What happening to my birds

What is happening to my birds this year I have 10 birds left of my 31 starters, I no that one gets good and bad years, but I have never had a season like this, I have lost over half of them at 20 miles the others in races which we all do, out of the 21 i have lost i have not had a bird back where are they going hawks dont get all of them, my birds have had all the things to start the season and they looked the part and if the old birds cant do it what is the young birds going to do, I have a microscope nothing is showing up on that I have done nothing different this year I cant understand what is happening if I negelted them or staved em I could understand are well back to the drawing board.

Ginger wrote:

What is happening to my birds this year I have 10 birds left of my 31 starters, I no that one gets good and bad years, but I have never had a season like this, I have lost over half of them at 20 miles the others in races which we all do, out of the 21 i have lost i have not had a bird back where are they going hawks dont get all of them, my birds have had all the things to start the season and they looked the part and if the old birds cant do it what is the young birds going to do, I have a microscope nothing is showing up on that I have done nothing different this year I cant understand what is happening if I negelted them or staved em I could understand are well back to the drawing board.

i had same last year with y/bs lost most from 5 mile nearly 30 lost but in 1st race finished 1st and 5th club, hope same happens with you now mate

im same as you ginger , this season is i think the worst season ive had for a long time
people arn,t reporting them no more plus the trouble with hawks you just got to keep ploding on
every time i send mine i drop 2 or 3 at a time and with having a small team it doesn,t take much
to put a big dent in your team . keep your chin up mate .

ginger i sent 8 cocks 137 miles yesterday, they were liberated at 8 am and ive only just got the first bird home this afternoon at 3 o clcok...........its knackered so even if any more come home my seasons done for this year.

keep focused tho ginger and im sure things will turn around for you...........

would just like to add, the only bird i have back is my exchange yb from last year which was bred by ian...................

Thanks for the incoragement I have been flying birds for 60 years and never Ill say it again never had returns like this, I had 3 back today so things are looking up

Just to cheer you up about losses, At the start of the season, we trained about 400 pigeons in our very strong club, first race it was down to 179, by 4th race we sent 105, last week 55 and this week 25, thats from 23 members, Thats what south west wales is like every year, but we get on with it or eles we pack it in, we have 30 plus pairs of perigrines in our small county and its growing all our refineries are putting up nesting boxes, with another 10 put up just this year.

I have 85 youngsters this year, and I will probably end up with 15, hopefully by the end of the season, maybe more if I stop a few after 2nd and 3 rd races. So chin up mate it could be worst you could be living down here...lol

david , sorry about your returns you must be gutted mate , how have the
other members got on returns wise .

Rudderfett wrote:

Just to cheer you up about losses, At the start of the season, we trained about 400 pigeons in our very strong club, first race it was down to 179, by 4th race we sent 105, last week 55 and this week 25, thats from 23 members, Thats what south west wales is like every year, but we get on with it or eles we pack it in, we have 30 plus pairs of perigrines in our small county and its growing all our refineries are putting up nesting boxes, with another 10 put up just this year.

I have 85 youngsters this year, and I will probably end up with 15, hopefully by the end of the season, maybe more if I stop a few after 2nd and 3 rd races. So chin up mate it could be worst you could be living down here...lol

thats awful martyn, how do you cope with this..........? its diabolical what us pigeon fanciers are having to put up with just to race our birds.

kev d wrote:

david , sorry about your returns you must be gutted mate , how have the
other members got on returns wise .

hi kev, i dont know what returns were like as i was too ashamed to go to the club............there must be some logical explination why this has happened, it cant be that they are all rubbish, can it ...?

Glad to read one's home David, lets hope it's the first of several over the next couple of days.

thanks steve, sending pm....................

Just to answer you david, we love it and soldier on... and when you are used to the perigrine attaks every time you train or let the birds out , you just accept it. There have been 3 terrible races in a row for us, birds let go in 25 mph headwinds with thunder storms and heavy rain all the way home, but birds have come through dispite this, but still heavier losses than usual, there is a chap down here who has won 50 1st sections in 10 years and hundreds of firsts, he timed a bird from severne 565 miles and should have won the national with it but hadnt entered it, he lost 16 2 weeks ago and said they were brilliant birds section and fed winners who had been everywhere, so it happens to the best, we have had some extreme weather lately and some mad lib decissions , maybe the whole country has suffered by the sounds of it.

thanks for that martyn, sending pm........

sorry to hear of your loss's martyn i cant belive your down to 25 birds in the club thats terrible m8

im in the same boat as Ginger its very dishartening esspesialy for the young and new starters to the sport im down to 10 race birds in my loft 9 yearlings and 1 old bird this is out of 34 birds

Sorry to hear of all the losses for everyone