Youngbird Losses

[andy Burgess]

would you say youngbird losses are higher this year than before ? how many did you start with , and how many are left now ?

[Henrik]

I,ve dropped 8 racing this year so far, from the first two races, had them all home the 3rd n 4th week

[eastcoaster]

Got 80 rings have 52 ybs in the loft , lost 6 first race ,4 my next , and 3 missing this week , lost most in flyaway after hawk attack at lofts only lost a couple training .

[Guest BLAW HAME BILLY]

would you say youngbird losses are higher this year than before ? how many did you start with , and how many are left now ?

I must be lucky, I started with 46 raced 3 otterburns and a ripon and still have 41,I hope my luck lasts. Blaw Hame Billy.

[yeboah]

Our federation will have lost half its convoy past two weeks

Cumbria They just can't get through the hills/ mountains in batches

Don't know the Answer ?

[Tony C]

Locally losses have never been so high, that goes for old as well as youngsters. I put the old bird losses down to the inclement weather through the first half of the season, young bird losses ? One thing being talked about is the youngsters inability or lacking the confidence to break from the drag/convoy, why this is............. again?

[shasha]

i started with 50 now got 25.lost 8 this week no good dosint help when we have a 70mls just tho.

[big blue bar]

worst season ever for us started with 42 lost 12 first week 8 second week even half 4 in the first 20 of the fed 1000+ birds next week alnwick 1/14 f/k sick put 4 this week 2 home so far funny thing is we have had the best old bird season ever winning 11 out of the 12 races .getting rid of the stock birds me thinks

[Guest stb-]

this year after starting with 59 at training lost 2 leaving 57

 

after 6 races have 55 left lost first 2 yesterday racing .

[TheHigg]

good going rab i started with 39 had to cull 1 27 left 4 missing from yesterday

[Guest stb-]

good going rab i started with 39 had to cull 1 27 left 4 missing from yesterday

ye canny grumble at that Joe the heavy wind yesterday would have claimed a few aswell m8, hope it keeps going the same way and returns continue to be good

[Guest stb-]

good going rab i started with 39 had to cull 1 27 left 4 missing from yesterday

just got my 29 one joe she had prizes last few weeks but percies had a bang at her

[Guest Owen]

As a lot of people know I fly my old birds on a Celibate System because I think that the birds avoid the Falcon better than other types of birds. I think I have proved my point because I started with 24 cocks and ended the season with 23.

The youngsters have been very different. I have lost 15 in all mostly to the Falcon. Everyone around here have lost youngsters to the Falcon and some have lost a lot of pigeons. One guy I know has lost around 40 youngsters and he has not had them either training or racing. Now that the racing is going on I train my birds twice each day to avoid them being attacked while they are out exercising. Although I had one back this morning with a chunk out of the back of his neck. It looked just as if someone had taken a bite out of an apple. So in answer to the question, I am losing youngsters but not old birds.

[budgie]

Assigned 61 prior to training and was left with 55 for racing. After 4 races down to 46 of which half are Natural and are falling to bits .Would be happy to get down to 30 for wintering but time will tell.

[bigbill]

Started with 45 y/birds , 4 races in and left with 30, Now falling apart so might just finish it up for the season,

[geordie1234]

Started the racing season with 40 youngsters after 4 races I'm down to 23 (proving the 2 awol from Sunday aren't home)

 

I lost 7 last weekend which was a kick in the haw maws

 

 

I most likely will chuck it for the season now the ybs are not competing and they are falling to bits

 

Darkness nxt year for sure

[Guest Steves]

It's my first season racing pigeons and I only have youngbirds

I lost 2 first race 3 the second and eight last weekend.

I've trained them from up to 60 miles and only lost one training.

I've had two reported today at different ends of the country.

I'm down to 13 I can race and e few of them are getting a bit tatty, I don't want to stop sending but looks like I'm out for the season just to make sure I have some yearling next year

I don't know what I did wrong but mine seem to end up all over the place.

[peter2010]

Assigned 61 prior to training and was left with 55 for racing. After 4 races down to 46 of which half are Natural and are falling to bits .Would be happy to get down to 30 for wintering but time will tell.

Remember the 2% rule big man

[ForestForever74]

Losses in our club this year have been a real problem. We started with 29 and are now down to 15 and that was only after 3 short races. Kept them on natural this year and its been a real shock to the system having only kept darkness yb's in our 4 years back in the sport. Only hope with a good moult and winter they will come good as yearlings. Our darkness yb have struggled as yearlings hence the change to natural. Time will tell I guess.

[VMS]

Nae worse than Any other year give or take a few

[knoxjn]

started with 18 had 4 races and numerous tosses have 13 left falling apart so wait till next year no sense in stressing them when so heavily moulting very happy

[Guest Owen]

From what I have seen and heard losses especially with youngsters have been bad this year. I doubt if anyone knows the true reason why this happens but there are a few things that deserve our attention. People still breed from everything in the loft whether the parent stock are proven to be any good or not. Then there is the habit of buying in birds from places that do not race the birds so there is a likelihood of breeding youngsters from several generations of unraced and untested birds. Perhaps it is worth saying that just because a bird is labelled with the name of some long dead Fancier it does not mean it is any good as a racer. At one time there was a good profit to be made through winning pigeon races but these days the only source of profit is by selling birds. I have no doubt that some of these businesses that sell birds will sell you anything with a pair of wings regardless of the true potential of the birds in question. Add to that the problems we get these days with YBS and you can see why the youngsters are just not good enough to cope with the stresses and strains of racing. Finally as the numbers go down people then want to stop racing and training to keep yearlings for the following year. The affect of this will be to try to race with poorly trained yearlings that will be under pressure from the start. I think it is inevitable that we will lose birds these days due to the hawks and falcons but poorly organised liberations do us no favours. I think that when we see birds reported from across a wide area of the Country this is a sure sign that the birds have been involved in clashing.

There are ways that we can reverse some of these things. Vaccination at the right times for all the birds on our premises will help greatly. Selecting the breeding stock from birds that have proven themselves to be good racers will help to reduce the poor quality youngsters. Proper training of the youngsters from 12 weeks old with plenty of short tosses will teach them their job. Ensuring that the youngsters have their droppings and swabs tested regularly so that they are in top condition. I rather like the system they have in Australia where a member of the Club is taught to operate the microscope so that all the members' birds can be checked regularly. So rather than taking this terrible situation of big losses as an inevitable part of the sport we can at least fight back by managing our birds to as high a standard as we can. I am certain that the current practise of breeding more and more birds to compensate for the losses is not the way forward.

[Tony C]

From what I have seen and heard losses especially with youngsters have been bad this year. I doubt if anyone knows the true reason why this happens but there are a few things that deserve our attention. People still breed from everything in the loft whether the parent stock are proven to be any good or not. Then there is the habit of buying in birds from places that do not race the birds so there is a likelihood of breeding youngsters from several generations of unraced and untested birds. Perhaps it is worth saying that just because a bird is labelled with the name of some long dead Fancier it does not mean it is any good as a racer. At one time there was a good profit to be made through winning pigeon races but these days the only source of profit is by selling birds. I have no doubt that some of these businesses that sell birds will sell you anything with a pair of wings regardless of the true potential of the birds in question. Add to that the problems we get these days with YBS and you can see why the youngsters are just not good enough to cope with the stresses and strains of racing. Finally as the numbers go down people then want to stop racing and training to keep yearlings for the following year. The affect of this will be to try to race with poorly trained yearlings that will be under pressure from the start. I think it is inevitable that we will lose birds these days due to the hawks and falcons but poorly organised liberations do us no favours. I think that when we see birds reported from across a wide area of the Country this is a sure sign that the birds have been involved in clashing.

There are ways that we can reverse some of these things. Vaccination at the right times for all the birds on our premises will help greatly. Selecting the breeding stock from birds that have proven themselves to be good racers will help to reduce the poor quality youngsters. Proper training of the youngsters from 12 weeks old with plenty of short tosses will teach them their job. Ensuring that the youngsters have their droppings and swabs tested regularly so that they are in top condition. I rather like the system they have in Australia where a member of the Club is taught to operate the microscope so that all the members' birds can be checked regularly. So rather than taking this terrible situation of big losses as an inevitable part of the sport we can at least fight back by managing our birds to as high a standard as we can. I am certain that the current practise of breeding more and more birds to compensate for the losses is not the way forward.

 

I cant disagree with anything you have wrote here.

[blue pied]

started with 28 training, ended up with 22 for racing (bad toss lost 6 from a toss) , 22 had 4 races, kept 8 best in the moult going last week and this week! 8/8 last week. 4/8 this week. 18 left. that might be it for the season!

[Dmurray]

I started the season with 65 youngsters , lost 7 from the roof b4 training even started ( i think this was down to my birds being out during the day when people are training from down the m74 and ofcourse the old mr Percy ) and 5 killed from the wires outside my house now after 4 races with south lanarkshire fed am down to 46 left .