new plan required

The story so far,If anybody had forecast that at 53 i would start racing pigeons i would have laughed out loud, but thats what happened, I decided in March this year to race pigeons, I researched lots of different methods,
took advice from other people and felt prepared to begin my hobby? then it turned into obsession ,I obtained thirty young birds and started them on the darkness, everything was going smoothly until 18th may, big smash on a training toss, left me with 3 cocks and 6 hens left,obviously i was gutted but decided to race what was left in the pen, they made it back so in my eyes they deserved their chance, i had the birds paired up and on eggs, doing 40 miles a day training, birds were responding well,.This morning in the pen eggs were all smashed and birds were fighting badly, i have my first race on 21st this month, do i give up or carry on,race roundabout now or widowhood, advice appreciated

strange how they have all of a sudden decided to fight for terrortory, are they in nest boxes ? or on floor ?

im not too sure about racing ybs on widowood as i think this would be better suited to a fancier who has a lot of experrience, maybe if the fighting was too bad i would seperate the sexes and let them run togeather on friday before basketting............JMO

Spot on David, I would agree with that.

to be honest mate in your 1st season i would have got my ybs and kept them natural this season so that i had enough ybs to move to the widowhood loft for next years OB season.
I think and i maybe wrong you may have tried to run before walking, we all do it from time to time, I would seperate the cocks and hens and let the hens see the cocks on friday before basketing, them put them in different baskest.
You will get lots of different views on this so you need to read it carefully and decide is it important to win this year or put YBs with experiance into your OB section.

thanks all, cant buy experience , will follow your advice and let you know how i get on, happy flying

Best of luck mate

David wrote:

strange how they have all of a sudden decided to fight for terrortory, are they in nest boxes ? or on floor ?

im not too sure about racing ybs on widowood as i think this would be better suited to a fancier who has a lot of experrience, maybe if the fighting was too bad i would seperate the sexes and let them run togeather on friday before basketting............JMO

I will second that also David

pigeon53 wrote:

thanks all, cant buy experience , will follow your advice and let you know how i get on, happy flying

The one thing i would say is take one step at a time theres no rush

Enjoy your pigeons

hi steve at what training toss did you lose the bulk of the team.

omo but ppl can keep the darkness system i cant see the point in stressing the birds out at such a young age for a few yb cards.

as others have suggested i would seperate your ybs and put them together on a friday afternoon should be bouncing then

i do,nt really like the dark for a few reasons but if your not on it you wo,nt win anything with them,at the end of the day thats what its all about ,winning,when i was on natural with my ybs i was miles behind and i was,nt happy with that so i went on the dark,like i said thats what i race mine for....cards

peel bros wrote:

i do,nt really like the dark for a few reasons but if your not on it you wo,nt win anything with them,at the end of the day thats what its all about ,winning,when i was on natural with my ybs i was miles behind and i was,nt happy with that so i went on the dark,like i said thats what i race mine for....cards

you know my thoughts on darkness but like you say Ray unless your on the dark you,ll win nowt
but many going back to winter y/bs like i will all the benifits of the dark with out stress and no other probs plenty benifts sean

sean if i bred winter ybs how far would they moult before yb racing started, would they complete the moult and would it also moult out the full wing.....?

one reason i dont like the dark system is because my ybs stop exercising once they start to moult..........

got to pair really early david but these ybs become lazy also. i my self think it might be better

i paired the stock on december the 1st last year,
and i think they are immaculate maye they been on the dark since they were moved into there yb loft wich was a week after they were weaned in to a basket for a week, i breed 14 and there are 13 left and the other on was reported dead had hit the wires and took its head off,
only time will tell if tehy any good but we will know soon enough,
knon of them have moulted there flight but do look like old birds

They do David, but I have them on light.
They only become lazy Ray if you leave both sex's together.

agree with comments about not likeing darkness our best yearling was a natural,
but after the 2nd race last year the darkness yb were beating them further and further untill 5 races we decided to stop them and let them enjoy there moult

David wrote:

sean if i bred winter ybs how far would they moult before yb racing started, would they complete the moult and would it also moult out the full wing.....?

one reason i dont like the dark system is because my ybs stop exercising once they start to moult..........

they will do a complete moult they more like old birds than y/bs but they must hatch before the 29-30 december other wise they will do a complete body moult and could be on their 7th wing flight sean

Gaz b wrote:

They do David, but I have them on light.
They only become lazy Ray if you leave both sex's together.

yes true,i leave mine together though

ive two young cocks paired togeather who were on the dark, hope they race ok .....

hi lads i only intend to keep 3 or 4 birds ive just knocked a small shed to gether to join on to the small dovecott,ime going to use the dovecott entrance so they can come and go into the shed,do you think it will work.cheers frankie

frankie wrote:

hi lads i only intend to keep 3 or 4 birds ive just knocked a small shed to gether to join on to the small dovecott,ime going to use the dovecott entrance so they can come and go into the shed,do you think it will work.cheers frankie

yes simple is always better

fletch wrote:

frankie wrote:

hi lads i only intend to keep 3 or 4 birds ive just knocked a small shed to gether to join on to the small dovecott,ime going to use the dovecott entrance so they can come and go into the shed,do you think it will work.cheers frankie

yes simple is always better

Agree with tLee on this one