DOVEScot

Sorry to see that happening to you, it looks devistating.

Good on you Gladdo, patience is a virtue only aquired by age. Keane by name and keen by nature. ;D ;D ;D I am sure you will be fine and a credit to the sport All the best Duncan

Blue is one of the easiest colours to mask out, on coral draw or photo shop, I use corel draw because that is what started with when I was doing designs. I beleive photoshop has excelled a bit better according to my brother who was a professional photographer at one time So tell the wife to stick to photo shop by his accounts

Naw but she has a brover ;D ;D ;D

Pigeon falls head over heels for a man! A pigeon in England has fallen head over heels in love with a British man. Andy Maw of London brought a pigeon into his home after taking pity on the bedraggled bird when it turned up on his doorstep after a storm. And now Pokey, the little pigeon has fallen in love with its rescuer. "It sounds crazy but she's fallen head over heels for me." The "Sun" quoted Andy as saying. The 42-year-old, who is also a dad of four, revealed that the pigeon literally attacks his wife Trude if she goes near him; sits on Andy's car dashboard for drives; uses the family toilet if it needs to go indoors; settles on Andy's knee when he takes a bath and stalks him if he tries to spend time alone. "When Pokey is on her mating cycle and lays her eggs on her little bed in the bathroom, she sits on them for three weeks," he said. "But when that part of the cycle is over and she wants a mate she comes after me and sexually harasses me. "She will fly over for me to caress her beak, peck my fingers and strut about puffing up her chest to deter females," he added. Pigeon expert Prof Danial Haag-Wackernagel, of the University of Basel in Switzerland, said: "Pokey is 'imprinted' to Andy as a mate."

Pigeon Facts - Breeding and Flying Pigeons -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are different breeds of pigeons kept for different reasons. Utility pigeons are for commercial meat production, known as squabs, and considered a delicacy. Homing pigeons are used for racing, similar to horse racing. Performing pigeons are known for their tumbling, rolling, spinning and diving ability; virtual aerial acrobats. High flying pigeons are used in endurance flying, where fanciers compete to see how long their bird will remain airborne (usually 5-20 hours). Show or exhibition pigeons are used to compete in various pigeon shows worldwide, or to simply admire in one's backyard. Pigeon fanciers come from all walks of life. Rich, poor, minorities, young and old. It is a wonderful hobby, and financially available to people on all levels. You can invest a few dollars in a pair of pigeons or invest thousands in several hundred birds. The hobby has some women and girls involved, but most fanciers tend to be male. Young boys seem attracted to pigeons naturally, the way young girls seem to gravitate towards horses. Many older pigeon people started when they were young children, perhaps with a few common street pigeons they captured under a bridge or in an old barn. Pigeons are a very hardy species, easily housed and require no complex feeds compared to some exotic bird species. They adapt well to most any climate or geographic location, but are healthier in dry conditions, much like humans. Most pigeons have a strong homing instinct and can be released to fly at liberty, and trained to return to their loft, and source of food. Like humans, they are motivated by water and food, and secondly by sex. They mate for life unless their mate is taken from them or dies. There are hundreds of different breeds of pigeons, in many different colours. Belgium and Holland have a huge fraternity of racing pigeons fanciers, many of whom make a career out of breeding, selling and racing pigeons, as well as selling pigeon equipment, housing and supplies. European and Middle Eastern pigeon fanciers are some of the most enthusiastic in the world. The Birmingham Roller is an aerial acrobat developed in Birmingham, England. They fly in a kit or swarm and will break into series of backward spins ranging in depth from 2 feet to 100 feet. The spin or roll is a reaction to stress and excitement, associated with the central nervous system. You can do a lot with pigeons, regarding genetic experimentation, such as creating new colours and breeds. They reproduce quickly so you see fast results. If you enjoy working with living creatures, it is a hobby full of rewards.

Cher Ami In October of 1918, the 77th Infantry Division of WWI was stranded behind enemy lines without ammunition or provisions. The commander of the 'Lost Battalion' made a number of efforts to communicate with division headquarters. All attempts were unsuccessful. Numerous pigeons carrying messages were released and each was detrimentally wounded or killed during flight. Cher Ami, the last remaining bird, was released with a crucial message contained in a capsule that was attached to his leg. Like the other pigeons released that day, he too was hit by shrapnel, but continued the 25-minute flight to his loft and saved the troops of the 'Lost Battalion' from certain death or surrender. The amazing part of his flight was that he was shot in the breast and leg and when he arrived he was missing most of the leg to which the message capsule was attached. Cher Ami was awarded the French palm for heroic service but died the following year from wounds he received in battle. G. I. Joe G.I Joe is one of the most famous pigeons in history, most noted for saving a thousand soldiers during WWII. During the month of October 1943, British troops were trying to advance on the German held Italian town of Colvi Veccia. In an effort to weaken the German position, the infantry ordered an aerial bombardment of the town by the allies. On October 18, 1943 the German resistance fell and British soldiers took up positions inside the town. Because the bombing was scheduled to take place within the half-hour, a panicked message was tied to the leg of G.I Joe and sent to the headquarters. A thousand British soldiers held their position, prepared to take whatever came their way. As the bombers were taxiing the runways at headquarters, G.I Joe arrived with the message to cancel the operation. He had flown 20 miles in 20 minutes and his speedy delivery saved 150 British troops from disaster by less than five minutes. Martha, the Last Known Passenger Pigeon For those of you unaware, Rocky Mountain Adventures’ pigeons are homing pigeons. They are often mistaken for carrier pigeons or passenger pigeons. However, the passenger pigeon became extinct in 1929. Here is a short history of how that came to be. Prior to its extinction, there were estimates that 3 to 5 billion passenger pigeons flew the skies of America at the time European settlements were beginning. There were so many, that there were reports that the skies would blacken with their passing overhead. Cotton Mather noted that there were so many birds that it would take hours for the flocks to pass and that they would stretch out for the width of a mile or more. Their extinction is primarily due to over hunting. They provided a source of food and barrels upon barrels of the hunted bird were sent to New York markets. Large numbers of the birds were shot for sport. With the advent of railroad lines, commercial hunting became more prosperous. During this time, the telegraph was even used to inform hunters of the locations of flocks. It was stated that about a quarter-million passenger pigeons were shot in a single day in 1986. The hunters were reportedly aware that they were shooting the last wild flock. Over a decade later in March of 1900, a 14 year-old boy in Ohio shot what was believed to be the last wild passenger pigeon. After about the mid 1860’s it was apparent that the great flocks were no more. Efforts were made to capture the wild bird but few survived or reproduced in captivity. The clearing of forest land for farming and cities without doubt contributed to the pigeons’ demise. From 1909 to 1912, rewards were offered by the American Ornithologist’s Union to anyone who could find a nest or nesting colony. No one claimed the award. The last known passenger pigeon, "Martha" died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden at 1 p.m. on September 1, 1914 at the age of 29. Her corpse was sent packed in ice to the Smithsonian Institution where her mounted body can be viewed today.

Where are you from? Maybe someone near you can help

Reuter’s news service got it start just after Paul Julius Reuter began delivering news between Aachen, Germany and Brussels using a covey of 45 pigeons. In 1850, the birds traveled the 76 mile distance in two hours to deliver the latest news, stock prices and other information. Although the telegraph was in operation within each of the countries, there were gaps in the transmission lines within and between the two. At the time, the railroad carried most of the news over a route that took 6 hours. In less than half the time, Reuter was able to transmit his information to clients willing to pay a premium for early financial information. After about a year, the telegraph reached most points so the pigeon delivery service offered no advantage and Reuter had to develop other ways to deliver timely information. In the early 1800’s, the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe and used the birds to send information to their financial houses quicker than that available by other means. The speed of the information assisted the family in accumulating a fortune that helped make them the name they are today. In 1815, Count Rothschild, so the story is told, was aware of the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo much earlier than the rest of England. Rothschild used the knowledge to make financial decisions based on fact long before others were aware of the battle’s outcome.

Does that make it £250 for carriage ;D ;D ;D

It could have been that Lennut Tar character ;D ;D ;D

Ours are out and about in the woods around us :-/

Would it not be a combination of events, old birds panicking and sqashing the young, eggs being displaced and or then stolen, due to and intruder :-/

That's what we first thought as well when it happened to us, a squirrel is only a tree rat :-/

But it does not explain the missing eggs Sapper :-/

My mate had two grizzle hens the last time I spoke to him, if you are interested I will put you in touch, what hieght do you have them dropping from.

We had that one time, turned out to be a grey squirrel we caught in the trap :-/ Eggs missing, babies dead, adults were damaged. We totally sealed the loft from any intruder, the biggest hole being 1/4 mesh. :-/

Naw, thats in the grey matter redundancy file, not sure if it is worth keeping hold of or not ;D But I am glad I got this one sent to me ;D ;D ;D http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?module=see&lang=uk&code=83bec75086e05da6a2b9a327215ff8ef

I have heard some fanciers use a guinea pig to keep them off the floor

It seems like a deficiency in the egg cycle, one thing I would try is layers mash or pellets to see if that makes any difference. It does no hard in fact it is good for pigeons as a suppliment, it is to aid the constant egg production in hens plus all the other minerals and vitamins added to make it a complete food for chickens. Do not wet the mash, it goes sour very quickly and dries like plaster Poulets can have this problem but it soon clears up, but then again they are capable of laying every day or 200 - 300 a year

Aye all the best, go have a day out swapping all the shoes, just for the hell of it

As I said in previous posts when it happened to us, we had defra in becuase we had chickens as well. All the pigeons in that part of the loft were culled, the rest were treated. The loft was scorched and then and avian disenfectant pressure sprayed in all the parts. We had to take constant droppings tests and submit them to defra. It was traced to a bird I bought as being the carrier. touch wood we have never had it back again, as we quarentine and treat all our new stock before they they are let out.

Does it not blow about quite easily, we tried it in the old loft, but not with the split floor :-/

The only certain way is to cull and burn your loft down, but there are effective ways but it is a lot of hard work :-/

I like the split flooring idea, what do you use under the boxes?