WulDon

I was informed today from Derby Arona, Tenerife that pigeons they are trying to ship to the UK have been restricted at the moment due to the outbreak, and it states in there message 'a ban on movement through Belgium', and there is no clarfication of the situation on the SNFC website who I thought would have been looking into the situation and keeping members uodated!!

no different from the SNFC lib-line

its a figure of speech, nothing personal

YOU'VE LOST THE PLOT PAL!

MID DAY LIB... IT THEN BECOMES A LOTTERY!

up at 5.00am the leaders could have 250 miles under there belts by midday, which is half way to some lofts... agree there, a lib at the hottest part of the day... madness!!!

forcing the entire convoy to spend the night out is ludicrous... this then presents the pigeons with a multitude of hazards and some of the poor blighters will not even see the next morning... we send our pigeons to race in the ultimate race of the season, not a death sentence!! if the forecast is only predicting a bit of heat then this is not a good enough excuse to have a midday day liberation imo... up at the crack dawn, plenty watering holes up the length of the UK, the absolute best will be home in good time...

from memory the worse Gold Cup race I can remember was in 1997, when 934 lofts sent 3269 pigeons when 21 pigeons clocked by 21 members were clocked in race time, one of the biggest smashes in SNFC history! racing at 500 miles has not moved forward in the last twenty year or so, it is tough and it will always be tough, tha's the name of the game when only the best quality pigeons will make it home... so stop blaming it on recent theoretical nonsense drummed up in local weekly pigeon journals, not pointing the finger, just sayin... with an educational head! lol

and how do you explain the erratic racing this week end then smarty pants... suppose that must be the 'X FACTOR' :emoticon-0136-giggle:

aye and the controllers got it spot on eh?? south section had a cracking race, so does the 'K' index only affect certain parts of the country?? since some *expletive removed* splattered the BHW with all this sh!te we now blame bad racing on it... just crap IMO!!

any updates?

stock bred for retail meat aren't asked to perform as racing pigeons are from 300-600 miles! I didn't mention breathing stale air my friend... google allergen and maybe you will understand the point of my post! who really cares how dovecots are kept... who is interested in any form of wild pigeon/dove, we are talking about national racing here, the 'olympics' of scottish pigeon racing

agree... but metal has to be exposed to heat to then become a conductor, I'm pretty sure these transporters don't have heaters in them...

agree to an extent, but the aluminium crates you mention weren't in the transporter... do you actually think these companies spend obscene amounts of money designing these transporters and the panniers to cook the pigeons during transportation, on the subject of shavings if you read my post again my concern was what the pigeons breath in in this type of environment not picking about,grills would also prevent picking about now you come to mention it...

UK weather is now so erratic during the race season, decisions need to be made by the committee if a holdover if it is almost certain to be on the cards, which our first two National races of the season have been... nobody wants there pigeons in the crates a further 24 hours, after spending two nights in them already. Basketting in these circumstances SHOULD be postponed for 24 hours, or in some cases 48 hours going on previous years holdovers, THE WELFARE OF THE PIGEONS MUST COME FIRST N FOREMOST!!! Last year our second inland national race had 6065 entries, and this year we have 3001 entries, the situation paints its own picture i'm afraid, many pigeons that were at Buckingham havn't been resent as they are simply not fit enough to go, and losses have increased... we all moan about the raptor problem in the UK which i'm in full agreeance with, but if we continue to race pigeons at this level we will also destroy our own sport. Now.. something we cannot seem to agree on is the transporting facilities, why the hell are we still convoying in this day and age of modern technology in prehistoric transporters, with wicker baskets loaded with shavings, we havn't moved forward in over 50 years in this department! Holdovers... pigeons are sitting in there own excrement for three nights plus, these fouled shavings will be contaminating there drinking water, and the foreign allergens they are breathing in via there own droppings and shavings WILL BE having an impact on there upper respitory system for sure. So when conditions are favourable and we get a liberation after a one or a two day holdover, and it is still a stinker we scratch our heads? I have just watched a video clip on facebook of the NRCC convoy being cared for by the convoyer in a modern 21st century transporter, awesome is all I can say! These vehicles in most cases are all air conditioned with roof top ventilation, auto watering systems, cool aluminium crates and grills, clear release flaps on the panniers which must help prior to a liberaton, and auto liberation release system, easy to manage and keep clean. there are plenty of these vehicles in Scotland now, with one federation in particular which could convoy the entire SNFC for every race if required... a no brainer IMO. Happy Flying Lads...

just my opinion pal... its a better day than what our poor pigeons were liberated from Buckingham in, I thought they would have went for it :emoticon-0136-giggle:

couldn't be any worse than the current squad, Buckingham was a disaster.. not to mention Portsmouth, Ypres and Buckingahm YB national last season, ye they do a nice job matey!!! :emoticon-0136-giggle:

don't see a problem with Saturday if they are up early enough, say 6.00am or earlier... they were let up at Buckingham in worse!

hourly updates on SNFC website wouldn't be asking too much...

pigeons that are from a good winning source, fit, healthy and motivated will win on any mix... too much emphasise is placed on products and seed mixes these days, in an era when the country is rife with pigeon health and sickness problems! JMO

Well Done Dave... leading the field yet again

nice hat trick of wins Dave, keep them coming...

two on the trot for 'Frans Boy'... well done Mr.B

well done Dave and 'Frans Boy'