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peter pandy
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  • 2 weeks later...

Fortune may favour the brave !, However the last time I saw my Cheq Cock was when I basketed him. When Saturday Mid-day came I realised I would never see him again.

Continuing on, I missed sending to the First Y/B race and went with 8 to the second dropping 2 which leaves me with 6 for this week, As usual the moult has decided which can be sent as I do not under any circumstances send youngsters where the possibility of cover flights can be thrown. ( the heat in the transporter encourages it ). Three strangers this past week bereft of cover flights had me delivering them to their Fed area and hope they made it home. "Pentland".

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  • 3 weeks later...

Six sent to the next race and Five returned with a couple missing feathers then the moult hit them and that brought my season to an end.

I am now in the stage of breeding some late breeds to bring my team up to 30 yearlings for next year which will have all Winter to strengthen wing muscles by running for a couple of hours daily.

Much has been written lately on the assumption that if the weather forecast is foretelling that racing on the Saturday will be postponed and marking on Saturday as Sunday has a better forecast then that will be the case !!.

Up until the year 2000, Friday, was the designated race marking day and if the Convoyer had to call a holdover then that was that, and the Birds went at the earliest convenient weather liberation, After all he was the man on site and it was his final say if a liberation was possible. The final responsibility was his and only his..

Pre the year 2000 we did not have line of flight information and if the weather was OK at the race point then liberation took place and to my mind we had better returns and hardier pigeons to breed from.

When one thinks about it, we are sending pigeons National racing and most if not all have never spent 2 nights in a basket far less 3, I always thought a holdover from a race up to 150 miles was good schooling for them but everything is money oriented nowadays.. Just my opinion.

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Six sent to the next race and Five returned with a couple missing feathers then the moult hit them and that brought my season to an end.

I am now in the stage of breeding some late breeds to bring my team up to 30 yearlings for next year which will have all Winter to strengthen wing muscles by running for a couple of hours daily.

Much has been written lately on the assumption that if the weather forecast is foretelling that racing on the Saturday will be postponed and marking on Saturday as Sunday has a better forecast then that will be the case !!.

Up until the year 2000, Friday, was the designated race marking day and if the Convoyer had to call a holdover then that was that, and the Birds went at the earliest convenient weather liberation, After all he was the man on site and it was his final say if a liberation was possible. The final responsibility was his and only his..

Pre the year 2000 we did not have line of flight information and if the weather was OK at the race point then liberation took place and to my mind we had better returns and hardier pigeons to breed from.

When one thinks about it, we are sending pigeons National racing and most if not all have never spent 2 nights in a basket far less 3, I always thought a holdover from a race up to 150 miles was good schooling for them but everything is money oriented nowadays.. Just my opinion.

Got to hand it to ya Peter you are persisting wae them latebreeds

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Aye Stevie, Since darkening youngsters for racing their has been a massive increase in Y/B sickness syndrome with huge losses year in and out, Fine one day and down with it the next passing it on to whatever is in the transporter, so spreading it further. How many are Jagged prior to racing for Corona Virus is any ones guess and I do not think it will be many, Personally I inoculated 12 that I was going to have a go with, Stopped four after training so raced eight dropping two so sent six to 100 miles and have five in the loft from the six sent and now rearing my Late Bred team.

Never had Y/B sickness in my loft and do not believe I ever will..

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  • 1 month later...

With the Late Breeds now up for a spin round the area and other inmates almost through the moult the emptying of the hoover daily can be retired to its weekly job.

Corona has kept wee Mary and I in lockdown as we are considered "vulnerable", however it has not been a bind as we are always on the go, Gardening, picking Runner Beans slicing and freezing to see us over the Winter, Tomatoes which we have had to give away to all the neighbours as we had such a large crop, Hedges and Grass areas has I hope had their last cut which only leaves me with altering the nest boxes to satisfy my personal impediments.

Reading books which I enjoy will soon come into play as the nights draw in and I have been scouring the charity shops for certain authors I get most pleasure from.

Keeping safe is now the by-word and cover up at all times.

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Well Well Well !!, Who would have thought that "Ivermectin" which we give the birds for certain worms is the cure for Coronavirus, Trialled in China and other Far East countries it has a 100% cure rate. The large Pharmaceutical Companies are going ballistic as they hoped to introduce a vaccine which they would make ££Billions from, and Ivermectin costs pennies to produce.

Roll on racing next year..

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The nest box conversion was put back as I secured a load of 8ft x 6" planking "FREE", and this week disposed of all the plastic V perches replacing them with 12" x 6" box perches. Nest Boxes will be converted next week.

All the inmates are exercising well and putting in a decent shift daily with the bath available when they wish apart from the last round of Late Breeds which will no doubt take to the heavens shortly.

For a "tit bit", I have been putting the outsiders of my home made bread through the blender/ chopper and mixing in a scoop of Hormoform / Linseed / Red Band, The colony loves it..

Anyone looking for plastic V perches ?, I think there are about 80 lying here, used, and FREE to take away.

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Still not made a start on Nest Box conversion as wee Mary seems to find other things for keeping me occupied around the house, I keep telling her I am incredibly in pain !! But it falls on deaf ears. Perhaps the to-morrow will see me disappear into the loft for a couple of hours.

Colony in fine fettle and exercising well, rain or not raining, with plenty of small down feathers abundantly covering existing Nest Boxes.

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Finally, finished the 24 nest boxes and forgot the rear of my loft is 7 1/2 ft high and could not reach up to the top row !!.

So, instead of taking them all down I built an 8" platform (walkway) on the floor and saying so myself looks pretty smart. Wee Mary on one of her very rare visits asked "who done the job for me"..

At the start of the year I put a 12"wide 2"high channel along the front of the perches and dumped a bag of Cat Litter in spreading evenly and was pleasantly surprise that it removed all dampness from the floor area and appeared to remove any smell of ammonia from the loft, the droppings are removed with a straw fork as they stick together once a week with the pellets removed when they break down to dust "couple of months".

It is the time of year when the Loft Radio volume is increased to help drown out the noise of exploding Fireworks.

KEEP SAFE.

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Well thank god the explosions are past for another year, Jack barked at every banger that went off and I swear they are getting louder as the years roll bye. Starting at 5.30 and continuing till 1am perhaps it is an age thing but when out walking in the park I came across a 3ft rocket which if it had came down from 200ft and hit you on the napper it would have came out your *expletive removed*.

Birds confined to the loft with still the odd outer flight to throw so will continue with a moulting mixture till all are complete. Don't know if it is the Sedochol on the feed daily for the past 2 months that has made the difference however they do appear to have a better shine and deeper colour on the feathers.

Still keeping safe..

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  • 3 weeks later...

The platform I fitted in front of the Nest Boxes worked a treat until I forgot I was standing on it and took a step back !!, Realising their was no air under my foot came a bit late as I headed backwards onto the floor landing on my posterior. With a bruised ego and 48 Hrs recuperation I dismantled the lot and dropped the Nest Boxes 8ins which I should have done to start with.

If we were not on Lockdown I probably would have never have worked on them however with nothing else to do and getting the wood free it whiled away a couple of days.

The garden is prepared for Winter and the Fat Balls are in the feeder for the wild birds, their is only the erection of a larger Greenhouse to erect which no doubt Son in Law will be telling me the same story as the past two years " Cannot lay cement with the chance of frost" and we are still in lockdown...

KEEP TAKING CARE.

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In the loft to-day saw the drinkers iced up with it being -4c, Heaters hastily switched up to heat the auld bones prior to the daily scraping and kettle put on for hot water and coffee.

Lately on thinking back a number of years I started wondering WHY and for WHAT reason did measuring out the quantity of feeding prove, 1oz or 1.1/4oz per bird is only a piece of nonsense as in the past I fed to appetite and won considerably more with less losses.

This was brought to my attention when a good friend told me the inmates were a tad on the heavy side although raking the heavens daily and in my early years when much much keener I always pooled the first bird to leave the feeder as it would only take a very small amount and the last ones to leave the feeder were always at the wrong end of the result.

It was a rare occasion when my pooled bird was not first to the loft.

The other day when their was a cloudless sky, I had the L/Breeds out with the Hens and they were all off disappearing S/W at height and two never made it back with the rest returning in small batches from all points of the compass.

Ah well 2 less to feed !!.

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Ah well, Still twa missing so it looks like they have met their Waterloo.

It will not be long now till I start fasting them on a Sunday, Don't know why ? however it does them no harm to go without for 48 Hrs and are ensconced in the loft from Friday till Monday.

Wild bird feeder filled but yet to see a Songbird at it, However the local Rooks are appreciating the fat balls and consuming 2 per day. I have moved the feeder from it's normal position this Winter due to observing on the CCTV screen very early hours, field mice helping themselves in the darkness, With the Terror Eyes balloon site vacant the bird feeder is now 12 feet high.

With the colony shining in their new coats and handling lighter, all is well at Merrymac lofts.

Keep Safe, as it aint over till the fat lady sings..

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Avian Flu ?? mmmmm So we have 10 days warning regarding shut down of colony !!!. however, why 10 days notice ?, On looking up DEFRA it would appear it is to give farmers time to sort out inside accommodation for the FREE RANGE TURKEYS & CHICKENS !!!, Now call me an Auld Sceptic but I would assume it was to give farmers time to slaughter all the free range fowl and have them ready for distribution to the XMAS dinner plates.

100 + Streeters roost 150 yards away in disused buildings and when they get decimated I will inform all.

KEEP SAFE.

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Another cold day with the loft padlocks frozen solid and having to return back to the house for a kettle of boiling water, once thawed chores were completed and colony fed to appetite with drinkers cleaned and filled with tea which is the usual Sunday treat. It came to mind that the Loft heater which is set at -5c must have been employed as the drinkers were bereft of ice, No doubt Wee Mary will notice the surge of electrical use !!, So I will have to think up a reasonable excuse such as ""They Xmas tree lights were on far too long"".

Keep Safe..

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