rasbull

Just had another 2 - now 30 from 44! It is lashing down with rain and these two were like drowned rats! They have no right to be flying in this weather let alone returning home! Big hearts these little birds have shown and gives me great heart for the coming season.

Phew.......had 2 just as I was leaving for work, then come home mid morning and there were another 7, half way down the road and saw another diving for the loft! Returned home after work and 14 on the loft waiting to go in. So thats 28 back from 44 so down 16! Absolutely hammering down with rain so very, very lucky they come through that. Hopefully will get a few more when the weather clears up! I am so much hapier than I was last night on going to bed! Hopefully wont have another like this for a long, long time! :lol:

Have had 1 so far this morning. He come at 6.15am. So 4 from 44 now! I am off to work so will just keep my fingers crossed. I am at the foot of the Brecon Beacons and you cant even see them this morning with the low cloud cover! Just hope the rain holds off!

Had my birds out for about 5ish this afternoon and they flew well for an hour. I then basketed for a 20 miles training toss. Basketed 44 of them. The weather was fair, with good visibility and not much wind. Waited and waited but nothing was appearing in the sky! Just after 9pm I had 2 come together and about 15 minutes later 1 more! At this time I am missing 41 birds from the 44 I sent! To say I am gutted is the biggest understatement in the world! :( I have never lost more than 5 in a single training toss and to loss the lot in one go is totally heartbreaking! They have had 5 training tosses up to now and not lost a single bird in those.....typical! The season is over just as its about to begin. The weather is awful for tomorrow according to the forecast so the chances of them returning is rather bleak indeed!

Cheers Boxer, welcome on board!

As many of you know I have set up a share syndicate in the Europa Classic for the coming season. I have entered 3 pigeons in the race that I have bred myself. In addition to this, I aim to purchase 4 or 5 birds belonging to other people who will race under our name and compete for the prize money on offer. What I am after is anyone wanting to join in with us and have a share in these additional birds we plan to activate. The birds are going to be £100 each when they are sold to the public. I want to have 4 shareholders in each of these birds so that the prize money is decent if we get lucky. That works out at £25 a share - with £5,250 in potential winnings per share held if we get lucky. Not a bad price for a bit of fun throughout the summer and a chance of winning some decent cash. Anyone interested in joining in on this venture please get in touch. The birds usually become available around the 1st Hotspots in these races. Good Luck and I look forward to welcoming you on board!

Speaking to some of the lads in the club their returns improved as the day went on. Now 2-5 missing per loft.

I haven't sent today but club members have had a stinker! 3 from 20, 5 from 20, 8 from 20, 2 from 6! It was only a short 50 mile race to these lofts! So glad I kept mine in the loft!

why were the birds let go in Thurso on that day if they were only getting to Montrose? I know a few feds had a shocker including the Welsh Grand National where I believe only 4 birds made it home! Shocking decision to liberate them! Hope the owners get this one back!

If you look at Louella.co.uk they put up sales lists and a pictures of the birds along with colour. Maybe of some help to you.

Top left to top right - Red Cheq, Cheq Pied, Cheq middle row - White Flight Blue Bottom left to right - Light Cheq, Dark Cheq Pied, White Flight Dark Cheq Hope this helps.

Here are some of the colours mate

Our club changed after last season, and to be honest the racing has been so much better! Good races, good returns and birds well looked after. Would seriously recommend any thinking of joining a new fed to consider the Rhondda Valley federation! 10 out of 10 in my view compared to lasts year in the Welsh North Road where I would give it 5/10.

Just been looking through some of the performances of some of the birds I have purchased from last years Europa auction and was amazed how well a W/F Blue cock had done throughout the training and hotspot races in the Europa Classic. Looking through his results I see he was in the top 40 birds home no fewer than 18 times out of the 32 training/race series that was published on the site! A remarkable performance considering there was over 1200 birds entered. I was wondering if anyone was aware of any bird that had done better in the time the race has been going? I believe he was leading the Ace Bird standing after the 1st 2 'hotspots'. If it hadn't been for a mediocre showing in the 3rd hotspot and final race this cock would surely would have been in the running for the Ace Bird 2009! An out and out sprinter of the highest order (Willy Jacobs) :) TRAINING 1 (2009-07-10) 12 TRAINING 2 (2009-07-12) 150 TRAINING 3 (2009-07-13) 19 TRAINING 4 (2009-07-14) 21 TRAINING 5 (2009-07-15) 376 TRAINING 6 (2009-07-16) 8 HOT SPOT 1 (2009-07-18) 6 TRAINING 7 (2009-07-20) 7 TRAINING 8 (2009-07-22) 15 TRAINING 9 (2009-07-23) 12 HOT SPOT 2 (2009-07-24) 22 TRAINING 10 (2009-07-27) 27 TRAINING 11 (2009-07-28) 280 TRAINING 12 (2009-07-30) 31 HOT SPOT 3 (2009-07-31) 364 TRAINING 13 (2009-08-02) 274 TRAINING 14 (2009-08-05) 7 TRAINING 15 (2009-08-06) 41 HOT SPOT 4 (2009-08-07) 15 TRAINING 16 (2009-08-09) 59 TRAINING 17 (2009-08-10) 107 TRAINING 18 (2009-08-11) 52 HOT SPOT 5 (2009-08-13) 114 TRAINING 19 (2009-08-17) 29 TRAINING 20 (2009-08-18) 45 TRAINING 21 (2009-08-19) 17 TRAINING 22 (2009-08-21) 37 TRAINING 23 (2009-08-23) 19 TRAINING 24 (2009-08-24) 170 TRAINING 25 (2009-08-25) 30 TRAINING 26 (2009-08-27) 234 FINAL RACE (2009-08-30) 291

I would like anyone who has a bird come in with the ring number WHU10R 07324 - 07350 to let me know. Its my brothers first season and he trained his team of 38 on Sunday and had a bad smash on there 2nd training toss from 6 miles. He had 2 back after an hour followed by another 4, 20 minutes later. Then he had a batch of 14 come and hour later. They have come in dribs and drabs over the last 2 days but he is still 7 missing. One returned tonight with a no tail and big hole in it. I dont know the exact numbers but know they are between these numbers. He would be very grateful if anyone has one that comes in. He had telephone clip rings but Boddy and Ridewood got the number wrong and he had to send them back - only returned to him the day after the smash......typical!! :rolleyes: I am more worried when he goes training than when I take my only birds as I want him to do well in his first year! Thanks in advance!

Don't put anything in the water mate. Maybe once a week add some cider vinegar but apart from that just leave plain water down for them. If they are fed well and they are healthy they will do just fine with this!

Not sure who the GHS syndicate are but the pigeon was bred by Peter Goodright.

I had a similar problem when my young ones were first going out. Twice youngsters flew into the windows and found one hiding my my store shed! I finally discovered it was crows chasing them. They were reaching out to grab them and the youngsters were just escaping capture by any means they could! Needless to say the days of that crow hunting my birds are sadly over as I have retired him! :)

I believe this bird was entered into the Europa Classic last year being entered as CF3 Venturer. Had positions of 544th, 604th, 59th, 192nd, 574th in the hotspot races and finished 230th in the Final race from Hexham. This season been 113th and 76th in the hotspot races in the Europa 500. I also think it was only purchased by the GHS syndicate immediately prior to the Final race from Thurso! Nice £10,000 pick up in that case!

I have been looking at the results from a lot of the Welsh National races, is it me or are there huge losses occurring in these races? Take Thurso yesterday, I have seen on this forum that just 1 person had a day bird and was lucky enough to get another this morning. As far as I am aware the Europa who sent 139 birds have not had one! These were extremely well bred, well raced and well trained birds yet nothing! The same applies to a lot of the other National races that have taken place over the last few weeks. It seems birdages of 700-1,500 birds and judging by comments, threads, speaking to people there seems as if less than 25% appear to making it back to their lofts? Is it me or do people think far more birds should be returning from these races? These are not just average fanciers, but big name people who are having huge losses at these distances?

I fancy a 1-1 draw with Villa and Robben scoring the goals

Have the Europa Lofts clocked anything this morning? If so how many and who owns them?

Cheers Fifer. Update for Shareholders on www.Rasbull-lofts.co.uk Please click on the 'Latest News' tab.

Was planning on taking the birds after work on their 2nd training toss after starting yesterday. The wind has picked up though, with low cloud cover and slight rain in the air. So thought better of it and will get them out for an hour around the loft this evening and hope the weather is better tomorrow.

This is my loft - built it myself. Does the job required!