Time to move on ?

[Spieker-Loft]

Today we basketed for the last training of the combine and i have to say im a bit sad. just under 500 pigeons basketed..
2 years ago we had over 1250 on the first race and now we cant even get 500 together for the final training. Doubt it will be over 600 for the first race if even 500.
I guess it might be time to switch combine The other combine i can go to has double of our birds still but i would be the furthest loft in the back by about 10 miles. I dont think that bothers me to much tho.
But the state of this combine is saddening. 7 people dont even basket and just race them as yearlings for no reason. 6 other people don't even basket more then 15 yb's because they are tired of the sport.
Its a tough hit for someone like me who only just started 4 years ago with racing and still has so much passion and motivation left to see how these people just seem to not care at all about it anymore...
Gonna sit down with my father after the yb racing season is over and have a proper think about it if its even worth it to stay here for the future

I feel for you Leon. But your looking at it purely from your own point of view. You've only been in the sport 4 years. The fanciers not sending or who are sending smaller teams will have their reasons. I myself haven't raced since 2018. But the 4 years before stopping racing, I too had enough of YB racing. It wasn't worth the effort involved. I used to love YB racing, the local club used to send 400/500 birds and for around 10 years straight I raced YBs as far as 368 miles in Nationals, sometimes sending too two 300+ mile YB races with the rest going to 200+ miles. For the last 4 years racing 2014 to 2018 my reduced YB team had just ONE race. With the race points becoming shorter and the increase of young bird sickness I myself got sick of it. If I ever raced again I wouldn't race a YB again, I'd just train private to around 100 miles.
In the 40+ years I raced YBs, One thing I did learn is the number of races a bird had as a YB & the distance it went too, didn't make it a better old bird.
I hope you decide to stay in the sport even if it means switching Combine.

Quitting this sport is the last thing on my mind and of course i understand everyone has their reason and alot of people are now also 85+ years old. But yeah still makes me sad sometimes i wish i was 20-30 years older just so i could enjoy the pure peak of the sport here

[Spieker-Loft]

Hi Leon, I don't know how far you fly your teams, and in Scotland our membership is way below what your membership is in Germany, but there is good competition at National level. I myself am mostly interested in racing at 300 miles plus, but I participate in all racing. And what is strange, is there are lots of members in our combine (National) with large teams of 60 + birds, who don't complete the program, and are finished at 300 miles, so there is obviously different opinions in pigeon racing, and there has always been fanciers that don't fly young birds, who for different reasons, want to do other things at that time of year, holidays for example.

Our program for OB starts at 110~ miles and works it way up to 280 miles within the first 6 races and the last 6 races are supposed to be a weekly switch of 280 miles and 321 miles so 3x 280 3x 321.
Yb racing starts at 65 miles this weekend and final race is supposed to be around 200 miles.

unfortunately we don't really got anyhing like national races of that size. The biggest race is the first Fed race with about 4500~ Ob+yls
It all comes down where you live. The biggest fed in germany still races a little above 10.000 pigeons on their first fed race for ob's
I live in a bit of a niche spot tho in germany with no big citys etc surrounding my within 50 miles so i would have to move if i wanted to take part in those massive fed's that we still got.

[Tony-P-]

I know it must get to you Leon, putting all that effort and hard work with your birds only to go to the Y/B races and find low numbers, saying that you can only race against the birds that are on the wagon. for the people who don't send Y/Bs there must be a reason for this maybe they just like the O/B races which is a shame. As people have pointed out on here them races for the Y/Bs set them up for the following year.
Keep going Leon and I hope you have great success with your Y/B team.

[Bowbroom]

Has it been considered that the combines come together?

[Diamond Dave]

Hey Leon maybe it's time to take that new challenge regarding distance flying you promised yourself a bit more seriously.
Good luck with whatever you decide mate.

[Spieker-Loft]

Has it been considered that the combines come together?

They hate each other here so until this combine fully breaks apart due to not enough members left they wont join in together

[Tony-P-]

Has it been considered that the combines come together?

They hate each other here so until this combine fully breaks apart due to not enough members left they wont join in together

why are they so against each other is it the members or the politics behind each combine Leon

[Diamond Dave]

People will always call it politics Tony but when it comes down to it, it's usually personalities and egos

[Rdhd Danny]

@diamondave yep but it becomes like politics the issue is small clubs and feds with people wanting to keep winning with little competition and old minds refusing to embrace change and technology, sadly and combined with little new blood coming into the sport, when people ask me my job and I say what I do you would be amazed how many people have no idea the sport exists or the financial side of the sport and I put this directly down to the people at the top of the sport who have failed at every measure to promote it properly imo even down to now charging kids who start out

[Tony-P-]

People will always call it politics Tony but when it comes down to it, it's usually personalities and egos

O right, wouldn't you think they could put them aside and go for it, book their birds in and may the best fancier / bird win on the day or is that to easy