Wiley

For me Billy, its one of the biggest mistakes thinking a bird that is fighting in the race basket is the bird that you should pool. My philosophy is birds must go to the races in the most calmest state possible. Del picked up a great point about observation, and you mentioned'pools'. I am a massive observer, of pigeons, i know individuals in the loft inside and out, and the biggest indicator of a bird telling you to pool it is a change in character. Something it doesn't do normally. The best example i can give is when 'The double fed winner', who was a fantastic sprint bird for me, and now probably my number 1 breeder, when he used to say 'PICK ME', he would want to get back into the young bird loft that he raced to, and would try on every exercise period. 'Nearly Frank' would in the loft spank his wings from one side of the loft just touch the floor and spank back, he was a quiet pigeon it was out of his character. 'Pied Vandenbrande' would tell me as he would roar in his box with his wings in the air....we could go on and on, but its important get to know your pigeons, and anyones pool birds picks become slightly easier.....However as i always say if your two minutes behind, your two minutes behind and was going to win .*expletive removed* all anyway, they must be up the front!!

Bluey, In my opinion no, as i also supplement the feed with hemp oil every week. i will discuss later in the year what i do with hemp when the long distance events come around, but my opinion is no.

Dal, they come of barley the saturday before the first race....and hemp is used every single day after their exercise just a pinch that is now and throughout the season

Basically that Rainman, it is explained In the original Best of British featuring Frank and Geoff Kirkland, better then what i can

Hope not i dont swing that way :emoticon-0136-giggle:

Those players r snakes

Facilities good?

How fars worksop buddy?

2016 Young Bird of the Year East London Federation is photographed hoping to get this cock in the photobox before the weekend. Around the loft the birds are putting in their shift each day and their actions are telling me everything is good, so weather permitting the basket may come out starting at the weekend. All birds still being fed 100% barley, with naturaline in the drinker. The blue pied cock who had the garlic treatment due to feathers not parting as the rest of the team due to holding of down, is on par with the team now so i am more then happy, that an old tip from my friend Frank Tasker paid off once again. The young birds in the nest from the stock team are actually starting to look like pigeons now, and im looking forward to weaning them. Their seems to be a lot of dark chequers amongst the team this year, with a few dark pieds, shouldnt have favourites but i have soft soot for dark pieds. When to go to the local shop to get some hemp, unfortuantely the shop was closed, so the cocks will have to have an alternative on their box waiting for them after their exercise period, just for a few days. One thing ive noticed with the new loft, is how much more relaxed the widowhood hens seem to be, in the previous loft they didnt seem as content as they are now, lets hope thats a sign of an extra bit of love of home, which can add a few extra yards per minute come race day.

The marcel wouters if its racing and winning ability your looking for, can do the job and do the job very wel

You are right keith otherwise the theosis couldnt be tested fairly

Blue Star, failed to return from around the loft a few days ago, she has always been one of the heaviest hens we've ever owned, and with the hens flying with vigour, it makes me wonder if peregrine has finally caught her. She had a lucky escape last season returning with half her wing pulled out, which stopped her from going to thurso again. Its a gutter when proven pigeons especially at over 500 miles do not return, even more sickening when its from around the loft. With peregrine sites all around at the Excel center, canary wharf and the O2, they have to face the gauntlet.

Unfortunately not me, i dont see flies in my lofts for some reason and not that i would want to, and spider webbs is how i know my ventilation is working correctly

Today spent the day with the birds exercising and then having a bath, followed up by their morning feed of just barley. I also spent some time analsing on where i thought each bird in the team was fitness wise in comparison with each other. The condition was very good with silky feathering, rose pink flesh, with little to no scale. However one pigeon was not in the condition as the rest of his team mates, more scale then the others, but what i noticed more was that he was holding more down around the breast then the others. It is the pencil blue pied cock pictured known as "against the wind" a previous federation winner. Every bird treated the same so i will keep an eye on him. Will take him in the hand for the next three days and pop three pea sized cuts of garlic down his throat morning and night. And within three days we shall see if he is releasing the down as he should be, its something that usually does the trick. There is down in his box every morning, but his just got to much around his breast, which should part easily like the rest of his team to show the skin. Maybe being over critical but if all fed and watered, and exercise the same, they all should be in same nick. I would like to thank the Scottish gentleman who was rapid with transfering his young birds he had off me, it was much appreciated.

His got some shape about him and im not a fan of grizzles, but he looks a cracker

They are empty fizzy drink bottles peter

The quality of Versele laga barley is second to none in my opinion, and is bringing the birds into fantastic order they are under no rations at the minute with the evening feed being as much barley as they require. The hens will fly anything between 1hr 30 minutes to 1hr 45. However they will listen, and will trap with our call. Consequently the cocks are a different ball game, they are really rank now and as i said the loft is full of excitement. They will exercise 1hr 15 to 1hr 20 mins and are a joy to watch, flying backwards and forwards across the east london sky. To which they will land on the pitch of the loft roof, and run the 30ft cooing until they explode again for about another 20 minutes. To which we do try to call them in but they repeat the same time explosion. This will change when the basket comes out. Saw an interesting post on basics regarding water and how people allow it to stand. This is something we have done for years we have 7 two litre bottles that we have in a line that are used in rotation. Once one bottle is used it goes to the back of the queue. This is only ever done with our racers. After two to three weeks the bottles are thrown and replaced with new ones.

Downless and red eyed sounds like you have produced an albino, formula 1 loft has ones i believe that his son looks after as its basically blind

If ya need weight on birds plenty of brewers yeast

Yes john, there is always someone waiting in line to show his dominance, it becomes even greater when the boss bird returns, then some rivalaries can really kick off. Territory is the biggest motivation in pigeons, when you can play on it, you can make the birds tick and they'll go through anything to reclaim it. I already have a mental note on which bird hates who in the lofts, and now with the smaller sections ive noticed the instinct for territory to be even greater.

Froog, Once they are perching, young birds go onto a light diet, anything with upto 40% Barley or Depurative, i am not to fussed, Frank Taskers mix was the best for getting birds up in the air quickly and this is what i want to achieve but buying single grains to make a mix is a problem for me for storage. So i will buy any mix i like generally something not heavy in protein and find its not to long that they know what their wings are for, and same procedure for them 3 weeks flying strong around home and into the basket. These will be started extremely short they could have anything upto 8 to 10 tosses from a mile, till its drummed in their heads basket, home feed!!

Birds diet since saturday is 100% barley, small ration in the morning and as much as they require of an evening. They are exercising very well with the hens giving an 1hr 30 mins exercise today being out of sight completely for 40 minutes. The birds are dropping down like snow at the moment but that will be the effect of the barley. Cocks are bouncing and wanting to exercise at any given opportunity you can see the nervous energy in them. The sound of the loft is like a behive, and the loft is full of energy. We are starting to see who the boss pigeons are in there sections now and will be interesting to see if the bosses are the better ones at the end of the season. The birds are currently on an extensive course of naturals naturaline right up until two weeks before the first race, emphasis now is to get all the winter down away, and that with the barley at the moment is having a good effect. My own young birds will start ringing on the weekend, and something i picked up from freddy vandenheede was the use of teas and sedochol on the darkness youngsters regular, it was something i done last year for 5 out of 7 days while on the darkening period and was very happy with the results, so will order my sedochol from tollisan soon, so it is ready for weaning. With the loft coming and other things as said before has put us behind by a number of weeks, my plan next season already is to pair earlier then i have done previously.

My thoughts wondered to the weight of a pigeon, something to be honest i have read little to nothing about......which i find strange as all racing animals are weighed and their weights published. Is the weight of pigeons a secret that the champions havent dared discuss? What is a birds ideal weight? Should different body structures be different weights? Many questions could be thrown in this process...i will weigh my birds if time permits this year, just to see if performance can be linked with it....does an individual pigeon have an ideal racing weight and when his at it he performs? Guess theres only one way to find out.

Uncle to niece, aunty to nephew, cousin to cousin

Wednesday and Thursday saw heavy winds, with a lot of local damage, so obviously the birds stayed confined to the lofts. We started to get the yearlings used to taking the peanuts now, many are taking them from our hands already as a lot of lines in our family are very tame, anyhow and i think its a trait that can be passed down, but for sure the small sections makes the pigeons tame, as they have no choice as we are on top of them. Friday saw the birds fly just over the hour again. Today the race teams young birds will be weaned, and hopefully they are all independent by the time Walkers arrive on wednesday, for them to go to there new homes. They will be weaned onto 100% maples to make sure they take the large grains, as i feel this is an important life lesson early on as the small seed eaters in my experience are hesitant on the big grains, and generally ive found they are the first ones you tend to lose when going gets tough. My stock birds eggs all start hatching today with the last set to hatch on monday. When their young are weaned the first 3 days is 100% maples, then 3 days 100% maize, to reinforce that importance of big grains, and then a good breeding mix until i see them perching.