Race or not to race young birds

[Chris Little]

Guys and Girls

 

Just wondering what your own thoughts are regarding young bird racing.

 

Is it essential to race them or not. There is plenty pros and cons here

 

My friend Dennis Anderson comes up trumps every year in the nationals, he never races young birds other than a young bird national which is their first race if he has his sights set on averages

[Novice]

We started the programe with a disaster on Saturday.

I would suggest only 20% of the convoy are home with many reported in the area of liberation---Lockerbie.

I have 6 home from 9 sent. It was a difficult day and I would bet that many of the youngsters were ill educated and failed to leave the racepoint so in answer to your point I would say give them minimal racing but select your races carefully.

 

Chasing club averages is a recipe for disaster. Put the future of the loft first.

[barnsley_pigeonman]

i think its a must race for young birds but every one to there own

[Ronnie]

i dont think they need to be raced as long as there trained hard as young bird.

[greenlands]

We started the programe with a disaster on Saturday.

I would suggest only 20% of the convoy are home with many reported in the area of liberation---Lockerbie.

I have 6 home from 9 sent. It was a difficult day and I would bet that many of the youngsters were ill educated and failed to leave the racepoint so in answer to your point I would say give them minimal racing but select your races carefully.

Chasing club averages is a recipe for disaster. Put the future of the loft first.

      Hi mate ,sorry about the losses,quite a few A rings here in West Cumbria,hopefully there will be four liberated in Newcomnock on Thursday,some that my mate and I have collected.

    I always have raced my young birds ,but looking at  last weeks results there will have been some cracking youngsters lost,our club had 140 away and on doing clocks nearly three hours after the first birds arrived there were 80/90 missing.If it's a bad forecast this weekend I think they'll be staying in the loft for the remainder of the season.

Lindsay C

ps.Look at Dennis Andersons results,as was said he doesn't race them but how hard does he train them.Lindsay.

 

 

[kirky]

distance men that dont race ybs often train them hard upto 100mls so it is no different than racing say the first 4 yb races in a club then stopping them.

[Tony C]

My views are if yearlings are going be raced on w/hood then racing them as y/birds is a must. I've seen all to often where people have had big losses in old bird racing and just train up their y/birds to get a decent team for the following year only to do most of them in the first few races. If your going to wind up an inexperienced pigeon you asking for trouble.

[Guest IB]

I think YB racing forms an important part of the YB's training & experience. I try to put mine through the programme, health & moult permitting. Gives me more confidence in them for the following year.

[Guest Hjaltland]

i dont think they need to be raced as long as there trained hard as young bird.

 

The duffers do need to be identified and the rest benefit from training.

 

There have been odd years when my yb' shave not been raced but I've always maintained the training.

[vanlink]

Great subject. Not completely sure if it is completely essential, I think that it is more about what you want long term for your loft. If you want to evolve a pigeon that costs you less and has greater orientation, then what you do with your ybs has a bearing I am sure. I certainly know how to win Yb races but I am not sure if this then makes them better old birds. If you have a good balanced training programme and a certain amount of races you are going to have more old birds capable of racing the following year I think but then there will always be exceptions to the rule and there may be birds that do not need too much training and or racing to do well as old birds. I would guess though that these birds would be quite few and far between.

 

This subject is one that I think about every year. I am not interested in yb racing as such but I am very concerned about how I treat my ybs for the future success that I wish to achieve. Regardless of what you do ‘Natural Ability’ is without a doubt the first most important thing that you should aim for and this is only achieved through breeding from either proven breeders or with luck from the family of birds with performance history. Once you have that then environmental factors come in to play and the experience and education that you subject your young birds to will tell at a later date.

 

I personally at this moment in time (subject to change at anytime) believe that my young birds need racing for the experience of breaking, but of course this does not have be an actual race as the same experience can be achieved via a few fanciers getting together and liberating, something that I think is essential before racing starts anyway. Slightly better maybe for your ybs to end up at your mate’s house than at the far end of the fed at someone’s you do not know, it can be a costly experience if they insist on you paying the ridicules £25-30 stray bird fee.

 

So bottom line, it depends if you want to give your birds experience and education or testing and selection or both.

[pjc]

With youngbirds its all about education, they don't have to be raced to be educated but they do need to be well trained otherwise you will be treating them as baby's when they are yearlings and are likely to experience heavy losses with them.

[alec guinness]

We started the programe with a disaster on Saturday.

I would suggest only 20% of the convoy are home with many reported in the area of liberation---Lockerbie.

I have 6 home from 9 sent. It was a difficult day and I would bet that many of the youngsters were ill educated and failed to leave the racepoint so in answer to your point I would say give them minimal racing but select your races carefully.

 

Chasing club averages is a recipe for disaster. Put the future of the loft first.

 

dont think dennis anderson is chasing club averages,but last year he won best average all scottish national races including YOUNG BIRD NATIONAL thats maybe why he competes in 1 yb race and after all these years of losing young birds from lockerbie and gretna why are you guys still racing from there????????? i have learned my lesson and am now sitting with a healthy team of yearlings. ;) :)

 

[Guest mick bowler]

L&G Sullivan and partners won NFC Angers last year with a yearling cock on only its second race EVER, and not raced as a YB. I once had a latebred cock that should topped fed in his first two races ever too.

 

We all talk about losses of latebreds etc, but are the losses really that high compared with Ybs? I wonder what the percentage is of a YB still being in the loft as a 2 yr old compared to a late bred?

 

I think they have to be well trained, and like any bird, kept healthy, and just believe if a birds good enough............

[Chris Little]

 

dont think dennis anderson is chasing club averages,but last year he won best average all scottish national races including YOUNG BIRD NATIONAL thats maybe why he competes in 1 yb race and after all these years of losing young birds from lockerbie and gretna why are you guys still racing from there????????? i have learned my lesson and am now sitting with a healthy team of yearlings. ;) :)

 

Who still races from Lockerbie / Gretna :-/

 

Some good replies, keep em coming

[alec guinness]

 

Who still races from Lockerbie / Gretna :-/

 

Some good replies, keep em coming

 

well ayrshire fed and midland fed thats 2 for starters. :)

[Guest stb]

young birds dont need to be raced but they do need educated.

 

plenty training is good enough,    They do need to fly well to to build up there bodies and develope.

[Delboy]

Pigeons have either got it, or they havent. Ive had many good birds that werent raced as ybs. I know a guy that started racing a stock hen at 4 yrs old ( never been in a basket ) and it turned out his best racer.

[alec guinness]

Pigeons have either got it, or they havent. Ive had many good birds that werent raced as ybs. I know a guy that started racing a stock hen at 4 yrs old ( never been in a basket ) and it turned out his best racer.

 

good point delboy,but no one has mentioned that we keep the doos to race and sometimes youngbird racing can be quiet exciting,after all it can be a long winter if you are no good at the shows. :)

[Guest Gareth Rankin]

Have voted yes because it is for the betterment of the sport that fanciers in general breed from yearlings that have been tested as young birds, for me one of the biggest problems with young bird losses are generation after generation are not raced as young birds but bred from as yearlings.

[joe61]

it depends what you guys call education if not raced

 

oh happy days

[swilcox]

Funny Chris i was just looking through the loft book and thinking the same thing, is there a trend, not really, i have ybs that have flown 8 races and continued to win as old birds, in fact Champion Blue Leader, Little Blue, Sabrina, Catrina and the Tours hen all flew every race as a yb without making a mistake (8 races), yet maybe 20 or so others done the same and have done nowt or gone down, a few others including my best Yearling this year only had 2 races and the hen that i timed from Tarbes was only trained as a yb and only went over the channel once as a yearling!!!

 

Ive come to the conclusion that if they have it, they have it. I do somehow think that big winners tend to be lighter raced pigeons esp on easier days, yet your consistant and well raced birds always come through esp when the weather is bad.

 

I will again juggle things giving the odd bird a lighter load and the majority the program and check my notes again next year.

 

Stuart

[mackems]

i gave young birds 1 race 79 mls in 07 as yearlings sent them all the way week in week out over the channel 420ml won and scored in club and fed they wer,nt on darkness in my opinion better for it

[swilcox]

Tony C, i 100% aggree with your statement, if you are going to send yearlings on widowhood in April the following year they have to have 5 or 6 races under there belt, i found this out last year 6 later bred birds that were trained on widowhood, all gone by week 3, the other 6 on Natural and sent to first race in May 5 from 6 left and 5 from 5 after there 2nd year).

 

But as a rule test the majority!!! which follows Gareth point.

 

Stuart

[Guest mick bowler]

Tony C, i 100% aggree with your statement, if you are going to send yearlings on widowhood in April the following year they have to have 5 or 6 races under there belt, i found this out last year 6 later bred birds that were trained on widowhood, all gone by week 3, the other 6 on Natural and sent to first race in May 5 from 6 left and 5 from 5 after there 2nd year).

 

But as a rule test the majority!!! which follows Gareth point.

 

Stuart

 

 

Stuart i don't think it makes any difference to be honest. Me and my mate both had yearling cocks top fed in first couple races, and generally mine only had 2 or 3 races, yet i never had a hen perform as well earlly on and they usually did the YB programme. As i said above i ahd a LB cock, totally unraced who should topped fed first two races, but would nt trap, luckily 2nd race he came with another cock (a yearling too!).

 

[The Navigator]

Have to be raced. Like many have said on here, if they do not when they are yearlings they will go down the swany.