mealybar

Ask yourself before you had any involvement with pigeons or pigeon racing; how did you get into the sport? Answer most usually, through someone you know. Then it begs the question, how many people know a pigeon fancier? I dissagree that it is cost that puts new staters out of the sport; the cost compared to other hobbies, interests and sports, is not far different (unless you play tiddly winks ). Once a new fancier is in the sport, they need to be encouraged and have some reward from their persuit; I see many clubs cutting their result at 10 or 20th position, if the new start isnt on the list it is hugely demoralising. Not being on the result is no way an incouragement to do better, it is infact an incouragement to give up.

Dont think it was me,, but I certainly agree From the logans topic I think what I said applies here: In my opinion ETS will give a fairer result, as there will be no false positions as all birds are clocked, and we can calculate the best team performance on that day. I think with a club radius such as yours Hyacinth, maybe it would be a good idea to look at a variation on the velocity system to level the playing field where lofts are such large distances apart.

While exercising I'd expect them to d something like 40mph, training around 60mph depending on wind. When their coming into land I'd also say that it depends on the wind; I've seen my bird zoom through the door, and also when the wind is in other directions struggle to land at all. A bird to land needs to idealy be flying into the wind.

I've raced the natural and the roundabout,,, wont say I did everything right,,, probably far from it but I found the best results came from the time on roundabout. Funny you mention the jealousy; One season I had a bad early channel race, and my good channel hens' cock went down; so coming upto the next channel race I paired her to another of my race team cocks, whilst I kept his hen out of the way. It came to basketing they had made a nest that morning with some straw I'd put in (extra motivation I hoped) so I basketed her up; and then let his original hen through (first time she had seen any bird all week - but no doubt she had heard the shinanagins going on next door with him pairing to the other hen!). When it came to the race, it was a funny one, but this hen (not the channel hen) beat everything to my loft by a country mile and took a canny postition in the race (not being helped by my incompetent clocking skills - another story ) - the good channel hen was beaten from the channel that day, for the first and only time to my loft. I wish I could have done that to my hen every week, it was definately the motivation she needed.

You may have read this before, but I'll post it up again as it might help someone else. Over the winter you have your cocks and hens seperated, cocks in the boxes section of the loft, here they will settle to 'their' box. Once you come to pair them up lock all the cocks in their boxes, and then add the hens, the correct hen you wish to be partnered to each cock, place her in the box with the cock (locked up). They may seem to fight at first, but usually within a few minutes they will be settled in one corner, the cock cooing to the hen. - Keep an eye on the birds when the hens go in, sometimes you will get a pair that simply wont pair up, or continually fight, in this case there are ways to try and ease them into pairing together. - Once they have paired, probably start this the day after putting them together (their still locked in their boxes - food and water can be put in pots on the front) let one pair out to have run of the section/loft. When I'm doing this I get 2 pairs out in a day, morning 1 goes out, when I get home they get locked away and the next get let out until the next morning. I'd let them out on their own like this a few times - while doing it leave some nesting material on the loft floor, building a nest in their box will quicken them to settle - Once all of the pairs are finding their way around alright, start letting two pairs out at a time, it might pay to watch them at this stage for a wee while too, as the cocks could fight - especially if they go into the wrong box. Once they have all been out, whilst another pair is out, let another pair out each time until they are all free in the section, and are all paired up, and should be laying their first egg within a couple of days.

The RPRA booklet is online at http://www.pigeonbasics.com/articles/rpracontents.php

Released in the UK on DVD 7th Nov http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=srmr&page=title&r=R2&title=745059 :)

This year I spun some peanuts in a blender, just so they come in smaller pieces, and then used it to supplement my trapping mix. Didnt have to use a lot, but they knew first one in got the peanuts; never had birds trap like these.

Not sure if you could pull it up and use it at any time in its lifecycle; but it has a good flower, garlic is part of the lilly family You could always plant it, harvest at the right time and store it for use in the loft all year round from there.

You could always try; http://www.pigeonbasics.com/forum/blah/v-memberpanel/a-view/u-Mike_Lycett/

Happy Birthday Speckled

The Old Comrades Show will be going ahead, with or without show birds, depending on how the licensing turns out, as will the Edinburgh Show. Dunoon has cancelled the show birds. I'm told today the German Show has gone ahead this weekend (and next) under licence.

AlanWilkins today,,, Happy Birthday :)

Take a look at http://www.sandhillvet.demon.co.uk/ If you give him a ring he should be able to point you in the right direction.

The winner is the bird that has taken its chances, however they come, thats why it is a worthy winner. There will always be bird(s) with the top few that have few a bit further, into a 'harder' (only someones opinion) location on that day; these birds made the best of what they had, and are also good birds, but the winner is the one who made the best of what he had, and theres no taking that away from him.

I notice today on the forum index that its Barry's Birthday,,,, Happy Birthday Barry :D

According to the RPRA (as per email notification yesterday) yes there is a ban. According to DEFRA and the EU, I dont think so. I think for anyone attending shows in the comming weeks the best thing to do would be check just prior to the show. I think there are too many conflicting reports going about at the moment to say definately if there is a ban anywhere. I'm awaiting a reply from the RPRA to clarify the situation. ----- Maybe on a slightly different theme; imports of caged birds are banned into the EU, and everything is banned from outbreak areas. If these (pigeon) bans are in place, then how can they not apply to poultry - the very birds that are most susseptible to the disease!!?? ... maddness! :o

Reply 277 This article refers directly to a ban on fairs, markets and shows. "Such gatherings are banned in the Protection Zone and Surveillance Zone during an AI outbreak in poultry." "Possibility of applying PZ and SZ restrictions where there is an outbreak in captive birds or racing pigeons constituting a serious risk to poultry." "We would try to encourage voluntary cancelling of fairs, markets and shows." "Racing pigeons are a risk factor, which needs to be factored in, as they mix with wild birds." My interpretation was that bans would be only in place for birds within the Zones of outbreaks; and even where outbreaks are, 'racing pigeons are a risk factor' - to me indicating that they are not a significant risk, but notable. 'as they mix with wild birds' - I wouldnt mind disputing that one; the birds that are shown, the majority will not have had access to the skys in preperation for the shows, if they get out at all.

Yesterday whilst searching I found only the following from the EU: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/animal/diseases/controlmeasures/avian/index_en.htm The BBC ran the following stories: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/4375916.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4373584.stm Still awaiting any further information today. I note by its absence, nothing on the DEFRA website, and nothing specific about a ban on the EU website. It doesnt surprise me that DEFRA have 'no knowlege' of the ban (Gez's phone call this morning). In my opinion, nothing is in stone - as of yet.

I'm not sure if this has already be posted about (I havent seen it), but I found a link to Control Methods, in places it refers directly to pigeons. http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/disease/ai/ctrl-measures.htm

Without being corrected (usually by Bruno ) as far as I know if a pigeon carries the grizzle gene, it has to be a grizzle itself. Grizzle is a colour modifier gene, and not a colour itself, but it is dominant. http://www.angelfire.com/ga/huntleyloft/griz.html You can get another type of grizzle - called 'undergrizzle' on that link - which doesnt require the parents to be grizzle themselves. But it is quite rare and doesnt resemble the usual white grizzle type - see photo bottom of the page (on the link).

As far as I know/knew from the 7th Primary (7-10) they are located in the bone.

Welcome to the forum :)

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Contrats Might be a good idea to get the lottery on today :)