rasbull

how big is your shed? And does it have ventilation and free from damp? If it is then the shed should be fine.

work out how many birds you going to be happy keeping and then plan you loft. Only after this aquire some birds.

Yes mate. Got to extend it now. Going to add a 9ft x 6ft young bird loft with the corridor in front like the 12 footer. Will also be adding an aviary to the stock section. Cant wait to get it all complete now! lol.

The 21 people who have contacted me have all been added to my list and I would like to request those of you on the list to contact me around January to confirm if you would still like a pair. I look forward to them doing well for you.

Hi. I have just restarted in the sport and had the same dilema as many of you have had - who to purchase birds off. After spending some serious money on the chosen families I have now bred some cracking youngsters. This is going to be my first season back racing since rejoing the sport. I have entered the Europa One Loft Race to test them as well as my local club, Gurnos Social flying in the Welsh North Road Fed. I have trained my first team 19 times upto 40 miles and have only lost 2 training!! I am not prepared to sell any youngsters to anyone as they are untested and I wouldnt sell them to anyone until they have proved themselves good enough. However, if you would like to keep a tab on my results etc, and if the birds do well, I will breed any new starter/novice a pair of birds infact anyone interested in trying them free of charge. If you are interested http://www.rasbull-lofts.co.uk is my website.

whats the website address?

I am after a T3 clock if anyone interested in selling one. Obviously must be in perfect working order. IM me with a price your looking for. Cheers

is the supplier able to order in mixes for you? A young bird mix would be fine, you can get with maize or without. I prefer to have maize in mine.

I have 3 teams of diferent age young birds. I have trained the first team (14) upto 40 miles, and they are doing great. The second team (14) have had 3 tosses from 8 mile. The third team (36) are just finding there wings around the loft and being weaned off. I plan to send the first team right from the first race. In our fed we have 2 races from swindon (76 miles to me), then 3 Newbury (97 miles to me), so plan to stick the 2nd team into the 2nd or 3rd Newbury. I will then send both teams to Epsom (141), Maidstone (176 miles). Depending on numbers I will pick out a few birds that I will put away for next year. But having the 36 in reserve I need to be careful I dont end up with too many. Lillers (272 miles) is the furthest race for me in the fed and I will select several of my birds to send to this.

I was same situation last september. I decided to purchase 24 birds as young birds, the best I could afford. I have these in the stock shed and has bred 64 young birds this year ready to fly young birds this season. I have 28 in training and the other 36 will be sent to the come back races, this should then guarantee I will have plenty to chose from come the end of the season. The one thing I dont want to do is be short of birds come the Old Birds next year and have to scrap through with 4-5 birds!! I think this way anything that races well you have the parents already and then you can start to develop a family straight from the off. I have also entered into the Europa Classic with youngsters I perceive to be my 'best', this way the results can be annalysed without any biase. Good luck whatever he choses to do though.

I will donate a pair of youngbirds 2010 out of the stock loft for this top cause. Hope you make the target you hope to reach!

no real secret, just feeding them plenty ;-)

My pigeons have not roamed but flying regularly around the house for upto 2 hours. Been training with them 35 miles line of flight upto 12 times now and lost 1 to date. I live in the Brecon Beacons and have been seriously lucky regarding hawks etc.

I bred 64 and split them into 3 teams. The 1st team trained 13 times and today completed a 40 miles (road) 35 miles (line of flight) trainer from the severn bridge back into mid wales. Possibly dropped my first pigeon in todays toss. Started training the first team with 15 birds and currently have 14! I have a second team of 14 which have had one toss from 6 miles to date. The final team are just starting to fly around the loft and still a few in the nests.

I use the Loft Management System, by Eastcoast Software. Great system and once the old birds have been inputted as easy as pie for every record you will ever need! Defo recommend this for keping all your records!

Well training is going well so far. My first team have now been 8 times in all. I have trained to 20 miles 4 times and today they went to 30 miles. I was missing 4 out of the 15. I just finished work and three of these were on the loft, one missing his whole tail!!! I am missing 1 at the moment. If he does not return tomorrow, it will be the first one I have dropped in 8 tosses and they are up to 30 miles so cant be unhappy with that. My second and third team are in the loft and the 2nd team just finding their wings. These two teams total 45 so plenty in reserve! lol

Tav-Rigole, Vandersanden, Brasspenning, Van Der Rhee are the main strains. Then I have a few Busscharts and Vandenabeeles.

They have a website www.southernpigeoncouriers.co.uk. On both occasions my birds were delivered by 6.30am!!

I have just had some pigeons delivered by Southern Pigeon Couriers and what a fantastic service they provide. This is the second time I have used them in the last 2 weeks. The pigeons were collected yesterday about 4.30pm and they were delivered to me this morning at 6.30am!! The youngsters have hardly spent any time in the box. A qaulity service that I will use again. Spot on!

Yep the PR man/firm is the way to go. They can make pigeon racing attractive and appealing to the audience we are trying to attract. I agree about the school children, target the parents, grandparents and the sport will filter down through the generations without any effort. Something has to be done and needs to be done fast. But the first thing to decide is which direction we are going to head in this effort and then the WHOLE pigeon community needs to unite and then we will see this great sport start to flourish once again!!

They were hatched at the end of march beginning of April. They have been exercising for 1 hour - 2 hours each time they have been out so thought I would try them. I have another 30 in the loft but only just started flying out. I am pleased they come back anyway!!! lol

Decided to train my youngsters for the first time today. Took them 5 miles and they beat me back home and all returned safe and sound! Was praying a hawk didnt go through them on this first toss! Has anyone else started training there birds?

Yeah Roy Jones lives in Talgarth. I live in Brecon, but dont drive soz!

I entered 3 and took them down on Sunday. I must say the birds are treated fantastically and Derek does a great job with them. I agree with the comment they are trained hard and no room for anything not up to the task.......the way it should be!!

I bred my first round youngsters middle of march onwards. How long after they are born do they start the moult. How many weeks and how long does the moult take to complete?