peter pandy

Yiz have nae heart takin £5 frae an auld pensioner an nae return..But see yiz awe next week.

More to it I got my ear dotted frae Wee Mary for smelling like a shirt lifter after she found talcum on my jacket..

Aye, Some wee fat bloke pinched my raffle ticket for his own nefarous needs and won the chocolates which wee Mary would have enjoyed. Nae luck at all last night as the Motorway was closed and I had a 14 mile detour. The loss of petrol and chockies had me in tears :o :emoticon-0156-rain:

RIP Jimmy and condolences Tommy..

Looking forward to it and Tommy cannot make it as he is in Doncaster, However it was a bad phone line although I am sure he said he would buy everyone a pie except the numpty Novo.

Not a lot happening in and around the loft at the moment as it is only daily maintenance chores with the inclement weather and the birds loft bound most days, Thursday's "Racing Pigeon" and I was avidly reading the Jim Emerton Column when I suddenly realised he was following my methods TIC..I always knew others "top men" would pick up on my methods and follow them. At Clarkston show I attempted to relay a TV programme on an individual air crash and the effect Jumbo jet engine wash could have on our birds flying through one, When trying to explain that on take off planes following must leave 5 miles between take off's. The pressure wake from 200,000 PSI would leave a bird shredded into little bits and had ripped the tail and rudder from a following plane with total loss of life brought the reply what has a rudder got to do with a plane or are you talking about boats which brought my conversation to an abrupt close, As one who has been buzzed in a 6 seater flight by a S.A. fighter jet which nearly flipped us over and a French fighter jet which had the Jumbo I was a passenger in rocking I thought I knew a little about what I was trying to put over. Some folk cannae be ejukated at aw..LOL

Would have thought it was more importamnt to keep the Midlannd Fed survive and hope to see you at the AGM where anonomalities will be brought up regarding the custodians,,

Having finally removed traces of Opiate painkillers from my body I have discovered pulled muscles in my lower back and am unable to lift my arms above my head due to Athritis after consultation with my Doctor, so the conversion to the loft roof is sidelined although I have a couple of double glazed windows which will be going on the South/East wall when I can persuade the Son in Law to fit them. With the birds looking splendid in their new coats and transforming body wise into a different more mature look all is as hoped for, The Padfield influence has certainly taken place with a different look to them as they have changed completely now their third moult has been completed with bolder heads and larger wattles.

Jack & Jill thoroughly enjoyed it .. Finders Keepers the saying goes.. BURP.

Condolences to the family on this sad news. R.I.P. Dave.

This show is a must during the close season with fanciers from Central,Almond Valley,Midland,Lanarkshire,Glasgow, and Derek Hay, Nobody knows what Fed or Region he is in as he changes as regular as his underpants according to Tommy Donut. :emoticon-0136-giggle:

Let the Hens out this morning and they were out of sight in 10 seconds with 4 older Hens returning after 20 minutes and the rest later doing 50 minutes going like bats out of Hell zipping around the area which was a real pleasure to watch, all in all they put in about 3 Hours flying in their 4 Hours of freedom which also included having a bath and a pick about the garden, It fair gives them an appetite boost. The Barley straw on the floor has finally bedded down to about 4-6 Ins deep and is absorbing the dampness entering the loft through the atmosphere making it a pleasant environment for the birds and me.

Perhaps the guarantee they are not carrying passengers when racing LOL

When going through all the birds in the loft I was aware that a couple still had feather lice although the bath had been well used every day with "T" Tree oil included. I was made aware last year at Clarkston show that lice was suposedly present on the birds however on closer inspection it transpired to be thin black lines on the feathering NOT LICE, Being a fastidious person I thought to make sure all was devoid of the little beasties I filled a pail with 9 Litres of warm water and emptied a packet of Chlorocarb in. Proceeding to give every bird in the loft with a 20 second soak it was noticable that the mixture in the form of water droplets ran off them like the old saying "Water off a ducks back" I was quite amazed as I had even included puting in a couple of drops of Fairy washing up liquid. With the loft heaters on at 30c they were not long in drying out. To cut a long story short I have 9 Litres of used dipping liquid for sale at a very reasonable price, Extra if pedigree is suplied.. ..Hopefully I will be at Clarkson Show on Wednesday with a couple of entrant's NAE LICE..

At this time of the year with the moult almost complete apart from the later breds which still have 6 Secondaries to throw I attempt to study if all has developed well having changed my regime in an endeavour to produce a better quality feather than the previous years, By consulting my diaries from years gone past "2004" where I produced feathering which was silky and gave excellent racing results the following season I do believe I have achieved the finished product I was after. It has been said that I am always chopping and changing and that is true as I stated at the beginning of writing ""Natural"" that I had won all I wanted to win as I am a realist and recognise that only Lady Luck or a move to the East can produce regular National positions and breeding countless numbers of Pigeons is antithetical to me. With the air disturbance over for another year it was noticable last Sunday "5th" that all the local birds flew like devils in the sky for ages and one can deduce that the exploding rockets locally the night before may have something to do with the phenomenon. If some of the youngsters which I had down as Hens keep changing into Cocks then I could end up with equal numbers of 30 each which will make a pleasant change from the norm however I am waiting till all the cover flights are back in before giving a couple of training tosses out to 40 miles probably around the end of this month which will no doubt upset the equilibrium. At our regular Satuday afternoon coffee meeting we have discussed the different aspects of racing and losses compared to the past and concluded that changes in our pigeons could have a bearing on why they are occuring. What we did agree on was THAT the old Scottish Pigeon is no more. Our combined years of experience is 190 years,, Aye we are old foggie's.

No doubt Tommy McDonut will be there tae eat awe the pies, If wee Mary says I can go then I'll see yiz anaw.

All my birds are wee favourites Steve just like everybody else on Basics and when you see them lying on a bed of straw it's sheer contentment for them and me. With the amount of squibs banging away from early evening I have closed the loft up tight with the memory of a rocket entering a loft a couple of years back resulting in it being burned down.

I do not believe it !!!, The Loft radio has packed in so no more dancing the night away on the perches and nest boxes which brings me to Loft environment and its possibilities. How important is the space the birds spend most of their lives in "Loft" and is happiness endemic to success ?. I suppose their can be differing forms which are all part and parcel of the individual fancier however not being a mob flier and taking more pleasure in the ability to pick the first one home from my small team gives me most satisfaction. The older one gets the more difficult things become and even handling with hands which are no longer supple or bending down without falling over is quite frustrating and I wont mention failing eyesight as they all start to look the same apart from the colour however I digress as the mind wanders and I forgot what I started writing about. Can we tell if our birds are happy in the loft ?? Well I think we can by observation, When they are lying about on the straw deep litter and you have to step over them they are at their most happiest and contentment oozies from them, The opposite is when they avoid you like the plague.. Slow deliberate movement is a must to create the bond we all desire. To be cont;.

That is awfy kind of you Alf however wee Mary picked up yin frae Aldi £34 although it is half the size what we had.. Ye dinnae hiv a hoover spare di yi ?? They do say God loves a trier :emoticon-0136-giggle:

It was my intension to do so Derek, However No [7] misfortune was wee Mary saying she wanted a holiday in December before Xmas and I had not the backbone to say NAW. Always next year..

Mentioned a couple of posts past that I would not be separating the sexes this year !! Well that idea did not last long with the Hens getting amorous lately so they were shifted through. Work has commenced on putting straw down again as floor bedding as I am suffering pain when using the scraper. Paid a visit to Tommy at Blantyre and introduced a couple of friends who spent a few bob on feeding but unfortunately my pleading empty pockets fell on his deaf ear so no commission was forthcoming my way, us OAP's canny git nowt these days Blue sky to-day saw the Cocks out and they dissapeared into the heavens for an hour before returning for a bath, Dont recall them going so high before so they must be fit. They say misfortunes comes in three's WELL not in my case [1] Electric Kettle packed in. [2] Telly packed in. [3] Microwave Oven went. [4] Computer stopped computing. [5] Mary's Dyson vaccum cleaner was next. [6] Jack Frost the other day killed all my flower bed plants. Not bad for the last fortnight Their was a Number [7] which will be kept in abeyance..

With the birds scooting through the moult I am having them out on nice days which means they have rarely seen the outside of the loft lately, however when the door is open the Late Breds are away and running for at least an hour whils't the older birds are more content to lie in the bath, only getting the wings going when disturbed by a seagull/crow flying low over the roof tops. In the past I used to give Yacult in the water so if anybody wishes to try it firstly empty your drinkers then feed the birds wait till all have had their fill then dump the Yacult into your watering can, stir vigorously then fill the drinkers as Yacult settles on the bottom within a minute or two and this way all the birds will have had a good dose of probiotics via the water.

"Bluey" FlightPath replaces lost microflora in the intestine and is advertised in the BHW weekly. It must do what it says to comply with the Advertising Standards in Law. I first read about it in a Chicken Magazine and used it before it was trialed by leading pigeon fanciers since.

Sitting on my loft seat and contemplating how well the birds are looking especially some of the Blues and Chequers whose heads are turning paler than usual which is a good sign that all is well as they peck at my feet for a bit of cheddar which they have every day and Jack has his nose smacked if he tries to get there first. Had a squirrel visit next door's garden but stopped, turned and fled when it spied my Terror Eyes Balloon which are now selling on Amazon/E'Bay for half the price I have been paying. I should add that the Balloon is put up when the birds are out and taken down when they are back in the loft so as it not to appear to be a permanent deterrant to any Bassa on patrol.

Latebreds are out the loft in jig time when the door is dropped leaving the area for a good period of time while the rest are merely content to sit in the Bath then repair to the loft roof for a preen and soak up the sun while I am busy clearing the feathers from the loft. All is exactly as it should be and old Cock birds are quite content to sit in nest boxes with their Hens as I am not separating this year. I have been reading another Post regarding, In, Line etc, Breeding and I have said before that more winners are bred from maiden yearling Hens than any other. It is the only factor and nothing to do with genes. On the First of all months over the years I have gave my birds Flight Path over the feed and never had YBS and something came to mind so done a wee bit of research. It has been noticed that YBS is a virus and Antibiotics wont kill a virus but I run a couple of Insect Zappers and they have UltraViolet light bulbs which kill viruses as well and my pond filtration system also has a U/V light which the pond water is pumped over to dispose of Microbes in the pond water. It is only food for thought.