TRAINING BIRDS FOR A LONG RACE

[Guest TAMMY_1]

WHEN WOULD BE THE LAST DAY PEOPLE WOULD TRAIN BIRDS  FOR A RACE OF 450/500 MILES COMING FROM FRANCE .?

[Guest]

If I was racing from France Tammy which unfortunately I'm not lol, I wouldn't train the last few days, just put the race contenders out round the loft with the young birds.

[GROVEHOMER]

      Probably a week before ( from 50Mls). I know some fanciers dont bother, if they are flying well around the loft then why waste the petrol?  Every trainer, like every race, drains the birds' reserves. To finish first, first you must finish.

                               What do other fanciers think?

      

[Guest TAMMY_1]

THANK YOU.

[jimmy white]

i would like to see them flying well at home the last week

[Guest]

Our birds have 6 training tosses before the first race (Mid April) and are never put in a basket again, only races and loft exercise. Before liberation : One night in the basket they go every week, 2 nights in the basket every two weeks, three nights in the basket every three weeks etc.

Youngsters just the same

[Guest]

Thought you'd be interested in the advice forum members gave me off-season last year. Cut and pasted it for use this year, and this is what they said:

 

Jimmy White:

 

i would pair him with my best hen, if i thought a lot of the cock, take the eggs away at 8 days, foster them, then race him 4 races spare, as he is going for the 500 miler, 4 races would be plenty.i would then count back from the 500 mile race in question,pair him back to his old hen [never having let him see it that year]then send him sitting 10 days on eggs.making sure that he had at least one 8 hour race beforehand four weeks previous to the big one, one weeks rest, then paired, trained every day 50 miles then a weeks rest gathering nest materials, you would then find he would have just cast his first flight and should be in exellant shape

 

Stucky

 

Lot depends on the bird itself, some need lot of road work some very little. Up here in west of scotland some people are giving the birds more races than useally because of the hawk problem, that way they dont need as much training, but percentage wise, own way is afer they finished there rearing i start training, paired up between 20th feb and 10th march, first race use 112 to 130 mile then i give 3 to four races in a row, miss week or two then like them to have race were they have 8 hours on the wing use 250 t0 320 mile race,.

 

Rose

 

I agree with what stucky says depends on the birds ours usually get 2 - 3 200-250ml races the last one 2 weeks before they go to 500mls think the hours they get on the wing before they go is the importatnt thing

 

JW

 

with natural birds i found the biggest mistake was breeding, training, and racing too early, agree with the above posts ,only differance would be with me ,up here it used to work out that your 8 hour fly, could be 4 weeks before the rennes race, so after a weeks rest, i would train fairly long tosses,up till a week before they went.to the big one, but i found there are as many differant type races as there is differant type pigeons and you never know what the race is going to be like, some pigeons thrive on hard work others dont, so sometimes it can be trial and error, i used to like sending them with their second flight just bursting through these dates may have changed now , to what they used to be, if the 8 hour fly be 2 weeks b4 the big one, i would be happy to see them comming well, then send them, Maybe just to explain the differance in pigeons and races i won combine sartilly505 miles with a widowhood cock paired in january, this pigeon had 5 races never a training toss, but was flying freely for 2hours each morning and evening [when the rest of the cocks were down and in]now i new this bird was fit , iknew the forecast was good and won with him doing over1600 vel.this bird hadnt even cast a flight, now this bird was no match for sir colin whose vel was way below 600 and treated in a differant way, and over 600 miles, so really its setting them up for the race, then horses for courses and knowing your pigeons.

 

Rose

 

We are lucky down here on that jimmy dont think anyone can complain that they cant get the right race distance wise for their birds but Im beginning to wonder after this year the ideal 2 weeks before race for me was Tours which was a disaster that training the birds is not a better idea we have sent birds only trained to 700ml race didnt make any difference to them

 

Stucky

 

Thats the diference for myself and jimmy compared to rose, were rose can have a few races to choose from we have probly 1. Two at the most, the way the racing is now it can be big chance giving your birds the race it needs to close to its desired race, Have been saying for ages we in scotland are 5 year behind rest of U.K and they are 5 year behind the continent, but the rest of the uk are at least catching up. My last race for them use leicster 250 mile , then they would have 3 weeks to the gold cup race, and depending on the bird it would have maybe 200 mile training in between, use no bigger than 40 to 50 mile tosses, some may be 25m but i use dont go over 50m, that was way use to do it, but now we have midweek club can get maybe 2 dunbars that about 70 mile, then couple of 25 to 35 mile tosses. That is one of the reasons i hope we dont go to maidstone as lot of people use that race for gold cup. And to me it to dangerous a race to be so near gold cup race, to be used as set up race,

 

Rose

 

If i couldnt get a training race in i would be looking at somewhere completely different to where i normally train from and where the wind is against them

 

JW

 

i think maybe , bruno, your thinking of distance rather than hours on the wing you could send them 300 miles , they could possibly do this in, 5 hrs if the wind was favourable, then again you could get 8 hrs out of them at250 mile race with head wind which would be more suitable, i agree with rose trainng them in a head wind, to harden them up, itrained a black cock from near dundee, opposite way of race, and scored with it from sartilly, as i said before no hard and fast rules, but NOT to race or train or breed to early, and remember that the bird usually casts its first flight, after sitting more than 10 days on its second round of eggs, i used to seperate them after theve reared, race them spare then have them sitting [or hatching] depending on the bird, usually a cock sitting 10 days ,,a hen on 3 day old young, after this separation period found that it made them keener, when they did nest, for second time. ,,.only another opinion.,, maybe another interesting point about making sure they have the fuel in the tank for the job, is an example of last years kings cup winner, auld reekie [ what a pigeon] this pigeon was raced lightly as yb, never raced as a yearling , and to my mind must rate as one of the best birds ever, and can tell you its not finished yet, by a long chalk.[its also been 2nat this year, among its other great positions, a great example of management and pigeon, both , hand in hand, another example of getting the best out a bird was my,, fifer,,this was a broken widowhood cock bred for the distance, raced as a yb and yearling then purchased for £8 and broken to me, never raced for two years, sent over the channel as 4 y old just out the result .sent as 5 yold could have been on the result, was at clock station with sir colin, he was in the loft when i got back. as a 6 y old never having actualy scored, but still had faith in him, flew widowhood again, 4 races, every am and every pm he went back to fife [no loft there]approx 16 miles , so on its own it flew 32 miles am and 32 miles pm, this time after never seeing his hen for 4 weeks [off course this is why he was on w hood otherwise he wouldnt have done this]i put 2 3day old ybs under him, he took to them ,like a duck taking to water , without seeing the hen, he rewarded me by being 15 open kings cup race rennes, this bird was tam mcleods breeding, and tam was 6th open in the same race, now i can honestly say that this bird had 4 races no tosses, but he trained himself. wish they all did that.

 

Sbelbin

 

I broke 11 pigeons to a new loft this year, 5 had previously won to the old loft. I managed to settle them in the winter months, and flew them on widowhood. My old partner kept the old loft on so you can imagine the fun I had trying to arrange a time when I could get mine out while his were in. I sent them to every inland race and all to the first channel race (only 350 miles so still a sprint race) ended up 3rd and 7th club. I stopped 5 that were destined for the next channel race which was 2 weeks later and sent the rest the week after. My preperation for the next channel race was simply to let em out am and pm, and they would do as expected go to and from mine to the old loft (1mile) for an hour each time, then banged the 5 into the channel race, and ended up 1st and 2nd club (22nd UNC 98th UNC against 11665 birds) and I got the other 3 back in good time when the race was classed as a disaster. Then two weeks later sent the 3 that didnt score to bourges (55o mile) and ended up 2nd club (76th UNC). In other words I think good birds will win to any loft as long as they have a lot of early racing and plenty of quality food, and it can be done on widowhood (which I have been told many times B4 that you cant win channel racers on widowhood).

 

Shadow

 

After all the preparation at leat 16 hrs on the wing from inland racing then one sigle up from 50 miles approx. The bird should be ready all my birds are flown on round about ALL races and I have found this method succesful over the last two seasons in fact I clocked the first four pigeons from Nevers in the club this year ) approx (482) miles .I never achieved succes like this flying natural or widowhood, now I have got a team together I am going to do all my channel racing with MNFC next year and see how they get on in good company

 

 

 

Rose

 

Put another way bruno i be happy my birds having a nice steady race about 1200 40mph i dont want a fast race for them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

As a follow-up to that thread, which was about a yearling cock timed in the inland national in 2005, plans can and do go haywire.

 

Sent 8 pigeons to our Stratford-upon-Avon race, 270 miles, on 10th June, intention being the 'best' of them going to the inland national [330 miles] the following week, also as a set-up for Alencon [570 miles].

 

Dropped 6 out of 8. The other two, one a yearling cock home 09:00 next morning injured, and the other a 3 yo hen, home 12:00 next day.

 

Nothing for inland national, June 17th, and 3 hens [sisters] including the late bird from Stratford not sitting right for Alencon, so sent them to Fareham [370 miles] on 24th June and dropped 2 out of 3.

 

Got the 3 yr old hen, timed her at 21:30 after 12 hours 45 minutes on the wing. She's last in club, 10th of only 10 birds timed, and funnily enough lifts around £70 of the £100 club pool money.

 

Absolutely nothing out of her, so waiting her going down on eggs and intend one single up trainer from Alnmouth [100 miles] for her around Saturday 15th July then SNFC & Scottish Central Combine Falaise [515 miles] Friday 21st.

 

 

[jimmy white]

best of luck with your 3 year old hen bruno

[Guest TAMMY_1]

best of luck with your 3 year old hen bruno

 

HAW NEVER MIND BRUNO IT WAS ME THAT WANTED TO KNOW.  HE KNOWS ENOUGH.

[jimmy white]

;D ;D ;D good luck to you to tammy ;D ;D ;D

[Guest]

MINE WILL GET RACED THIS WEEKEND FROM FALAISE LONG AS THEY CARRY ON FLYING WELL AT HOME THEY WONT BE TRAINED GO STRAIGHT TO BERGERAC

 

 

Are you lifting the birds straight out of the loft to Falaise, Rose? Or have they had previous races / roadwork? What's the jump Falaise to Bergerac, and how many weeks between?

[Guest TAMMY_1]

THATS WHERE WE ARE RACING FROM AS WELL THIS WEEKEND ROSE IT'S 502 MILES FOR ME

[Guest WINGS 04]

YES I WILL BE AT FALAISE AS WELL 509 MILES TO ME

[rlez]

 

all mine went to messac 380 with bbc, then nothing till saturday b4 last race which is bordeaux about 600mls  when they will be trained from 20mls for 3 or four days depending on the weather

lez

[Guest]

Best wishes all for your race this coming weekend.

[ALF]

my birds for Falaise have had a toss from Largs last sunday(35 mls west) then wed-thurs Edinburgh (35 mls east ) then saturday Otterburn 82mls with the fed then today flagged for an hour with the young birds will let them out to have a bath tommorrow morning then they can relax till basketting...

[Guest slugmonkey]

I train short ( 20 miles ) day before basketing just to sharpen them

[Guest WINGS 04]

IHAVE A YEARLING COCK THAT HAS BEEN 1ST SECTION 4TH OPEN YEARLING RACES 250 MILES THEN 23RD SECTION 53RD OPEN 363 MILES WOULD YOU SEND IT TO THE LAST RACE 509 MILES HE IS ON WIDOWHOOD

[jimmy white]

i wouldnt , wings, it looks like being a very good bird , but for the distance their not really fully developed till 2 y,o, i know yearlings can score, , but thats only my opinion, that could be a real champion pigeon in the making

[Guest WINGS 04]

THANK JIMMY I HAVE GOT A FEW BIRDS 2 YEAR OLD AND UP TO PICK FROM  

[jimmy white]

best of luck ,,wings,,,,j,w

[Guest]

best of luck with your 3 year old hen bruno

 

 

Thought I'd update you on progress Jimmy. [if hitting a brick wall can be called progress  ;D]

 

 

Took 5 birds to Alnmouth on Saturday 15th: 2 my own, 2 for a clubmate (same race) and a stray (hopefully) going home to Walker, Newcastle. None of the birds made it home.

 

Spent Sunday preparing baskets for the coming SNFC race, last check on the loft was at 8:30pm and still no pigeons..

 

Finished the baskets and came back up the road in darkness at 10:30 pm and there was the hen sitting above the doors ... couldn't make it through the trap because of a gaping wound in her back / loft in darkness. Picked her up and brought her into the house, filled the hole in her back with neat antiseptic, turned on the lights and put her back to her box: all she wanted was water.

 

Had another look at her this morning: her flesh had been in the process of being stripped by the hawk, there's an inch diameter hole on her back at the base of the neck, between her shoulder blades. Now sealed that with a healing paste. Racing days over - reckon she's worthy of putting to stock from next year with her old man, bred by the late Andrew Deans.

 

So OB season now well and truly over for me.  ;D Now on yound bird mode, I start training round the compass this afternoon.  ;D

 

On the subject of race preparation: NEXT TIME, after the set-up race, the fancied candidate will sit it out at home and go straight into the Classic race.

 

PS : On the subject of recent threads 'feel like giving it all up' : "Black Sunday" for me, lost all confidence in myself and my birds, was thinking of starting all over again, fresh birds etc etc. Until I saw the state of that hen and the fact that she got herself home, despite her injuries.

 

Loft full of crocked OBs now, no offence meant to the less-abled athletes, but my remaining race birds are wearing slings and crutches and probably need races next year equivalent to the human paralympics.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[REDCHEQHEN]

Our young birds are looking the same.....lol a broken leg. an injured wing, a missing tail and they're the ones who've made it home   :'(