stevebelbin

I saw the same thing last year Jimmy, there was a batch of what looked like 100+ YBs and I saw a good few hit the wires and drop to the ground. I couldnt stop to see where they landed as I was doing 80mph down the motorway. This must be a common thing in races when you think how many are liberated together.

The top flyer in our club this year, didnt race his YBs last year, just trained them and allowed them to have a good moult. And he pretty much wiped the floor clean with his yearlings this year. One of his yearling hens has ended with the most fed points. Food for thought.

I have ended the season with 7 out of the 16 I started with. 3 of the lost were 4year olds that have all scored well b4 this year, and the others were yearlings that were untested as young birds. I am pleased with the yearlings that are left as the have all been out to 400 miles and 2 older ones have been out to 550miles. But the older cocks that have scored well should be back as they have been tested hard and were lost in easy races. Young bird wise, I dont even count them anymore as I seem to be lossing one or two per week just off the loft. Its strange how one year lofts seem to have few losses whilst others have lots and vice versa. The problem, with reporting them is when you ring people just dont seem to want them back anymore, I have reported loads were they just say can you feed it and chuck it out, its discraceful really. I would be chuffed to bits to get one of mine back regardless of the cost to retrieve it.

These are what you call proper pigeon lofts

I didnt realise they would try to get in the loft, I have one that runs along the top of my fence all the time, and my YBs have been very jumpy this year because of them. A bloke at work has been asked by the local council to try and get rid of them out of his garden as they are classed as vermin.

It sounds like they have had a bad case of YB sickness, if their dying. I was reading on the net recently about the Adeon-virus as I suspected mine were getting it. Mine did the usual, the odd one or two wouldnt come in for food even though they should have been hungry, then there was a bit of corn in the box the next day. I put mine on a depurative mix straight away and added Adenosan to it, with probiotics in the water. They picked up by the next day and their appetite returned quickly, so I think I caught it B4 any secondary diseases kicked in. But according to what I read on it recently, if its allowed to get any worse they are susceptible to an Ecoli infection, which would have required a stronger treatment, such as Sulfa-trim. It sounds like yours have gone past the point where they are treatable with Adenosan alone and may need to be treated for the Ecoli infection. I have the Sulfa-trim to hand incase they show any further symtoms, but their droppings seemed to be pretty good the last two days. Obviously the above, with regards yours is all guess work and a vet should really be sought out, so you can get the droppings tested quickly, so you can get the right treatment into them before they all start to drop of the perches. YB sickness seems to be rife at the moment, what with all the stress of training, so I would be careful whos loft you walk in and out of, as its easily contracted this way.

Its still a sprint race really, so same feed for mine unless a head wind is predicted, then they will get a few peanuts and hemp starting from tuesday. And the day of basketing they would get as food as they want, due to being in the basket a day extra.

Paul, I would say time and transport is the biggest factor. Widowhood is the easiest with limited time and will bring some good results if followed properly, also the birds will hold their form for longer. Natural is ok, but the birds need a lot of training and you need to plan out what stage the eggs or YBs will be at for certain races. Widowhood is definatley a waste of good hens, but sacrifices have to be made somewhere along the line. I think for racing YBs darkness is usually the only way to be competitive, in the later races as most natural YBs will be dropping to bits by the end of the YB season and are normally best kept for the next season. The problem for most workers with the darkness is the hours that the birds should be in dark are the hours a lot of people work i.e. 9-5, so for me at least im knackered, as I race on my own and wouldnt expect someone to go round every day to my garden. So its just down to your personal limitations really. You will soon discover that to be up their with the big boys you need to have a few systems on the go at the same time, with a partner who can be at the loft when you cant be my personal opinion only). The biggest thing Ive ever learnt as a novice, is the only way to compete is to have the right tools for the job, and the only way to find them is to put them in a race pannier and see how they do, you will soon find weed out the bad ones. The best pigeons Ive owned never seem to ail, so I no longer keep birds that need propping up.

I will take another one tonight and put it up tomorow as the above was in winter and the garden lucks a bit dank, but is in full bloom at the moment!!

My small loft and garden

I got both mine back and they are both a blend of mainly Busheart blood. But I meant the UNC in general had good returns, or so I thought, here at Thornaby I know that we sent 30 and there is more than half back, which is pretty good for the distance. I had heard that some clubs had good returns and some didnt have so many.

We had a good race from bourges with fairly good returns, considering the distance to most lofts in excess of 550miles.

I have a bottle of the stuff and was using it last year, and my birds came better than they have this year, maybe thats the missing link between last year and this year. I had totally forgotten I had until you put this up, so I think I see if it make a difference in our last two old bird races. Dont think it would do any harm.

Just started to do the same with mine Paulo, my loft is in the back garden and for the last few month Ive been rushing round like a blue arsed fly trying to keep the birds in trim. And its just starting to dawn on me that the birds and me need a bit of relaxation time. So ive been out to buy a bench and a bigger bath for the birds and every sunday my Ybs are allowed to get a bath and relax all day, and they are now much tamer.

It certainly does, the blood was dry on his cut, so he must have done it early on in the race, just shows how rock hard some pigeons are.

Good flying mate, well done. We had a the sheet filled at thornaby, I think there is 12 birds confirmed in race time. I hope he does pull through, its heartbreaking seeing him so down, when he was such strapping pigeon, I honestly dont know how he got home

Hi jimmy, will do mate. The brother of those two YB scored in our longest channel race again this weekend. Hes on two YBs, so if you want one to replace it let me know.

I sent two to bourges, and got one at 9:15 am the next morning and the next one sunday at 7am. The sunday bird came back with half his crop missing and is very weak, but seems to be eating and drinking, for now. So chuffed and gutted in one weekend.

The good thing is the silly ones are gone now, you know the followers of the bunch. I think I will just single them up each time now until racing.

Its seems to be when theres a lot of static about in the air, and Ive got to admit when I let mine go it wasn't perfect, and I ended up having a bad chuck. Luckily most have worked home now, and as Mike says, I chuffed they all came back on their own.

Thats a bl--dy discrace and I think you should report them to the RSPCA for animal cruelty. I think you will end up getting two boxes with 2 dead birds in!!!!!!!!!!

UNC held over at bourges, looks like bad weather over the channel. Should be up tommorow. Not good for the nerves!!!

Kaybee how do your widowhoods fly when there out, if the can see other pigeons all day long??

Got to admit, I had a good race from Melton Mowbray last year, all back in good time, when loads where missing. But I do hope everyone else who had a bad race doesnt have a repeat of it. Hope the weather changes so we have a good clear'ish run for the bourges birds, as if their up on saturday, they will probably clash with all the european birds!!

RedCheqHen, Have you sent to bourges?? I dont think they will be up till Saturday!! Even saturday has a few Isolated thunder storms!!