Racing Yearling To Lerwick

[kraftykev]

Hi all

 

whilst having a chat to a mate we started talking about racing from lerwick. what do you think about racing yearling

birds from lerwick over 500 miles to my loft. He stated that he would think about it and his birds could do it i thought that they are still young and maybe wait till the year after.

 

your thoughts please

 

cheers

 

kev

[Guest JonesyBhoy]

my dad back in the day often sent and timed yearlings from Sartilly (517 miles).. blood will tell.. if they're bred from the job and prepared properly..

 

is they're not a few scottich fanciers known for getting ybs home from France..??

 

also ive heard fanciers say sending a yearling that far so early can slow them down in later life..??

[Wiley]

ive known yearlings win combines at 500 miles

[Guest REDFOXKRAUTHS]

i think a pigeon is best saved untill 2 y.o.a

 

so say 150miles young birds

350 yearlings

350+ two year old

[bewted]

lots in our club many years ago sent yearlings,,,,no problem with that,,,,depends on the breeding,,,,horses for courses as they say,,,blood will tell !

[demolition man]

Hi all

 

whilst having a chat to a mate we started talking about racing from lerwick. what do you think about racing yearling

birds from lerwick over 500 miles to my loft. He stated that he would think about it and his birds could do it i thought that they are still young and maybe wait till the year after.

 

your thoughts please

 

cheers

 

kev

 

 

The time most yearling go to 500mls these days there all most 16 to 18 mths old

[thomasd]

yearling hen won the kings cup here last year 455miles cross 2 channels so i would say they can do 500 miles if its in them

[Guest Hjaltland]

The strays I see up here near Lerwick are of all ages, including yearlings.... there must be statistics on this ? somewhere.

[budgie]

Leave them till they are 3 year olds first timers and hatching the first youngster of thier Life

[kirky]

flying 500mls south is far diferant to flying 500mls out of lerwick, 90mls of water first, then the mountains, best left till thay are 2 ylds.

[tommy2]

Hi Kev,The name Lerwick does not mean anything unless you put the distance beside it,thats why NRCC kings cup treated like a joke down these parts,jokers boasting how good they fly,but no wonder,just about scraping 500 miles in whats supposed to be for a kings cup. You can fly pau 570/80miles down here with no real problems if you treat the birds right,but lerwick at 620miles different ballgame,distance from there has no real meaning,time on wing what counts,and make no mistake about it,it will destroy most racers.

That`s the difference between what some fanciers call distance birds knowing full well they are nothing more than middle distance sprint stuff.

[Guest Flying star]

Hi all

 

whilst having a chat to a mate we started talking about racing from lerwick. what do you think about racing yearling

birds from lerwick over 500 miles to my loft. He stated that he would think about it and his birds could do it i thought that they are still young and maybe wait till the year after.

 

your thoughts please

 

cheers

 

kev

[Guest Flying star]

good yearling nothing will stop it getting home from 500mls

[blaz]

i would wait till 2 year old before sending any of mine to 500 mile race

[demolition man]

good yearling nothing will stop it getting home from 500mls

 

 

Cracking advata your using

[Guest spin cycle]

had my first lerwick this year and got a very 'bloody nose'...i don't know how you can judge a yearling as fit to tackle lerwick....i sent 2 very seasoned scottish racers and got 1 back after a fortnight. although experienced they wern't my best. my conclusion thus far is you have to send your best and be prepared to loose them...and at the moment i don't know if its a 'lottery' worth playing. i doubt i'll be sending this year...pigeon racing is about enjoyment and i didn't enjoy that race one bit

[kraftykev]

thanks for all your replies. I think i will stick to waiting until they are two years. I only now race kirkpatricks so know they are up to the job. I have only dabbled in the north road flying and have never flown from lerwick, but im really looking forward to it.

 

thanks

 

kev

[Guest Hjaltland]

Hi Kev,The name Lerwick does not mean anything unless you put the distance beside it,thats why NRCC kings cup treated like a joke down these parts,jokers boasting how good they fly,but no wonder,just about scraping 500 miles in whats supposed to be for a kings cup. You can fly pau 570/80miles down here with no real problems if you treat the birds right,but lerwick at 620miles different ballgame,distance from there has no real meaning,time on wing what counts,and make no mistake about it,it will destroy most racers.

That`s the difference between what some fanciers call distance birds knowing full well they are nothing more than middle distance sprint stuff.

 

Well said - I guess this about sums it up

 

It would be interesting to compare: returns; times and ages of Pau/Lerwick birds..

 

The air temperature up here in 'summer' is no more than the sea temperature which in late June will be about 12 c - the land mass is also small - so the birds feathering needs to be good and thick and the bird in good nick , in form and well motivated to get it to cross the water especially with a drop in air temp when it starts out across the water

[Wiley]

When i won Lerwick in the LNRC, I sent 2, however the 2 where what i thought were 2 of the best in my loft, the Lerwick winner was a 3x2nd federation winner from 70miles when the feds were considered fairly big. However i feel this is the problem with many people sending to lerwick or thurso they dont send there best, they send the ones who have failed to score in other race during there career. It works with some pigeons but the majority it doesnt. Send your best!!

[Guest IB]

Sending yearlings to 500 miles and over was something I asked about a few years back before I'd any experience of channel racing. One club mate reckoned he never sent yearlings because he'd birds in the loft that he knew could & would beat them home; another reckons waiting till bird is 3 y-o is right time to send.

 

Watched a video in which a well known Scottish fancier recommends sending yearlings: 'you'll lose a few, but those that do come home will be birds for the future'. A member on here recently put that into proper perspective for me, by quoting a well known Irish fancier: 'it should be like a conveyer belt with plenty of 2 y-os coming off it every year for the channel races; send them as yearlings and that conveyer belt will soon dry up'.

 

IMO its a hard enough task for a 2 y-o. If my yearlings do the 'coast' races, (300+ miles) or our SNFC race from Ypres, (449 miles to me) I think they are doing well, and make good candidates for the channel races the following year - as 2 y-os.

[Guest Glen]

IMO yearlings are just like adolescent athletes. Many of them can and will perform the difficult tasks, and many will be ruined before their prime and burn out. With proper lines and handling, why rush them?

[hawked again]

I used to live on the South end of Shetland, if the conditions were not perfect, the whole of Sumburgh was crawling with starving doos. We took loads in for feeding and they were every age you could think of. We were always broken hearted when a cracking day came because they took off and we never saw them again. Got me back into racing for three or four years though.

[Yorkshire Lass]

Dad's raced pigeons since the 60s and doesnt send yearlings to Lerwick, infact as a yearling they dont go to the first Thurso either but end their season with Thurso in July. Racing North Road as people have already said is very different to South Road racing. Many a person in our local area have said "you could race a paper bag North and still win" but on trying to turn North they have found it to be far from true. North roaders have more bird of prey to face, valleys and mountains and the unforgiving and very changeable North sea. The 23 miles of the Channel is crossed in minutes and the pigeons should be able to see land all the way. The Lerwick birds see nothing and have to have excellent racing and homing instinct. Over the years I've known some excellent Lerwick races but on the other hand I've known plenty of disasters.

[OLDYELLOW]

north roads a tough route i'd wait till 3 year olds and over fer Lerwick

[JohnQuinn]

As a rule i send my yearlings to the south coast, approx 360mls to me and send 2yo+ across the channel. If i have a yearling that is in great form and racing every week i will send it across to the Fed Open channel race, recently its been Ypres which is 443 to me but i scored well with a yearling from Falaise not so long ago which is 507mls to me. Mind you i've dropped more yearlings than i have scored with from across the water!!!