Pompey Mick

I bought the book when it was first advertised and have to admit that it is a good read. I read it in two sessions it is that interesting that you don't want to put it down. There is a bit of poetic licence, but on the whole the storyline is very believable. A very good read.

Fifer, do you think the Scottish fanciers who joined the RPRA because of ETS will return if the RPRA sanctions its use?

Pigeon fanciers everywhere will still be able to use their conventional clocks, and in most cases the winners will still be the winners no matter what system is used. I've just been doing the cards for this years races and the vast majority of races would have been won by the same people whether they clocked with ETS or conventional. They closest race was 3 seconds difference, all the rest were over 20 secs or more in front. It will be the same as when any new gadget hits the street, they're always dear to start with, but the price starts to level out when secondhand and refurbished models appear on the market. Look at the T3, when it first appeared on the market it was a select few fanciers that acquired them, they were a bit of a status symbol in the beginning, but they are common-place now.

Is there a Race Program available that will run ETS and Conventional clocks together.

I AGREE, THAT'S A VERY GOOD IDEA, IT WOULD BE IDEAL IF THEY ARE HOUSED WHERE E,T,S, IS BEING USED SO WE CAN HAVE TRAINING RACES ETC. AND KEEP CHECK OF OUR BIRDS PROGRESS.

These are the beans I'm currently using

Is there a computer race program available that will take both ETS and traditional timings for Club race results. What programs are in use in Scotland?

You're a bit better off then me peterpau, at least your Channel races start at 200mls whereas we start at 99mls. Imagine having to rest your birds for two weeks after a 100 ml sprint. It causes havoc with a widowhood team,

I have just read again the Avian Influenza report by Gordon A. Chalmers on the recent experiments wereby pigeons were INOCULATED WITH THE DISEASE, and from the findings the have concluded that pigeons are' subsceptible' to the disease. Subsceptible means'likely to be affected, liable or vulnerable to' and I don't think that injecting a creature with a disease many times stronger that it will face in nature proves in any way 'susceptibility'. From the report it is found that pigeons have reacted in a completely different way to the normal course of the disease being that it only affects the brain makes me wonder whether the ever caught Avian Flu in the first place, maybe they have suffered a massive reaction against foreign viruses entering their body which has led to their death. How can they tell? As they admitted later'The normal chickens housed together with the inoculated pigeons did not HAVE TISSUE CHANGES THAT COULD BE ASSOCIATED WITH AVIAN INFLUENZA' as far as I can read neither did the pigeons. The only way it can be proved that pigeons are 'susceptible' to this disease is to place them with infected chicken and let nature take it's course and see if they catch Avian Flu rather than be given it.

We on the South Coast, especially the Solent Fed, suffer very badly with these restrictions. ALL our Old Bird races are Channel Races, so at this moment in time we are at a complete loss at what to do. The restriction that hits us hardest is the 7Day isolation rule which means we can only race at the most half our team weekly, this has a severe effect on costs and also keeping the birds racing as a lot of our Channel races are under 200mls. You don't really want to stop the birds after a 130mile race, which is what we have to do. There is talk of an alternate Overseas/ Inland programme, but that won't help as Channel birds cannot be raced anywhere for 7 days. The only way I can see out of this if the present restrictions remain is for us to race the Channel on a Saturday and then race the following Sunday Inland and then back to the Channel the following Saturday and so on. This will enable us to race birds weekly. I know that we could have holdovers but as long as the permit dates are adhered to this shouldn't be a problem.

Come on Lads, get real, it was only France. We held the mighty Macedonia to a 0-0 draw. Seriously though, Well done beating La Belle France

I don't know if you see my post on the Ebay site, but there's a job lot of pigeon gear available, Ideal for someone like you starting from scratch, as for lofts one of my best ever YB seasons was racing to a 6' X4' converted garden shed. The Ebay seller is in the pigeon category, he's at rainham essex and the starting bid is £40.00 (no bids yet), There's 9 days to go.

Here's Riker, 12yr Old having a well earned rest after barking at cats, (he doesn't chase them any more) He's my daughters dog but he lives permanently with me and the missus.

The modern day pigeon is a much fitter, faster creature than 30yrs ago, We now look for 40mph with a headwind and 45mph plus in a no-wind situation. These speeds were 35mph for headwinds and 40mph for a no-wind situation 30yr ago. Unfortunately the homing ability doesn't seem to have improved at all, in fact some people would say that we have sacrificed brain for speed. Another factor is the demise of the good old club race, nowadays we go straight into Federation races with YBs, being liberated with thousands of other pigeons flying to spread out locations, no wonder the yb's panic and end up going nowhere. Before Road transport we always had several club races which did the birds a power of good and built their confidence before facing Federation racing. Also early morning libs, these may be OK for the short races but for the longer distances the birds are liberated before they have had a chance to fighy their way to the drinker(if they ever do) and dehydration will then have a big effect on 80% of the convoy resulting in excessive losses.

Jack Barkel has an interesting piece on sexing pigeons on his website http:mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel in his Q&A section in the articles page If this doesn't load go to Google search Jack Barkel Q27 I was wanting to know how to sex pigeons. Thanks,Jacob A There in no infallable way of sexing pigeons that I have found and I presume I must have tested most all of these fallacies or supposed methods. However as a fancier who handles a minimum of 1000 birds per month in my job, not including my own pigeons the nearest way of recognising the difference is as follows. The cocks eyelids are round where a hens eye lids are dished at the bottom and is alike to the bottom eyelid of a human being. As they say, a picture can explain a thousand words. There is an explanatory photo on his website

When I first started racing in 1963, if you entered a non-club ring you were expected to show proof of ownership, in fact in the young bird races you paid extra for non-club rings. Nowadays almost every ring on a race entry sheet can be 'foreign' so to speak. The RPRA will produce a list of registered rings for the last ten years for any member if required, perhaps members should have a copy to hand in the event of disputes. I feel that 'stray racing' is not that common, it is too easy to pick up on.especially if the bird appears on a result sheet, it's not worth it. As for lost YB's I too wonder where they go and I do feel a vast number end up feral,but they don't survive for long. Many years ago my late father was Pest Control Officer for Portsmouth Council and we regularly cleared the ferals from roofspaces, one winter we cleared over 2000 ferals(not one rung bird in the roof space colonies but we did catch rung YB's in the traps). Owners were notified and birds were repatriated. When racers 'go wild' thet are not readily accepted by the feral flocks and are often found on window cills and balconies, consequently they find it very difficult to survive a winter, also the rung birds are a prime target for the kids of which some are only interested in the rings.

IF THERE IS ANYONE OUT THERE WHO IS STARTING FROM SCRATCH, CHECK OUT EBAY, THERE IS A REAL JOB LOT OF (USED) PIGEON ACCESSORIES ON OFFER IN THE PIGEON SECTION, CRATES , BASKETS, DRINKERS.SPUTNIKS ETC. IT BELONGS TO A FANCIER WHO IS GIVING UP THE SPORT. MIGHT DO SOMEONE A BIT OF GOOD. Starting bid £40.00 End time: 14-Oct-06 20:42:16 BST (9 days) Postage costs: Pickup only - see item description for details Post to: Will arrange for local pickup only (no postage). Item location: rainham, Essex, United Kingdom Quantity: 1 lot available (93 items each) Cost per item: £0.43 each (Not sold individually) History: 0 bids -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This collection consists of 3, 8 bird sputnick traps.6 Baskets 3 training, 1 wicker, 2 6 bird reeded wickerhood. 1, 6 bird metal stall trap for young birds.5, Drinkers 4, 5 pints and 1 , 3 pint plastic widowhood nestbox grills for 24 cock boxes and 24 hen boxes.2 3ft wooden feeders. 24 nest bowls 48 plastic feed and water pots 4 sets of 4 widowhood boxes wooden hardwood floor grills. all items in fair condition. items for sale as retired for racing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Select a picture

It looks like there is another drug being developed to fight Avian Flu which will hopefully help take away the Fear Factor from Government institutions. Washington - A drug being developed to fight bird flu and seasonal flu helps animals to survive H5N1 avian flu infection, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals said on Saturday. The drug, called peramivir, protected mice and ferrets, which are considered the species closest to humans in terms of susceptibility to influenza. The result, reported to the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco, should boost the company's efforts to win US Food and Drug Administration approval to treat infected humans with the drug. The FDA accepts data on two animal species in lieu of human data in certain cases when deadly infectious agents are involved. Peramivir is still in experimental trials but is considered the next-line drug to fight influenza of all sorts, after Tamiflu and Relenza. Experts want to have several antivirals to choose from in fighting flu because the virus mutates quickly, and because no drug has been completely effective. A team at Birmingham, Alabama-based BioCryst and at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston used a high-security lab to test whether the drug could prevent deaths from H5N1 infection in 41 mice and 20 ferrets.

Hopper feed Tic Beans and use a mixture for trapping. Got some beautiful beans locally £5.00 bag, recleaned & polished. They're as cheap now as they were 20yrs ago, because they're no longer popular.

Well Wiley, the only problem I get is when a good bird comes just when Pompey score, Though I have to say that doesn't happen very often on either count. (Me get a good bird or Pompey score)

Beats Fratton Park any day Gareth.

Here's another shot in the dark of Fratton Park, ideal landmark for nightflying pigeons (wish I had some)

We just had a thread for where your computer is, so why not post some photos of the view from your loft. I'll start with one from my loft which will be hard to beat , the mighty Fratton Park floodlights.(Soon to be moved) Play up Pompey (Jammy Spurs)

My computer's in the back room and I can see the loft if I spin round on my chair. It's all a bit cluttered though.

Another good point, Thanks for your interest Wiley, You had a result with the Vandenbeeles from Henry Gonsalves when you see prices in other adverts, you must have been quick off the mark to get them.