Tim.Farr

Oh and I agree with Bruno, I really don't like cocks I could mistake for a hen.

Medium cocks and small hens. But then again every once in awhile I like a tough looking medium sized hen that could be mistaken for a cock.

Wow didn't know 17 percent was the max. In that case I think I'll lower the amount of Iam's I'm adding in. It's about 28 percent protein but has so much good stuff in it for the birds. The rabbit pellets are about 17 percent protein but much lower fat content and much higher in fiber. That's a good idea Ed. If I don't see they're paired up in the morning I'll separate him by himself for a day and then show him the hen without any other birds around.

I didn't see this coming. Will see you at the Late Hatch still though I hope.

Well within minutes of putting the birds in the individuals and then together in the loft section most of them were paired up. Probably mostly due to the nice weather we have going right now. I have one cock though who isn't interested in his hen at all, he did this to me last year and wouldn't pair up till I just tossed him in a section with some other pairs/extra hens. I really want him to pair with this hen I have him in with now so I'll hope they pair up in the next few days. On a side note, do you think there's such thing as too much protein when it comes to breeding/weaning youngsters? I know there is in racing but in breeding I'd think it wouldn't do much harm.

I just started mixing Iam's Smart Puppy and rabbit pellets into my birds 16 percent mix. Going to pair them up today I think.

Hey Ed Sounds great! I'm going to pair up the birds tomorrow I think if the weather is good. Depending on what I learn in those videos will pave the way for how I go about my young birds this year. When Ed says he knows people he really means he flies his birds out of orange crates! just kidding

Also Jim, awhile back I found this site with plans for a smaller type of loft. I liked the set up for a couple of pairs of birds. http://www.uplandbirddog.com/training/loft.html

Homers for sure if you can start with some babies. With rollers there's always that chance that you can lose them off the loft even after flying them for over a year. I've had a friend have his whole flying kit up and fly off due to a bad wind,etc. Homers once homed are near impossible to lose aside from the occasional hawk attack or wire incident. Homers are also a very sturdy breed and mainly the only reason there are is so much sickness you read about is due to racing and being exposed to birds on the trucks. If you're just having them home and have good clean feed/water/grit and a good loft I dare say you won't run into many health problems at all.

Well depends on if you're getting racers to race or just to have homers and fly around the house/release every once in awhile. If you're looking at competing with either then rollers probably take lest time. I don't think I could ever have anything but racers though, I just find it so amazing that they fly home in a day from such far distances that I would have trouble driving.

Awesome Jim. It's great to have new people in the sport and especially here in the states!

haha ok RIGHT when I posted that it hit me. It's the queen's rings?

What is an ER ring?

Natural Love of Pigeon Racing by Lonnie Patterson

Linda I hope you lost Dipsy, Tinky Winky, Lala, and Po.

He just accidently hit the bold option twice I think. It's the bold B above the reply box. Clicking it does this around the words you have selected. Silly Ed!

Well from what I understand you guys race a few months earlier than the majority of the US. Do you find breeding birds after February and flying them natural ok or would you personally breed earlier if not for the weather?

I have a book laying around called Pigeons by Matthew M. Vriends. Has some real basic good info on pigeons in general. If you're looking into racing pigeon books then Natural Love of Pigeon Racing by Lonnie Patterson is great, I've also heard Rotondo on Racing Pigeons is great. JEDDS found at www.jedds.com is a local pigeon supply store and also happens to be one of the largest in the states. A good place I think to find info is to go to www.ipigeon.com which is an auction site and go to member websites in the links section and just look through peoples websites. As far as the best pigeon for a beginner I personally would think racing(homing) pigeons are great. They're sturdy and once you have the babies settled you don't have to worry about losing them that easy off the loft. Although they're not the tamest out there with time they can be tamed with food.

Just wondering what the reasoning is. I had plans to pair up early(early-mid December) and to fly naturally. I would think natural birds is best to pair up asap due to not having any kind of system to push them through the moult before the races? Am I wrong in thinking this? Our racing season starts at the beginning of September. I'm unable to use any lights for the breeders but here in southern California even the winters are 60+ degrees on the coldest days.

Get Ed to go down to Oregon before the Late Hatch and then drag him down here with you.

Ah oops the link got messed up, somehow the beginning of my sentence got included. This should work: www.latehatchclassic.com

www.latehatchclassic.com I believe he just started training tosses this week.

Most definitely, I'll be there. I have 1 bird in the race who's still there but even if it isn't I'll be there. Hemet is only about 15 miles from me. Happy Thanksgiving

Down here in southern California Linda. In the city of Murrieta, just a little north of San Diego county.

I have yet to see these so I went searching through guide and both will be playing again this Sunday at 12 & 1 pm PST