test loft now

thought i posted this topic it's a age thing lol  don't see many test lofts now i thought they were great birds went to most races give birds away now they don't want to train or race them

yes used to like the test lofts when we did it, members exchanging ybs to try them out ........i think the thing that killed it off was couriers became too expensive, its like now if you loose a bird racing / training its approx £50 to get it back home, just imagine if you lost 10 ybs and had to pay for them all returning.

i remember when we had to take a stray to the railway and send them back home that way, the owner had to pay £7.50 to the finder ......

David wrote:

yes used to like the test lofts when we did it, members exchanging ybs to try them out ........i think the thing that killed it off was couriers became too expensive, its like now if you loose a bird racing / training its approx £50 to get it back home, just imagine if you lost 10 ybs and had to pay for them all returning.

i remember when we had to take a stray to the railway and send them back home that way, the owner had to pay £7.50 to the finder ......

Before my time on the forum David but what a good idea, was goingb to ask what was involved.

As for the railways David, pity they stopped transporting them.

Regards.

a lot more straight forward and simpler in the 1980`s misty, if the owner wanted the bird back he had to send a minimum of £7.50 which included purchasing a box ( of if i remember right you could use any cardboard box available), i think the owner would get a call to collect at his local train station, but it was a lot cheaper and straight forward then compared to now, but then again they do collect from our home and deliver to the owner, i suppose its been a case of supply and demand, everything related to pigeons has been a money making exercise, oppertuninies have been taking when they have seen a way of making money.

but now walkers have stopped doing it and let a lot of fanciers down, yet still say its viable to transport to ireland and belgium, yet not within the uk .........something not quite right if you ask me, probably taking back handers off defra to destroy pigeon racing

i was told it had to do with the driver on a pick up

not sure george, i heard similar thing too......but surely they wouldnt stop the uk service just because of the pick up driver, they would simply employ another driver ........ive had walkers call throughout the breeding season, and it wasnt always the same collection driver , so its a mystery to me really .

will send pm