Kyleakin Lofts

Well done Graham. I have the one from Steve Hole. It seems ok.

I understand overfly. Was just being a bit fascetious, however, if your bird is not following others and you get a fast trap, even in the sprints, you have won the race. Never done it yet myself, but it will come.

Why would you want your birds to overfly your loft? If I measure 30 miles to the racepoint and everyone else measures 40 miles, I don't want my birds overflying my loft, I want them straight in and leave the others to fly the extra 10 miles. Now ten miles might not seem a lot, but when we reach the 300 miles and further, that ten miles is a lot to a tired bird, so I am ten miles better off. If I am going to win a race, I am not going to do it with a bird that is following some other bird, because that bird my bird is following will win the race. Let's not beat about the bush, pigeon racing will never be fair. It is too dependant on too many outside factors. We just need to get on with it and hope that one day the factors will suit us and our bird will be the one to excel.

Aye, but he's young in mind and at heart.

There baith aulder than you or else you are jist actin young.

Not even split them yet. Expecting to split them on Sunday.

Congratulations Seonna and Andy.

Seen 3 SH within the space of 1 1/2 miles yesterday. One was picking on the ground beside a magpie. Must've been eating sh 1 t, silage or a worm.

Hear, hear.

Advantages are strong early bred young birds for racing and / or early training before hawkfest. Allowing your OB's torear in plenty of time before widowhood racing begins. Disadvantages could be YB's falling to bits too early if the moult goes wrong and the same with OB's. If racing natural, too early a start. YB's growing without the sun on their backs.

It might just be that this pair have nicked, but you will never know until you split them and try them with other mates. If you are in the position of being concerned about having too many brothers and sisters, then now is certainly the time. You seem to have enough from this pair to keep you going. If they nick with others in your loft then the future is bright.

I was losing 1 a day at the end of August, so didn't wait for September. Once the SH hen had the taste she was there the minute I let them out. I still see her occasionally, but she is not terrorising my pigeons. When they were going out I spotted 2 SH hens at the same time, so if they are territorial it must have been mum and daughter before daughter got shifted.

I remember reading that close breeding takes 4 generations before it becomes inbreeding. Line breeding is family pairings within a certain line, but not too close as to become inbreeding. Inbreeding gives results far quicker than line breeding and both allow you to predict the results you will have. The results may not always be what you want however, so, especially with inbreeding, you have to be extremely careful and cull accordingly. In the hands of a skillful and knowledgeable stockman both inbreeding and line breeding have their place and are able to be used with great success. The skilled stockman knows when to introduce a cross and when breeding on a male line, that cross will always be a hen, which will immediately be bred back out of the family. The introduction of her genes having performed their use. In the hands of an unskilled person, a family can be completely ruined. Crossing is better termed outcrossing and with this form of breeding, no family exists and whilst the results can be very effective they are less able to be predicted. What do we breed for? To produce birds thaat are able to race well at our preferred distance. What characteristics do these birds require? Winning birds all require to have the same characteristics. Outcrossing with birds of quality is able therefore to allow you to produce birds of winning quality. All breeding systems work effectively in the correct hands, but they all suffer from the 95% rule.

Great flying and congrats to all who got tickets.

That would probably be the only way to make the distance fair. How many birds will fly from Poland / Romania to Scotland crossing the North Sea? Not many. The majority will follow land and cross near Dover. Measured distance is a farce if obstacles are not taken into consideration. Liberating at sea leaves no choice, but to cross or die. Many would die. I am not saying do not try it, but what I am saying is that very careful consideration must be given to the route. Rome may have to be renamed to Mid Atlantic. At 1000 miles it would still be "Rome", however let's remember that many roads lead to Rome and Mid Atlantic may just be one different Rome. As Sammy says 1000 miles is endurance in most cases.

Enjoyed reading.

Be ready and give him a good scare next time so he won't come back.

Just watching the Sparrowhawk out hunting in the gale today. It seemed to be managing ok. Didn't seem to be blown off course by the gale force gusts of wind. What a load of bumkum about this falcon being blown off course.

Many know my real name, but if I did not use my pen name, I could easily use a false "real" name. What difference does it make!!!

Congratulations Lee to you and the rest of your family.

Happy birthday lads.

If you are not starting your birds until 180 miles, are you going to train them privately before this and if so where are you going to train from?

The old fanciers used canary seed quite a lot too. My birds enjoy it, not that I'm giving away my age. PS. Hi Lee.

Naw

Probably mid January.