holmsidelofts

Any news on that tom.

Thats not what owen is getting at. Any bird has the potential to be a carrier of not just young bird sickness but of canker, worms, cocci etc. No bird should be allowed to be put into the basket with food in them as they WILL throw it up and you then have the issue that all the others in the basket will eat it passing on al-sorts of diseases. There is no need what so ever to feed birds later than midday on the day of basketing. I remove the food from my birds at 12 noon and they never have any corn in them. If everyone who sends the birds with corn in them stopped we would cut down the transmission of diseases a hell of a lot.

cheers tom.

Cheers guys. We liberated at 12.15 in swindon heading into wales there were 7 of the above feds in bath just south of swindon, plus some at ludlow and chepstow. Im mapping out the race routes each week to see what we are crossing and to understand returns from the clubs in these feds. keep the data coming. Am i ok to contact you guys weekly to find out what times you liberated it just saves me ringing lib line 10 times a week. cheers all. jas.

Hi All. Im doing some research into losses and clashing on the WNR fed, can anyone from the following feds let me know what time you liberated and what was your returns like, were the any welsh strays coming with your birds. many thanks in advance. Black country SR fed. Gloucester and district fed. South birmingham Fed. Tamworth D Sr Fed. Warwickshire + District fed Wolverhampton d fed. worchestershire D Fed. Heart of England Fed. Liverpool Amal HPS. north Liverpool Fed. West cheshire fed. This info will be crucial to what im hoping to achieve. Many thanks in advance to all who will provide info. Jas.

Finally someone with a bit of sense, hopefully the race controllers are reading this, up BEFORE 9 or AFTER 3pm, if we would have followed that advice im sure there would have been more birds home.

Hi tom i dont think anyone is pointing a finger at you mate. We all know it has nothing to do with you, and we are greatful for all the updates you give us, keep up the good work we do appreciate mate. jas.

We had the debates now lets get the real figure on returns from the WNR Swindon race Last saturday.

Gem gps would be the answer, we would know for sure which route they took. It wouldnt tell us which fed we hit but it would give us an idea of what route they took home.

if its older than 10 days its irreversible. always make sure you have adequate nest material, normally you only get it with single reared youngsters. never had it before myself.

Not a million miles from us then in garndiffaith. are you a big club, we have around 20 members some of them top national flyers who are all experiencing the lossages.

I think that will happen in a lot of clubs this year tom then the issues will only get worse for all clubs. The welsh north road feb were the best feb anywhere when they were flying the north road route. But the biggest mistake they made was going east to west. Well see at the end of the year but if the lossages continue for the rest of the season i see many clubs leaving and going elsewhere and thats not good for anyone. Im still with this road for one reason only and thats to compete against the best in national races, which i feel is currently the best competition of any route, so we'll see if i feel the same at the end of the season. I take pigeon health very seriously and monitor my birds weekly with the microscope. My birds are in top health with no issues and have been well trained so we'll see what newbury brings them when they go next week.

youre right tom, Small organizations are not the way to go it has to be the whole fed that changes, not individual clubs, If that was the case i would just join the new north if i wanted to fly north, the point is over the course of the season we we east to west route have far more disasters that most other routes. What i would like to see is the west east route be changed to either south east like the BBIC or change completely north, there maybe wasnt enough people to turn it around last time but we are getting more and more people not happy with this route. tommy not that i remembered it like that, i was a member of both welsh north road and the new north and i convinced a lot of people at the time in my club to go to the welsh north road, they were at the time a north route club, We had many more members on the welsh north road so had better racing than that of the new north and thats one of the reasons most clubs came over, it was not to flt the east to west route, we didnt get much choice in that matter what i remember of.

What club do you fly in rob? I have been talking with others offline and we feel its now time to start doing something about it, no point in leaving it to the end of the season, now is the time to start the ball rolling. What we need is accurate loss-age figures from each club in the fed, outlining how many birds have been lost from each race. And the feeling from members in the clubs as to if they want to turn directions. There was lots of talk about this last year but i dont believe the fed wanted anything to do with it as the figures they gave never match what was being said fancier to fancier. I know at least 6 fanciers in my club that would go back north or even south if the majority went, see the issue is that it has to be the majority as otherwise its not worth it. Im willing to collate all this info and even take it to the fed at the agm to get this sorted out. Ive been in the sport for about 30 years and ive had enough of this problem. Lets act now. Jas.

Good point there. Size does make a difference. Id also like to add to tommy that im greatfull for all the liberation info that he quickly gets out to us all and the national updates, thats something we never had previous and i find it valuable info so keep up the good work tom. There will always be clashes you cant get away from that thats the nature of the sport but there are tons of feds from the north we cross infront of every week. on the north we had more of a direct line coming down to wales untill we crossed the country to hexham, the only areas of real concern where the liverpool, Blackpool ish feds that we had to cross. I myself never really suffered with big losses on the north, had fantastic races, with some really good performances in club, fed, open and nationals. east to west is defiantly a harder road due to the clashing and crossing which isnt really racing its just a lottery as to who we will hit next. Before anyone comments that i should go north again i would at the drop of a hat if it was competitive but the real competition at the moment lies with the east to west but i can see that changing if we are not careful.

yeah mate thinking about it thats what i think i may have been doing, just getting caught up in the moment and wanting to see the replies and i was refreshing the page. thanks for the help. jas.

Hi numpty01. im not sure whats happening every time i post something it posts it twice and im having to go in an delete one of them. strange these computers, lol.

Yes i agree but unless all fanciers that are effected stand up and have the balls to challenge it nothing will get done, thousands of birds were lost in youngbird races last year, many good fanciers were wiped out, a lot of the big name fanciers are turning to mob flying keeping sometime in access of 100 birds just to get through the season and have some left for the following year. no matter how good the birds are they are still young and like kids they will follow the majority. I call on all fanciers in the welsh east to west fed to speak up about losses each week. I am willing to collate this information and take it to the fed agm at the end of the season but i can only do that with the support of everyone. we need to bring it to the attention of the fed the real feeling of the fancy out there, just a couple of us wont have any clout we need to get everyone effected onboard and lets make it happen. What we need is a club by club breakdown off all the birds lost each week, granted some will be through the fault of the birds not being good enough or our management but a big majority will be to do with the route. We should all be looking forward to the youngbird nationals but at the moment we are taking it week by week in a hope we can get that far and have some birds that are able to compete.

I know that mate and im not putting any blame your way, You are the only one thats on here that is seen as having a little more clout that is willing to engage in the debate, no one from the fed would get involved, all it shows me is that you care about this sport not like the authorities who have the clout to do anything about it. thanks for taking the time to share your views this is the only way the fed will listen if more people made there thoughts know. cheers tom. jas.

Tom why didnt we wait until later in the afternoon. when we knew they would have cleared, We could have liberated 2 - 3 pm and we could then have argued the fact that we didnt hit anything as there was no liberated birds to hit. All we have from yesterday is another race with no answers because we cant be sure what happened. Swindon aint far from bath i work in both areas and as a pigeon flies it doent take them long to get to bath, whats to say the bath birds didnt hit something and were pushed towards swindon. There is lots of possible answers including the health of the birds entered but i would put money on it that there was a smash yesterday. We should have had birds coming through chepstow yesterday in there 100's from 55 miles. I drove from pontypool where i live to shirenewton to get a better understanding of the direction they are coming from the race point so i can tailor my training tosses to suit, but not a pigeon in over an hour came through there, that has to tell us something, There are some very good fanciers in newport including yourself and i would have expected them to have been coming that way but they didnt. Also there were feds in ludlow yesterday going to liverpool im not sure what time they liberated but if we for any reason were push up to ludlow area we could have hit them. This road just seems like a lottery at the moment. All i want to do is go racing with the best and that means this road for me.

Your right tom testament to the birds you put in, but i wouldnt have been happy myself to having birds take 3 - 4 plus to do 55 miles, To much stress on them as they are only babies and this will do nothing for the youngbird sickness that everyone seems to be suffering with, touch wood i havent had it yet. Let hope next week is better or i will not be a happy bunny myself, My birds are in fantastic condition if i say so myself, i've had them well trained on my own and with a communal transporter and im expecting to have a very good season but im not confident anymore when top fanciers are loosing loads and we are really only a couple of races in. Enough of my moaning. Good luck to all who will be sending next week i think we are going to need it. You say nothing in line of flight, other than the 7 birmingham feds in bath that let go before us. we dont know how they cleared and my guess is birds will be reported in birmingham. Jas

Hi tom. You were one of the lucky ones, lots of fanciers lost a lot of good birds yesterday. How many of those 41 did you get in decent time or did they take most of the day to arrive. Its only 55 miles to us and that race should have been all over in a couple of hours fanciers in my club were get 4-5 birds arriving at 5pm thats 4 and a quarter hours after liberation, I agree that there were some very good performances Derek flowers 1.47, tony malson 1.50, 1.50 but as a whole you have to agree the race wasnt great for 55 miles. The weather was good and visibility was excellent from where i was in shirenewton but i never saw one pigeon come through the way they should have. No one is blaming anyone for this all we want is answers to what has happened, and why is it every year its the same. Its the only road that i have flown on in the last 30 years that has consistently had these issues, every year we change the race program at lib for what ever reason, you cant plan out your season anymore to have birds in different nest conditions because you dont know from week to week where you are going to be. The only decent thing going for this fed is the welsh national flying club which you run, Its fanatically well run and the old bird races we had in the national were very good, so i take my hat off to you guys for the hard work you are doing. We cant go on year after year sustaining the kind of looses we saw yesterday. Its not good for the fed or the sport. If we were paying birdage per bird and not paying £7 a week to send im sure the fed would be looking into the matter more seriously as they would be in major financial difficulty if the looses continued, as owen said if thats the end of his season he still has to pay his £7 a week so the fed doesnt loose out. Again we are not pointing the finger at anyone and certainly not you tommy but questions have to be answered otherwise to could find a lot of fanciers leaving at the end of the season and i will be one of them if i have the same issue next week. I was responsible for turning my club to the welsh north road when they were flying north as i was a member of them with the cwmbran farm and we were having great races when going north, as soon as they went east to west things have gone pear shaped. Just another angry fancier here and i never even sent. We are passionate about this sport and we want to preserve it not kill it off. Jas.

Hi tom. You were one of the lucky ones, lots of fanciers lost a lot of good birds yesterday. How many of those 41 did you get in decent time or did they take most of the day to arrive. Its only 55 miles to us and that race should have been all over in a couple of hours fanciers in my club were get 4-5 birds arriving at 5pm thats 4 and a quarter hours after liberation, I agree that there were some very good performances Derek flowers 1.47, tony malson 1.50, 1.50 but as a whole you have to agree the race wasnt great for 55 miles. The weather was good and visibility was excellent from where i was in shirenewton but i never saw one pigeon come through the way they should have. No one is blaming anyone for this all we want is answers to what has happened, and why is it every year its the same. Its the only road that i have flown on in the last 30 years that has consistently had these issues, every year we change the race program at lib for what ever reason, you cant plan out your season anymore to have birds in different nest conditions because you dont know from week to week where you are going to be. The only decent thing going for this fed is the welsh national flying club which you run, Its fanatically well run and the old bird races we had in the national were very good, so i take my hat off to you guys for the hard work you are doing. We cant go on year after year sustaining the kind of looses we saw yesterday. Its not good for the fed or the sport. If we were paying birdage per bird and not paying £7 a week to send im sure the fed would be looking into the matter more seriously as they would be in major financial difficulty if the looses continued, as owen said if thats the end of his season he still has to pay his £7 a week so the fed doesnt loose out. Again we are not pointing the finger at anyone and certainly not you tommy but questions have to be answered otherwise to could find a lot of fanciers leaving at the end of the season and i will be one of them if i have the same issue next week. I was responsible for turning my club to the welsh north road when they were flying north as i was a member of them with the cwmbran farm and we were having great races when going north, as soon as they went east to west things have gone pear shaped. Just another angry fancier here and i never even sent. We are passionate about this sport and we want to preserve it not kill it off. Jas.

Hi tom. You were one of the lucky ones, lots of fanciers lost a lot of good birds yesterday. How many of those 41 did you get in decent time or did they take most of the day to arrive. Its only 55 miles to us and that race should have been all over in a couple of hours fanciers in my club were get 4-5 birds arriving at 5pm thats 4 and a quarter hours after liberation, I agree that there were some very good performances Derek flowers 1.47, tony malson 1.50, 1.50 but as a whole you have to agree the race wasnt great for 55 miles. The weather was good and visibility was excellent from where i was in shirenewton but i never saw one pigeon come through the way they should have. No one is blaming anyone for this all we want is answers to what has happened, and why is it every year its the same. Its the only road that i have flown on in the last 30 years that has consistently had these issues, every year we change the race program at lib for what ever reason, you cant plan out your season anymore to have birds in different nest conditions because you dont know from week to week where you are going to be. The only decent thing going for this fed is the welsh national flying club which you run, Its fanatically well run and the old bird races we had in the national were very good, so i take my hat off to you guys for the hard work you are doing. We cant go on year after year sustaining the kind of looses we saw yesterday. Its not good for the fed or the sport. If we were paying birdage per bird and not paying £7 a week to send im sure the fed would be looking into the matter more seriously as they would be in major financial difficulty if the looses continued, as owen said if thats the end of his season he still has to pay his £7 a week so the fed doesnt loose out. Again we are not pointing the finger at anyone and certainly not you tommy but questions have to be answered otherwise to could find a lot of fanciers leaving at the end of the season and i will be one of them if i have the same issue next week. I was responsible for turning my club to the welsh north road when they were flying north as i was a member of them with the cwmbran farm and we were having great races when going north, as soon as they went east to west things have gone pear shaped. Just another angry fancier here and i never even sent. We are passionate about this sport and we want to preserve it not kill it off. Jas.

Owen is spot on with what he has said, every year is the same on this route, we are crossing every man and his dog week in week out, not only that we have all the airports on line of flight, we have bristol, gloucester, heathrow plus at swindon we have RAF lynham and planes are coming and going from there all day. Why havent we all woken up to the fact that every year there are major loses on this road with youngbird racing, they are not given the chance and are being taken everywhere when they hit other feds. Pleople cant deny this is happening. I didnt send myself yesterday because i knew something like this would happen. I went to shirenewton when i knew the birds were up to see which direction they came from so i can understand where the best spot to train from is, i arrived at 12.45 and left at 1.50 and never seeen a pigeon. i had perfect views of all of the coast, both bridges and chepstow and not 1 pigeon came that way. they obviously went up country first. there were 7 birmingham feds in bath, and my guess is they didnt clear that well and thats what we hit as they liberated between 11.30 and 12.15 according to lib line. I know owen really well and he is devastated by yesterday and he has every right to be like that. He has some very good birds, that were well trained and are very well looked after by himself. These birds were ready and should have been at the top of the sheet but as a result of yet again another shambles he had close to half his team away last night. Come on guys this has got to stop, Its not fair to the birds or the fanciers who are spending a lot of time and money looking after there birds. I can tell you something for nothing i will not be happy if when i send next week we have the same issue. Jas. There was no reason why we couldnt have liberated in the late afternoon its only 55 miles and the birds would have had a better chance, letting them go in the miday sun doesnt help either.