YB back after 3 weeks away...

your right there.
sad thing is when I race her next year. the bird will drop in to there loft again.
and I will be one more ets ring lost again.
would have been better pleased if who ever had the bird in phone me .
I would have given him 12 ets rings to help him out

I put a blob of super glue on the ets rings, you will never get it off...

might cut its leg off martyn.

8 ybs left out of 25 who raced, 4 who raced all four races and came in good time, 2 who came back after 3 weeks away, one with a broken leg who injured it the day before the first race and 1 who got thrown up nearer leeds by a fancier who got it in from a race.........

not many left, to say I started with 25 ybs and only had 4 races......I don't actually think all the ybs were crap, and I don't think my management was all that bad, altho I did make a few wrong decisions along the way.....im thinking my training left a lot to be desired as they only went 12 miles every day two weeks before the first race....

any thoughts anyone...?

If I may hazard a guess? 12 miles every day for two weeks probably they think that is all the distance they have to fly from the first race? Honestly do not know. 6, 12, 25 then 50 works for me. Between races sometimes a toss from the club shipping night. 50 miles or a little less. If they are ranging freely then do not usually bother training very much. Only when they get old enough to mate have to re-focus them. But again what works for one does not work for all. PS. Basically open loft here.

david. not a thing wrong with your training.
our young birds had 6 training tosses 3 from 6 miles and 3 from 18 miles.
we started off with 37 birds and lost 5  birds in 5 races .
so your birds have had more training then ours.
we might have just been lucky.
and no training after the racing started.

our first race was Newark 56 miles, we had two of these then two huntingdons 112 miles......I lost 18 birds in four races who havnt been seen since,...

might just been a bad race when you lost so much david.
but for me you trained your birds alright.
we lost 3 our first race at 70 miles and the other 2 were lost at 105 miles
so we have been lucky up till now. but we have 10 away tonight at 195 miles.
so we no we are going to drop some at that race.
but we have our team for next year keep back.
if we are spared and well.
john.

a lot of diff training methods work for diff lofts ,so many variations of training and many seem to work but when their on the road they are in the lap of the gods ....get a smash race and that can be the end of it with ybs

so true

David. The birds you have home now are your best. If 4 can make it then all being equal, the others should have been with them. Sorry to be blunt. I am very surprised that people race from less than a 100 miles. But just my opinion is all.

when you live on a island hal some live in the middle and if we were to start at 100 miles then their would not be much of a race programme and if I were to start at 100 mile that would be somewhere in the middle of the English channel from a boat as for all things being equal with ybs I don't think it applies as they are learning ...diff ages to start with bop attacks and clashing I would think many a good yb has been lost

Very true daz I have a bird here named him mister missing was lost for 7 weeks after the 2nd yb race last year ,thought he was a streeter he was in that bad nick. this year as an ob got me 2nd combine from messac .plenty of v good pigeons get lost as ybs never lucky enough to find there way home

I remember flying from the West Hartlepool club. Selby, I think. 60 miles? Over 60 years back. Do not remember too many losses to BOP. If any. Cats, yes. Sometimes it is hard to accept losses. especially with a limited amount of birds. I do not bother racing young birds any more, just send some to the one loft races. have about 30 here now. Need about a dozen. So have to hammer them down the road. Over the years have found that a few pairs breed good young then some pairs average then some poor ones. All the birds apart from one old hen have been on the road and done well for me. Longer I am in it less I know.
If we raced from the East would get to about 1,000 miles. To the west probably 2,000 or more. See your point. Limited geography in the UK.

whats yer bop situation like today hal ? we have the densest population of bops in Europe on this island and native species of songbirds are in decline ,I would imagine a peregrine strike could cause mayhem to a group of ybs racing but the thing is they probably encounter numerous strikes en -route and will sadly end our hobby/sport in the near future atb

Actually used to be bad here. However the pastures were ploughed and corn/soy beans put in. Nearest forested area is maybe 2 miles away. Just before the lake. 8 years here and kills by one Peregrine and others by Cooper's hawks. Quite a few of them. Kestrels, sparrow hawks, red tails hawks, marsh harriers, bald eagles not a problem. Birds can see for miles so not much of an ambush chance. Birds can out fly most of them in a straight line. Most of what I have trapped with a live pigeon as bait have been Coopers hawks. But as said, seem to have not been around this year. Large rat in the live trap today. Was expected as they just re-roofed the implement shed. Critters moving out. Prepared. Traps set, coke and fly bait in pots for raccoons or whatever. Weasel last year was the biggest killer of all. Destructive little bugger! Hated to kill him when I finally trapped him. reminded me of putting ferrets down rabbit holes in the UK. So, all in all much quieter here than other years. But early yet, critters will be moving around for sites to spend the winter in. Well, training tomorrow for young birds. Jump to 50 miles. 3rd toss. storms are through. 8 hours without power last night.

I thought the Eagle Owl was back in small numbers? Breeding pair in Yorkshire. They should help.

I think the rspb are on a secret mission to rid them a few have been found dead the last couple of years ...but yes it would be great to see a eagle owl population here

Yes. They could be. I believe Europe has a good population again. hopefully they breed enough offspring to get back in to the UK. Checks and balances. London, Ontario here has peregrines in the city. spectator sport watching them kill feral pigeons. From high rise buildings. Protected here I think unless one is killing your live stock. Must be the same in the UK?

yes a protected species here hal...goshawk too and sparrowhawk lets hope the eagle owl proliferates so much we see them over here in abundance ...yer rite peregines in the city nothing more than bloodsport a white knuckle ride for cowards ,maybe they should try the boxing ring ...I have nothing against bop in the wild but the rspb have openly encouraged them into populated areas and out of their natural habitat which is wrong but they bring home the bacon ,swell the coffers of the rspb with their drivel that these birds are rare hense donations ...the rspb don't care for all birds their main agenda is bops and they will not tolerate their one and only natural predator the eagle owl