bill_bennie

Roly in response to your question about using GPS. Post #5. Here in the UpNorth Combine (Canada) the GPS is used for all measurments and like you say..... if by chance we have to move from a liberation point for whatever reason, the driver keys in the new GPS site and forwards to the combine race secretary and all the adjustments are made by him. The members will have to wait till the results are published the following week to find out the result of that particular race. We are advancing..........slowly but surely, not quite that good yet.

Seen it done years ago by an old timer over here with one of his flyers. He took a feather of the same size and colour and cut the shaft on an angle then soaked it in luke warm water for a couple of minutes to soften it, then a couple of drops of crazy glue (I don't know if you have that over there?) directly into the broken quill and slid the new flight in and "Presto" you couldn't tell it was a repaired flight other than it looking wet. After a couple of weeks I asked to see the bird's flight again, and I couldn't tell which one it was. An incredible repair job. Hope this helps.

Emile Bastin, I think was his name. He was flying around the time of the "Sion" & "Stassart" era. If my memory serves me right these three gentelmen switched quite a few birds amongst each other but nevertheless tried to keep their own families together. Back in the early 70's when I started I was told that these birds had exceptional character and their feather always seemed to be immaculate. Tough weather bird and liked all distances. Made a great cross when I put them to my best Jansens at the time. Bred some very consistent birds. Overall a very good family if you can find them today.

Hi MBpigeonguy.....welcome to the site. You will find you are not the only one from Canada on here and like it has been, said you will get lot's of help here. You are from Manitoba(?) where, what city, do you presently fly in a club. A little more info so we can figure out how to help you as there is a differant climate here in Canada than other parts of the world. Glad to have you aboard.

I beleive they are working on this at present (a permanent ring) but I have noticed a few rings stop working over time(?). No one has ever explained why this happens but atleast right now we just change the Et ring and re-register the bird. I'm a firm beleiver that over time it can only get better. Apparently there is a squabble going on amongst the suppliers about not letting anyone use any other band for a particular clock except the bands made by themselves. As usual with anything new they will get together eventually(?) and things will get easier as the Unions will start to dictate to them what the members want in their programs. If they want the business they will have to comply.

If I may break in here for a moment...... When I started with Et's in 1997 we, over here paid almost double what they are charging everyone now. We are charged about the same as you are over there now but we have found that if you buy in volume (ie: clubs - combines) you will get them for a cheaper rate thereby passing on the savings to the members. What has been said about loosing them,,, we don't put them on and register the Young birds till the week before their first race. Another aspect is the clubs don't have to buy as many rubber countermarks as the Et flyers are using the same ones every week for as long as the birds are racing (1-5 years?). Definate savings at club/combine levels and who saves in the long run.......the members. Thats the way I have seen it progress over here in North America. Just my thoughts.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS" & "HAPPY NEW YEAR" to you all, and may you prosper in the season(s) to come. All the best from over the big pond.

Have to agree with Ed (birdman), but i would say "Quality birds" first and foremost. You won't have success without them.

Ronnie/Roly. WinBird program. http://tshwane.50megs.com/winbird/winbird_racing_manager.htm This was created for clubs & combines as a racing program (computerized) so we may have some uniformity with the results from all clubs across Canada. This is free to any club that can use it but, it is not a program to chart the breeding/progeny of anyones loft. Hope this clears that up. I might add for those that are interested it works really great here for people interested in applying for awards. Our combine results are excellent. It does all the work and puts everything together in an instant.

"Ditto" from over here.

Boy I'm envious. Very much like Roly, paper partners till the middle of February. On the other hand over here I'm waiting for the lake across the road to freeze up. They call it "The Ice Fishing Capitol of the World". It's going to get 18 to 24 inches thick, we can actually drive a car across it when we go Ice fishing. To pair them up now all I would look forward to is constantly changing the drinkers for the next 2-3 months as sometimes the birds will only get about 10 minutes before the ice starts to form on the water. If not carefull young in the nest sometimes get a chill on their extremites (wing tips) and you can say goodbye to their racing career. Oh well....it's nice to see how you guys over there are making out, and I wish you all the best.

The latest form this side of the pond. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061210/ap_on_he_me/bird_flu_1

Happy Birthday from Canada, and may you have many more.

Happy Birthday Speck.....from your freind in Canada. And many more to come we hope.

Here we go again....."NEW & STRONGER", coming out of Asia. http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20061030/hl_hsn/vaccineresistantbirdfluspreadinginasia