best all time positions.

the only downside with having a small team is if you take a knock or a bad race its over, also when selecting its harder to get a small team to hit form - a big team they will self motivate even the idiots what cant race keep the others on their toes within the loft........with a small team they get bored quicker

Get the hens out and double your racing opportunities instantly...........

Lightning wrote:

the only downside with having a small team is if you take a knock or a bad race its over, also when selecting its harder to get a small team to hit form - a big team they will self motivate even the idiots what cant race keep the others on their toes within the loft........with a small team they get bored quicker

Get the hens out and double your racing opportunities instantly...........

Agree with the Hens Mark

a tip here, if you are able to spit your young cocks & hens, from June when the small team of old bird widowers are getting bored and a bit listless..................let them exercise with the young cocks at least twice weekly and watch the difference...........the life comes flooding back into them and they are rejuvenated

mark, any tips you can give for roundabout....? and also do you race your ybs seperated ?

we tried roundabout few years ago.......didnt like it, to much unrest with cocks moving from this section to that, hens doing same etc etc etc..........we let cocks out and back into their section, let hens out back into their section...........and on a race day all trap to the cocks section (with nestboxes).....easier IMO

Yes normally i race YB cocks & hens seperated, didnt this year due to losing most of the yb team through the 3 hawk strikes and having only 13 yb left, with others in other sections recovering/damaged etc

but will be again in 2011

i seperated mine and what a difference it was when they were exercising compared to them all being togeather...........the hens especially flew well and were gone for hours, the cocks didnt fly as long but did fly a lot better than when all togeather. was going to do it this year coming but havnt got the room yet as my new loft wont be up in time........

no excuses David, make sure that the loft is up in time..............pull your finger out LOL

think ive left it too late mark, there needs blockwork doing to support it off the ground and then put the sections up in time for pairing up so i dont desturb them.......so i thought it was better to leave it till later in the season when racing has finished,


ken kindly offered to come and do it with me for the day tho`

get it up on temp legs (you can infill the blockwork at a later date), dont worry once you have paired up you could have a earthquake and you wont bother them pairs.....they to busy to be bothered by anything your doing........by the time they are laying you should be done or at least on the smaller quieter jobs

wish i could get it done mark, would solve some of my problems re room etc................and then i could race my ybs seperated and also have more room for stock and widow hens........

Lightning wrote:

no excuses David, make sure that the loft is up in time..............pull your finger out LOL

Come on David here is a national winner telling you mate come on

yes i know what your saying don, but you know me..................

Everyone to there own mate

need to get the loft ive got sorted first, ie traps/bobs etc and then hopefully get chance to flag in from of it before racing starts.........

What ever is best for you mate

theres flags there now but i need to get them laid properly and then its better all round...........

As you know being a bricky get the foundation right there's no stopping you

dont like lugging 3 x 2 flags around don............ doesnt do the back any good.

I know what you mean mate, did some work on garden putting a new fence up and there was an area which i will use for storage and instead of using slabs (flags) i used gravel boards mate cover the ground area quicker and they are better to handle than 3x2 mate

did half my drive on my own years ago with 3 x 2`s, been down approx 17 years now and not sunk at all..........had to get a couple of mates to finish the rest as its too much on your own, these lightweight ornimental types are ok but for anything more than foot traffic they will break if you drive a car over them.

The bestare the old type 2 1/2 inch think mate or 65 mm they are a bar stool

the best ones i ever got were some second hand ones from a local school, they never cracked or broke but with he new modern ones ive about 3 which have..........

Once everything went metric things got smaller

Don Webb wrote:

Once everything went metric things got smaller

stilll can buy the thick 3x2 flags

i remember someone pinching all mine from my old garden ........i would have loved to know who that was.unreal considering how heavy they are