Training toss

I don't want to bore anyone on here, as I think I said this last year too but this year is the worst in my pigeon career.
Today I sent 66 ybs training 8 miles as the crow flys, they were released with the 300 or so club birds nice day sunny warm.
After 6 hours I had 4 birds back and tonight I have had 26 so that's 40 missing, smashed by the perigrines again, I  really now believe we cant go on much longer and I think within a few years we will be done, and racing in Pembrokeshire will be impossible, if not already.

sorry to hear thatg martin just been saing someone on another site has 10 from 43 today
its out your habds once up in the air its heart breaking hope  more work in

how have other members feared

Lots of birds lost today some are 20 down I sent the most I think.
Some split teams and go on different days I sent the lot.

sorry to hear this martyn, it must be very disheartening......hope more work their way home

sorry to here that martyn i hope they work bk for you m8 ide be devastated if it happened to my team m8 ive started mine ov today had 2 tosses today from 8 1/2 miles but faired out ok only 2 adrift from morning toss but was badley hit last yr every day nearly and lost a lot but i agree something needs to be done about bops but wat is the ????????? and as you say its only gnna get worse with all the do gooders thinkin were not over populated by these fckers  its ok the unions sayin were recordin bop attacks but that's not gd enough we need action and now not in a few yrs cause the way its goin its goin to kill pigeon racin off very soon  keep us updated martyn all the best m8

Maybe if everyone stopped flying for a year a lot a bops would die off, or raise no babies . Maybe if they started eating all the song birds the tree huggers would think twice. Just dreamin I guess . Good Luck.

Ross H wrote:

Maybe if everyone stopped flying for a year a lot a bops would die off, or raise no babies . Maybe if they started eating all the song birds the tree huggers would think twice. Just dreamin I guess . Good Luck.

Unfortunately yes Ross  (Dreaming). One does come to the conclusion etc that we are on a slippery road to nowhere in relation to the hawk/falcon issue.  to have to say it, but I don't see a solution anywhere in the near future. No matter where one may live.
*****

terrible,i would hate it losing one or two nevermind that many.it would kill me ,we worry everyday letting our birds out but we don,t have the problems so do .i said this last year also and i,m sorry to say this but we have a few on here saying its just nature,they would,nt be saying that if they where in your situation..again we all feel for you

that's terrible mate sorry to hear that, it sounds like there is a really bad problem over there, we have a lot of buzzards over where I am they don't really attack the pigeons lucky enough, I agree you's need a solution quick smart..

I read somewhere that the peregrine are afraid of owls if there was a way of getting one up in the air the same time the pigeons were released they might stand a chance, I stand to be corrected on this, as I cant find the colum I was reading a while back..

sorry to hear martyn...I will be letting my ybs up in groups of six and OBS were trained single up for the same reasons you are posting ...its way out of hand now the bop problem ...just last week I was having a heated debate with 2 rspb reps in my local asda store and found out that the two guys canvassing did not have any training regards dealing with the public and had no background knowledge of birds whatsoever after a few words the 2 reps left the building you see the rspb is nothing more than a money making scheme for bop lovers and when the pigeon fanciers have been sorted they will have free reign ...nearly their now,shame on them ,had to laugh when the reps asked me for a donation f**k me it was like a whirlwind as I had a badly damaged hen return the sunday before and despite our attempts she never made it ..I will see how the yb season goes and then consider whether I want to feed the rspb pets anymore ...

just found this on a site with some lads having the same problem hope it helps or maybe most do this already


SIMILAR SITUATION IN SPAIN.
I BREED PIGEONS 25 YEARS AGO AND I ALWAYS HAVE SUFFERED GOSHAWK ATTACKS. I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING. I LOOSE 25 BIRDS BY YEAR AROUND THE LOFT MAINLY LATEBREDS. I LIVE IN A PLACE WITH HIGH DENSITY OF PREDATORS. NEAR MY LOFT I COUNTED 4 PAIRS OF GOSHAWK WICH HUNT DAILY.
AFTER HAVING A HUGE EXPERIENCE STUDYING BIRDS OF PREY I CAN CONCLUDE SOME RULES WICH ARE NOT 100% EFFECTIVE BUT MAY HELP YOURS ACORDING GOSHAWK. FALCONS ARE MORE DIFFICULT.
1. WHEN TRAINIG PIGEONS BY CAR, NEVER RELEASE WHOLE FLOCK. AT BEGINNIG OF TRAINING TOSSES I RELEASE IN SMALL GROUPS OF 3-5 PIGEONS. IT IS BETTER TO SPEND 1/2 HOUR THAT LOOSE A GOOD BIRD. IN SUSCH WAY YOU AVOID MASSIVE LOSSES DUE TO TERROR, MAINLY IN YOUNGS. IN THE LAST TWO YEARS I DO THIS AND IT WORKS. IN CASE A FALCON KILL A BIRD, OTHERS DONT FEEL TERROR AND FIND WAY HOME.I ONLY RELEASE WHOLE FLOCK WHEN PIGEONS HAVE EXPERIENCE OR WHEN WHOLE CLUB IS GOING TO RELEASE TOGETHER.
2. THERE ARE FAMILIES OF PIGEONS WHICH SUFFER PREDATION MORE THAN OTHERS.THESE PIGEONS ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUR PLACE AND YOU MUST REMOVE IT. EXTREME LONG DISTANCE BIRDS SUFFER MORE THAN MIDDLE DISTANCE BIRDS. YOU MUST LOOK VERY VITAL AND INTELLIGENT PIGEONS.
3. PIGEONS WITH TENDENCY TO GET WEIGTH ARE EASILY CAUGTH. LOOK STRONG PIGEONS BUT NOT HEAVY BIRDS.
4. TRY RELEASE YOUR YOUNG BIRDS EVERY DAY. IDEA IS THEY MUST LEARN NATURE LAWS. I ONLY CLOSE MY RACING BIRDS AFTER RACING SEASON,IN MOULT AND IN A VERY BAD WEATHER. I ALWAYS TRAIN YOUNGS BEFORE WIDOWER, SO I DONT EXPOSE THEM SO MUCH.
5. YOUNGS MUST TRAIN DAILY AROUND LOFT. THEY HAVE TO BE FIT. IF YOU SUFFER A DAILY ATTACK AND PIGEONS FEEL TERROR, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG. MAY BE PIGEONS ARE ILL, WITH WORMS, EXTRA WEIGTH......
WHEN PIGEONS FEEL WELL, STRONG IN THE RIGTH WEIGTH, THEY "TRY TO PLAY" WITH PREDATORS AND THEN ATTACK WILL DECREASE.PIGEONS HAVE TO TAKE CONFIDENCE IN THEMSELVES.
6.ROMOVE PIGEONS WHICH FEEL AFRAID OR LAND EASILY. IT IS VERY RARE A GOOD RACER FEEL AFRAID. IF IT HAPPENS MAY BE HE DOES NOT FEEL WELL. CHECK IT.
7. OLD RACING BIRDS DONT NEED TO BE RELEASED EVERYDAY IN REST SEASON. THEY ALREADY HAVE PROVED THEY CAN SURVIVE AND RACE WELL.TRY THEY LOOSE WEIGTH BEFORE TRAINING SEASON IS GOING TO BEGIN JUST AFTER WINTER.
8. I USSUALY USE SOME fireworks COHETES. THEY ARE REALLY EFECTIVE. THEY PRODUCE GREAT NOISE AND GOSHAWK FEELS A REAL TERROR HAVING EXPLOITED NEAR IT.AFTER USING TWICE THEY LEARN LESSON AND PREDATE OVER OTHER KIND OF BIRDS.
9. IF PIGEONS GO FAR AND HIGH WHEN GOSHAWK ATTACKS, THEN THEY ARE IN GOOD FORM. OTHERWISE SOMETHING IS WRONG.
10. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT YOU ARE IN THE LOFT WHILE PIGEONS ARE TRAINING, PREDATORS LEARN IN CASE YOU ARE THERE SOME COHETE CAN EXPLOIT NEAR THEM.
11. SOME PEOPLE USE A PLASTIC OWL BUT IN MY CASE IT DID NOT WORK.

I read in BHW that acording EU rule a man is allowd to protect his flock a gentleman called something like Mr Rosbottom had it in the BWH i have been looking for his name but cant find it if anyone see it or nose his phone number I would be very grateful

The comments posted are all excellent and very valid, I have in the past tried small flocks and it does work, but usually safety in numbers wroks too but not on this occasion.
I have had 35 back now so 31 missing and still coming, hope to see a few more today, thanks for kind comments.

last year i sent my yb to there first race 50 miles with no training
due to the hawk attacks but they were flying really well and going off
for about 45 to 60 mins not every time but most of the time i droped 2 yb out of 16 sent . i feel for you mate nothing i can say mate but hope you get most back .ps they had lots of basket training forgot to say that .