tubbles

My best is not topping the fed but being second fed...... We had a holdover from Wincanton, Sunday birds liberated into light east wind and i clocked a Dark chequer hen, won club then found that i had topped federation ( what a thrill ) then two weeks later and this is the one, birds held over at Wincanton, Liberated Sunday into light east wind and a minute after the time i clocked the Fed topper A dark chequer Busschaert hen through the door like a bullet. Chuffed to bits i went over to my mates and he was nowhere near my time, i told him that it was my Fed topper again went back home and looked at her again only to find out that it was not my fed topper but her nestmate. This was my biggest thrill because while I had won races before, I had never had a cock that bred two seperate winners for me..... wow a family. The sire was also Grand sire to a fed topper over the water for me. and of course it is still a great thrill every raceday seeing one coming in because you never know..... even if other birds have gone over THEY may not have gone straight in. ;D

As for the pads being sealed to the landing places, A lot of people in my area race to allotments, They have their lofts broken into quite often( i don't mean regularly ) but where would that leave them and do these things just run on batteries or do they need electricity? We do not have this system around here yet but nobody seems to mention powering the pads. :B LoL do they beep as they go in like in the supermarket barcode reader.

I have flown since 1984 so not too long compared to some, but, in my opinion at the moment i really don't think it will do the sport much good. Many of the fanciers now are (must tread careful here) old and they may think that a £300 investment on a clocking system that could save them anything from seconds to even a minute if disabled, could be a bit too expensive. With not all that many newcomers in the sport it is hard to think of sell on value as clocks now are only around a hundred pounds, second hand anyway. I understand the workers who HAVE to work on race days and feel sorry for them but to not get the pleasure of seeing the bird finish defeats the object of racing to me. I am lucky in a way as i am able bodied and get care allowance to look after my mother so time at the backgarden loft is no problem. This argument/discussion will not go away until the powers that be make a decision and i think they must act in the best interests of the sport. I am secretary of my club and had to read out a letter in the club from the region secretary of the RPRA and it got a stoney response in the club. I am sure however that if it comes in, some members will get the ETS and others won't, then perhaps we could have a handicap system and say knock three to five seconds off a bird timed into a clock. LOL just another idea to throw into the mix.

Used open door for a number of years and with reasonable success but now have switched to stall trap for this year onwards (well perhaps onwards) Saw the idea on a good flyer in our area he made like an aviary on his loft and the birds go through the stall trap and can see other birds inside. This way he races to two sections and the only way in is through the traps and you only need one stall trap.

I race the birds on the darkness system, it seems like a must do thing right now. When the old bird season is over with I tend to move the old birds that i am keeping for next year into the stock loft ( these are normally seperated by this time ) keep all the cocks together and then put the young cocks into the old bird race loft. on fridays let them run together with the hens and send to the race. It is like widowhood but the youngsters come home from training together and that can't be helped. The birds look really good like this. As for results, i am not really a keen young bird racer but i realise it is a necessary evil. at least this way you don't worry so much about the cocks driving to nest or hens being in egg, but they really are motivated. and that is better than just racing to the corn tin.

You could say my first race was not fair as I started off in a partnership. The first race that i went in as partner we won, what back then was, one of the biggest open races around this area The Prenton Open. this was an old bird race with around 400 birds. The race was a bit dodgy to say the least 1000ypm but hey first is first. After that it was all down hill with the odd card but still mates with my ex partner even up til now. we have a laugh whether up or down. My first race on my own was quite ordinary by comparison, think i was mid table.

I am in the Merseyside area of UK and want to buy some fibreglass sheeting to cover an aviary. i would like for them to let some light through. but not be clear so the birds can see through them. Any ideas???

A quick note on the ebay clocks, make sure it is a GB clock you buy if you are racing in GB because some of the T3's for sale do not take thimbles. Not sure if they are legal in this country. AND Linnell are funny about servicing the Belgian clocks.

Mark i have sent you a PM matey

I also had ivermectin, started using it about 5 years ago and it did work but last year a few of us went to the same vet and got the ivermectin and had a terrible time trying to get rid of the damn things. Not sure if the vet has watered it down or something similar Won't mention names just in case. On a slightly different note, a flier by us used the ivermectin and also wormed his birds at the same time with different stuff, this worked really bad and killed quite a few of his youngsters so be careful. Not sure what his choice of wormer was. Someone else gave a flier in the club some flea killer worked a treat but when he was asked what it was called it was oh you can't get it anymore and i can't remember the name of it......... dear dear believe it was stuff from Rentokil but obviously not sure sorry perhaps someone else knows.

It (like everything else in this country) boils down to money. If you can show that the loss of income is substantial and i'm sure that fancy lawyers can do this easily, The government will buckle down. After all if this had been livestock you could be sure that the likes of Horse trainers (Sport of Kings) would have found some legal loophole to allow them to carry on racing regardless. We can't train together or even meet up with birds unless we go all dick turpin like and I live a couple of hundred miles from the problem area. Yet Bernard matthews will fill up his shed with NEW birds which will just 'appear' within the exclusion zone. And where will that leave us if they get re-infected straight away, looking at another 6week wait to get the all clear. Life stinks. I think this could happen every season now because we start racing as the migration starts. >

Our first race is Hereford, we race south that is the birds fly north (sorry i started that explanation) but Hereford is 90 miles to me. This is both Old birds and young birds. OK for old birds having been there before but as for young birds?????? Our first races for youngsters has been awful for the last few seasons. big losses in our 20 bird club. But, we race in an amalgamation and the furthest fliers go an extra 10-15 miles. Perhaps birds going through with the bunches.

Well done on your victory m8. Will you still be up for it this season or are you now a seasoned pro. Good luck in the future matey

The most i sent was 15 old birds ( thats all the boxes i have ) 20 yb in a club race cos we race in a 20 bird limit club. We have a number of no limit clubs around here but they seem to be dominated now by just the one flyer each time, members sending is at an all time low, not saying it is because of the 'Mobflyers' but our 20 bird limit has only seen a drop in numbers because of people dying or just leaving the sport for other reasons. One of the clubs with no limit was one of the biggest around here with 40-odd members is now down to just ten-fifteen with the members leaving and joining other clubs that race to a limit. Draw your own conclusions.

I have box perches for the youngsters, they are made of chipboard with 3 holes drilled at the same positions 1.5" from the floor parts (easier than it sounds) then just run strimmer wire through the holes. For the standing part, all i did was made thin ply that fits in each perch and nailed a piece of 2*2 on the front edge. The birds don't go in the back until pairing up age and then i put a spare base piece upside down so they can make a nest in there. For the most part of the season they are clean footed because they dont stand on the wire they just drop little presents in there and to clean they just slide out. easy peasy. Of course we all know the perches don't make them race better they just cheer us up looking and talking about them.

Don't want to fall out with anyone over my first post, but since this is about opinions. I am the secretary of my club and over the last 5 years we have gone from 46 members down to 24, most of these have left because of age/health but when asked about the ETS system in the past the members that left the club just about all agreed that it would be another nail in the coffin of the sport. concerns were from price to install and run to members complaining that there would be no enjoyment if you were not there to see the birds homing in. In our federation as a whole there are NO new members coming into the sport and then if you do manage to get one that had to have ETS to compete it is still £500 or thereabouts. At least with the clocks there are always second hand STB's or such available for £100 or less. If they are allowed to be used I don't really know which way I myself would go but it seems that the money men would gain another couple of seconds advantage. ??)