i understand what your saying Peter,but with the weather the way it is and all the other obstacles they have to avoid , if we erred on the side of CAUTION , they probably wouldnt get in the race basket. a big element is the !LUCK" in my opinion .
had a 10 miler on tuesday ,hadnt been for 10 days prior to that ,although some had a race last weekend. treading very carefully now due to hawk attacks.
last weeks fed topper (first nest) 2nd fed (2nd round) 3rd bird (hopefully in top ten fed) later bred , but as we know with youngsters , can be lost a week later