DeDarren

'The Pigeon Fancier's Handbook' by Jan Hermans and 'Pigeon Racing, Advanced Techniques' by Jan Aerts.

Unfortunately it happened to us last year, we were gifted 4 young'uns by the top dogs in our club a week before we weaned our first round over, they wiped the whole lot out and it took a number of our more valuable stock birds also. PMV was the culprit. Good luck for your friend's birds Stuart, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I hope they catch the scumbags who did this.

The feeding is as above mate. I'lll PM you in a bit, in work at the minute.

We have followed the system from 'Cracked It' volume 1 avidly for a number of years now and have found our young pigeons to take to the air and be flying between 4 & 6 weeks earlier than in the seasons before we used this system and we found that they are flying for much longer periods right from the outset. They are basically given a high protein diet until they are all perching and then we change over to Beyers diat mixture for the remainder of the darkness period. We also provide them during this time with a drink based on whey protein 3 times a week so a quality protein intake with a huge helping of all the vital amino acids is maintained. We also provide daily baths (though they don't always bath every single day). Only when we start training does the mixture change to a 50/50 young bird & diat. On this regime, our young pigeons hold lovely light bodies with silky feathering. They zip through the moult like nobody's business and thanks to the easy digestibility of the feed, we have excellent control of them from an early age which stays with them for life.

It takes a Manc (from Rochdale) to back a Chelski fan up, says it all Alan! ;D

15 to go then eh! Oh happy days! ;D ;D ;D

What team do you support Chris?? ;D

David Moyes is being lined up to take over as Manager of the Tescos superstore which will adjoin Everton's new stadium in a bid to bring in cash for new players through Tesco's clubcard scheme, every little helps! ;D ;D ;D

Your owner bought you back to back titles with the help of your then manager, who whined about and manipulated match officials at every twist and turn to the point where one official had to retire because of receiving death threats thanks to the outrageous claims of the 'Special' (needs) one, who then miraculously retracted his claim. That my friend is not sportsmanship, it is large scale bullying and incitement. Fact: Chelski did win back to back titles, the only titles you have ever won in your club's long, long history. Fact: Liverpool are the most successful club team in England. You have 16 more titles to go to catch us up, not to mention 5 European cups, which is a cup competition whereby you have to eliminate the Champions of England, Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Belgium, Russia, Romania, Scotland, Wales & Ireland in order to win it. But given your not the richest kids in the Premiership playground anymore, I wouldn't go holding your breath. Oh happy days indeed! ;D ;D ;D

Hey Joe, don't be so bloody stupid! We beat United at home without Torres & Gerrard this season, you know the same Manchester United who beat you in the Champion's League final and then battered you 3-0 this season at Old Trafford and as for Everton, they've held your big spending, 'Almighty' Chelski to a draw for the last 2 seasons at home so what's your excuse there 'Joe61'? That is your name right? If you're gonna talk football, at least talk some sense and as for average, what does that make your team, who we have beaten TWICE this season already and are above in the Premier league having missed Torres for almost the whole season? What a laugh! ;D ;D ;D ;D

I stand corrected!

There is at least one other thread on here regarding YB's from the Natural Breeding Station if you require more answers guys, or if you find that answers are less than forthcoming on this thread. A recent winner of the Europa 1 Loft race was a Natural Stud bred Vandenabeele and yes they do have a website, just send them a message via the website and they will forward you a list of strains.

Heart disease! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Dead in shell can also be caused by a deficiency of Riboflavin in the diet prior to and during the time the pigeons have been paired up. I hope you get sorted out, if only for your peace of mind mate.

Don't kid yourself on Alan, about 3 seasons ago, David Moyes bought THE WRONG PLAYER FOR 5 MILLION SNOTS!!! (the equivalent of a £20-£25 million signing for Manure) The player was Per Koldrup and he was unceremoniously kicked out the Goodison Park back door just as quickly as he had arrived once Moyes' scouting staff pointed out that he had made a very 'SMALL' transfer mistake! Moyes will forever remain a LEG-END on Merseyside for that alone!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Nowhere near as much as Manure! The average price of a Manure squad player is in the region of £18 million, the 'better' players fetching in the region of £30 million. You's even took a £14 million loss on Veron after just one season, a player that cost you £28 million! Thank God Chelski came bailing you out eh?! ;D Our spending and subsequent waste of cash is not in the same bracket mate, not by a long chalk! ;D

Didn't Brian Kaid get rumbled for making up performances for some of the pigeons at his entire clearance sales? That's hardly the actions of somebody telling you it straight now is it? And as for Ronnie Bigwood et al copying him, hahaha! jog on Ash sunshine! ;D ;D ;D

Precisely! Davie Hunt re-tells the story of the great Roy Calder on 'Cracked It 2' who picked out one of Davie's Combine winners prior to the event happening, based on his own tried and tested throat 'theory'. From what I can remember, rather than looking at the 'curtain' to the rear of the throat, Roy based his observations on the opening directly behind the tongue and he liked to see a nice oval rugby ball shaped opening. It's all a bit of fun!

I can't see Arsene Wenger (one of the Premier League's biggest advocates of supplemented nutrition) serving out piles of soil to his players somehow, but perhaps that's where he's been going wrong of late??! ;D

I'm thinking about trying out a product called Primalac in 2009. It's a very effective, totally safe probiotic product that gets to work in the pigeon's gut by the process of competitive exclusion, or so I am led to believe by what I have read on the product, very similar to Flight Path.

Planet's Van Loons are still winning big time throughout the UK, and there are still many good sources, Mick McMurchie, John Windsor, Paul Newbold has a lot of stock via the now defunct Ranmoor Lofts & as Old Yellow pointed out, there is Bolton & Williamson to name just 4. Oh and then there's Planet Brothers if you only need hens! The original base of the Koopman family is in the main Janssen & Van Loon, making them the perfect foil to pep up an inbred Planet line should you feel the need. Gerard Koopman regards Louis Van Loon as his 2nd Father which may give some idea as to how much time he spent at the lofts of Van Loon during his pigeon education and how important a role Van Loon's pigeons played in the make up of one of the finest family of middle distanse pigeons around today, IMO. They are intelligent, honest as the day is long, easy to condition as they are a small-medium type and will score throughout the programme.

Happy Birthday Merlin! Hope you have a WIZARD time today!

A direct daughter of Gerard Koopman's 'De Wondere Dirk'. Not saying how much I paid, but I'm pretty pleased!

Agreed. If Ron was Dutch or Belgian, we would be talking about him in Jos Thoné terms.