Ronnie

Oh the weather is showers but plenty of blue sky and hardly any wind .I',m in winsford near crewe and Nantwich

To cold in may to wet in september.Its a case of preparing the birds or not sending the birds. Just out of curiosity have you sent this week Rab?Ive only sent half my team because i think its to cold and wet.

i use just v perch's and when i get into a few race's i put boxe's on the floor for the youngsters to pair up in.I'm on deep litter as well so i often find nest all over the place.

what sort of prices and what delivery areas do you cover.

i allways beleived protein is used to build and repair any left over the body will dispose of. Carbs are used for energy any left over the body stores for when it does need it and they way it stores it is to turn it into fat. It's a lot more complex than that but thats the basic Jist of it. And seem's as Maples are high in protein and Maze is high in carbs it would make sense that the Maize will put more weight on if the energy is not getting burnt off.I would say with only an Ounze a day the birds are not being trained for more than an hour a day round the loft(sitting on the garden or house dont count ) or light road work say 20 miles or less.Will be interesting to see how much training they have been getting.

Just the racing part of the idea i didnt like.

so nothing stoping an individual from clocking the stray in his mates loft 50 mile short of yours?When someone comes to verifi it it all of a sudden went home.

13 from 17 at Kingsdown 177miles gapped and way behind this week.First race ive not been in the cards for youngsters hope its not a bad sign.

Great flying mate.

I sent three yearlings to niort 500 miles to me and everyone in the club was openly laughing at me telling me i had a lot to learn and yearlings shouldnt go more than 300 miles.I clocked the only bird on the night and got the other two next morning.Took 1st club 1st fed(2 on the night in fed) and 9th combine.Lol rather than saying saying well done to me i got "you was lucky with that one".Lol and they wonder why people dont stay in the sport.I think that is the biggest loss from the past not the breeds of pigeon or method's .Its the sportsmanship ,from what i can remember as a kid even if you didnt want to do it you still congratulated the winner and gave credit where it was due.I wouldve loved to have raced pigeons in the 40's and 50's .

south west cheshire at Kingsdown Club gold ring race

Well its friday afternoon 15:45 and i'm at a loose end as normal for this day and time .I'm sitting here wondering about the weather tomorrow and are the birds ready and is there any last minute things i can do to get an edge or make the birds more relaxed........Nope its all good and ive just gotta sit here and leave the birds alone to get some rest before there up all night in the basket .I really love and hate fridays expectation and anxiety all in one..Exscuse the spelling.

All the best mate.

Read this again and again till it sinks in. I said on another post my pigeons talk to me well i bet this fanciers birds talk to him as well. The first year is allways the worst but as you get to know the birds so do they get to know you and your routines.Time spent in the loft is best spent watching and listening. I quite often just sit in the shed of an evening doing nothing except sitting watching and listening.

Has he actually asked anyone in the club to help?I know people should offer if they know of the problems but some people are scared of stepping on toes and the like. I often hear people moaning at the club about not being able to train the birds ive offered week in and week out to take them but noone takes me up on the offer .It maybe just be a case of people being to scared to offer."I doubt it mind"

Mine talk to me ..Maybe not what other people can understand but the deffo talk to me . Most important thing as a novice is find a system and stick with it.Make minor changes here and there to suit your self but get the birds on a routine.

ive got one left from a kit of 12 braspenning's from Louella but what a pigeon it is.Ive still got all her youngsters this year and a yearling cock scored every channel race upto 350 miles this year. She has scored a lot in club and got 92nd section L from fourgeres and 38th section L from Alencon she then went out to tarbes 700miles and come 3 weeks late ive been told there meant to be sprinters.Imagine what she would of done if i knew what i was doing.Admittedly its only 1 out of 12 but that 1 is well worth it in my book's one of her youngsters took 1st club this week as well.Also on a side not has anyone new to the sport actually tried talking to a top fancier in there area?I know help and advice was very thin on the ground for me untill i started climbing up the club results i get an awfull lot of advice now strange that .

I would like to see some land used as community lofts you could build say 5 identical lofts on them and get some pple to run them on behalf of different groups say schools or other comunity groups they could compete in league's as well as local feds and nationals if they wanted.Just another Idea that could be implemented.

First things first you are racing youngbirds are you on the darkness system?If not then its going to be hard to get a score.Also the two best things i learnt was not to much corn one and a half once's max per bird(for now you will learn what bird needs what as you go) second is get a system and stick with it if you chop and change you will get no where the birds need a set routine .This is just what i have found and i have raced a pretty good young bird this year also keep the feed light mine have half barley half race mix everyday except thursday when they get all they can eat of race mix and friday i feed all they can eat from 9am till 10am.I know alot of people will disagree with me but the real problem is finding what works for your birds.

i lived in Milton keynes for over 15 years but i didnt have pigeons then i never knew where to start.As i didnt see that many about it was a natural progression when i came back to the north west as my uncles have them so i had someone to ask about them.

Bluepiedcock , enjoy it why you can is what i say.Do your bit to encourage anyone who shows a bit of interest and just enjoy the bird's.I hohnestly think it will pick up again ,the way the country is at present pple are starting to go back to there root's and allthough money is tight for most(especially me with the way my missus spends) some may choose to invest in a loft and a few birds to keep the kids of the street.

16/19 yeovil 150mile.up at 10am clocked at 12:59 not sure where i am as i lost a few min's on trapping and birds are really nervous.

To much imbreeding for speed and not enough focus on homing ability.Would be interesting to see how the distance men do for young bird losse's my bet would be a lot better than the sprint racer.

Its that time of year where pple weed out the lofts.Then sell on to unsuspecting newbie(like meself). Biggest lesson i learnt in this sport was dont believe all you hear.And only part with your money if you have thought long and hard.A person may be closing his stock loft down but surely he wouldnt part with the best breeders in his setup because he has a few unproven youngsters of it.

What people cant seem to get OUT of there head is a dark damp loft with no air flow well thats what i think of when someone say's overcrowding.Now as i have seen people post on here many times "racing them isnt natural and so on and so on" .well heres a thought neither is housing them and giving them space the rock dove is use to being on rock face's fighting with hundreds of other rock doves for a perch.More birds in a smaller place than most lofts have, the difference being the space is not enclosed and is open to the elements.How many times do you see hundreds of birds fly out of church steeples and the likes surely the clergy dosnt house them there so they must therfore go there and stay there by choice.Now whether these conditions are ideal or detremental to racing form remains to be seen but if the birds build a natural bond to a home and can get the food and drink it needs then surely that is half the fight won.If i was to house lots of birds in a small enclosure(and i dont by the way but i may try in a few years when i get the birds) then they would have to be on Open hole to come and go when they please that way they can have all the fresh air they need.