generate for our sport. It is being taken to the target market i.e the youngsters that could be the fanciers of tomorrow. Remember when we were young we didnt wake up one day and think ' I want to race pigeons' for most it happened after we had exposure to the sport through family, friends or neighbours. Most of these kids probably never knew racing pigeons existed until ian went to the school. Paul.

Captain Birdseye but he was a miserable sod! ;D

Alan the landing board looks a bit small for the amount of early ones you will have steamin in. Paul. p.s i hope you have a thoroughly miserable day tomorrow. Follow Follow.

I used to do it all the time when I lived in Aberdeen. I would train north, south and west ( couldn't train east as it was the north sea and i didnt have a boat ) I think it did the birds good taught them to think. I will add though i only did this once i felt they had a good line coming from the right direction so to speak. I took them wherever i was working it did them no harm. Paul.

Come on guys 7 people to put up a tenner for this great idea. New fanciers are the life-blood of our sport. who will we be racing against in 20-30 years with a bit of luck what Ian has done and is doing will sew the seed with some of these kids and they may be the fanciers of the future. We are all in agreement that the sport is in decline so here is our chance to do something about it. Paul.

Stevie did you not apply for the janitors job at the girls school? ;D ;D ;D ;D

Ian surely all the Celtic guys on here will give you a tenner for the St Peter's school

Congratulations that is a top present. Paul.

Took my wife out for a meal last night as we have family up from Glasgow tonight. Spent just as much on card and presents for my daughter as I did for my wife but worth it to see her smile. Paul.

Stevie did you get dressed in the dark that day ? ;D ;D

Hi Ian, Put me down for a tenner as well. Regards, Paul.

Well done Ian Mckay for the work you did in the schools in Aberdeen recently. Your good lady sent out an e-mail ( well done Marlene you managed perfectly despite your reservations ) telling us you would be in the Press & Journal. I get the Inverness edition and it was in there as well as the Aberdeen version. Well done even if one of those kids takes an interest in pigeon racing it will be a great achievement on your behalf. Keep up the good work. Paul.

I totally agree John. As I said before the North of Scotland Fed is a great example to many and does a tremendous job against a very difficult logistic situation every week. As you say 150 mile trip to collect all the clubs before even leaving to go to the race point. The Fed has been in good hands for many many years with first class people at the helm long may it continue. Paul Thomson.

Well done enjoy the greatest experience in the world. Paul.

I see nothing but trouble with this one (dizzy)(dizzy)

Superb. He is too busy watching his back ;D ;D ;D

:( :( :( :( :(

Asha you will do yourself an injury man. Can't make my mind up about you wether what you are saying is from the heart or you are just out to be contraversial and annoy people. How about being positive and contributing with some good info I am sure it is in there somewhere. Paul.

Asha, I am not peddling anything onto anybody. I think you have been to personal in your attack on Strapper ( who incidently I do not know, have never met and have never spoken to). My opinion is that it was a genuine offer made in good faith. Times have moved on as you know. not everyone who starts keeping pigeons has an experienced fancier in their street or even their town who they can go to in order to get pigeons to get started. The internet is now many people's first port of call for anything they are interested in. Which brings us to sites like Pigeonbasics. I am pretty sure that a new starter would be over the moon with getting some pigeons and only spending £30 for the carriage. Answer me this how many times have you read squills and some national winner goes back to how they started as a boy? Birds from here there and everywhere, maybe the odd stray chucked in for good measure. then when the bug finally bites and they have learned how to feed and care for them off they go and purchase some better quality birds ( or their parents do once they realise it is not a fad or craze that wont last.) Strapper please dont get me wrong I am saying nothing about the quality of the birds as I know nothing about them I am only following asha's arguement. In short it is nice to be nice and rather than knock good guestur'es we should encourage and applaud them. Paul.