peter pandy

I only restarted last year but the difference between myself and others is that I have confidence in my ability to get the best out of our feathered friends.

Handle Them... If they are down a bit in the body then they are flying.. If they handle the same as usual then they are sitting somewhere.. Its not rocket science.

This is where observation comes into play. By sitting on your backside in the loft for hours on end instead of clumping about, chasing birds to handle etc etc, About the only time I handle birds is when they are going in a basket. But then again I do know what I am looking for and more often than not I only send the one.

Did you go to the farm at Hereford ?

Observation and manipulation is all that is required. I will set up my yearlings to win up to 200 miles, My 2 year olds to win from 200 - 400 miles and 3 year olds extreme distance. P.S. My team are bred from 700 milers.

Get yourself a gas gun and burn all surfaces. That will put an end to your problem permanently.

Still no joy

Knew a guy who had a 9 year old hen that had not won a light then pops up to win 1st Scottish Central Combine 520 miles.

Three of us spent 4 friggin hours trying to post the photo to no avail. Started sober now foo oh Gin an tonics, Whisky and am goin tae ma bed defeated. Well I might hiv anither ane or twa.

THE PINK LADY

Just heard that their has been 20.000 visits to the site by unknown person in Falkirk District Council.

Downloaded camera onto computer screen "hundreds of them" but dont have a clue as to what to do next so will have to wait till son appears and does it all for me. AGE HAS ITS DRAWBACKS.

Is this the same Mr Smith who lost out on a full pooler with the SNFC many years ago. ?

Food for thought ?? Aye or Nae.

July 2010 I bred a late bred from a Blue Cock X Dark Cheq Hen Aarden's which colour I had never seen before and as such stuck out like a sore thumb amongst my Blues, Cheqs, Dark Cheqs as it was almost Pink. The part time gardener who new nothing about pigeons always remarked on it as we sat outside in the garden having lunch or afternoon tea, It took to the sky like any other pigeon and trained around the loft with the others. Mary my good lady of 45 years decided she wanted to retire back to Scotia to be near the family again so in September 2010 we moved back up from Hatfield 20 miles North of London. All the birds were basketed and brought up to a spare shed my brother had and there they remained for 5 months in captivity. I had new lofts built with the Stock in one and the rest which were all Yearlings installed in the racing loft in late February keeping them in till late April before trying to re-home them into their new surroundings. Half of them 15 in total immediately took off in a Southerly direction along with the pink one. Last I will see of that says I to the Mrs however over the next few days birds were returning yet I still had about 10 missing. As an afterthought I phoned the gardener to enquire if any had returned to their original home as they were not at my brothers shed and low and behold he informed me the Pink one had been sitting on the cottage roof the day before along with a couple of others. To say I was astounded would be to put it mildly as their was 350 miles betweem the lofts and the only time she had been in a basket was transporting her up here. Another fortnight went by when my brother phoned to say she was back and trying to get into his shed where I duly trapped her and ensconced her into my stock loft. I phoned the gardener and asked when he had last seen the Pink one and he replied yesterday so she had done a single up from 350 miles again. Makes you wonder does it not and by the way she is not Pink as when at Blackpool I noticed one similar in the Masserella pens and they had it down as a Mossaic mind you she is still a Pink Lady to me.

TO RACE OR NOT TO RACE YOUNG BIRDS IS THE QUESTION. "could have been Shakespear" To race :- Advantage == None. :- Disadvantage == You are racing when the Peregrine is at its most active. July August September. Not to race :- Advantage == The above. :- Disadvantage == Cost of keeping them till Yearlings. CONCLUSION :- Dont rear youngsters till your old bird racing is complete. Advantage :- Longer summer day light equal's better bred youngsters. Disadvantage :- Shorter racing season although this could be overcome with many more 100 mile races for old birds.

Yes, With farm purchased beans stored till 2 years old and done well winning most races with old & young birds.

DAZER. Phone No 01733 315888 You wont be disapointed.

I have an ADVENT 2 years old and never yet had it off the mains. Will seek advice from son when he makes his weekly visit. I only use this as a typewriter. Canny teach an auld dug new tricks.

It would appear to me and many posts that beans are only good for horses, toast and flatulence etc. So let us digress and open our minds to the common Bean. It was the favoured feed either by itself or in mixtures up until the late seventies as all you old codgers are aware yet most went against it when foreign feed stuffs were displayed and we marvelled at the results the Europeans were obtaining from it. Widowhood etc birds had to be fed on it or results would not be forth coming. A no Bean mixture was the coming messiah feed and Beans were taboo. I personally do not go along with the theory and scientific value of feedstuff to a pigeon purely due to the fact that for a diet to be balanced the individual bird has to have the precise amount of grain and if it perchance leaves a portion of any one or two grains then the balance has been disrupted. Europeans feed much Barley yet I have not observed many fanciers feeding it per se in any great amounts nor have feed suppliers been inundated with queeries or sales regarding same. One thing for sure is no Beans no distance. I have in my experience reared a section of y/b on Beans only and the next door section on a proprietry foreign breeding diet. There appeared at first to be no differance in both sets in the nest at ten days however the bean fed youngsters were noticably more robust just prior to weaning, Another noticable feature was the Bean fed youngsters had stronger wider flights and a more muscular appearance with the vent bones less protruding. The next round I switched the feeding and reared a round again which complied with the first. The young birds were weaned into separate sections and fed either Beans or proprietry mixture to which they had been reared on trained and raced with the conclusion at the end of young bird racing being 40 reared on Beans 30 survived. 40 reared on breeding mix 8 survived which was pretty conclusive. Their will always be the exception to the rule however I have proved to myself and myself is the only person that I have anything to prove to, is that I would always rear youngsters on nothing but Beans regardless of the knockers.

I feel quite excited about my breeding and racing season this year and will bore you with the details as I cannot sleep due to weaning off pain killer dependancy [ opiate ] and doing cold turkey. in 2007 after building a new loft I introduced 40 y/b from Natural lofts via Mr Sturgess. Those were 20 Van Bruanne and 20 Stichelbaut all supposedly 24 days old however when they arrived most were about 3 - 4 months old and some casting there 6th flight. After settling and training I was left with 4 Van Bruanne's and ready to pack in. I had met and became friendly with Ray Strawbridge of Newport and he persuaded me to give it another try with him and his friends supplying me with 20 late breds these being Aardens, Muller Aardens and 4 pure Hansenne's. " now there's an old strain " At the start of 2008 I had to relocate with the birds being sent to my brother to keep for me untill I had settled in however it was 2 years before I was able to erect another loft and be repatriated with my birds. For a year they had been left to breed willy nilly and youngsters given away by my brother to anybody who wanted them. In 2010 I bred 34 y/b and culled 6. 28 were trained with the first toss being 45 miles. 6 returned that day with another 20 the following. Next time in the basket they went to 100 miles and I dropped 2 the following week 114 miles sent 24 all home and completed the programme with no more losses. I will add here that I had a 17 mile of the line of flight overfly. At the end of 2010 the wife and I decided to retire from working and returned to Scotia " BIG MISTAKE weather wise " and birds went back to my brother till a new loft could be built. The first 2 rounds were given away in 2011 while a new racing and stock loft was built to my specific instructions completed in March 2011. Another mistake as the weatherboarding was damp and boards shrank in the summer heat becoming transparent at the joints although I have to say it has an ellaborate pink pattern which is extremely pleasing on the eye. My stock consists of 6 pairs Aardens and 3 pairs Hansennes which I know will do the business at all distances. Scotia beware I AM BACK.

YES, and they will always have that opinion as long as we do not enlighten them with a differing view. I have perused their site and believe me they are only blinkered in thought through ignorance. SO I have dropped a few home truths into the lions den of their forum. If I can convert a couple of them then I will have perhaps done some good and they then might change others within to have a differing outlook towards conservation and the RSPB.

Beans Beans and more BEANS.

The way I am feeling I get nausea looking at your boat.

Ryan you take a nail in your left hand a hammer in your right, swing hard down with the hammer miss the nail and hit your hand. That gives you something to think about. Seriously, I am doing cold turkey regarding drug addiction pain killers and have had 6 hours sleep over the past 7 days. To stop me cracking up I have thought deeply about the knowledge I have picked up over the years which could be beneficial to some.