kev01293

can a cock sparrowhawk take a pigeon mid air and carry it off or is that just the hen sparrowhawk? kev

totally understand eastcoaster when he says that we have to sort it ourselves,we all have this problem year after year with bops and we all moan about it but do nothing,what we need is to start organising protests and all of us writing to the papers highlighting the problem but it never happens, with all the money the rpra makes they can afford to elect somebody to fight our cause and get tv/press coverage,if we dont do something soon we wont have a sport left, kev

had a sparrowhawk fly into my birds yesterday just as they landed on the loft roof,it flew straight at the loft roof and swerved scattering my birds everywhere, most of my birds ended up coming back 10 or so mins later and just circled the house but i then noticed that the s/hawk was flying above them but not attacking them,i managed to get them all in eventually but cant understand why it didnt fly into them when they returned and circled my house? any theories anyone? kev

hope it finds its way home for u, kev

welcome aboard bomber its a great site, kev

thanks IB kev

hi can anyone tell me roughly how long it takes before you get results back for pfl,the sample was posted to the bmr unit at glasgow kev

same old story yeboah they only show the bits on tv that makes them look good/caring, its a pity they dont go to the same trouble to protect ALL birds but at the end of the day its obvious that bops are their no 1 priority and the rest off the bird world are just a food source for them i think u probably watched the same programme that i watched last week? i put a post on pb about it kev

just watched it as other half recorded it for me,as our friends the rspb and the raptor rescue point out the spring trap is used by gamekeepers,farmers etc but theyve been informed that this is the work of disgruntled pigeon fanciers as the peregrine will take SOME of our racing pigeons (only some)what pxssxs me off is the fact that the viewers dont know any better and will think that percy is struggling to survive against all odds,as if we dont have enough problems with s/hawks without percy as well kev

who watched animal 24:7 on animal planet last week about the orphaned percy chicks in west mids, kev

thanks for your help clockman and the link u posted blackdog, will have a look at it so i can hopefully get a test sorted ive started to get a bit short of breath after being in the loft and im told ive even lost a bit of weight which is suprising considering the amount of grub i put away in the greasy spoons when at work and then when i get home but hopefully i can get the test sorted so i know one way or the other kev

where do ya go to get tested for pigeon fanciers lung? kev

well done geo its nice to see ppl thinking of others and helping them out

going to rspb meetings and having our say would be a good idea ive been on google and they have plenty of local meetings and they charge an entrance fee depending on wether u are a member or not also the letter idea is good,all we need is a template letter drawn up and posted on basics so we could all write to our local papers and just keep on writing regulary to them with amended letters,the bop situation aint going away on its own so we need to protest and write letters but its getting fanciers to do it maybe we could put a sticky on basics with updates but could we get enough fanciers to do it in the first place what do u think?

up until a few years ago i hadnt had seen any bops around my loft or area and gotta admit i thought some fanciers were exagerating about the bop attacks but then my birds got their first visit from a sparrowhawk while they were in the garden/sitting on loft and they scattered in every direction in panic with one flying straight into my patio doors trying to escape,up, until that day i really didnt know how badly it affected our birds with some of mine taking a few days to return and when they did they were very nervous and it took a lot of time/patience to get some of them to land on loft and trap,some were flown out and some never returned at all since that day the sparrowhawk attacks have got more frequent meaning my birds have had to spend more time confined to the loft, does anyone know a fancier that hasnt ever had a bop attack? obviously as far as the rspb are concerned we are all panicking over nothing and our sparrows,finches etc are dissapearing cos of a shortage of hedges and woodland,suitable habitat etc so it wasnt the bops after all if its this bad now whats it gonna be like in 5 years kev

sorry to hear u got ripped off newcomer, ive been lucky on here and only had fanciers help and advise me from since when i joined a few years back,these rip off merchants need a proper lesson taught em the old school way,at the end of the day the vast majority of us work hard to keep our birds and have enough problems with bops,health problems with our birds,bad neighbours,etc without being ripped off as well hope u get your cash back but wouldnt hold my breath kev

i just put one drop of ivomec 0.5% directly onto the skin at the base of their neck and that lasted me for the year its a lot easier if u got two ppl doing it so one can hold the bird and the other can part the feathers on the neck and put the drop of ivomec on the skin kev

does anyone think the k index factor affects our birds homing ability? kev

our birds become used to seeing water below them in training and racing as its there all the time but snow rarely comes around our way so i find it strange that a 4yr old cock bird that had never put a foot wrong before got lost in the snow and couldnt get back from dorset on its own steam? kev

got to agree with fletchlives and geo 1234 i think the birds can get disorientated when the ground is covered in snow,the last time we had snow here i had a 4 year old cock bird reported in dorset 2 days after going missing from excercise? kev

i didnt know tom but would like to give my condolences to his friends and family rip tom in that big loft in the sky , kevin

glad u got it sorted tryer kev

what area u in tryer? bob lee of halifax is meant to be quick and reliable do u mean millbrook in southampton not neilbrook? i was there last year collecting a yb, hazel marsh is the southern rpra region secretary and she lives in southampton,surely she can help or put you in touch with a local flyer down there, her tel no is 02380 813618 kev ive also sent you a pm tryer

sorry to hear of your s/hawk attack frank-i hope u will b ready 4 it when it returns and good luck geo

what food have you put down for it jean? anything like rice,lentils,wheat,barley,small seeds, will do or some wild bird seed or parrot food dont you know of any other pigeon fanciers on the island who can help you out? maybe the local pet shop can tell you where to find a local pigeon fancier or maybe a local animal sanctuary can look after it until its collected? if you have one, and well done for making the effort and looking after it please feel free to ask for any advice on this site kev ps as clockman said try and make sure he gets a drink just put a small bowl/tub of water next to his food as he/she may be dehydrated keep us posted