Advice Wanted

[Guest Paulo]

Hi all just after a bit of advice really and peoples thoughts on my situation. I have had a big change in my current domestic circumstances and have moved in with my girlfriend and we are expecting our first child together which is great. Unfortunately due to the change in my living location and finances, racing pigeons to the current scale and methods I do now will have to change drastically if I am to continue with pigeon sport. To get some advice I will first list my current and past situation with pigeons and then list my future circumstances and some ideas I have to see what peoples feedback is.

 

Past & Current Situation

 

I am currently 30 years old and work fulltime in the building industry in a managerial position so have a busy life. I started racing in 2007 with young birds on natural (sharp learned they needed darkness lol). I enjoyed success straight away getting a 4th club with the YB’s in 2007 and then in my first OB season winning my first ever OB race and finishing the season with 4 x 1sts, topping the fed and fastest vel in the amal from Huntington (same as topping it but not official amal race). Also was runner up in YB averages. The first full season was spent racing on natural for OB’s and darkness system for 10 YB cocks. These results were out of races from 80 Miles to 233 Miles. Also finished in top ten of the fed.

 

My second season in 2009 was a bit of a flop with only 1st in OB’s but again the YB’s flew their skins off and I finished in top ten of the fed and had a funny season where I had more fed points than club points due to the top man in the club flying out his skin and he having a lot of overfly and being furthest loft to the east in the fed in a season of strong SW winds with the YB’S coming back over every race.

 

During these 2 seasons I had plenty of time to spend with the birds because I only lived three miles from work so I could be up and out at 0500 am every morning and spend plenty of time with the birds. I also could stay down the loft to last light as I was single and just involved in on and off relationships. Being single and living at home meant I could spend all my income apart from board and fuel on the birds.

 

In late 2009 I got another job which was a lot more money but meant I had to work longer hours and travel a round trip of 100 miles to work each day. This meant that I couldn’t get birds out on the morning any more. I adapted by taking the birds to work every morning and my father started to give me more of a hand with my birds otherwise I would have had to pack in and I owe a lot of success to my dad’s help with getting the birds in from training every day and feeding them when I couldn’t get home from meetings etc.

 

I decided to move clubs in 2010 due to the new club suiting my working times more not having totes and things and generally being better crack and a better atmosphere.

 

In 2010 I changed my OB tactics to roundabout and 8 cocks for the channel on natural. The roundabout didn’t work well partly due to my Dad being a die hard natural flyer and our loft not being suited to it. We had a better than average OB season and won our share with good positions in the club, fed and amal. Highlight was winning my first ever channel race from Clermont. One thing about roundabout was it did seem to keep the birds in better nick but we didn’t seem to have the motivation there. The channel cocks did the damage inland as well and the roundabout ones chalked when repaired.

 

The YB’s were great again and we won the YB averages easily with highlight being 2nd fastest bird in the Amal from Huntington with a granddaughter of the hen that won it for us in 2008. Overall we finished 3rd highest prize winners in our club beaten by 1 point by the runner-up. Also finished in top 5 of fed.

 

This year the OB season has been a bit of a flop with only a 1st and a 4th being won because I simply wasn’t putting the work in with the birds and had health problems I couldn’t seem to put right as well due to moving in with my girlfriend and having to travel 12 miles to the loft before I could let a pigeon out. Also my competitors had a super season in club, amal and fed so even if the pigeons had been 100% right would have struggled to beat them. Again the roundabout hasn’t worked and created a lot of work for my dad and a lot of friction between us.

 

The YB season has been a big improvement with me currently winning three races out of three and taking other positions and nearly carding it last week and so far am leading the averages again fingers crossed!

 

Currently I have identified my main families of pigeons and have my sprint family which are wildmersch x gabby based and can chalk out to 233 miles and my Van Loon x Busschaert family which are chalking out to 400 miles. These results are mainly on eggs and darkness for YB’s as the roundabout doesn’t seem to work for me. However the bloke I sourced my base pigeons from is a great widowhood flier so the pigeons must come for him on that as well.

 

I race a YB team of round about 40 – 50 YBs each year and this year had the biggest OB team I have ever had at 36 pigeons (normally race 24). I race to an allotment which when I lived at home was about ¼ mile from home.

 

Future Circumstances

 

I now live 12 miles away from the loft and it’s a 24 mile round trip which is costing me a fortune in fuel when you also consider I still travel a 80 mile trip to work (new house is bit closer). I also can’t sustain my current setup due to finances with the new addition to the family and no longer being single, living at home and having the disposable income to plough into the birds.

 

There is a pigeon club in the next village in which I live which I should be able to join to fly in and I am currently trying to get an allotment sorted out on the site in the local village but there are non free at the moment. Have a garden but our lass doesn’t want a pigeon cree in there which is fair enough.

 

Won’t have any help at the minute as I want to stop being obsessed about winning, enjoy my birds but still be competitive as possible. My lass has said she still wants to go away sometimes during the season and doesn’t want me spending too much time at the birds as doesn’t want the birds put before the family which is fair enough.

 

So in a nutshell:-

 

1. Limited time

 

2. Limited money

 

3. No assistance

 

4. Small Setup

 

What are peoples thoughts on how to be competitive with the above do I need to specialise? I.e. be a young bird or distance specialist? Problem with being a YB specialist now for me is no-one to do darkness shutters.

 

For the OB’s could train the bird’s everyday but no one to watch them back and deal with hens if racing WH cocks?

 

What are people’s experiences on Widowhood cocks do they need much training or could I get them fit enough flying around the cree to still win races. If I focus on OB racing what is the best system for a flyer with only a few birds to help them be a good all rounder and to compete. Accept not going to be any good for chasing all the averages any more and being top man but just after a bit advice.

 

I can give the birds a ton of training so what about open hole and training every day and just concentrating on the channel races?

 

Sorry for rambling on but just after a bit general advice really as love the birds too much to get rid of all of them completely. As it is going to have a year out of racing to concentrate on the bairn and them sort things out.

 

Timewise will have a hour to a hour and a half on the morning and the same on the night for the birds. Can train them up to 40 miles a day on most days of the week and up to 60 on a Wednesday.

 

Want to have no more than 20 YB’s in the team and around 8 widowcocks to 16 pair if flying on natural.

[OLDYELLOW]

join your new club try get a partner be best way

[Guest IB]

One of your scarce resources is going to be time and from my early experience try splitting that between birds on an allotment and family / home / garden & work commitments - it just doesn't work.

 

The other scarce resource is going to be money, and priority will be family & home & holidays, so the birds will need to be scaled right back. You are looking at a small team, your racing may need to be targetted, and perhaps one racing system - Natural seems to have worked for you. The smaller your set-up the easier it will be to convince your partner of the benefits of having the birds in a small part of your back garden, fenced off and separate from the rest which will still be exclusively for the family to use and enjoy. And when you are working with the birds, you are still at home so still 'there', 'company' and available if needed, which can't be said when your on an allotment.

[Guest Tooshy Boy]

STOP .GET RID O YIR LASS STORIE ENDED.///

[Guest homestead]

trust you tooshy but yes you are right but i asume thats not the answer he's looking for

[geordie1234]

best get a wee hut in your garden fly natural and gradually increase the lofts as times goes on lol

[W.D.]

Can understand your dilema Paulo, and it will get even harder to find the time once the baby comes along. Found it very difficult myself to try and please them all - work, family, and the birds. If you can't get a partner or a mate interested, then a small loft in the garden would be easier, then at least you can always nip out when you get a few spare mins. You are also maybe going to have to relax your aims a bit too regarding success, especially if its club/fed racing you wish to succeed at? We all know how dedicated these top guys are and the time they put into their birds. However no matter what you decide, pigeons will adapt to most things as long as they are fed, watered and safe.

If I was in your shoes, and i am, almost, I would only concentrate on the longer races, and forget about the y/bs,its the holiday time.

My girlfriend didn't want the birds either to begin with, but she accepts them now and even feeds them when I work away, got a white stray in which she wont let me race, its her pet. So just keep in there it will come, as I always tell mine, I could have been a football supporter like her brother following a team all over, or a fisher or golfer out all day.Hey babe I'm at the bottom of the garden when you need me to shout at!And she does!!!

Whatever you decide I hope you can stay in the hobby, and all the very best for the new baby,I hope you'll let us know how you get on?

[Guest Owen]

I am afraid that only you can sort all this out for yourself. However, it is worth you learning to fly widowhood because they are easy to handle and will exercise and keep fit without much trouble. You need not train much once the season starts. I usually lock mine out and go off and get my breakfast and a shower before work. They will work the whole time I am away from the loft. If a bird wants to stay out, and they sometimes do, I let them in through bob wires so that I can go off to work. Hens also work well on widowhood but they need more management because they will pair up if you do not lock them in their boxes. I share your opinion about roundabout. I have never found it a practical way to fly my birds because it takes too much time and messing about. You have obviously managed to aquire some good pigeons which is not very easy to do. If you pack it in or fail to look after them properly you could find it very hard to find birds like that again.

[aidenspop]

Owen has got it right ,a small widowhood team is the way to go, you get them right and hey you will get as much fun as you want