How do members pair...?

hi steve, are your birds showing any signs of pairing or are those two from me still a bit young ? what are your plans re pairing ?

dont know how to put picture up just yet but will put a few up when i learn most high flyers are blues or prints they are liberated 4.30 am an d must stay up together as a kit and bespotted at last an hour .its a long day as they can fly till dark and even past dark where instead ov using droppers a lamp is used i think the record stands at 22 hours plus but most birds if there fed properly will fly 15 hours given the right weather conditions i hope this gives you an insight into the world ov high flyers steve

forgot to say they dont tumble steve

highflyerboy wrote:

dont know how to put picture up just yet but will put a few up when i learn most high flyers are blues or prints they are liberated 4.30 am an d must stay up together as a kit and bespotted at last an hour .its a long day as they can fly till dark and even past dark where instead ov using droppers a lamp is used i think the record stands at 22 hours plus but most birds if there fed properly will fly 15 hours given the right weather conditions i hope this gives you an insight into the world ov high flyers steve

highfleryboy, you either need to open a photobucket account which is free and will host all your photos, or you can look down the side of our homepage where it says "upload images" and you can load photos from your computer onto the site...

if you get stuck let me know.........

Hi David, no they haven't paired yet but are begining to show a bit of interest in others, I'm still not 100% sure what sex they they are yet - just as i think they're showing behaviour consistant to a cock they then start showing up to another cock and vice versa - the thing is the cock I know is definately a cock isn't interested in much at all apart from flying, food and his territory. I read that the lengthening days should kick start the whole mating thing though!

Thanks for the explanation Highflyerboy, that's a lot of time on the wing!! Are they smaller than a racer and what does a 'print' look like (sorry for the thread drift )

hi steve, ive found that the ybs off this pair are usually the biggest bird is the hen, and the smaller bird the cock........not always but ive also found that the dark cheqs are hens, does this sound like yours ...? also when its spring like weather it does get the birds wanting to pair, thats why some fanciers use electric lights to encourage this.....

Hello David, there's a definate and distinct size difference, the larger being the B Cheq, the BB is significantly smaller and is a more delicate bird all round, but as I say the behaviour has been inconsistant

I'm looking forward to the pairing & mating and am keen to start but have read the comments about early bred birds Vs ones bred a little later and their subsequent performance with interest - I'd thought a more mature and possibly mere developed bird would have an advantage in the yb racing but it seems not??

im not too sure why some fanciers pair early steve, it could be because they want it over and done with and out of the way.......or possibly because they prefer the older yb and think they will race better, im not sure.

i hope that with me pairing 5th feb the young birds will be matured enough for racing, plus i will be putting them onto the dark.

It is more for getting the youngbirds more mature and acting like yearlings when it is time for racing

hi don, so early bred ybs on the dark are better than later ybs on dark...? would ther be that much differece ?

It certainly seems as though most experienced guys aren't really in a rush to start the pairing with Feb seemingly being about the most popular time, I guess your location could be a factor ie Channel Islands V's Northern Scotland - but as ever opinion is divided; and that's another thing I like about fancy - there's no single way to 'skin the cat' plus the informed debate is very educational to us novices

how long have you had birds for steve?

the thing is tho steve, id like to hear from our members what month their best ybs were hatched in........?

im sure i just sent this message!! any way steve high flyers are much smaller than racers some are no bigger than a collard dove ie pilot strain mostly blues and are not every ones cup ov tea as they are hard to settle but once you get a good kit flying there very good and as the name suggests they fly up in the heavens another bird that is becoming popular is a plester bird which is larger but still small compared to a racer,these birds fly much lower but still put the hours in a print is just a grizzle mate

Hello Alex, just a few months - I had kept them for a few years many years ago but loads has changed so effectively I'm a total novice - keen to learn though!!

Me too David - it would be good to see if there's a trend relating to the time the performing birds were hatched

by the way lads my name is billy. sure i just sent this message as well "!!!!

Thanks Highflyerboy, I'll be looking out for them at Blackpool - they seem to have every shape, size and colour possible.

highflyerboy wrote:

by the way lads my name is billy. sure i just sent this message as well "!!!!

ah right, thanks billy......always nice to know who your talking to.

re the posts not registering...........if you post at the same time as someone else it operates a flood control which tells you another message has been posted while you were typing, all you do is click "save "again..........

ive never rally been into fancy pigeons, but am very interested in these high flyers.......would be great letting them out and seeing them fly for hours so high up.

billy, do the bops/hawks bother them when they fly so high up ?

steve theres a bird called a paki high flyer{they named it !} but my mate says they not as good as the real one! probably a snide knowing them lot oops sorry if i offended anyone

david in the midlands they get hammered with perigrines we get the occasional hit but sparrow hawks take most ov the young birds when in training i just lost a bird recently that i had hand reared i was gutted it wont do it again tho

highflyerboy wrote:

steve theres a bird called a paki high flyer{they named it !} but my mate says they not as good as the real one! probably a snide knowing them lot oops sorry if i offended anyone

didnt offend me billy, the term is only short for pakistani isnt it......its like us british been called brits isnt it ?

highflyerboy wrote:

david in the midlands they get hammered with perigrines we get the occasional hit but sparrow hawks take most ov the young birds when in training i just lost a bird recently that i had hand reared i was gutted it wont do it again tho

saw a hawk land on my tree last week when it was snowing, by the time i got to it , it flew off but it just goes to show we can never let our guard down with these killers.

i hate sparrow hawks lads them and bleeding magpies have destroyed our small bird population its funny how your allowed to capture magpies but not hawks?i use a larrson trap and take 30 a year just from my allotment i humanley kill them ov course

how do these traps work...?