Very pleased. He showed good character to come home on his own through the rain.
He might be alright, the boy.
BICC Guernsey
Yay!
Very pleased. He showed good character to come home on his own through the rain.
He might be alright, the boy.
Very pleased. He showed good character to come home on his own through the rain.
He might be alright, the boy.
Greetings from the land down under.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
He could certainly be one for the future. He will probably go back to Guernsey in a couple of weeks time.
I have the CSCFC this coming weekend again from Guernsey. I have booked in 10 but could send more depending on the forecast. At present looking like a strong NE again. None of the ones that returned this weekend will go back next weekend but could go the following one.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
I had another bird return today. A little dark chequer hen who was having her first race and I think was probably her first time in a basket. She has a gash across her chest with her crop showing through although not punctured. I think looking at it it probably happened on the day of liberation as it is quite dry. She probably won’t race anymore this year.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
Killer. The first 2 birds from this were having their first ever race. They had 4 x 10 mile tosses as youngsters. Beating me home on each occasion. The third and fourth birds had the 4 trainers plus 1 young bird race. The hen that was my fifth bird and came back with a gash in her chest wasn’t born until the end of June last year so would have been too young to have had those trainers. So as I didn’t do any training pre season training, yes I think this would have been her first time in a basket. They are on open loft so are flying well around home.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
Andy, you have to realize that the racing is very different in the big Federations in the Sydney area in NSW, and the Melbourne area in Victoria.
Big teams of young birds are bred every year, and are trained very thoroughly before entering the tough competition.
The fliers here have trailers to take the birds out to the tossing points.
The notion of putting a pigeon in a race from over the water, with no training, is totally unheard of.
I don't fit the criteria here either. I still think like a kiwi, and having trained the pigeons up to 15 miles a few times, I will let them mature through the winter and get them going in the spring.
I wish, ooh, how i wish, that they would race young birds here in Bendigo. Some of these would be incredible right now.
But no.
They won't even consider it.
Big teams of young birds are bred every year, and are trained very thoroughly before entering the tough competition.
The fliers here have trailers to take the birds out to the tossing points.
The notion of putting a pigeon in a race from over the water, with no training, is totally unheard of.
I don't fit the criteria here either. I still think like a kiwi, and having trained the pigeons up to 15 miles a few times, I will let them mature through the winter and get them going in the spring.
I wish, ooh, how i wish, that they would race young birds here in Bendigo. Some of these would be incredible right now.
But no.
They won't even consider it.
Greetings from the land down under.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
I know I do and think things differently from others. I have never been much of one for training. I could say I’d be different if I was sprint/middle distance racing, but I wouldn’t. I used to be interested in sprint/middle and still didn’t train and won more than my fair share of races. Now as I’m more interested in distance racing for me these early short races are just for them to gain a bit of experience. The racing they are going to get are all nationals so this is the type of experience they need to get. Because of the marking they spend at least 2 days in the basket before liberation. Another thing they need to learn, how to look after themselves in the crates. I think if their intelligent and good enough they will home ok. I know I’m unlikely to win these early nationals but that doesn’t bother me.
I have lost more pigeons in training from short distances than I lose from racing. Being on open loft is certainly beneficial for me and my type of racing. Just this afternoon we were sat outside having a cup of tea after work and the birds were out. I had let the youngsters out too. After about half an hour 2 pigeons appeared high in the sky and dropped onto the loft. How long or where they had been I don’t know, but for me better than any training.
What is there to gain from training? They may learn to exit the crate and trap on return but they won’t sit in a crate when there opened and trapping is part of their every day routine. You can’t teach them to home, that is natural for them. You shouldn’t train, or need to train, to get them fit. If exercising well at home they should be fit. I never show a youngster where the drinkers are, they aren’t stupid and will find the water in the crates. With ours being in the crates for a couple of days they have to eat and drink. When training do you give them a drink before releasing? I think not drinking in the crates is more of a problem when marked on a Friday night and released on Saturday morning, then they may not drink.
I am 5 missing from last weekends race. 2 had a race as youngsters, 1 was a 2 year old latebred and the other 2 were just trained as youngsters. The 5 I got were 2 having their first race having been trained as youngsters, 2 that had a race as youngsters and 1 that had no training at all. So the race as youngsters and the training made no difference to whether they returned or not.
Just my views on it.
I have lost more pigeons in training from short distances than I lose from racing. Being on open loft is certainly beneficial for me and my type of racing. Just this afternoon we were sat outside having a cup of tea after work and the birds were out. I had let the youngsters out too. After about half an hour 2 pigeons appeared high in the sky and dropped onto the loft. How long or where they had been I don’t know, but for me better than any training.
What is there to gain from training? They may learn to exit the crate and trap on return but they won’t sit in a crate when there opened and trapping is part of their every day routine. You can’t teach them to home, that is natural for them. You shouldn’t train, or need to train, to get them fit. If exercising well at home they should be fit. I never show a youngster where the drinkers are, they aren’t stupid and will find the water in the crates. With ours being in the crates for a couple of days they have to eat and drink. When training do you give them a drink before releasing? I think not drinking in the crates is more of a problem when marked on a Friday night and released on Saturday morning, then they may not drink.
I am 5 missing from last weekends race. 2 had a race as youngsters, 1 was a 2 year old latebred and the other 2 were just trained as youngsters. The 5 I got were 2 having their first race having been trained as youngsters, 2 that had a race as youngsters and 1 that had no training at all. So the race as youngsters and the training made no difference to whether they returned or not.
Just my views on it.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
For myself, I dont see road training as a means to get them fit or teach them to home, They should be fit before tossing starts, and they are born with a homing instinct.
Training is to make them come home faster
The other week I took them out for one last toss before the winter. I passed under them half a mile from home. The were going absolutely flat out. Very fast.
That's what it is about, turning homing pigeons into racing pigeons.
Training is to make them come home faster
The other week I took them out for one last toss before the winter. I passed under them half a mile from home. The were going absolutely flat out. Very fast.
That's what it is about, turning homing pigeons into racing pigeons.
Greetings from the land down under.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
My approach to training pigeons comes from when I was an apprentice jockey, 50 years ago.
I was 15 years old, and weighed about 6 stone when I was first apprenticed. My first boss was very tough, but was an expert at producing two year old winners.
My second boss was a very good trainer of young horses too, and used what I had learned.
The Babies would go a furlong in 15 seconds, then 14 seconds, then 13 seconds,
Then they would go two furlongs in 30, then 28, then 26,
Then they would go three furlongs in 45 then 42, then 39,
Then they would go a half mile in a minute.
Then they would go two in 24,....
Fast work happened three times a week, so you can see where that goes.
They got faster and stronger as they matured and got fitter.
It's the same with the pigeons. They look like they are flying very fast around the loft, but they aren't. They are flying at the CMV, or 'comfortable flying velocity'. The speed the mob always fly at.
To alter that and make them fly faster they must be trained.
How that is done is another topic.
I was 15 years old, and weighed about 6 stone when I was first apprenticed. My first boss was very tough, but was an expert at producing two year old winners.
My second boss was a very good trainer of young horses too, and used what I had learned.
The Babies would go a furlong in 15 seconds, then 14 seconds, then 13 seconds,
Then they would go two furlongs in 30, then 28, then 26,
Then they would go three furlongs in 45 then 42, then 39,
Then they would go a half mile in a minute.
Then they would go two in 24,....
Fast work happened three times a week, so you can see where that goes.
They got faster and stronger as they matured and got fitter.
It's the same with the pigeons. They look like they are flying very fast around the loft, but they aren't. They are flying at the CMV, or 'comfortable flying velocity'. The speed the mob always fly at.
To alter that and make them fly faster they must be trained.
How that is done is another topic.
Greetings from the land down under.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.