Novice

Did you lose it yesterday John?

That's good to know that they are in that area as I had been thinking of breaking with routine and training from there. They are a huge problem and they caused many problems on exercise in the New Cumnock area years ago.

I trained as well but also sent 35 to Otterburn. I am still short so 11. Cannas get near wee Paddy at all.

That seems to be the opinion of many fanciers but we decide to go there twice. That defies logic.

Well done Davy.

That just about sums it up. Coupled with the fact that we live on an island the birds could be a hundred miles out to sea before they decide to turn and by them they don't have the energy to make it to dry land.

Thanks guys for the birthday wishes. Oh how the years fly past.

Mike, this post taken along with your earlier post which highlighted returns from various race points tends to highlight what we all already know. It's not really the race point which is the problem. It's all along the route and, particularly at the home end where the problem lies. We constantly change race points but we have not resolved the issue by doing so. The work must be done at the home end. If everyone dealt with their own area we would be problem free from John o' Groats to Lands End.

Good post Peter. Rennes was a magic race point and in those long lost days almost every fancier in the land entered their best pigeons in the hope of glory

Is there a logical reason why we don't race from Rennes any more? I didn't enter the Gold Cup race this year as , at 580 miles or there abouts I felt was almost as long as the longest race and one step too far for me.

For interest the active ingredient in roundup gel is present at about 7.5%. The active ingredient in the concentrated solution which you buy then dilute is about 35%. I was surprised by that as I thought the gel was the most concentrated form.

Do you think this is enough of a test rather than swabbing back of throat etc? I had it in loft a few years ago, not all the doos but a few, treated with ronidazole. I check them now and again and haven't seen any reaction. From Colin Walker What is wet canker? Everyone who has kept pigeons for several years knows what wet canker is. The yellow material seen in the throat is regarded as the dry form of the disease. As pigeons mature, they develop a natural immunity to the canker organism and as a result their response to the canker organisms is modified. Young pigeons who have not yet developed a natural immunity, if they come under stress or are exposed to large numbers of the organisms, quickly develop a severe infection, with large numbers of the organisms present, and the characteristic yellow material becoming visible. Most young pigeons have a few trichs (canker organisms) in their throats. This is not a problem and in fact can be a benefit. This low-grade, ongoing exposure stimulates the development of a natural immunity in the young growing pigeon. As the pigeon becomes older and its natural immunity rises, it therefore becomes harder and harder for them to develop visible canker. But in pigeons of any age, there are always a few trich organisms present. The numbers tend to rise and fall, principally depending on what stress the birds are under and the level of exposure to the organism. In race baskets, canker organisms quickly spread through the drinker and the race itself provides no end of stress – time away from the loft, altered feeding patterns, exertion, exposure to predation, etc. Because of this, canker organisms fluctuate in the throat throughout the season. Usually nothing is visible to the fancier. In very high levels, the throat might appear a bit red or mucousy but this is very subjective. Often when testing birds with what appear to be good throats, high levels are found and vice versa. Trichomonads are primary parasites, taking nutrition that would otherwise be available to the birds and releasing toxins into their system. As trichomonad levels rise, race performance drops away. Fanciers who try to race teams with high trichomonad levels can expect to win fewer prizes and lose more birds. Birds with elevated trichomonad levels are said to have wet canker. How to monitor wet canker? By far, the best way to monitor this problem is to have some saliva from the back of the birds throat and top of the crop examined under a microscope. This is a simple test that takes a couple of minutes. Any vet with avian experience can do this for you and I met some very capable vets at Blackpool, including Lizzie Rigby and David Parsons. In Australia, most vets would not charge a consultation fee for this service. Certainly if you go in to a vet’s clinic with sick pigeons that are going to need an investigation that will take time, expect to pay a consultation fee, but in Australia many of our clients bring in a few birds every few weeks for the test (called a crop flush) and also ask to have the birds’ droppings examined (we will talk about this in a later article). In this situation, we just charge for the test, which in Australia is the equivalent of about 8 pounds. We do the test, give the fancier the result, offer some advice about the result, and expect to see them again in about 3 – 4 weeks. From my reading of the above text my understanding is that "wet canker" is caused by the same parasite as dry canker but the term wet is used when a heavy infestation is present. Am I right or wrong?

The fact they are in the Middle Ages is reason enough to keep them out of Europe. The president and his family made plenty smuggling ISIS oil. Europe doesn't need any more potential terrorists with freedom of movement.

On any occasion I have trained from Abington I have always had poor returns with strays reported as far away as Edinburgh . I no longer go that far south.

Money will be a big part of it no doubt. I'll stay a pauper as well Mike and I'll still have targets to aim for.

I'm not sure that I understand the scenario. I have heard that there were 2 clocks in use. The pigeons marked in the morning didn't go to the race while the ones marked in the afternoon did go. It goes to show that determined people will find a way to beat any system. I understand now- the sheets were also swapped.

There seems to be a story breaking both on Pigeon Chat and Facebook. I don't know the full story so I'm not prepared to comment. Let's just wait and see what materialises.

Good going by any standards!

He flies a largish team of youngsters. They are all well bred fashionable sprint pigeons which are well prepared for the job in hand. In Ayrshire easterly race points suit costal locations. Arch 123 might be able to enlighten you further. We all set our own targets in the pigeon sport so well done to Andy.

You'll find it on the Ayrshire federation web site. Sorry I never visit there and if I did I wouldn't know how to copy it.

There are those who feel that the purpose of young bird racing is to weed out the rubbish. That's fine each to their own. I discussed preparation for channel racing with a 3 times National winner some time ago and his thoughts were that birds going over the water for the first time as 2 year olds should be having about the 7th race of their lives. All the previous races would be chosen to educate without destroying the birds. He also felt that it was preferable that the birds should not have had a night out while racing as they would fly all day to avoid this. That's just one individuals approach.

There is a Dewlap page on Facebook. You might find someone who will help you there.

Interesting experiment Pedro. For me Stobs camp would be a better option than Otterburn which must be the worst race point in the UK.

There will always be losses. First the rubbish and after that it's completely random. On Monday I counted my pigeons and I was 15-20 short. I closed the traps and after 2 hours they started filtering back. They had 2 of my old birds with them which meant they had obviously been chased by Percy. Obviously they learn from the experience but at the moment I actually have better returns training than I have flying round the loft. That's probably my fault.

And those which have been flying around home but were. Based miles off their normal area by a peregrine.