natural yoghurt

I can always send you a hen.

all the way from s/africa...

david he could bring it himself and toss youngbirds while hes here

yes , it wouldnt be much further than a training toss for niel.....hed probably come back again to give a second trainer if they beat him home...

joking aside though, the ones niel has left will be the best ones and im sure they will do well for him racing....

yes i think they will

i cant wait for niel to start racing to see how he does....i suppose its quite a lot different racing in south africa....

I never lost a youngbird with breaking it in, sometimes one stay outside for a day,but eventialy come back in.

yes niel, i had two what stayed out over night the other day....when i got them in they were shatterred and slept all the next day, they are looking ok now though.

Theres no problem with that david, they have spent time from the loft and hunger has set in and now they know what is best for them

If i lost a young bird and they returned after a few days i can say they were the pigeons i never lost and were always there

David yes you will have to do your own thing or what works for you

But if it is not working for you how do you move forward or go to the next level are you just going to keep to what you know and stay at that level????

There are time were you will ask questions and people will say try this but it is up to you at the end to see if you will us what you have been told

Trial and error that is what it is all about trying different things until you find that system which puts you in front of everyone

thats it don, if the methods fanciers are using dont get results they must be prepared to try something different, if another fanciers methods are winning more than yours ....give it a go, worth a try ???

David do your old birds look unsettled when you go into the loft in the morning

Could there be movement around the outside of your loft which is disturbing your youngbirds and making them feel unsettled

The reason for saying this is because Mark Evans a freind i know had problems with his widowhood cocks not settling and he watch his loft late at night and he noticed that a fox was living beneath his loft which was making the cocks unsettled

It is only a suggestion

thought about that don and the only thing i can think of is cats.....the birds seem fairly calm and peck around on the grass, and also i thought if it was cats they would sit on the house roof which they dont.....what do you think ?

That is correct David i does not cost nothing if you try different things just to get that extra speed out of you pigeon

Some times it is the smallest thing which is needed that gets you that first prize

yes mate could be cats after vermin and making a noise during the night

i leave my gate open at night don because i thought if cats could get in to where the loft is it would maybe keep any mice or rats away if they were around.....i try to keep the cats out during the day but leave my gate open at night...if there was any rats would a house cat kill them ?

Yes but if you close the base of your lofts you will stop the movement of vermin

what i was thinking tho is that as you know vermin can get in very small holes and if they did or if they chewed their way undernieth they would have a free run and not be desturbed as cats cant get to them...

Just use very small mesh which would prevent this from happening

i think it might have been breeding season for cats over the last few weeks as ive heard them calling and meawing over the back near my lofts....not in my fenced off part but on the outside of it...plus like you said, foxes....before i had my birds there were loads of them but as far as i know they cant get in....but then again ive seen a fox jump up like a cat so they most likely could....

Just keep an eye on anything different around the loft

ive tryed to fill in anywhere cats can just run in when the birds are out so all i try to keep a look out for is hawks which ive had trouble with in the past....im constantly on look out for one or the other, it wasnt like this 20 years ago im sure,we did have some problems with cats but nothing too serious...but we never even saw a hawk never mind had them take our birds...

Yes protect the hawks gone mad

Interresting is, that when my birds turn their heads, i could look up in the sky, and 8 out 10, i would see a predator circling high in the sky.

yes they know when something there they stand motionless