yb racing

[jimmy white]

tony,, its mostly your middle paragraph that intrigues me,, this most cerainly does happen , and very often in  recent times  [or races]  mostly when we dont expect it possibly on a good flying day,,,  this is the bit that intrigues me,, this just didnt happen years ago,, i am also with you ,, with ill birds ,, they cant all be ill the same day , sometimes even flying the same race the week b4, this is the big basic issue i cannot get my head round ,, but there has to be a reason,, but what? i certainly dont know,,,,this is the big " why" or" what" we just dont seem to know,, but feel we should be looking into this most seriously

,, as far as clashing goes we sent far more birds with far more members years ago, probably suffered more clashing than we do now,, but the point being , most of these birds worked their way home,, it just doesnt seem like that now,, once down,,their down ,,,only the odd one gets back occasionaly!! [did you go to the same school as me  > > > did i spell intrigue right > >:(im not so sure  ;D]    yes a big mystery at times

[Tony C]

Re clashing, I think its the case they get their head down and go and go and go....... in the wrong direction, not pulling out and heading for home. They seem to have lost their orientation skills in our search for speed. Hence different type of pigeon nowadays.

[jimmy white]

   agree with that , but it seems to me that  for some unknown reason their homing instinct is not what it was ,, it was mainly sprint i raced tony, even then doing velocities of over 1760 even at near 2000 at times but still not the losses we have today ?? ,, just the odd one or two set up for nats etc, so im afraid to say im beaten on this one  :-/ ,,,,but i still say theres a reason beyond our understanding  :-/ :-/ :-/  as yet

 

incidently i voted the same as you on the very last one,,type of pigeon we now race ,,i  think we were the only two ;D ;D ;D,, but i did vote on the pigeon not being 100 pc , in the sence of the birds ,,not now having the same powerfull  homing ability  they once had,, this is the bit that gets me?? in a way my two votes were meaning the same  

[Guest IB]

Lets take the pigeon. I cant believe its all down to illness as the most likely cause as the poll suggests. Why is it you come across a raceday once or twice a year where everything seems perfect and a good race is expected, not only you encounter heavy losses but the whole convoy takes a bashing. Everyone’s pigeons don’t fall ill on the same weekend so to me you can eliminate illness. My belief is that the convoy of pigeons hit the wrong line from the lib and head of in the wrong direction, get their heads down and before they know it hit the coast somewhere, maybe they don’t stop at the coast perhaps they carry on and end up in a watery grave. Is this why we don’t see them again?

 

Wholeheartedly agree with you on your observations here, Tony.

 

Too easy to blame illness, and then of course, its always down to somebody else's illness, never 'yours'.  

 

First to admit that my geography is rubbish, but up here in Scotland where most of us race from the South, you can be forgiven for thinking that a South or South West wind takes the convoy on a line of flight for home. It doesn't, it takes you into the North Sea. When flying East Coast, that happens sooner than later, when the birds are still deep within England.

 

Pigeons up here as a rule-of-thumb, are never more than 35 miles from the sea.

 

And as for head down and away we go - follow the leader - I think our training could be better. Joint training, round the compass as YBs, single-up as yearlings onwards?

 

 

[Guest shadow]

I always used young bird racing as a means of educating the birds if they won it was a bonus.  Bred 30 every year and usually finished the season with 24

[Guest casbri]

i pair up monday after blackpool show start training youngsters 3 week before 1st race 4 days a week ..then i send them to every yb race...this i think is not to late to train them

[Tony C]

Just out of interest I'd like to know if pigeons these days clear the race point quicker than they use to do.

[Roland]

Jimmy one conversation i bring up for major losses is that most people train there young birds too late. Nowdays most people breed in December-January, but they dont train till 3 weeks before the first young bird race. Now a pigeon i do not know its ageing but they grow at an unbelieveable rate, if they say a dog is 8 years to a year i believe a pigeon would be double or even triple that. Now those later bred youngster bred in April, these ybs are pushed up in the air, and are forced to go through the paces, so by end of July they can get into the first young bird races at around 12 -14 weeks old, while those bred in decemeber are now 6 months old before they are being trained, when in fact they should have been trained around march time, but because everyone concentrates on there ob racing the early bred young birds are given the backseat, untill the old bird racing comes to a close. just my personal opinion and have personally found that through the years ive kept onto my later rounds then the 1st round, its just like a 40 yr old man with no education, being chucked into school, the saying old dog dnt learn new tricks is a fallicy, but old dogs find it harder to learn new tricks is absolutely TRUE!

 

Sorry Wiley disagree with at leaste 90% of your post, and further the very logic.

Once a bird has finished 'Ranging / roaming' there is absolutely nothing more you can teach it ... out side of possibly 'Habits'.

I don't normally put my birds together - as did most of the ole timers - till 1st even 2 week in April.

I often, indeed the best race results ever for  three seasons were  a week to 10 days before just chuck them 30 - 40 miles in three different directions, and a 65 miler up the coast.

They came well, indeed won well, and once sent 23, was 23 drop, clocked 5 took first 4 places, - one was a stray lol, and if clocked all - et  especially - would have wipe the board clean easierly.

RANGING, then loft contentment. You will by August have lost your nrm two or three of the top.

land marks, etc. etc. are realistically for the 'Fanciers' benefit. Obviously one can't teach them breaking points!

Training is for just that, getting miles under their wings.

Only other method I believe that has merit is 20 miles every day, no more nor less, young birdsand old alike infact. This is Fitness true, but main benefit is 'Habit' out home and in feed.

[Tony C]

 

Sorry Wiley disagree with at leaste 90% of your post, and further the very logic.

Once a bird has finished 'Ranging / roaming' there is absolutely nothing more you can teach it ... out side of possibly 'Habits'.

I don't normally put my birds together - as did most of the ole timers - till 1st even 2 week in April.

I often, indeed the best race results ever for  three seasons were  a week to 10 days before just chuck them 30 - 40 miles in three different directions, and a 65 miler up the coast.

They came well, indeed won well, and once sent 23, was 23 drop, clocked 5 took first 4 places, - one was a stray lol, and if clocked all - et  especially - would have wipe the board clean easierly.

RANGING, then loft contentment. You will by August have lost your nrm two or three of the top.

land marks, etc. etc. are realistically for the 'Fanciers' benefit. Obviously one can't teach them breaking points!

Training is for just that, getting miles under their wings.

Only other method I believe that has merit is 20 miles every day, no more nor less, young birdsand old alike infact. This is Fitness true, but main benefit is 'Habit' out home and in feed.

 

Roland you say you pair up the first or second week in April, your y/birds will only be 10-12 weeks old when you start to train if you wish to get them ready for the first race. Are you and Wiley not agreeing that this is the best age to start training even though you see the reasons why a little different.

[Guest slugmonkey]

I seem to lose birds training but not on the races so much I start my ybs at 25 miles for the 1st toss and I don't lose many here it seems about the 4th or 5th toss at about 40 or 50 miles is where I always take a hit I often train with others or on the same day nearby others and just don't seem to have the same losses I attribute this to giving a lot of open loft

[jimmy white]

Just out of interest I'd like to know if pigeons these days clear the race point quicker than they use to do.

 

this is another question,, again for no apparent reason , ive seen yb,s lib , then off!!  then on the same sort of day , same sort of distance , found the yb,s would find it difficult in clearing,, and indeed , seen pigeons still flying round an hour later ,, just makes you wonder

[Guest Vic]

Jimmy, as you know Iv'e been pretty scarse lately, as regarding replying to postings, and  I have only just read this particular one which I find very interesting. Good on you guys for making the site as interesting as ever. Before I read this thread, I had already replied to the thread on the darkness system, which  is also another good topic. Cheers, Vic.

[doo.racer]

A very interesting thread. Having raced for 40 years I can remember the good returns often referred to. I also wonder if racing has evolved to suit the fast maturing sprint / middle distance birds. The good old 500 / 600 mile birds are often slow to mature and therefore easily lost with the number and distance of yb races. Another issue we face today is amalgamation over larger areas to help fill transporters which helps to drag young inexprienced birds all over the countryside

[Roland]

 

Roland you say you pair up the first or second week in April, your y/birds will only be 10-12 weeks old when you start to train if you wish to get them ready for the first race. Are you and Wiley not agreeing that this is the best age to start training even though you see the reasons why a little different.

 

Seems to me that Wiley is advocating that they are trained, about the same time / age as mine would. True, BUT I am saying that even if mine were there early bred, I wouldn't bother training till a week or so before the first race. Unless they were doing 20 miles every day and fed in etc.

[Roland]

I will also say two other believes of mine. One, regardless of what distance one wishes to fly, you need good reliable DISTANCE birds for a sound foundation of any loft. Further, as I often tout, too much incest breeding, and far too many doing it without a jot of a realisation of just how it is done and why! That to me is a very real reason why the basis of 'Homing id weakened I believe.