yellow keel

yes youve got the picture

watever goes to bourges is finished for the season same with andrisel

watever goes to bourges is finished for the season same with andrisel

Myself i only like sprint racing upto 200 miles have raced the distance in the past the best race point i liked was Nantes 366 miles for old birds ang Gurnsey for young birds 215 miles

when i was younger i always wanted to win the nantes national as me and my father always had a good pigeon out of nantes i think that was because we were heavy feeders for sprint racing

hi don, when you say you prefer the sprint racing are they widowood and have you ever tried roundabout , racing the hens as well... when we raced we only flew them on widowhood but this time round im planning on giving roundabout a try once ive got back into it. when you say "heavy feeders" are you giving a lot of food for sprinters and if so what effect does this have when racing...trapping, performance etc....

Yes the birds were raced widowhood and yes have tried racing a few hens with very small success in 94/95, but as time goes on then the racing of hens has been tried more now

Feeding plays a major part and when my dad feed the birds they were feed in a troff and were not feed by the ounes but by the mug/cup as that was how my dad feed the cocks

When racing the cock would race to the loft and then go on a fly around the loft just to say i am here losing time and being them few minutes behind

If you are racing sprint then you have to get the food just right and train he birds to trap as soon as they are at the loft nn messing about

But it all starts as young birds get them in a routine and keep to it as old birds then you will no go wrong

What do members look for, to see if their pigeons is in form, physicaly.

pink skin ,wattle pinky white , flying around the loft well, silky feathering

will agree with you iany but when pigeons are in form they always start to do things different and to me that is sometimes a sign of form coming as well

i have a yearling cock and he is always trying to fly up to an imaginary perch....he is on the floor and he is looking up as though there is a perch and he flies up as if going to land on it and there is nothing there.....and he just lands back down on the floor....

any thoughts ?

David am a bit puzzled but try and put a perch were he is flying to just to see what will happen

never know of this before try doing what don sugests see what happens

Also never seen that before, did you consider that maybe he want to go outside, when he look up, maybe he think there could be an opening in the loft. Just a thought.

quite possible, i dont know myself, hes done this for a long time and is the only one that does it....one thing though this cock has never had a day in his life when he looks a bit under the weather unlike some (i think most birds sometimes look a little bit off now and then, even tho there is nothing really wrong with them)....and he is alwas full of life and energy cooing round and very lively.....

nothing obviously wrong with him david,but as don says they do things differently when they are on form and maybe this is one of them.

some of my pigeons are doing what you say that yearling cock is doing flying up to nothing but not inside the loft out side trying to get in maybe he wants out probably hell settle down in time

Very interresting this things they do , i never saw anything strange with my birds , maybe they were never on form

you will find certain different things they do when on form they could be very slight if you look hard enough you will see ,the day before i send to race i let my widowhood cocks do as they want around doors this helps me look to see if they do anything unusual and helps me pick what iam going to pool

thats another topic there ian...lol

how do members pick their pool bird...?

if fanciers spend time with there pigeons they can see different things happening but this can only happen if you have time on your side, but if you work then this can be difficult as time is short round the loft this is were a routine has to be used to see what your pigeons are doing

When Dave Allen did the Staf van Reet video staf's son ronny went in partnership forgot the person he was a young bird flyer but when you look close when they are in the loft talking i did notice a cctv camera and yes you are all goin to say this is over the top but ronny and he's partner were able to see the pigeons and see if anything was being done differently which showed them that any of the pigeons were coming into form.

This is how you can find form by watching your pigeons but if you can watch them with out they seeing you then that can help also

it would be good to have a cctv in the loft don...could have a live feed on our site .
great idea though, to have one in the loft especially like you say when time is limited due to work...many a time i try to spy on them without them seeing me from outside but they always seem to catch sight of me ...

Hi david i only posted that reply just to show what people will do to see what there pigeons are doing with out disturbing the pigeons

Must say it is hard trying to see what the pigeons are doing with in the loft with out disturbing them