Young Bird Racing

[Walter swanston]

Could I ask for the opinion of the many experienced fanciers on this site.I have a total of 13 young pigeons all of whom have been trained about 15 times from 25 miles and I am now getting them home in reasonable times.My problem is that I grow curiously fond of these doos and do not want to lose them as I have done in previous years once they are liberated in the peregrine infested hills of Cumbria..I know of successful pigeon fanciers who utterly disdain young bird racing and just do not fly young birds.What do site members think?

[OLDYELLOW]

I'd give them 2 / 3 races for experience and put them away if building a team

[greenbar]

i made that mistake 2 year ago 2 or 3 times on the transporter,give them the experinse,being libed with a few thousand others,if not,snaw af a dyke next year,no matter how much training they get,

[duncow]

LISTEN MATE YOUVE ONLY GOT A WEE SHOT OF THEM TAKE A PHOTO AND RACE THEM HARD YOU CAN ALWAYS LOOK BACK AT THE PHOTO

[Roland]

If flying around the loft no need now for any training. Do they need to race. Certainly not. They will perform every bit as good, if not better as yearlings, or ob birds. In fact no need for them ever to be trained again ... EXCEPT as a 'Human Logic' which is illogical.

I am seriously thinking of sending some yearlings to Vire after no training,let alone racing this season. From Bordeaux too. The 2 year old I KNOW /Feel would do me proud. Only reason I'll decide that they won't go is that as I've let my stock birds go. I have 7 pairs of racers only consisting of yearlings and o/b's ... and that also includes a 6 and a 8 year old. The chances of a smash, this week -end and this weather may well be a poor day for racing. So needs must I guess.

When one watches Athletics on the box and see the size of the track which is a 1/4 of a mile - 440 yards, and one thinks of the times they circle bigger than that, how many miles do they do? Yet man send just 6 - 10 miles daily with great results whilst other tear the motor ways up! So the reality is are you prepared to lose them, and B. WHEN will you be prepared to lose them?

[Novice]

For the first time ever last year I did not race youngsters. They were trained in every possible direction to about 50 miles. This year I lost a few at the early races but the remainder flew well as yearlings.

[Kyleakin Lofts]

I haven't ever raced youngsters. When I start them as Yearlings I don't lose over many, around 50% maybe, which seems fair given the horror stories regarding yb losses during racing season, but certainly not snaw aff a dyke.

I think you have to adapt and thole it out, especially given the BOP in your area. BOP are great adaptors, so we have to continually attempt to be one step in front.

[tiger]

walter it wont do them any harm in fact more good as long as they bred right ,jmo

[Tony C]

I think the type of racing (sprint/long), the area you race into & the system you intend racing them on as old birds all have a bearing on whether they're best raced as youngsters or not. In my case where 90% of old bird races I regard as sprint twinned with the system I fly (widowhood) they have to be raced as youngsters.

[C WRIGHT]

i train hard

last year pushed them to limit lost many in training remainder raced every yb race plus yb national then every old bird race incliuding yrpes

losses from start of young bird to old bird yrpes total of total of 5 birds once racing began

 

same again this year started with 60 yb my last training i dropped 15 which going by reports in area that day it appears perigans went into them

now left with 31 they will do every race and yb national providing they are still here for the first race ha

imo only the basket can sort them out i also am new at this game and

its very difficult to build a team this way and will take a lot longer than just setting birds aside

but i hope allowing the basket to sort them out will in time to come build me a team worth there perch

not a team that i fancy the look of

[Walter swanston]

Yeah you are probably quite right Mr Wright,my problem is that I only keep a few birds and experience of previous years convinces me that if I send the young birds to the races I face a winter with no pigeons and yes I plead guilty to liking the look of them.

[dal2]

Yeah you are probably quite right Mr Wright,my problem is that I only keep a few birds and experience of previous years convinces me that if I send the young birds to the races I face a winter with no pigeons and yes I plead guilty to liking the look of them.

Give them a couple. Nowt wrong with liking the look of them as long as you know yhey are bred right

[Tony C]

Give them a couple. Nowt wrong with liking the look of them as long as you know yhey are bred right

Perhaps sending a few out to one loft races might be the answer. They'll be tested with no attachment involved plus they'll give a little sport on the way.

[dal2]

Perhaps sending a few out to one loft races might be the answer. They'll be tested with no attachment involved plus they'll give a little sport on the way.

Aye thats an idea but not the same as having them in yer garden and giving it a go yersel

[yeboah]

Walter this is one decision only you can make

Couple of examples

Jimmy Dal's good hen Hoddam dynamo that was 1st and 2nd open SNFC from France

It had every race on the programme for 3 years exceptional Doo

Dennis Anderson never races a youngster he is also a national winner Scottish averages winner

And this year from the longest race Ancencis he entered four and timed three on the night exceptional

There you have it two completely different systems

Many roads lead to Rome

See you Friday Doos or not ?

[JADE]

A good doo is a good doo whether it is raced as a yb or not. If you don't race them as yb you will lose a few as yearlings but probably the ones you would have lost anyway as ybs. You could pick out half a dozen to race and send whats left every week. That way you will have the "fun" of racing and still have a wee team for next year. For me the season is short enough without missing yb races jmo tho. Good luck whatever you do

[Tony C]

Aye thats an idea but not the same as having them in yer garden and giving it a go yersel

Doing both could be the answer, train the young birds up and not race them till next year and have a bit of interest by someone else racing them in a more forgiving area.

[JohnQuinn]

IMO Walter a lot depends on your aspirations in the results.

 

If you like the racing but not fussed where you finish so long as they home safely then by all means save them until the yearling stage. If however you want to build a team of winning pigeons and you don't race them as youngsters, it is inevitable that you will breed from them before racing, only to find the parents have gone down in the first couple of races as yearlings, in turn you will have doos bred from birds not up to winning and the youngsters you breed from them will undoubtedly go down quickly when they reach the yearling stage and most likely you will have bred from them too, this cycle of events will repeat year on year until you lose all the birds (or the vast majority) early in the season leaving you with nothing to compete with come the longer races. It is unlikely you would ever have a good crop of 2yr old birds at your disposal for channel racing (if that's your preference).

Whilst good blood is a distinct advantage in any loft it is no guarantee of success unless you test them. I have done it myself, putting "good" doos away until the following season only to discover they weren't as good as i would have liked to think they were!!! and i'm looking at maybe 4 youngsters i bred from these "good" doos knowing they will most likely go down the first real test they face.

For whatever reason i find latebred birds are better when kept untrained or raced in the year of their birth than early bred Yb's, the best 2 pigeons i have ever had in my lofts were both latebred's and both related, G/sire and G/dgtr. Maybe it has something to do with them having been bred in the summer months but i'm not sure, i can only say this is my findings in my loft. atvb John.

[dal2]

IMO Walter a lot depends on your aspirations in the results.

 

If you like the racing but not fussed where you finish so long as they home safely then by all means save them until the yearling stage. If however you want to build a team of winning pigeons and you don't race them as youngsters, it is inevitable that you will breed from them before racing, only to find the parents have gone down in the first couple of races as yearlings, in turn you will have doos bred from birds not up to winning and the youngsters you breed from them will undoubtedly go down quickly when they reach the yearling stage and most likely you will have bred from them too, this cycle of events will repeat year on year until you lose all the birds (or the vast majority) early in the season leaving you with nothing to compete with come the longer races. It is unlikely you would ever have a good crop of 2yr old birds at your disposal for channel racing (if that's your preference).

Whilst good blood is a distinct advantage in any loft it is no guarantee of success unless you test them. I have done it myself, putting "good" doos away until the following season only to discover they weren't as good as i would have liked to think they were!!! and i'm looking at maybe 4 youngsters i bred from these "good" doos knowing they will most likely go down the first real test they face.

For whatever reason i find latebred birds are better when kept untrained or raced in the year of their birth than early bred Yb's, the best 2 pigeons i have ever had in my lofts were both latebred's and both related, G/sire and G/dgtr. Maybe it has something to do with them having been bred in the summer months but i'm not sure, i can only say this is my findings in my loft. atvb John.

 

The main thing yer two best ybs had John was the same blood.

[JohnQuinn]

Ye may well be right Steven though i had many more of similar/same blood lines that never made the grade.

Its a tricky one for Walter to decide but at some stage the birds will have to be tested and bein able to predict the wans that Will make it is well nye impossible and there lies the problem we all face a suppose.

[Roland]

I think that when ever they are entered, what ever the age, they have to be fit / conditioned to do the job. This is regardless of past.

[just ask me]

id sent them to a few just to get used to the whole experience of being bought to the club being put in baskets sent in the lorry geting released with large numbers the sooner they get used to this experience the better

 

 

if there good birds they will do the job its more getting them used to the situation of above id be more worried about