hawked from yesterdays race

stormqueen wrote:

yes martyn.
it was bad enough when the bird came back this morning at 7 all cut up.
but then going into the loft in the morning and seeing our other bird lying dead in his box.
was bad . last week he was 3rd cub and 9th fed. and a good pigeon.
he came home yesterday and his hen was waiting for him.
he look alright . in the nest pan with her cooing up. but what I did not see was the hawk spick in his chest.
he must have bleed internally .

Sorry to read the sad news Johnn

Usually get a warning here with Grackles, cowbirds and red winged blackbirds. They all nest around here.

halcanada wrote:

Usually get a warning here with Grackles, cowbirds and red winged blackbirds. They all nest around here.

Same same, down here Hal "native birds" worth there weight in gold at times.

that's all well and good . bit you cant do nothing when in a race lads

I think maybe it would be a good practice to check birds over, when they return from a race, myself dont like to handle the birds when they return from a race. That is why i like the ets so there is no stress when birds return, A good pick me up drink, food and plenty of rest pending on the race effects. I must say after reading this topic, we dont know what happens in the race, we can not be sure. So i will give returning birds a good look over, and not assume all is good. Just my thoughts.

bird looked fine you would not have found the small claw hole mate . just a sad thing to happen and he looked fine

stormqueen wrote:

that's all well and good . bit you cant do nothing when in a race lads

Oh so true S/Q all one can do tho I suspect, is teach them the art of knowing when to zig & zag at the right time etc when the falcons are right on there A**e come race day.

stormqueen wrote:

bird looked fine you would not have found the small claw hole mate . just a sad thing to happen and he looked fine

Thank you for pointing that out John, at times we dont see what is there. So it as given myself much thought.

yes no blood no feathers out he was running around in his box with his hen so I left him . I took 2 youngsters off him for the first time this year as hes done very well last year and this year as older bird . am just sick