yearlings

[alvagate]

all my yearlings are treat the same with care and training and feeding  the ones i have left at the end of the season will be my best and at two year olds will see 550mle plus i only have a small set up so not places to carry birds for 3 years hopping that they will fly longer distance to be disapointed

[OLDYELLOW]

 

thats it ian if a fancier is distance minded then in my view needs to be done ive spoken to many good/great nat men who all swear by it there rule is if it cant do 400/450mls as yearlings they wont go on to do the real distance raceing now i can hear some say ive got birds that didnt race as y/birds and only race lightly as yearlings yes but if they had raced the good ones would have still been there and yes their is allways the odd exception

 

i agree i normaly like yearling to 420 miles , i sent to 524 miles as had no two year olds , when you have limited loft space if they cant do it they shouldnt be there  

[jimmy white]

im quite sure yearlings will do well , at the longer races, but in my opinion, most are ruined by persistent early training in march ,,in cold east winds , i have found yearlings to excel if started in the month of may,,, [in our usual heat wave ;D]

[Guest frank dooman]

im quite sure yearlings will do well , at the longer races, but in my opinion, most are ruined by persistent early training in march ,,in cold east winds , i have found yearlings to excel if started in the month of may,,, [in our usual heat wave ;D]

 

thats another good point jimmy it sometimes very difficult with the weather we get and the race prog. not to get left behind i do think its the better of two evils race them in not so perfect conditions or get left with a big jump thats not something i like with yearlings  also ive allways said we start too soon we havent moved with the seasons i dont mind jumping old birds but yearlings are niether y/birds or old birds they are stuck some where in between

[Albear]

Yearling cock widowhood 2nd club 280 mile only two on the day 5th fed, 2nd club 320 mile 5th fed, 78th open 4000+ NFC 556 mile. Paired Feb 14th not let out of loft from september until April, firts race after two tosses jumped into 123 mile no further training

[Guest WINGS 04]

i like my yearling to go to the longes inland race in the fed  and then send 1 or 2 to the chanel race have had them on the day from 460miles they will have to be up for it this year as i only have 1 08 pigeon in the loft with the yearlings

[Albear]

Yearling cock widowhood 2nd club 280 mile only two on the day 5th fed, 2nd club 320 mile 5th fed, 78th open 4000+ NFC 556 mile. Paired Feb 14th not let out of loft from september until April, firts race after two tosses jumped into 123 mile no further training

 

By the way in 2007 when I only had yearlings they all flew to 380 miles on roundabout and at 230, 280, 320 and 380 I was 1st & 3rd; 2,3,4; 2&3 and 2nd & 4th. I will admit to sending 1 to 556 mile and not seeing her, my mistake rather than hers, I knew she'd get about 520 but as she was such a good hen I thought another 40 mile wouldn't make much difference... chasing glory instead of using my head!

[jimmy white]

sometimes  very difficult to do whats best with  yearlings,, they can score well even up to and over 500 miles,, but ,, what of their future,??, i had scored with three yearlings [one albears ;D ;D ;D]  [need commision now ;D],, from 490 miles approx in the same nat, these on natural,,i have  have scored with w/hood cocks as yearlings over  500 miles ,, but really i believe that if destined for the distance whether it be w/hood or natural,,they must not be" hammered" as yearlings [difficult in our climate in scotland], but nursed along to become fresh mature two year olds,, then if these have it in them,, will score up to a ripe old age,, [ i had one still score at 9 y o  ;D , 9th time scoring over 500 miles ]

[jimmy_bulger]

many roads lead to rome as has been said,but if my yearlings could not do 450 miles on the day they would be in the bin if not a hard one, along side there parents.

think yearlings from certain bloodlines have to treated a certain way let then learn to walk before you make then run.

jmo

[jimmy white]

some very interesting veiw points,, but we often talk of miles,rather  than "hours on the wing".  a yearling can be entered into a hard n,w wind  race, say 360 miles , even win it , but flying the hours [especially into scotland]  up to say 12 hours on the wing,, we can have birds doing 10 hours from 500 miles , even less,, ,, so my thoughts would be  more based on hours on the wing, rather than distance, with yearlings,

[jimmy_bulger]

jimmy have had yearlings stick it out at 15 1/4 hours on the wing mate ,but its how you treat them before and especially after they gotta be bred for it

[Albear]

sometimes  very difficult to do whats best with  yearlings,, they can score well even up to and over 500 miles,, but ,, what of their future,??, i had scored with three yearlings [one albears ;D ;D ;D]  [need commision now ;D],, from 490 miles approx in the same nat, these on natural,,i have  have scored with w/hood cocks as yearlings over  500 miles ,, but really i believe that if destined for the distance whether it be w/hood or natural,,they must not be" hammered" as yearlings [difficult in our climate in scotland], but nursed along to become fresh mature two year olds,, then if these have it in them,, will score up to a ripe old age,, [ i had one still score at 9 y o  ;D , 9th time scoring over 500 miles ]

 

Hi J immy, thanks for the plug ;D out of those 2007 yearlings, I have 4 widowhood cocks left in my team (flew widowhood in 08&09). 3 have flown to 556 miles all having scored at NFC section and the other flown Barcelona and won at shorter distances.

Now I appreciate what you say about still having them at a late age and that is good in many instances but for me there are two draw backs.

 

1 If you are a small team loft and I have room for 16 pair whether old bird or widowhood, it becomes a problem, do you keep the older ones and cull youngsters??  Now I know many advise only take through to the ob team yb that have performed, but you can't do that with distance birds unless you hammer them as YB and I am against that , if I can get them to 80/100 mile as YB then I stop them though I have no problem with the idea of racing yb to 350 mile); by hammer them I mean train them hard on light mixture. I am a firm believer in youth and vitality, us older ones Jimmy may think we're still only 21 but our bodies quickly put us right on that score!!

2 With the hawks down here you never know when you are going to loose them. You can persevere with the birds to let them mature and Percy is picking them off, it makes more sense to get them down the road when they are ready. I'm not suggesting all yearlings should do the distance but those that are capable of flyng it and are physicaly and mentally mature can do it no problem. In 2008 I sent 2 to 473 mile and 2 to 556 mile. the 473 milers were 2yo and the 556 milers were yearlings. It should have been the other way around on age but the 2 to 473 mile were slow maturing birds mind they matured enough to take 1st & 2nd. There aremany roads to Rome which is why thia is such a fascinating sport. Jimy's methods have served him well and he is a great mentor for any new starter. My opinion however is that yerlings that are wel prepared capable of doing the distance (the most important factor for me) and with vitality will fly the distance and go on to fly it many more times providing they don't get hit by Percy.

[BLACK W F]

lot of good points on this thread  some good distance guys with basically the same ideas  but remember guys most have  distance familys that have been in your kneck of the woods for years  and have been trained  /raced to these methords   in my opinion king billys  and jimmy,s  methords  very simular  these are  ones i will use with my distance y/ings if they cant do down to the coast on the day  in desent weather  then the bin could well be full  JMO

[ritchie1]

481 miles to hestings 6th club and 12th fed firt time i have been to hestings

[Taylorsloft]

Sartilly  582 miles 5th fed only 5 in race time he was still carrying 2 nest flight came home injured never raced as a young bird late breed

[Guest cloudview]

my yearlings  get  two channel races, 1st at 273   then 3 weeks later 370 mile, this is ample education for them as two year olds , then depending on the individual bird can right through to tarbes 694 mile

i liken yearlings to teenagers , still learning , not quite sure of them selve,s, but daft enough to have a go at anything , but there,s no substitute for expierience.

so 500 plus miles is for the men not the boys

  oh and re birds that dont doit on the day , yearlings i mean , remember everything is entitled to at least one mistake .

i found out after  a few years that my best 700 milers were my worst 500 milers

food for thought

[Guest stb-]

260 for my best birds, anything not sure of or trying out go to the coast at least.

 

Birds dont need to fly 3 and 400 mls to win at 500 mls plus

[Delboy]

I was 1st Open Scottish West Coast Combine Sartilly 510 mls, into a head wind, flying 15 and half hours on wing,( only 4 on night ) with a yearling cock that wasnt raced as yb. I had to send him because of his condition as I believe you must strike when the iron is hot   Incidentally, he was my main pooler in the race ( winning a very tidy sum ) even though he was a yearling and I had more experienced birds away .

[Guest stb-]

I was 1st Open Scottish West Coast Combine Sartilly 510 mls, into a head wind, flying 15 and half hours on wing,( only 4 on night ) with a yearling cock that wasnt raced as yb. I had to send him because of his condition as I believe you must strike when the iron is hot   Incidentally, he was my main pooler in the race ( winning a very tidy sum ) even though he was a yearling and I had more experienced birds away .

 

was it a mealy 8) 8)

 

 

[Delboy]

 

was it a mealy 8) 8)

 

 

No , he was a sonnybors   ;D

[alec guinness]

 

i try and get the yearlings down to the coast (380-400) if possible but dont worry if this does not happen,have topped the fed from maidstone 376 mls with a yearling hen unraced as a youngster,was 2nd federation dorchester 370mls and the same cock scored 6 days later from appledore 404 mls,770 mls in 1 week as a yearling,again this did no harm in future years with the cock flying from satilly 511mls rennes 552mls nantes 614mls and niort 693mls,he won in the west coast combine sartilly as a 2 yr old and the icing on the cake 1st region 54th open scottish national flying club nantes on the shift 614mls,down to the fancier methinks,roads to rome and all that. ;) :) :) :)

 

 

[robbiedoo.]

i send my yearlings to hastings our longest race 483 mile i,ve been fortunate to win it 3 times out of the last 5 years each time with a yearling . i dont think i would send 1 across the channel its hard enough getting a old bird to do it .

[Guest frank dooman]

i send my yearlings to hastings our longest race 483 mile i,ve been fortunate to win it 3 times out of the last 5 years each time with a yearling . i dont think i would send 1 across the channel its hard enough getting a old bird to do it .

 

i would say thats about right 483mls is the same as arras to me good distance for a yearling

[Albear]

i send my yearlings to hastings our longest race 483 mile i,ve been fortunate to win it 3 times out of the last 5 years each time with a yearling . i dont think i would send 1 across the channel its hard enough getting a old bird to do it .

 

Perspectives on the 'channel' are so different. I respect and appreciate yours but perhaps your post does give food for thought. It's 473 to the channel for you and 17 miles for me, a no brainer far more difficult for your birds to cross the channel than mine, after all the first channel race for me is 176 mile to me, 300 miles less than it is for you.

So you would understand your and others thought that that's far enough for yearlings. However generally speaking most of the Scottish races across the channel are to the east of France planned so the birds are coming aross the channel at its shortest point about 20 miles, the birds can see England whenthey hit the French coast. For me well my birds have a 100+ mile of water to cross online. What difference does this make, well I think the birds have to have orientation +.

Let me give you an example of thisin the 2008 Tarbes National many top fanciers especially to the eastern side of England had birds reported in Ireland and the western side of the country, there were claims in the fancy press that this was not a true race when such good fanciers/birds got it wrong? Well the explanation for me was that with wthe east in the wind rather than the obligatory west at the end of June these birds found themselves coming across 100/150 mile of water to come in via Devon & Cornwall, they simply were not used to coming across water and not seeing the land on the other side and lost their orientation.

I would say that if you have birds to do so well at 473 miles then the extra across the Chnnel will not stop them providing they are 5capable of getting 600 mile. The big if here though is that those birds that scaore from 50 - 500 are generally spent at 500 the old families like AH Benett's who could top the fed at 50 and 600 mile have been lost and that sadly is the reason for not getting yearlings from 600 it is not fo me an age issue rather a genetic stock issue.

[ritchie1]

i think its silly to push a distance bird when its only a yearling better birds once they are 2 year olds