Blue Tooner

Spoke to a fancier in Elgin and he has 2/2 but they did not do their clocks tonight as there wern't enough birds to fill result I Hope some work back tomorrow, but I'm not confident. I've never felt so bad after winning a race. I might just pick out a nice oak box at work tomorrow and go for a very long lie down :'(

Not seen another feather still 3/31 only 14 birds in club at 6pm from 101 :'( :'( this is the worst race I can remember, an absolute disaster!!

Trust the Flying Undertakers to win from the pigeon graveyard (Alnwick) ;D

Our club had only 15/101 at clock check at 6pm from Alnwick (145 miles) 10:15 lib myself only 3/31 :( Although we won the race we are pig sick! Only ourselves to blame, committed too much to this race with a dodgy forecast and got our fingers burnt :'(

3/31 from Alnwick timed at 13.34 then 2 at 2.05pm. nothing since and it is now 3.35p.m. :( It is 146 miles and libbed at 10.15

North of Scotland fed up at Alnwick 10.15a.m light south west wind, 720 birds cleared North in one batch.

North of Scotland still no lib at Alnwick, phone back at 12.00noon Rain is absolutely pouring down here in Peterhead

North of Scotland still no lib at Alnwick, phone back at 12.00noon Rain is absolutely pouring down here in Peterhead

Vanodine v18 can be put in the drinkers, I put it in one of those 7ltr drinkers at a rate of 1/3 of a capful to 7ltr. This is fantastic stuff. the 2 seasons previous to this I have had youngbird sickness and after 3 days of giving them v18 the birds improved dramatically and went on to win out of turn both seasons. I have a bottle in the loft at all times. I believe that it is widely used in the horse racing world. Top, top stuff. Cheers Blue Tooner

North of Scotland Fed up at Arniston, 11.00a.m. into blue skies and no wind.

Got a new 12' x 8' Stock loft from them 18 months ago and it is first class with a first class service to go with it. I phoned them to order the loft then sent down a drawing of what we wanted . We then spoke about delivery dates and they came exactly to time with a loft that was exactly what we had ordered and to say that we were over the moon with the loft and service provided would be an understatement. In this day and age you only get what you pay for and though you do get cheaper lofts they are nowhere near the quality and workmanship of Barnsley lofts. Couldn't recommend them highly enough to anyone.

North of Scotland birds brought back from Thornton to Brechin and libbed at 4.15p.m

How is it at Thornton in Fife? Anyone in that area for an update?

Belongs to Clint Williams, Peterhead & District club. but he is offshore at the minute. Contact Willie Lawson (01779) 472486 he looks after Clints birds when he is away.

Well done Delboy, no sign of anything in the North Section yet

If I could get one from Falaise soon, I would be a very happy man ;D ;D

Just got one of my Tours birds tonight at 9.15p.m. in a howling North west gale and rain, it doesn't look like she's been in anywhere, still rubbered, feathers all faded, feet black and down in the body. Why would she choose to come home on a night like this? They never cease to amaze ??)

The decision has been made, she has gone to the race, so time will tell if i've made the right decision or not

4 or 5 to pick from, 1cock & 3 hens cock sitting 12 days at basketting 2 lesbian hens sitting 4 eggs, been slipped 2 small youngsters today, their first of the year 1 4 year old hen 14 day eggs My only predicament is whether to send a 2 year old hen, she was my 3rd bird from Alencon, homing on the Tuesday. Her cock got himsef lost from Hastings the same weekend as Alencon, and I was amazed that when this hen returned from Alencon she went straight on her nest and has sat those eggs tightly for over a week when I gave her a newly hatched y/b and now she is like a demon on that baby, her condition is good, but I am not sure how she is mentally. Do I try and take advantage of this situation or do I put her by for next year? Any advice anyone? Falaise is 601 miles to me, so at least its a short race this time ;D

Low cloud and rain, miserable day here in Peterhead, more like November ;D

Sorted, thanks clockman

Wondering if any of you Fife fanciers have a contact phone No. for Mr D. Frew, Beatty Cres. Kirkcaldy. He has reported one of my birds via SHU. but their is no phone number on the letter. Cheers.

A lot of replies are pointing the finger at the darkness system but the fanciers in our club that have been hit with the heavy losses all fly natural, there are only 3 lofts in our club that use the darkness system (ourselves are 1 of them) and losses here have been minimal. The weather conditions here the last 2 days have been ideal for training, broken cloud/sunshine, light headwinds, temp. around 14-16 degrees. A valid point by Gareth about letting them out for exercise before you toss them, we try to practise this ourselves when at all possible. One of the reasons could be that with the poor weather up here at the weekend, everyone had been training yesterday and our fed covers a large area, so many birds heading in different directions, so there could have been some clashing.

Just spoke to another of our club members this morning and he dropped 25 yesterday from 15 miles, so that takes it to over 100 youngsters missing from 5 or 6 members in the last 2 days ??), must be soul destroying. I think Frankdooman has a fair point about teams of y/bs going in all directions for hours, it must spell disaster when they run into one another. Just hope some work back for them, but I bet there wont be too many. I wondered if one of the problems was that many youngbirds are being trained before they are ready i.e. not ranging from the loft and being pushed too far too soon. Would be interested to hear others views on this.

Training youngsters is always a dread and it just seems to get worse. I had my own ones at 15 miles today and they took three hours, tell you what though it took my mind off of the Tours race ;D