chrisbonnie

right, ill stop annoying you after this what are the dimensions of your boxes again, would it be 30cm x 30cm in metric measurements? im going by the floor grills, they're 30 x 30 right?

ah, sure theres loads of room!!!!!!

good man i appreciate all the help by the way, any photos with your couples in the boxes? im still debating on how big to make them, my section is 1.6m by 2.4 high, so i can fit 4 rows of 4, at 30cm x 30cm each, but im not sure if they'll be big enough

thanks alot im finding the drinkers a tricky one to source ill be buying all my bits and bobs in the next few days and hopefully building the boxes in the next few weeks

for the original poster where did you happen to buy all the bits and bobs you need for the boxes, i.e the fronts and feeders etc......

about 6ftx6ft, but every widowhood box ive seen are huge ,and i would probably only fit 2 on the walls of the loft, so that would 2 boxes wide, and i dont want to have it 2 wide by 6 boxes down, but if i do it Marks way, they'll easily fit

what are they? i understand exactly what you mean, but i see where my dad is coming from to, he didnt exactly want to go throwing stuff onto the neighbours roofs at 6.30 in the morning, as funny as it sounds, could you imagine your neighbours reaction!!!!

its definetly not a health issue, as they have just had droppings and throat swabs done, and all came back clear from the vet. the loft is in my fathers garden, there's a few other factors as well, one was a local tomcat, (no longer a problem ), another is space, he lives in a terraced house, so houses are extremly close. the feed as well we're happy with, its a tried and tested system of a good friend that regularly tops his fed over here, we could be giving too much though, so i think a slight reduction in portions wont go a miss. just another question, this will be our first year racing using the "sliding door system", we are going to seperate them either this week or next, should the youngsters be then trained seperate, or together? thanks again for the replies

sounds like they work perfectly well so ill be showing my dad these tomorrow, and starting work on them soon as well. as they say, the simple ideas are the best!!!

i have to say, turning them boxes 90 degrees is bloody genius!!!! ive been racking my brains on how ill fit 12 boxes into my widowhood section for next season, and this has solved the problems just as a matter of interest, have you now raced to these boxes, and if so, is everything going as well as expected?

thanks for the replies. the only thing ive noticed since exercising them around the house is their indiscipline, if they are out for an hour so, i dont belive they fly for the full hour, i flag them and all, but they simply scoot off to another roof, so calling them in has been a bit tricky, so i reckon its a mix of indiscipline, and perhaps too much food, but more so the indiscipline of not returning to the loft say if they where trained by road. someone else asked do the later birds trap ok, yeah, thats a good point, they're super, only theyre 30 minutes too late they're going back training on the road from monday, ill try and get them to a stricter regime. thanks for the replies, theyre all food for thought

hows it going lads just after having our second race of the season, just like last week, my first pigeon dropped in great time, with the first group of birds that went over, but again, just like last week, the bird took over 4 minutes to trap!!!!!! im trying 2 different things this year, one is training, and the other is feed training wise, i trained them on the road, up to 40 miles before the first race, but have now stopped training by road, and introduced a "belgian system" of letting them out first thing in the morning for an hour, and the same in the evening. then feeding wise, ive been feeding them until 2 of them go to the drinker, so id imagine they are getting more than i used to give, i used to feed say 2 soup spoons each per day, one in the mornign, and the other in the evening after training. any ideas lads, ive done ball park calculations for my velocities and i should be in the top 5, if not even better, or am i just being too fussy with these youngbirds? thanks in advance

so would i be correct in saying that during the race season preperation, i.e the 4 hard weeks of training before the first race its important to show the hens when the cocks return, but when racing is up and running, with the reduction in training, the hens are then only showed to gee up the cocks before basketing, and of course on their return from a race?

hi lads i was just reading the Dave Allen book, The Widowhood Year. i havent tried widowhood as of yet, so wanted to have a better understanding of it before i even attempted it. one thing im not sure on is the hens now, it seems Dave allen shows the hens to the cocks before and after every training toss am i reading it wrong, or is this what happens? why i ask is that our birds are trained during the day while im at work, and my mother lets them in, and i dont think she'd be up to bringing hens in and out of the loft for us, and quite frankly, i dont want her doing it either i always thought the whole idea with widowhood is the cocks only the Hen before race day, and of course on the return to the loft? can anybody clear this one up for me thanks lads

cheers for the info oldyellow i checked him over yesterday for mites, i didnt see any, but i still sprayed him, just in case i missed them myself, seeing as im still a novice, i could well have missed them id imagine mites is a dirt issue though right? its abrand new loft, and ive always cleaned it out once a day, and changed the water twice, so the place is spotless

yeah, something to that effect. he seems grand now though, someone i was talking to said Paratyphoid, so im going to give him a treatment for that starting from tomorrow, just to be safe.

thats what it kinda looked like, like he couldnt balance as he was "up his toe-nails" if you know what i mean. he seems grand again, but ill be keepng my eye on him i havent noticed any swelling in his joints or feet, and besides that, he's grand, eating like normal, and droppings are grand we'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being

latest update myself and my father had a good look at his legs, toes, joints, the only thing we thought looked and way out of sorts, would be his nails, some of them seemed excessively long and curled, so i nipped them back, for the time being, he seems ok again, walking grand, but it looked like he had sore feet, or legs, or something to that effect i put him back into the main loft and will be keeping an eye on him anybody ever notice their birds having long nails that caused the bird discomfort before? im kinda clutching at straws, but its all i could see

i have a late bred 2010 cock, about 6 months old walking oddly in the loft the best way i can describe it is that he looks he's walking on hot coals, every step he nearly shudders and stands up really tall, really weird looking he's eating fine, his droppings are fine as well, but he just seems a bit odd any ideas lads? ive seperated him for the time being, just to be safe and all

Just wondering lads I got a few stock birds last week, as I want them to lay eggs asap, I tried pairing them myself, and not let nature take it's course What I did was simply lock them in a box with each other One of the paIrs are happy as larry, but the other ones don't seem to be gelling, they're not killing each other or anything like that, but they're just sitting on opposite sides of the box another thing, i let them out this morning, and noticed the hen jumped into another lads box, should i let her make up he rown mind, or should i persist with my plan?

thats the one Mick, i just bought 4 birds from brendan earlier, a very nice man i have to say, very accommodating to a novice like myself. i had only planned on buying 1 bird for my dad for christmas, but as chance would have it, my dad left his stock loft door open earlier, and 4 got out, hence why i then had to buy 2 pairs as quick as possible for my dad, otherwise he wouldnt be breeding enough for the coming season i was just trying to get some feedback on what i bought, im not overly bothered about the names of the birds, as i think brendans results speak volumes, but curiosty always eats away at you doesnt it

anybody familiar with them? ive seen some for sale here in Ireland from a very good fancier with some great results, i was just trying to find some info on them but am drawing a blank any info would be great lads

they usually never sit on the loft, but that picture is of them leaving the loft for their first time its hilarious with pigeons, they're locked up for the close to two weeks, yet we had to hoosh them out of the new loft earlier, regarding ventilation, not sure if you can see it from the pictures, but under the roof is fully ventilated, and the same at the sides and back. the best way i describe the ventilation is that you now cant smell the pigeons, does that make sense??

a few go faster stripes down the side aswell, just to make the birds go that bit quicker to ah it was badly needed, there was 12 stock and 20 odd racers the 10x8 shed/loft, it was over crowded and unfair on the birds at least now with the extra sections he can manage them better, whether they fly any better to it is another thing though

first off a big thank you to the Andy and his assistant from Park Hall Timber products in the UK. they came over to Dublin last thursday to fit the new loft, as we all know, the weather is shocking at the minute, yet the snow and ice didnt deter the 2 lads, and they arrived on schedule, just like they promised. (thanks be to god as the pigeons where in my shed) to say Brendan (dad), is happy with the loft would be an understatement, he's overjoyed!!! its approximately 16ft by 8, plus a further 12ft or so with the l-shape, and 5 sections all together, 4 of them are for the birds, while 1 is a corn store of sorts so a massive improvement from the 10x8 shed that was being used last season, here's the pics of our feathered friends new house