PATTY BHOY

some nice lofts http://www.pigeonnetwork.com/loftdesign/

some good and interesting reading.

birds are just using it as a perch.

cut the piece of metal off

Do the members think that American pigeons could do the business in Scottish pigeon racing.short,middle,long distance.

The Donaldson's Jim Donaldson of Peterhead in Scotland came into the sport via obtaining some pigeons for his young son but in due course the young man became a seafarer and Donaldson senior was left to take care of the pigeons obtained from various sources.Thus was born one of the greatest distance fanciers of Scotland, indeed of Europe, for he has a record second to none when it comes to tough races into the north of the island of Britain. Covering marathon distances such as Niort 775 miles after Sartilly 605 miles, Rheims 620 miles, Rennes 650 and Nantes 709 miles. In fact this family of outstanding racers have won over 100 Diplomas as members of the Scottish National Flying Club as well as being the winners of the North Section of the SNFC 16 times. Fantastic racing and managerial ability by any standard! The foundation of the Donaldson loft are pigeons from another Scottish fancier David Scott of Brechin which contained the bloodlines of the Welsh wizards i.e. the Atwell Bros. Also the blood of Norman Dall of Ladybank and a grizzle hen of Mr Geddes of Greengaris. The initial foundation of the Donaldson's after the original liquorice allsorts when first catching the pigeon racing bug. Eventually other bloodlines such as that of Lancashire Rose and Blue Anglia came via Sid Beard of Hemel Hempstead. The latter input was of immense importance for from them (and Scott) came the famous foundation stud cock bird Circus Boy. Incidentally at time of writing (October 2005) the great Circus Boy is still alive aged approximately 23 years. An interesting point about the great producer Circus Boy was that when he was broken to another site and sent to a 120 miles race he failed to return for sometime. During this period his offsprings began to score well at the races entered. Jim Donaldson was on high heaven when a fancier in England reported the pigeon although upon his return he only looked a spark of his original self. Circus Boy pulled through however under the expert care of his master and lived to produce some of the best pigeons that the sport has ever experienced. I should state that although Jim Donaldson lost a partner to the seafaring life today his wife Ann is his partner in the sport. A partner who in recent years has shared with him the joy of 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, 7th Open in the SNFC. May they have many more years of our sporting life!

have a look at this. http://www.chevita.com/en/pigeons/treatment-plan/respiratorytract-infectiouscatarrh.php

any pics of lofts.

http://www.tipes-uk.com/

excellent set up

and 39

http://www.scmdpr.com/index.php?arg=acaa70949c995ad691c5c67da6719d678cd6b1a998a0a89ea9a5d1da5da5cbacc8da7094c1d195d66392946991a4c5a6c3

This article is primarily based upon the achievements of the Patrick Bros so far in the sport. I was full of admiration for their decision to leave one part of the European continent to plant roots in another- an authentic sacrifice for the cause of long- distance pigeon racing, brought vividly to mind when one reads their story in Steve Patrick's occasional column in the British pigeon press. The Patrick's are what pioneers are made of. As to their beginnings, the Patricks, as a family ,were forced to evacuate from the city of London due to the bombing of the city in 1940, settling in the small town of Newbury in the county of Berkshire. One of the brothers, the eldest, Steve, had kept pigeons since the age of 11 but in 1956 the other brother, Phillip, joined him in partnership. In the early days there were problems about loft residency and there was much moving to different loft sites but just after the mid- 1970s the family purchased their own home and had the necessary space for their hobby. With such security during a period of approximately 10 years (1978-1987) the Patrick partnership was top in Club, Federation and Combine, but most importantly, however, as long- distance aspirants, in the English Nationals the loft won 3 x 1st Section and positions like 3rd and 4th open. This was a good start to a promising career in the sport. They used the system of widowhood based upon 10 cocks of mainly Busschaert origin and averaged 14 x 1st prizes each year. There was then another move of residence to the county of Shropshire in 1987, prior to which all of the pigeons were sold and an order was made for six Jan Aardens from Martha van Geel of Holland, reflecting the intention of the brothers.You see, after entering the sport and doing well with one of the best strains of the 20th century- the Busschaerts- hey knew that to achieve their sporting ambitions representatives from the Aarden dynasty were required: a reflection of thinking fanciers! Although not raced until 1990, the van Geels were in residence since 1988 and the latter, with some Van Der Wegens from Simons and Son of Holland, plus Robert Venus bloodlines, took the brothers back to the top in their new area. However, another change was to occur when the Patricks moved to Somerset in the June of 1966. They took just the breeders and bred 11 late breds in August. It was to be a good move for the brothers, who won in 1999 the Pau Grand National with Somerset Lad. Since then they have have won 17 major trophies in the English NFC. With no racing in local clubs (which is the same for young birds) the partners emphasise the channel between England and France as the test to separate the best from the not so good. Racing in only the National races, some of their performances between 1999 and 2002 were extraordinary for they won 91 Positions in the English NFC from Nantes, Saintes and Pau. In addition they won many averages, including the best Average Nantes and Pau and the Langstone Gold Cup Best Average. In those three years the Patrick's won approximately 150 prizes from the French race points. Just Like The Aardens ~ Falling in love with the Aardens, What else could they do? Emulating their mentor And creating a strain that's new Which flew from Pau To Somerset and from Other parts to the west, Forming a marathon family Intending to be the best And deeds to be unheard of In the land of pigeondom A powerful marathon family Indeed they are number one! Yes! They had arrived but no one realized that the frank- speaking one and the other quiet small- towner, through the gift of human intellect, had moulded one of the best European long- distance strains. Of course mention was made about 'this wing' or 'that wing' of the Jan Aarden dynasty, as one spoke of their family of pigeons but slowly and surely the phenotype of their family showed the hallmark of their own strain. An act of chance? no way! My research shows me that the brothers, through line and inbreeding using crosses from the very best of Europe's long- distance strains, were set upon- and indeed succeeded in- becoming strain makers. But has the adventure ended? No! I believe that we have yet to see the best of the Patrick Strain and the racing contests of Europe will see the influence of that unique strain in the years ahead.

My Hofkens pigeons are mostly down from Nelles Van de Pol's famous "Goede Jaarling of `81". Van de Pol was a cattle breeder and a close friend to the rich butcher Gust Hofkens, this is why I think v/d Pol had the best Hofkens. Gust Hofkens passed away in `77, Van de Pol died in `87, all their birds were sold in public auctions.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20081212-107238.html

have sent you e-mail.

cheers Tony good link.

was up in Fort William in the summer time and the number of birds up there with race rubbers was unbelievable,sure to be some good birds amongst the streeters.

read the link http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20081212-107238.html

i would go for I.B

you may find the answer here. http://www.foxwoodlofts.co.uk/General-Content/Results.html

where u from whitenight

How do homing pigeons navigate? They use the roads, it turns out, not just the sun. Researchers at Oxford University spent 10 years studying homing pigeons using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and were stunned to find the birds often don't navigate by taking bearing from the sun. Instead they fly along motorways, turn at junctions and even go around roundabouts, adding miles to their journeys, British newspapers reported. "It is striking to see the pigeons fly straight down the A34 Oxford bypass, and then sharply curve off at the traffic lights before curving off again at the roundabout," he said. Guilford said pigeons use their own navigational system when doing long-distance trips or when a bird does a journey for the first time. But when they have flown a journey more than once they home in on an habitual route home. "In short it looks like it is mentally easier for a bird to fly down a road...they are just making their journey as simple as possible."

would image a lot of work required.

could someone please explain the roundabout system please.