peter pandy

Cheers Andy, and them twa doon the street topped the Fed.

Having made the decision not to train the youngsters and put them straight into 62 miles some will say cruel bugger. They could be correct, however I am not one who would send them in any condition except fit, healthy and capable. I will start with Friday afternoon and with two fifteen bird baskets laid out and drinkers on it was into the loft to close the shutters darkening it down. To explain the situation !, before I attempt to handle my birds, I put the light on in that section and close the shutters which keep out all light, then it is only a case of switching the light off and walking over to pick the bird up with no fuss and put it into my 6 bird basket,I then transport them from the loft to the shed where I can then go through them, looking for bent flights which would require steaming and I have a kettle which is solely used for that job, after checking the feathers I do the nostrils as it is surprising what you can find up there, anything from a small down feather to a piece of straw. If all is ok and I am 100% happy with it, It goes into the fifteen bird basket. Thirty youngsters later I am only left with 14 capable to send, cover flights missing from the others. Saturday and its total cloud cover here in the Metropolis and I am aprehesive when I get word they are liberated. Sitting in my garden with the dogs Jack and Jill time is wearing on and I start wishing I had not switched the computer on this fekin week and what the fek does pals Quinny and Jammy know aboot doos..My Bruv and Bruv in Law get one bang on time, then another yin, then another, and another, and its getting to the stage that every time I look there way another bird is burling round, I am, by this time totally demented and the dogs run back into the house.. 90 minutes later I still have "F" all and decide to go down and see how they are getting on hoping that it was streeters I was seeing dropping into them, But the truth of the matter was they had 14 from the 17 sent home which put me in good mood "NOT". After a couple of minutes I wished them well and hoped they won [which they did] when one of mine went sailing over and into the loft.. The pair of cheeky c##ts said, are you not going to time it in smiling ?, So I gave them a withering look and left, dejected, I was suicidal..60 minutes later I got my second bleeding from the chest so it was a germoline job and I started to calm down but it was another hour before I had another home which continued untill 21.30 when I had 10 from the fourteen sent. Another one turned in this morning so I am three missing. On reflection, they all came singly and hopefully they have learned much and will be hard to lose. I know one thing its definitely not for the faint hearted this nae training. :emoticon-0136-giggle:

Emm, Another moment of old age and memory loss !. Its 61 mile but I am confident even if they arny so they can follow the leader LOL..

Midland going to Kelso this week !! Once again another "F" up with the Race Prog card. So with the youngsters away for 75 minutes this morning they should be able to do 45 miles or at least anything with a bit of savvy should.

Aye, an afore that it wis pedal power. :emoticon-0136-giggle:

When I went to work for C.J. the stock birds had all the symptoms that Colin has mentioned and the MAFF were informed as we were sure it was Para and the lofts were quaranteened with samples taken away including dead birds. The results were given a couple of days later that their was no Para but they would or could not tell us what they had contracted. Personally it was missuse of antibiotics by the previous Loft Manager.

When I moved to Hatfield [North of London] I converted a shed and had my birds brought down from Scotland and bred 20 youngsters, First time in a basket for their first toss I took them 45 miles and liberated next to an airfield "which I did not know was there". The birds had just left the basket when a Fighter jet yook off 300 yards away and the birds disappeared in every direction. That night I had 2 home and the following day they all came singly till their was 18 home. Two days later I sent them to their first race at 100 miles and five races later I still had 18 with them being all home within an hour in every race and The nearest loft to me in the club was 20 miles South West. So perhaps it is a good idea that I forgot about and this blog has shaken the memory bank. P.S. I never trained them again that year due to work commitments.

Time he was getting a new yin :emoticon-0136-giggle:

You are in an extreme position where we in Central Scotland dont have your problems. We have 7 lofts within a 200 yard radius.

Well they have to fly the last 50 miles by themselves in most Nat races into the West. The post started with the only time they are going into a basket is to a race. Which suggests they will all be coming back into an area of 5 square miles.

Is that not what happens in every National race ??.

Thank's Lewis might just see yer on Friday.

My Brother and Brother in Law have a kind of partnership with my brother doing all the training. They started of at 10 miles with 60 youngsters and 33 made it home. They have dropped birds virtually every toss and started the second team with 14 at 25 miles and 2 days later they have 3 home. they have now decided to stop training altogether.. I found John Quinn's article on "Mental Training" very interesting and as my youngsters have not seen the inside of a basket yet with the first race this week-end which I had no intention of sending them to, I have decided to give it a try, so first race for mine will be Otterburn 84 miles with the Midland Fed and we will see what transpires..

Saw batches going over me this morning in the p*ss*n rain half an hour after the thunder had stopped and 4 are sitting on the house roof to-night, 2 with ETS rings on and 2 without.

Colin, I was sorry to read of your plight and held off a reply in the hope somebody more knowledgable than I may come up with the answer you require. But it has not been forthcoming so I can relate a possible "theory". When we jag for Para we are advised to keep the birds in quarantine for 14 days due to them passing out Para in their droppings and shedding bloom. In your first post you intimated that your problem started after the first National race which brings to mind a Moot I was at where a top distance man sat on the panel answering questions. One off the questions he replied to was "How do you prepare a bird for a National race" ?. The reply he gave was "Prior to the first National his race team are vaccinated for Para". He went on to say that it was to give them a booster in case their was a diseased bird entered and this was practiced with every race team for every National he was entering. You could say he did not give a hoot that his birds were giving all those on the transporter a dose of Para in the perfect environment for a virus.

I dont know why no-one has just said "Tail sticks up WEAK BACK".

Please elaborate "Oh Wise One" :emoticon-0136-giggle:

As far as I am concerned Trident will give my Children, Grand Children, Great Grand Children and their Children security in the future.

I firmly believe the problem with Natural is fivefold perhaps more. 1} When setting the individual bird for a target race the Hen has to lay on the precise day to reach the position you have noticed previously is her / his best racing condition, It is imperative. If you are out a day it can and will make a difference and switching eggs to suit reflects the same result as they are not stupid. 2} Losing a mate is detrimental to the condition of all with Hens repairing to a spare Cock and laying too many eggs in a season taking far too much out of their internal organs. 3} A late laying Hen missing out on a race programme and having to jump them 100 miles or being unable through circumstances and then having to jump them up to 200 miles due to the race programme that has increments of getting them down the road. 4} Unless the loft is open all day Hens will not excercise when sitting tight, Chasing them out the loft is detrimental to the Hens mental state. 5} The birds stop flying freely on pairing up and will remain so throughout the season. I believe that is enough to be going on with as it is only entertaining sh*te for some..

Not training weather here in the Forth Valley to-day with total cloud cover [no sun] a heavy Westerly wind and a slight drizzle through it.

Now that the Old Bird season has finished, this old sentimental idiotic b~gger will move on with the Young Birds. What appears to be a mixed bunch that are only now starting to bunch and take off running due to April / May bred but flying through the moult are on their 4th/5th flights. I can only put it down to the weather we had 10th to 17th June when it was getting dark from 20.00 hrs through to 06.00 hrs and it created a semi darkness state kick starting the moult. Come to think about the subject of light, The street light 10 yards from the loft conked out for nearly the whole of June. The reason I am giving this a mention is that normally my youngsters hatched in March would be on 3/4th flight at the end of August and this years hatched about 20th April are so much further on.

I would not say I was an "eajit" Alf. Perhaps I have made mistakes and have admitted them with none of us being perfect. This year was an experiment on old ways which served me personally in bygone days. We all have differing ideas and ideals on what we want to achieve. To me racing pigeons is not always about winning and I have won more than most but I can get a lot of pleasure from having a great trap even if I am last. To me its the memories that matter most along with the friends I have made through life. I am still able to laugh at myself being ribbed by my peers and my only purpose in this life is an attempt to make somebody laugh every day and if I can do that, then I am HAPPY.

Ah Am So. Honest..

Ye including me Derek LOL

Thursday morning and the youngsters are out with a beautiful blue and white sky and a light westerly blowing and their is no word yet if the Roye birds have been liberated, However they are up at 08.45 and I said to myself "that's a bit late for 515 miles and 13 hours minimum on the wing".I just hope we all have a really nice sunset which will keep them going. 20.00 hrs and the sun has disapeared behind a grey veil and I am saying here in the Forth valley it will be dark earlier than expected but Hey Ho we are all in the same boat. Some wonderful birds clocked in late but they wont make it the 40 miles West into central Scotland so its an early rise. Friday 04.30 and the sky is a dark grey but a Blackbird and Robin put in an early appearance in the garden [early bird and all that] so was entertained for an hour with their antics. 06.30 and three cups of coffee later I decided to pay my Brother in Law a couple of gardens away a visit as he has entered 3 and a blether with one eye on the loft. Its still a dirty grey sky when at 06.45 a bird drops down from it onto my loft and I hastily head back home full of excitement to find its not the "Grand" but a latebred from Littlehampton with a damaged wing and on entering the loft I was dismayed to find the "Grand's" hen had abandoned their nest. Now I have this thing about telepathy and when a nest is abandoned the bird away is not retuning soon and as I sit here and type this I am a wee bit forlorn that I wont be seeing him again and will have to look for another to take his place which will be difficult as he was such a character. All in all, it has been a terrible old bird season for me, and could say I have never experienced a worse one for losses or results. I am genuinely happy for those who have who have succeeded in their endeavours and for those who have been disappointed their is always next year if you have any youngsters left. They say their is more to life than pigeons !! But I never found it so..Onward and Upward's is the motto when you are rock bottom. T.T.F.N.