systems.....

Hi David

It is not a race to get a lot of pigeons round you to race but if you have quality you only need a few pigeons around you.

David for me give me 6 widowhood cocks that i know will try every week than have 20 and 14 am also rans or non runners

The sport is for enjoyment nd that is what counts must say Arnie Tonks of Wednesbury is that type of person he loves his birds and puts a lot of time in them and win welll but win or lose he still enjoys the sport.

hi don, yes funny you should say that...i was reading about lefebre dhaenens (birds which i have)in a pictorial and it says they only send approx 6 birds per race....so like you say maybe quality is all you need.
if i had raced this year though i dont think 3 pairs would have got me far...
hopefully if i train the few 09 ybs i will have they might race as yearlings next year?
one thing i was wondering about don...the 08 birds i bred last year have never trained, although they were off for a good hour each excercise....as 2year olds next year would they train and race? or would they be too old to start?
thanks, david.

Hi David
if i was you i would train them like you would young birds and keep them at it, as leaving them in the loft looking pretty will never win you prizes and you will never know if they are any good

David all the best flyers make there pigeons work to keep there perch and by doing this you can see if they will make the grade

Sometimes you have to be hard to be kind just to see the type of bird you have

hi don, yes my friend ken(friendslofts)said i must not treat them as pets, they are there to race....i know you are both right but im too soft with them.
would you train the 08 and 09 all togeather this year and see if i can get them ready to race next year? what will 2 year olds do if they have never raced before?

David an old freind Norman Westwood from my area of the Black Country never raced his cocks as young birds but he always raced them from yearlings

But he always trained them but left them to mature and as old birds they would win out of turn

If you don't watch it you will have 1001 pets looking at you and costing the earth to feed them as todays good foods are costly

yes its hard but it will get better and the pigeons you are left with will give you great pleasure, and when you know you can compete with pigeons that will try for you then all the hard work is worth it

Only time will tell when you train and race them but train them well and if you can give them private training and toss them in two's to make them work and use there head, then this will sort out the chaft from the wheat.

thanks don, i was hoping to start racing next year with ybs but ive realised that the 3, 08 cocks i have and whichever are cocks out of the 9, 09 ybs i have bred for myself will be doing nothing and it would be a waste ...so maybe i could race obs as well just with a small team....

Thats it david try them now and this will save a lot of time in waiting for another year and geting disappointed if they don't come up to scratch

It takes time but you will get there in the end with in the next 2 to 3 years you may only have a small team (hope not) but they will be the pigeons everyone will have to beat

looks like ive lost my only yb i had today...i bred 12 for other fanciers but one was not quite up to scratch so i kept it myself as i didnt have the heart to kill it, as it happens it made a good recovery and was making a nice bird but i let it out with my old birds and it dissapeared.....hope it comes back as i have got quite attached to it.
ive bred 8 ybs which are in the nest at the moment for myself to breed off next year, so hopefully i will be able to keep hold of them.....

here she(i think) is a couple of weeks ago, she was making a nice bird as well...

sorry to hear you have lost her david,she might be on your loft in the morning.has she been out before?

Looked a nice bird hope it is there in the morning for you mate so sad when you get attached to them and they go missing.

thanks don and littlehen, the nestmate is entered in a gold ring race for the fancier who i bred it for...if it had done well i would have had the nestmate to it, but i wont if it doesnt come back. ill be up early in the morning to see if shes around when i let the obs out, she has only been on the platform a couple of times and had a little look round so im not too sure she has took note enough of the surrounds.....

Hope she comes back for you but this is what happens with young birds it can not be help or as they say you win some you loss some.

Hi David, she looks a little belter .
i had one go missing, had only been out twice up onto the loft. She came back 4 days later, quite thin but no worse for her ordeal.
So fingers crossed she finds her way home......................amanda

hi don and amanda, no luck today, no sign of her....ive lost ybs before and not been happy over it but i had got attached to this one because she was a bit behind the others and at one stage thought about getting rid....but decided to give her a chance.

I hope she gos into someone locals loft. That way you at least have a chance of getting her back. Did you have a telephone ring on her David?

Its made me think. So ive ordered the coil ones for my birds. Then again they are such little hooligans im sure nobody would want to keep them They mug you as soon as you walk in

thats how you want them, with some character about them....few people told me that certain pigeons will be good because they had something about them.

no didnt get address rings, had to wait 30+ days for delivery and couldnt wait....im the sort of person that plants a baby tree and wants it 20ft tall in a season, no patience......

Hi David the best thing i can tell you is take two steps back and one forward and not walk before you can walk

hi david,has the young hen come back yet?

no littlehen, no sign of her...she wont be coming back now im afraid, shes long gone. will have to cocentrate on the ones i have and make sure they settle ok.

Hi David

If you still have the parents then hopefully you can breed the same again

hi don, yes ive got two 4 days old in the nest off same....the nestmate to the one i lost is entered into a gold ring race by the buyer who bid on it at a charity auction i donated to.

Hi David

Good to see that you are able to bred the same type of pigeon again as this gives you a better chance of seeing how good the birds from this pair are and not just looking good

yes don, i think the fanciers who i bred birds for this season will get the best out of them, if they are capable of winning they will win for them....
if they dont win or do well for them maybe ill be getting new stock...

Hi David why say that about someone else getting the best out of your birds, once you start racing i bet you win and you will put the effort in to get to the top don't put yourself down mate