Large losses

Gents, Can anybody give there thorghts on why people are losing large numbers of birds in one go. This happend to me last year i took 48 ybs training 2 mile from home and had 4 back the other 44 never seen again. This year gent down the road very good flyer takes ybs training drops 16 from 20. These ybs have been trained at the same spot many times before so know the way home. Other gents are still losing large numbers in training that have done 3-4 races. I know most people blame hawks but unless there carryng and filling rucksacks i fail to see how were not getting birds back.
On a good note this year i started with 20 ybs and have trained and raced and have 14 left.
Any thorghts on this issue?

Sometimes i think youngsters are not given time to grow into themselves, They look mature and are showing how well they are coming along. But i feel we dont give them enough time, for their brains to start working for themselves. Every task they carry out needs to be for themselves, I think quality in the loft is more important than quantity. Overstocked loft leads to bullying that is the cause of stress. Birds that are stressed out, miss out on vital Development. One of the the main factors is confusion, Things are not clear because of the environment of the loft. Would you race home to a home, were you are bullied and feel unwanted. If you have a team of birds, that you know you can manage in every way, giving individual attention needed, and maintaining a good loft environment. You may have a chance. Just my thoughts.

Good thorghts devo 56 thanks for your input.

devs right too many overcrowd their lofts  ...I measure the length of the loft then the width and multiply these numbers then divide by 3 for the amount of pigeons for that loft ie...10 x 6 loft would be 60 divide by 3 which is 20 so 20 birds for that space ok you can get away with a few more but not too many more maybe 24 for that space...also I would release at training tosses in smaller groups and asap get them on a training wagon.if you think percy only takes 1 pigeon you are correct but what about the others flying all over in panic flying into bushes trees buildings and wires also we have the aspect that everyone is feeding very lite so when the ybs go off course they have nothing to work back on they are soon flown out ,too much diet and Gerry plus jmo then we have the disease aspect and a lot wont notice until the birds are throwing up and herpes virus is rife too so all in all their are a number of reasons atb

cowandchicken wrote:

Good thorghts devo 56 thanks for your input.

CC Devo's & O/S's points of view are both valid along with many other issues that may come into play I would suspect from my point of view. What surprises me, is in this day & age the average pigeon flyer is far more knowledgable than in the past via the internet & other communication avenues, but one can only say for the most part the sport is going backwards sadly in many if not most area's for what I see. On average I believe the average pigeon flyer just wishes his birds to come home on race day at the end of the day, which should be simple today as such as when old timers talk about how things were in the past compare to these days but it isn't happening unfortunately & it also is my belief that pigeons may look a million dollars sitting on there perch, but inside they are weak in nature to fight a good fight, come race day because of the medication/goodies that are pumped into them these days to be successful by many flyers. Now this may help the few winners but sadly the owners of the rest become totally frustrated with the hole burnt in their pockets etc & they then decide there are better ways to fill in a weekend with the sport being the sad looser in the end.
Rant over .

Losses. I doubt if there is one underlying cause. My birds are usually good any weather. Minimal losses over the years. However. First race this year disaster. Birds were well trained, healthy etc,. I sent 15 155 miles. 5 went to 105 mile station. Weather was not the best but not really bad either. 1st bird was very late, did not clock it or any of the others that came back Sat afternoon and Sunday morning. I do not usually fly the first YB race because of the amount of untrained birds in the Fed. Drag, whatever, may have caused the losses. Who knows? Anyway, got 8 from the 155 miler and two from the 105 miler. Was really ticked off!!! Never happened before. However if 10 out of the 20 could do it the others should have been able to also. I did not put all my 'eggs/birds' in one basket, kept 15 home. So will ship tonight. Missed last week. Tonight is shipping for 155 and 200. Good weather forecast. I do not mind losing birds but heck! 10 in one shot? However, joys of racing. Mine are not in the Dark or light system. Will be next year.

Just planning ahead for the breeding season, If i am to have my young birds on the darkness system. I will be making sure they have plenty of vitamin D. If we are taking natural daylight away from them, we must replace the things they are not getting. To me if the sun and the daylight make you grow. then we must substitute and replace for growth and Bone structure. Is it because of the darkness system, we have a lot of young birds sick, maybe its because of the vitamin D deficiency that leads to the problems with our young birds. Just a thought.

Had 20 loaded then get a call. Club not shipping. Members birds sick. Mine are fine. Oh well.

I think it's airborne Hal keep a close eye on them the next 10 days mate

Boosey wrote:

I think it's airborne Hal keep a close eye on them the next 10 days mate

yeah its a virus...adeno/coli syndrome no such thing as yb sickness

Mine are fine. So far. Nearest member 40 plus miles away. Training toss am 40 miles.

in my case it was messing about with the breeding-will put birds back together were there had few losses then taking a good look at those pairs that bred ybs that went down may come to a point were I will only breed of flown birds think there is too many birds being bred from just on name alone looking at loft reports successful lofts seem to have that one bird and breed round it

oldstrain wrote:

Boosey wrote:

I think it's airborne Hal keep a close eye on them the next 10 days mate

yeah its a virus...adeno/coli syndrome no such thing as yb sickness

Yes Daz i agree, I bought some stuff Colicao, 1ml per 1 litre of drinking water.
http://www.pigeons.co.uk/stock-nutrition/SN006.html

All young are off consistent racers. Did have them on Tetracycline 250 for 3 days after their return two weeks ago. 1st time I have medicated in years but as I mentioned to my wife, some of the members birds I put through did not feel 100%.