Pairing up...

i know its a bit early to talk about pairing up, but we all must have an idea of when we are...........im planning on pairing the end of jan, beggining of feb......

last week of jan worked well this year for me

yes me too, i paired 5th feb this year and it worked out well apart from our club starting a week earlier than the year before..........so this coming breeding season i think ill pair up at the beggining of feb, a week earlier.

David in the issue of the BHW 19th August Joe Murphy writes that a vet Tom Pennycott experimened many years ago and found early bred young birds stood a better chance of not contracting yb sickness something i will bear in mind

hi rainbow, interesting point you make there........as it happens this season i paired up 5th feb and as far as i know didnt get yb sickness, i did susspect they were begging to get it but to be honest i dont think they did, plus other fanciers who saw them said they looked ok........ last season and the season before i paired up around christmas and both times the ybs got yb sickness.......

so im not convinced either way, maybe this would be a good subject for members to express their views on...........?

i also read in the bhw a theory that vaccination contributes to yb sickness.....????

any thoughts ?

the trouble with vaccinating this has to be done regardless

ok here goes i would never treat or keep a young or old bird which had been sick, sickness should be very rare in a dry loft and were the water is changed at least once a day and the drinker washed out with a sterilise tablet one which mothers use on babys bottles last but not least NO OVER CROWDINGd i like to read on very successful fanciers and the one now is Alan Darragh he has won 5 1st nationals on sickness he disposes of the sick bird and the parents no matter what they cost you could click into The professional alan darragh i found this article very interesting and hope the next time i visit my old mum Alan may see me

sounds like moneys no object for mr darragh i have had sick birds and treated them and bred from them and their young have stayed healthy jmo but i would not be so quick to condemn myself

dont beleive in culling sick bird afterall we all get sick now and then,doesnt make the pigeon weaker i bet if he had a bird with five wins and it fll sick i bet he wouldnt get rid if he doeas then he,s not that good of a pigeon man if he cant put them right this is just my opinion

i do,nt treat single birds very often unless they have done something special,but then again if they have gone to far with a illness then bye bye no matter how good..i had to get rid of a cock with 3 wins the other year ,he topped the section but he had to go.we could risk the rest going the same way but we did try...like i said if they have,nt done anything then they have to go,its just not worth it....tell me one bird that has been bad going on to win something ,because i have,nt had one that i could remember

they,ll be loads of birds that have been bad and been treat succesfully and gone on to win beleive me

Which members think we really need to vaccinate our birds every year, should their immune system have been built up by now so they dont need vaccinating?

a local guy to me never vaccinated his stock this year and decided to start to train some stock hens needless to say they got paramyxo virus he was devastated went through his stock loft had to cull most the birds i read an article that this disease is on the up as some have not been doing it and not mentioning any names but know a flyer who never this year he has had aggro all season long so vaccinate or leave at your peril

If you vaccinate "which i did in the early days" for anythig you are lowering the birds immune system and playing with nature which for me is a no no

Put it this way you look at children the ones which are kept wrapped up in winter compared to the one which is left not so warm the one which is not so warm does not suffer from colds compared to the child which is wrapped up always, and the same is goes for the pigeons let them develop there immune system and loss the weaker ones

I know everyone is different but this is my opinion and everyone to there own

i read an article the other week and they rekon that after 25 years of vacinating it isnt needed any more........they said that it was racing pigeons that were responsible for the outbreak and that all ferals would be gone within a few years, needless to say 25 years later they havnt and the collonies are still going strong..........so whos right ?

David wrote:

i read an article the other week and they rekon that after 25 years of vacinating it isnt needed any more........they said that it was racing pigeons that were responsible for the outbreak and that all ferals would be gone within a few years, needless to say 25 years later they havnt and the collonies are still going strong..........so whos right ?

Will second that David it is servival of the fittest mate you never see feral pigeons dead on the foootpath or on the ground hey

some of the ferals ive seen are usually pretty healthy looking, i dont know what they handle like but they look ok.........altho i have had one or two round my loft which have been horrible but these are usually ybs.

when i used to go to a corn shop near me i would sometimes take some left over corn or corn which my birds wouldnt eat, i would put it in a big pile for the ferals to eat and while i was watching them eat it a woman fron the next shop came out and threw some bread down for them, this looked like a regular thing and when the birds saw the bread they left the corn i had given them and went crazy for the old bread !!!!!

Perhaps feral had the right idea and we were all wrong david lol lol

Some excellent ferals out there no doubt. Got to be birds that have gone feral and bred birds that had potential.

not being funny but i will vaccinate for everything now...i only done paramyco before but not now...i think it has helped my birds the last 2 season doing this.i think those who do,nt will suffer in the long run.half the time its just greed and people being lazy which stops them doing it anyway

well if yous think this why do you vaccinate then dont bother doing it then see what happens as for not seeing dead ferals thats because they die where they roost a sick bird dont want to fly does it

its a rule we have to vaccinate, otherwise we cant race......................if given the opertunity to decide weather or not to vaccinate i would bet a great many fanciers wouldnt bother.

i was suprised to learn that quite a few dont bother to do it now.........

im sorry ray but its you who will suffer in the long run injecting for every thing if you have to go down that road to be a winner then go ahead and get on with it , your birds are proped up by these products and have no natural imune system , ok you had a good season its people like you who keep the companys in business
by listening to there crap they spout out if you don,t use these products your birds will not win people are scared not to use them cos they haven,t got the bottle not to give them these products its the birds i feel sorry for makes you wander why this young bird sickness is rife in some lofts , but hey if there happy doing this then carry on .

Ian back to Alan darragh for the last time as for him being mr moneybags he is a joiner by trade so you could be right he has now establish what he believes to be a sound family of pigeons the problem he has now is the Irish birds no longer can hold there own against the modern pigeon so he has had to bring in a cross and he was impressed by the boscheind flyers namely Adre van de viel and Jan schreuder so he has to be ruthless with the yb having to fly from Penzance over land to the coast then the Irish sea and over land again to his loft a distance of 329 mls and then FRANCE as a old bird all i can say anyone can read his RP article on pigeonnetwork.com

thanks george for the info many roads to rome

interesting reading george cant knock mr darragh realy but for me i have treated sick birds and their young have been fine and gone on to score but each to his own its good to hear different points of view