holmsidelofts

Sprint racing has to be staf van reet. his birds changed the sport of sprint racing in the uk. and they are still winning today.

I have to agree with owen. one of the reasons for high loses are crap birds period. It amazes me when you look in the homing world at all the sales for stock birds etc, people saying they need to reduce numbers etc. utter bull, all they are doing is selling the rubbish that has bred nothing. us the fancier than buys these birds that are rubbish and we breed rubbish. If these birds were any good you would never sell them. the further away from the winners you get the less likely you are to breed a winner. when you pair 2 winners together you get a 50 - 50 chance of producing winners. just because one bird is a champion it doesnt mean his brothers or sisters etc will be. just think of all the athletes or sports men and women out there that are fantastic athletes but there brothers or sisters are not. there is no guarantee in anything but you increase your chances by pairing winners to winners.

But what you also have to remember is you have just killed all the bacteria good and bad, antibiotics are not that selective in what it kills, what you have then is an in-balance in the immune system which then allows other things like virus's to take hold, so your first priority should be to replace the good bacteria with a course of probiotics. remember also that no antibiotic will fight a virus it will only fight bacteria.

thats the thing no amount of natural products will keep things like worms away, you have to test on a regular basis and treat if you have any, any time you put birds in a basket with others from a different loft you are exposing them to re infection, the life cycle from egg to worm is 4 weeks, one worm is to many, just remember they are feeding off the same food the pigeon is and starving the bird of valuable nutrients. plus they are damaging the birds insides in some cases. Jas

antibiotics kill good bacteria as well as bad so i would always get some probiotics in them after treatment has finished. regarding the chevita live vaccine i get it from a vet so im pretty sure its transported correctly. I have never had any issues with it, but i always give them amoxycilin for 10 days prior. Im not that keen on parastop, thats why i use amoxycilin as i know this kills salmonella. it sounds like the birds were carriers if you people have issues after vaccination. i have never had an issue like i said.

not sure what you mean andy, lol

And you dont look a day over 50 either mate, lol

Dont know if thats a good thing or not, they always say that there is a rise in temperature before the snow comes and its is forecast for us again down here in south wales. in fact its snowing as im writing this. oh well its a few more days off work again. Jas.

Im a team manager for sky television in south wales.

My only concern with blackpool this year is 90% of the sales are from dutch and belgium fanciers, where are the english fanciers sales not that many compared to last year. jas.

Musician me, been playing guitar in bands for 20 years currently in a rock covers band called angel house. I play all over the uk. Will be down in cornwall in a couple of weeks, then to return to cornwall to play a music festival in tencreek in feb so fairly busy as well as the birds. Jas.

The cold weather will do them good. harden them up and will get the internal fat off them, which will help you with hens laying quickly. Hope it doesnt last to long as i want to pair up but wont do it in this weather as its to cold and you loose to many eggs. looking at the forecast tomorrow and monday is forecasting persistent snow with blizzards in some areas so here we go again, im only just getting over the last load, lol

100 for me, will be racing in 3 national routes this year 2 east routes and 1 south route. will race them the full program this year.

I totally agree with owen. dont waste your valuable time on something that has no scientific results. Eyesign in my opinion is a load of rubbish, as owen said the only thing the eye will tell you is if a bird is healthy or not as you will see a change in the colour/brightness of an eye when they are ill. the basket is the only way to tell good birds. jas

Well josh if the weather that is forecast for the south comes then i would have to say not a lot mate. got some finishing off for the stock loft so we can get the birds settled in but other than that not a lot on the pigeon front. just waiting for this weather to warm up so we can pair up. Jas

thanks josh. Any sign of the stock cock you lost or is he gone mate. jas.

Hi kev. I use macromedia 'fireworks' very similar to photoshop. Its actually owned by abobe now as they bought out macromedia. jas.

Heres some of my stock birds. All are bert hession direct staf van reets. jas

contratex wont keep out heavy driving rain. and it depends on the direction that the aviary is pointing, thats why i would always go with a wire floor, you then get no issues with wet floors.

yeah i have to agree. I wouldnt have a solid floor like in some of the pictures as you would have huge problems with worms and cocci due to the floor getting really wet. I would always go for a wire floor this helps keep down the diseases. but excellent to winter out birds, as i said my friend owen has one and his birds are looking really really well. Jas

Depends what you want to do with them. you will find birds that are kept in areas that have dramatic temperature changes dont hold racing form well. My friend owen keeps his birds in an aviary throughout the closed season and they look very well but come the race season its back in the loft that has good ventilation. but i wouldnt keep windowhood cocks in this environment whilst racing. You are better off with a loft that has good ventilation with no drafts that way you get the best of both worlds. Jas.

Malted barley is what is used to make beer and larger. It barley that is sprayed and then quickly dried the process turns the starch in the barley to sugar providing a lot more energy from the grain. test were carried out on tipplers who where fed on normal barley then fed on malted barley and they flew for up to 2hrs more than fed on normal barley. if you taste malted barley its tastes sweet with a malty taste. The birds prefer it over normal barley and as it is meant for human consumption the grain quality is higher. you have to get it from a beer specialist.

For me british crops contain to much water, I've feed farm barley and wheat in the past once, never again for me im afraid, you get what you pay for. Im a big fan of barley and i do feed malted barley but this is very high quality grain meant for human consumption and expensive at £35 a bag but is fantastic and the birds love it. So for me it would always be belgium or dutch grain for me other than the malted barley which is british but the quality is very good.

Hi kev i read it like that first time to mate. really sorry to hear that you have lost your stock. As others have said its horrible when it happens. I hope you get some of them back. Good luck mate. Jas.

If its yeast infection one of the best treatments is iodine, this tip came from one of the top uk pigeon vets and it works, no need to give antibiotics.