Valiant Fifer

Can only agree, so called do gooders! Red tape everywhere.

GB 20 S 03100 looks like a ring no for a Rosyth club member

Sorry to read that Andy, hope plenty turn in for you tomorrow. You had a good race with them last wk too. Dont understand it! Were they ybs flying naturally or were they on darkness ?

Good honest post John! This is the kind if thing I'm talking about using common sense with pigeons!

In my post above the one where I type error when I typed out half a book I printed untrained ybs and 4/5 pointers after that which may benefit them. It should have read Unraced ybs but ones which were trained, hope that's clear now. This thread/topic has now some 8,500 views from when it was first entered a few days ago so already its creating a bit of interest. Looking forward to reading more points which we can take on board to see if we can alleviate the terrible losses to our birds each year. The more things we can think of and put in the Think Tank the better. We cant keep going down the same road simple. This is the biggest problem in our sport. The only people that realy care about this is us fanciers. Let's not wait on outside influences to help us. We've gotta do it ourselves cause knowone will do it for us! When can we get the wheels in motion ?

A couple of good points there!

correct m8 they kill migrating birds the lot! Basically what we are seeing is the acceptance of the rspb or BOP enthusiasts even Mps for this carnage to carry on. They think its acceptable for Percy to go unchecked for yrs and to kill almost every bird in the sky. It's simple when theres no pigeons to eat they'll eat other birds when will the general public wake up to this! These people must be Fanatical loonies to give them 24hr surveillance protection. Theve got more protection than kids have from Peadofiles!

This is one of the best topics that's been on this site for a while guys and I've been watching it with interest and will continue to do so. Whether we race ybs or just train them we will still get hit by the Perigrines! Generally speaking the guys who do the most training normally get better returns in most yrs although theres exceptions to this.As things stand I plan next year to train all ybs say (about 30-40) out to 35mls and put say 12/14 for example to the side and not race them just maybe going to a few more tosses with the ones that are racing. That way I guarantee that I will have ylgs for the following season. Hopefuly I'll still have a descent team of ybs that have bn raced but we all know how doubtful that is. Certainly need a bit of luck with ybs in the training and racing trying to get away from the murderers of the sky. I fully expect the ybs that were not raced to go all the way to the last inland race. They may not go every wk but I want 350 -400 mls out of them. They may have it easy as unraced ybs but as ylgs I dont molly coddle them. Some might even end up across the channel if their still there after the longest inland race. I've done this several times with unraced ybs at the ylgs stage. Have even got them from across the channel as ylg late breds and scored with them and went on to be good birds. My own personal thoughts are you can get unraced ybs and late breds out to at least 200 -300mls as ylgs provided they are from good birds soundly reared and well trained in their yr of birth. I dont nesscesary race these unraced ylgs every wk, I'm not frightened to miss a race or two with them.If there fit enough and good enough they will do it and occasionaly may surprise you. They might not do well as ylgs but dont worry they will catch up as two n three years olds. Having said all that I believe in most cases ylgs that were raced as ybs will be clocked more and win more than ylgs that weren't. Personally I'm not worried about that as long as the show as 2yo n 3yo pigeons. I've got some Late breds that I hope to train in Oct /Nov out to somewhere between 25,-35mls and I still expect them to fly at least 200- 250mls next yr. If they come out of that I will try them at either 300 or the longest inland race 350 - 400mls. Some of you may ask where do you get the confidence for that. Personaly it's not a case of that and have done it many times and dont think it's too difficult. If i can do it i think others can no problem. Untrained ybs will have one or two things going for them. 1 They weren't hashed about as ybs and missed all the disease they have to mix with. 2 they are more mature 3 Dont have to worry about the moult like natural ybs.4 They have a nest box. 6 They have a mate or ybs or eggs to fly to. All they lack is a bit of experience from race day. Look what's happening on race day there getting harassed all over the place the length n breadth of the uk. While old birds get it too it's not as bad as what the ybs have to go through. Hence why I'm not too worried if they dont get raced as long as their trained. In April and May ylgs dont get as much hassle as ybs In june/july/august. While i do conceede that its maybe beneficial to get a few tosses from the transporter or a race or two for experience of coming out the transporter it's not completely necessary to race ybs 200 - 300mls just to prove that their good, I dont think it proves it. As I said above about racing unraced ybs n late breds next my chances would vastly improve along with everyone else if someone would give me a PM with a list of products I could give to my unsung decoy birds which I could liberate before letting go the trainers. If everyone did this things might improve and the pigeons would come through the race routes a lot better. Also I'd like to see federations with ex amout of unsung decoys on board liberated before the main convoy is relesed. This might help on race days, may feds could have their own private lift for this or we could have a few volunteers donating birds for this purpose! Would like to hear more ideas on this or anything else fanciers think will help make returns on race days better. Like I said above if we dont do nothing then nothing will change. The results will be the same Horrendous infact they'll get worse the time to act is NOW!

Ok Davie interesting as are some of the other points you've highlighted above which I mostly agree with.

That's interesting and I see what your saying Davie plus their bred of tried and tested pigeons and top ones at that.Have to ask though do you basket train ur ybs Davie ?

What a gem of a guy! He will never be replaced how lucky were the Lochgelly club members to have him! Wish the guy all the very best and hope he gets back in amoung the pigeon fraternity when ever he can!

Do fanciers realy think that not racing ybs will effect the future of the sport ? Personaly I doubt very much if it would. Yes clubs and feds would have less income but in the long term it might be better. People would have more ylgs in their teams the following year which would boost the funds a bit. Rather than the horrendous losses and negative knock on effects that we usually see we could then maybe have the desired effect and something to look forward to. Let's be honest yb racing has become unrecognisable compared to what it was 30 yrs ago or even 20. Can we realy afford to go down the road we are going year in year out ????? IF WE KEEP DOING THE SAME WE WILL KEEP GETTING THE SAME RESULTS!!!

Interesting post and defo food for thought. It's something I've thought about many times. If yer not racing ybs then ye can be more selective and breed less. You wont need a big team of ybs. As long as they are well trained IN THE YEAR OF BIRTH then they can turn out just as good as raced ybs in the end, certainly bu the time their 2yo anyway. If more fanciers were to adopt this system they might be pleasantly surprised!

Yeah that as well John

Ah sore one for the doos m8. It's nearly dark now hope they turn in for yous guys tomorrow which will be a better day anyway!

How many mls are you flying Derek ?

Kingdom liberated at 7.00 am south west wind from Ripon.

Kingdom at Alnwick cancelled

Still a bit of static and humidity in the air. Not ideal for racing really!

Kingdom have delayed 24 hrs at Alnwick. I know feds are not near greater Manchester area but also thunder storms predicted for sat and still lingering on sunday. Just saying!

Some interesting posts on this topic. Glad to hear that fanciers are still getting some of their old favourites home from a trying race. They live to fight another day!

RIP Andy!

Top flying no doubt about it. Well done Hugh. What's your secret ???