JohnV

Thanks for the suggestion, however, I have viewed about 25 releases on YouTube and not one had overhead doors. No one is tagging for that in their video.

Thanks, that is not the one I am looking for but the video link you gave does show the advantage of the overhead door method. I originally found the link to the video I am searching for, on a RP organization's website. I think, they were showing off the vehicle of their new conveyor. The camera was closer and you can see how the bottom row of birds are able to lift up instead of being pushed down.

Some time ago, I watched a video of a release and the truck had overhead doors that went up allowing the lowest row of crates to release first then each successive higher row of crates to be released some seconds afterwards as the overhead door ascended. Does anyone know where I can find that video? I think it is superior to releasing all the crates at once as the birds in the lowest row of crates are not forced to the ground by the birds being released directly above them.

£110,800 in 1992 would be inflation adjusted to £180,000 in 2009

Some recent considerations might be: Alain Bavencoff's FR 98-353622 which in 2009 placed 392nd International Barcelona out of 26779 birds, as an 11 year old. This bird flew 1036,602 km at 882,94 M/M and was his first bird home (his second pick bird) out of 11 entries. I would suspect that this bird had some road sense and even at 11 years of age (if you believe the band number) was highly thought of by Alain Bavencoff Kurvers - De Weerd's NL 99-1361873 which in 2007 placed 20th International Barcelona out of 25716 birds, as an 8 year old. This bird flew 1096,692 km at 1260,16 M/M and was his first bird home (thirty-second pick bird) out of 39 entries. I would suspect that this bird performance was as much a surprise to Kurvers - De Weerd as it was to everyone else. Though it really should not have been as NL 99-1361873 has proven to be a very durable pigeon from Barcelona http://users.skynet.be/fb168503/Cureghem/2008/barca9808.htm

If you can get it on your side of the pond, Nitrofurazone topical powder. It is a puffer so you squeeze the bottle and some of the powder sprays out. Just aim it at the eye and squeeze. Don't worry if you get to much, the wetness of the eye will disolve the powder and the tissue around the eye will absorb some. If it looks like it is caking around the eyelid, it wil disolve into the eye over several hours. Morning and evening for about four - five days takes care of the worse cases.

We should also consider that many of the sulfa drugs we give our birds, are successful because they inhibit folate synthesis which is important to bacteria (which is why it is an antibacterial) and unfortunately, pigeon egg embryos. I am not in favor of treating the breeders with these sulfa drugs during egg production nor during pigeon milk production. Folate or folic acid is especially important during periods of rapid cell division and growth. I suggest you give these sulfa based products several weeks prior to breeding, then supplement with folic acid B9. If you want to know which sulfa drugs to be aware of, go to this wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfonamide_(medicine) You will need to click on each of the family names under "List of sulfonamides" to get the trade names of the folic acid inhibiting drugs to avoid during breeding as not all sulfa drugs inhibit folate synthesis. This of course is just my opinion, do some reading for yourselves on this subject. It is at least something to be aware of and to plan around as breeding season approaches.