peter pandy

Sent just the 1 to 165 miles and was 8th Fed. Now that to me was a massive thrill..

Half our club members had virtually ZERO young birds left after two races and here in Central Scotland 1/3rd of youngsters left is a successful season. There is a massive difference flying into Southern Scotland as you have nothing facing your birds while we have the Southern Uplands, Lammer Muir Hills then The Pentlands to contend with Stevie.

From the 17 young birds that were given a little race experience 1 was badly injured and eventually put down and another went its merry way to pastures new, so am left with 15. Plus 18 later breds that I could not catch racing. At the moment I will Winter 33, 2016 youngsters..16, 2015 Birds all raced out 200-380 miles and 1, 2014 that was badly hawked in her first race this year, She seems to have recovered as I gave her a 60 mile single up from Kelso. Attempting to establish a team from scratch has been extremely difficult and although you can pay top dollar for bloodstock young birds their is certainly no guarantee they will breed anything with good homing abilities which to me is the main ingredient required.. I have had some really terrific handling and motivated birds this last couple of years but they have not cut the mustard when it comes to racing.

Cover flights went Steve.. But naebody spotted my mistake and I did not have time to amend it, The Third race birds 21 actually went to the Second race and it was the Second race entries that went to the Third race,, Confusing !! so put it down to an age thing and my Diary errors.

Andy, Having went through every bird in the loft and checked them off with my race and breeding records the following is what I have left. 32 youngsters were bred for racing..2 were disposed off, 8 decided they did not appreciate the surroundings and left home leaving 22 to race. From the 22 none were lost at the First race 60 miles 8 from 8, 2 were lost at the Second race 85 miles 12 from 14, 3 were lost at the Third race 112 miles 18 from 21, none lost at the Fourth race 135 miles 2 from 2 and none from the Last race 1 from 1. As you can see I have 17 raced from the 22 and that was with no training whatsoever with the moulting cover flights deciding how many I could send each week.. All in all I could say it has been a good Young Bird season returns wise with quality showing for the future..

Well done :emoticon-0137-clapping:

Knighthood coming his way ? Surely guaranteed..

Jings Wattie what are you telling folks you will be at Clarkston Show "" next Wednesday kick off 19.30"" for, as many will turn up now with more burds for a blether with you and I only have Twa Pieds with white on their heeds. I dont know if wee Tiger will be going but I hope so as I so look forward to a cuppa and a pie that he buys me.. Us auld yins need to get some nourishment at least once a week on a Winter's Night. :blink:

Aye Stevie, So they did not eat in the basket for a couple of days !!. Then again I have already posted that a certain seed stops stress..

Reading Walter's White Hen story reminded me just what a graveyard of a race the Gold Cup is as I have only been on it's Open result twice yet found the other 500-600 milers easy. Well maybe easy is the wrong description but I was more successful in the others yonks ago. Had the Hens out excercising yesterday and with quite a few Late Breds in amongst them they were off touring the country, On their return they were diving about and one went straight into a lamp post, On retrieval it was given a thorough medical and apart from cutting away torn skin and dusting down with medical powder she should be ok for the rigours of racing next year. On going through every bird in the loft I would say without doubt that my Hens are superior to the Cocks !! So it might be a case of staying on Natural next year making sure I dont make a fanny of myself as I did this year.. Oh by the way I was especially paying attention to finding a Fret on any flights but I was unsuccessful including those hit by the Bassas..

Great read Walter and you are to be complimented by all who read the story. Hopefully their will be more to come in the future.. :emoticon-0137-clapping:

Wrap the pots in bubble wrap Andy and they will add a bit of decoration outside at this time of the year. Its like the birds we are too soft on them at times LOL.

They should be ok wintering outside Andy as I have about 40 Geranium's in my bed [flower]. More concerned about my Begonia's and Dahlia's which are still flowering well.

Sorry to read about your problem Tammy but I think I would be paying your Doctor a wee visit and asking for a thorough examination as it may not be cramp you are suffering from but perhaps something more serious. Every person I have told about Tonic Water has had immediate relief and the Dr that instructed me was a Fell runner who treated cramps in runners with same.

Just had the dogs out for their last bit of business and my goodness its cold out there, 2c, coldest since 28th Feb.

Del, Just for you and those who believe in this stress whatever it is, Their is your answer. Hee Haw..LOL P.S. Keep trying yer swing

I dont think they were called the untouchables for nowt John and you can bet your bottom dollar they will have some other secret stashed away for back up.

Andy, I will get round to percentages of young bred and lost as soon as possible which will entail going through all in the loft and I dont like handling them at this time of year plus when I do a head count it varies between 29-34 for Hens and 25-29 for Cocks with late breds probably sitting out elsewhere and the return of one or two lost in races turning up but I will get there eventually. This was never a problem in the past as I would spot a stranger immediately however old age has its draw backs with most looking alike all being bred off just a couple of pairs of Stock birds and now have to check ring numbers to find out what's what with the exception of a couple. For those wishing to stop your birds getting stressed !!. Feed Sunflower seed..

Being auld and living in the past I have tried pairing early and late, Pairing early means you have extra beaks to feed for no apparent reason, Pairing late means you are rearing and racing at the same time and cannot be done.. All the auld timers used to pair up on St Valentines Day 14th February and we ken best..

Too much Nitrogen in the feed especially new beans produces excess Uric Acid which is totally harmless..

Supermarket cheap crap dont work.. Schweppes DUZ..

Tommy, Is that not the same as Sedochol as its made by Merca System's.. Just wondering if they changed the name to get round Euro Laws.

John, Funnily enough the Doctor said that the extras would be ok as according to him their was no other way to take Tonic Water.. :emoticon-0136-giggle:

I use Tonic Water with Quinine for cramp and 1 minute after a glassfull its gone.

Thank's for all the sympathetic replies guys. It was not my intention to zombie myself and the lesson has been learnt, This past week has been a bit of a nightmare for the family and I, hence the lack of dribbling's, although much has been running around the old brain box with information gleaned from certain quarters. It was brought to my attention that a local farmer is growing Green Peas and Scotch Beans which could be extremely useful to know cutting out the middle man. However since I and anyone who has access to a computer can look up all types of information on the "Web" to find out exactly what I am feeding my birds in regards to the quality of Proteins, Fats, Carbohydrates, Fibre and Minerals etc etc in each individual grain. Its quite amazing the information thats out there and I dont think I will be Paying £14.50 for 20 Kg of useless bulked up mixture again. I have stated in an earlier post that I personally have not seen stress in any of my birds nor have any in the loft with fretted flights and I now know why.. or at least I believe I have found the reason and answer.