MsPigeon

I tryed it last year in the water, found that it was an awful waste in the breeding loft as we have individual pens and it needs to be kept fresh. Maybe on the feed is better. But like Linda, I found that it was the most benefit at weaning in the YB loft drinker. Carol

Yes, thats what I have read too, if it's not straight there is swelling on one side or the other. And if the fringe across the bottom is not present there has also likely been canker that destroyed it at some point. Thats very interesting Wiley, guess if there not in GOOD health then the babies won't be as good. I am grading eyes this year with a rateing of up to 100% and either yellow or white, the way Barkel describes, and pairing according to what he says is best. It's worth a try, although I have a pair of breeders that produced 3 rounds last year, all flying above average and one becoming bird of the year and they were two pearl eyes paired together. :-/ But he says doing it his way your suppose to increase your # of above average birds. Instead of some good ones and some gone ones you have more GOOD ones. We'll see... Carol

Thanks Linda, Hope your fairing the storm OK. We have had local flooding over the road, keeping us home ;D, and a few trees down, but nothing worse than before and we still have power. Thanks for thinking of me. Carol

Add calcium supplements to the breeders diet, and try some new type of pellets. Lsat year we used Purina high pro pigeon pellets. They were GREAT! But they have to be special ordered where I live and it takes six weeks to get them. So I thought I would just try something I can get locally this year. Any suggestions? Carol

Yes, Wiley, your looking at the right part. I used it for judging health and who should go to the race. How do you use it for breeding? Carol

This is not true, there is a code that can be entered to clear the module if it was not brought in for strike out. Sorry you can't get your head around this Pigeon Man. But your not listening. I feel shunned here. ??) I am a race secretary and I have experience with the clocks, really. :'( :-/

Your ETS clocks don't "open" persay. The module is like a floppy disk, recording, holding, and storing race and clocking info. It is the program in the clock and computer program that has built in features that won't let birds be clocked in for a race after that race has been closed or "Strike Out" has been performed. There are other built in features, for instance if you have begun entering birds in the race and someone has a bird whose band does not work or a new bird to add, no can do. The program will not let you change or add any birds to someones list after the race entries have begun. And also none of the club features of the clock like entering birds and performing strike outs will work unless the club unit is hooked up to the clock and a special chip key read by the club unit.

I understand now Pigeon Man. Linda is right, maybe they will change that rule after getting ETS. But even if they don't I believe it is possible to download the module info without completeing knock off process. I am curious though, do they use a computer program to figure the race results? What program do they use? We mostly use WinSpeed here in the USA and the info that you download from the Unikon module to your Unikon program on the computer is then imported to the Winspeed program to compute and print the race results. The Unikon program is basically just a clock reading program. The print outs are basically a clock tape. And I believe that until you print it out from a given race that race is not closed. But you could still download to the computer. Carol

Well Pigeon Man, Like Linda said, if the race has been declared closed and the results done any late birds will clock in as trainers but only for the closed races. You can have different birds on your module entered in other races and if those races have not closed then they will still time in as race returners. And as I said I'm not sure what the purpose of taking your module in before the race closes is, as they are safely saved on your module, even if the power goes out. What ever is on the module will remain there. But thinking about how Unikon works and the steps of knocking off, you could download someones module to the Unikon program on the clubs computer without completing knock off if thats what they want to do. But talking about power outages, if that is something common in your area you should look into a battery back up system. Carol

Sorry for being dumb Homer49, but why would you want to take your module to the club before knock off has been declared? Why would that be necessary? Square peg, you and Linda are both correct in your disciptions of what happens when your away with the module and wether or not the race has been closed. It will all make a lot more sense when you actually start useing them. It's really not as complicated as it sounds. Yours in the sport. Carol

I believe you hit the nail on the head!!!! ;D HEALTH is the #1 thing!!!!

Ohhh, :K) Thanks Clockman. What a gentleman

Mine are gone too.

Congradulations on your good season Carl. ;D I often have the same problem with our birds coming on strong and tapering off as the season goes. I think I have the birds in peak condition on the first race and perhaps thats not necessary. Or maybe I should hold some back and begin training them later. It's never the same from year to year and thats probably what keeps this sport so interesting. Yours in the sport Carol

Wonderful article roland! It is hard for non pigeon writers to capture the essence of pigeon racing and this author did a great job. Carol

Awesome !!!! Good idea fifer, would look nice on the computer desktop as wallpaper. Let us know the fee Tam? ;D

It's just one of the mysteries of pigeon flying... Where do all the lost birds go??? Maybe it's some kind of pigeon black hole ;D :-/ Seriously though, I think here in the US some people don't bother because they don't get the response they should. Like flyers saying they don't want the bird if it could not make it home. I have returned at least 5-6 myself this year and got a couple of calls for my birds. But truthfully if the bird is over 100 miles away I might ask them if they want to keep it unless it's enroute for our shipping truck or in a location near my training route. Time and gas is too precious these days. But at least I do respond to calls and work something out with the finders. Yours in the sport. Carol

I got my first computer and internet access shortly after starting with pigeons. I was soooo facinated with ALL the wonderful information on the net about pigeons! I chose mspigeon as my email name and now I use it for about everything. Carol

Oh my goodness, Hi Westy, I was wondering how your season went. I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed it cause the sport can't afford to lose dedicated young flyers like you! I voted I DO miss it, but I agree that there is other things to do with the pigeons to take up the slack time. It's also a good time to read up on pigeon stuff and read the news and views of the forum members. Yours in the sport. Carol

I must be an outcast :'( ??)

Ya think???? ;D ;D Thanks Linda! I bet you remember Mr. Gordon form your years in the Pacific North West don't you? How was your 2006 season? Forgot to ask, what you all attribute your success to or what you might wish you had done differently? Carol

Hi everyone, I been too busy till lately to get on the forum. :'( We had a GREAT! race season! Between Bill and I we won Avg. Speed, Champ Bird, and Champ Loft for both the YB and OB season. We shipped on the Concourse truck although we weren't members till just recently for the 2007 season. But we were able to compare our results and on a few occasions we would have taken over the top of the concourse race sheet, beating the unbeatable Bruce Gordon and pushing him down the sheet to about 13th place. : OK, so that’s enough boasting for me. How about all of you? Yours in the sport. Carol ;D

Your right, it IS a huge asset to see how they are training. Because of where I live my birds always beat me home. But it does get you to wondering when your not there to actually watch them trap. Are the ones that trap in later actually arriving later or just flying longer around home or goofing off on the roof or taking a bath in the water trough? But after the race season begins it really helps when picking the birds to go next race. If they were slow from the race and are also late trapping from training they are trying to tell you something even if they look in top health.

You know, I am very happy to hear that FINALLY you guys will get to make your own choice on using ETS or not. But it sounds to me like the disability issue is just being used as the only avenue you guys in favor of ETS had to get it voted in. It's too bad that it had to come to that, but I think it is a wise choice to use it to get ETS in. I will bet that many of those who oppose it now will love it if they ever use it.

Right On!! Well Said! But I disagree about the part that everyone owning one never happening. Where there is a will there is a way. Who in the sport or any hobby for that matter does not end up getting what they really want when it comes to their passions?