stevebelbin

It was through Bilco's column that got me using DMG, great stuff ;D. Very funny column aswell

Its been like that in Teesside for a most of march and got to say I dont feel like winter has been here ;D "YET" !!!!!!!!!!!!

There does seem to be a lot of people with the same prob of hens not laying and infertile eggs etc. Wonder if the weather has had an effect on them somehow :-/!!

Same here, as if their not taught early to stay of the house roof, they continue the bad practice later in life :-/

You can normally tell after 4 days of the second egg. Hold the egg against a light and you will see red veins. I paired mine the same time as you and you would definately see by now if they are fertile. Ive checked mine and most are full, two are not. If I were you I would split them of for a few days, give them plenty of grit and minerals, and put multi-vits in the water and repair them up. But allow each pair a few hours in a seperate pen, so they dont have any problems mating.

Its strange, when I used to flag down on the allotment, it scared them the first few times, but after a while they realise that flag up means fly, and flag down means they can come in for a treat. The times I flagged, infact very rarely, have mine trapped badly, as they know that if they see me then theres a chance of a peanut of two

Its not possible for me to have the birds out in the winter, apart from on a weekend, if I open the door and they fly out on a sat or sunday then thats ok but most of the time they prefer to sit in the aviary. It doesnt take long for a pigeon to regain fitness so im not to bothered if they dont get out properly until a month b4 racing when the days are getting longer and the birds appear more active with the milder weather. Started to let mine out last week and there already flying ok, and once the racing starts they will be taken with me to work (15miles) everyday ;D

I used to flag mine when I flew on an allotment but once they where fit they didnt need it. I just had to keep out of the way as the second they saw me they would be down. But now I fly behind the house if I flag them they just sit on the house roof until they are fit, so its more a case of throwing a tennis ball onto the house roof if they land. I would say the advantage is, it gives you control of how long the birds fly if you get it right. The disadvantage in an allotment situation, is can upset any neighbouring fanciers who may want there birds in while yours are flying. That was one of the reasons I fly behind the house. I was letting my birds out when someone wanted his in, he got pis--d off and starting using a flag that stuck up 10foot in the air and scared the crap out of my birds. My birds got used to it after a while and it worked to my advantage, but i just couldnt be bothered with the hassle of arguing with someone over pigeons.

Make sure you have warm hands or they wont be tame later in life

Nice tidy set-up tubbles ;D. It would be good to do a topic on peoples lofts, with problems they have come across and how they have got over them etc. If I was going to build a new loft I would do it completely different to my current lofts

What type of flooring are you using (if any), they may have picked something up thats got trapped in there throat!! I would take it to the vet as really we have to report any dead birds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a cock with a bad wing the year b4 last, he came back hawked, he picked up, and managed to fly again, but with a flight-limp (cant think of any other word to describe it), he raced again after this but he would always come back late and flying funny. So he now is used in a feeder for my mate in his stock loft . Had another one came out of the training basket late and hit a car, he made it home, but was badly bruised and he never recovered well enough to fly and is again in the mates stock loft (gutted when that happened as he was destined for bourges and had been a fantastic bird b4 that, but he has bred good birds for my mate). Enough waffling the reason for telling you the above is because Ive been told that once they have problem with the wing they very rarely heal, so it may be prudent to put it to stock and use it as a feeder :-/

With ETS, do you still need the bog standard ring as well as the ETS ring. And are the ETS rings a permanent ring thats on the bird for life. Pardon my ignorance to it, just never really looked into it ;D

The only problem with training on only perfect days, is the birds become soft. Once you basket them for a race they are the control of the convoyer, who doesnt always get it right!!

Nice loft Bonzo, does the white plastic let much light in, as I was looking for something similar for my loft??

http://www.pigeonbasics.com/forum/blah/m-1157593065/ Go to this link - it will show you how to do it

Very nice, smart loft ;D

Hi carl, yeh Ill be racing mainly channel races and using the inland as training, as Ill not always be there to clock them. I intend on doing a lot of mountain biking on weekends, so the birds will have to get themselves in for the inland races and ill be there waiting on channel races. I let them out for their first fly in a long while this morning and they did a good half hour and where clapping about all over And ive never really tried in young bird racing so I think ill give it a go this year! Good luck for this year Carl, keep up the good work

Cheers Pete, any tips on getting natural birds home from the distance, ive only ever raced widowhood? Saying that I did pair them up last year for bourges and got them the next day :-/

I also try to limit my time in the loft when there on eggs as the cocks tend to try to distract me away from their nests by landing in others boxes ;D

Training!!!!!!! I havent even started letting the birds out yet LOL, going to start getting them fit over the next few weeks. Ill miss the first few weeks as Im away, so mine will be started from the 3rd race hopefully, so will have to get one or two 40milers into the unraced yearlings!!!!

Cheers Craig, I think ill need some luck to be on my side LOL

Ive noticed that if my aviary is available for the birds while there on eggs the cocks are constantly looking for the hens when there supposed to be sitting. I put a bath in for them yesterday, and they were going daft, in and out fighting etc and coming off the eggs, so Ive shut it off until the eggs hatch out and the cocks are a bit more settled. Its mainly yearlings that are the problem in mine!!

Yep, I intend in getting a bird home on the day from Bourges (550miles) ;D

Same here, I keep mine on full V-Laga best allround two weeks building up to the race and add 3 peanuts per pigeon in there afternoon feed. Then the day of basketing give them as many peanuts as they like in the morning, so they have plenty of time to drink as the peanuts swell up a bit and sometimes cause them to vomit when travelling in the car. I worm mine a fortnight before there main race aswell. I honestly believe pigeons love peanuts so much that this is a massive incentive in them coming home ;D