UkPigeonRacing

You know how much work is needed, on daily loft tasks. Well this guy in the USA has is work cut out, on daily tasks. But he makes it look so simple, a small video on OLR in USA.

https://youtu.be/dJ6uhlah0Ug?si=MW-gMEvQ53yJIBoF

Yep, the one loft races are gaining popularity.
And the good ones, properly managed and organised, are great.
The OLRs are going to be a big part of the pigeon sport in the future.

How long have the 1 loft races been going in oz Murray
I know it is debatable but I wouldn't say they have been so successful in this country and I say that due to the extensive losses.
If that's due to UK weather, I would think they would be more successful in warmer climes.

Diamond Dave wrote: ↑Fri May 30, 2025 11:06 am How long have the 1 loft races been going in oz Murray
I know it is debatable but I wouldn't say they have been so successful in this country and I say that due to the extensive losses.
If that's due to UK weather, I would think they would be more successful in warmer climes.

Some may disagree but the weather plays NO part in the UK huge losses. If 'Proper' races are successful on any given day, OLRs can't blame the weather. The OLRs fail in the UK simply because they are badly run. Most start with TOO MANY birds to manage correctly.

Completely agree, too many birds from vastly different bacterial backgrounds, not enough experienced staff to deal with the amount of birds and in the main silly training programmes.

OLR is very hard, if you breed youngsters yourself. Even more so when you get youngsters bred for you, I was lucky last year to get some good youngsters, bred for me from Christoph and Leon in Germany. To enter the German Classic OLR, This year Murray as bred 2 youngsters for us, to race in the OLR in Melbourne Austrailia. Other OLR I have done I Bred my own youngsters, what you have to remember. Is when the youngsters enter the loft. You have no part to play in their Development, Health, Feeding, Training, and preparation for racing. This is why you have to choose the best OLR you can trust.

Devo1956 wrote: ↑Fri May 30, 2025 6:16 pm OLR is very hard, if you breed youngsters yourself. Even more so when you get youngsters bred for you, I was lucky last year to get some good youngsters, bred for me from Christoph and Leon in Germany. To enter the German Classic OLR, This year Murray as bred 2 youngsters for us, to race in the OLR in Melbourne Austrailia. Other OLR I have done I Bred my own youngsters, what you have to remember. Is when the youngsters enter the loft. You have no part to play in their Development, Health, Feeding, Training, and preparation for racing. This is why you have to choose the best OLR you can trust.

'OLR is very hard'? I think the words you are looking for is, OLR is a lottery. As you say YOU have NO part in it. You hope those looking after your birds know what they are doing. Unfortunately most running them don't.

king wrote: ↑Fri May 30, 2025 8:53 pm

Devo1956 wrote: ↑Fri May 30, 2025 6:16 pm OLR is very hard, if you breed youngsters yourself. Even more so when you get youngsters bred for you, I was lucky last year to get some good youngsters, bred for me from Christoph and Leon in Germany. To enter the German Classic OLR, This year Murray as bred 2 youngsters for us, to race in the OLR in Melbourne Austrailia. Other OLR I have done I Bred my own youngsters, what you have to remember. Is when the youngsters enter the loft. You have no part to play in their Development, Health, Feeding, Training, and preparation for racing. This is why you have to choose the best OLR you can trust.

'OLR is very hard'? I think the words you are looking for is, OLR is a lottery. As you say YOU have NO part in it. You hope those looking after your birds know what they are doing. Unfortunately most running them don't.

King I could not argue with that fact, I have entered some in the past. Never to return, but I keep trying. Not everyone's cup of tea.

The One Loft races have been going for a few years here. They seem to be successful overall. The good ones like the Meadow race in Melbourne and the Gold Coast race up in Queensland have been very good. They are well managed and the birds are thoroughly prepared.
Of course you need pigeons that can cope with it. Here they have found that hens do better, they adjust to to the system better than cocks a lot of the time.
Properly done the OLRs work fine. But they are a lot of work. The ones that are disasters are generally because the organisers didn't understand what's needed to keep a couple of thousand pigeons fit and healthy.

I think in principle that OLRs are a good idea, especially for those fanciers who wouldn't otherwise be able to race at all, having said that there have been some real horror stories since they started up and some have clearly been very badly organised and run. I don't know if there is any kind of governing body overseeing these set ups from an animal welfare perspective, but if not there probably should be !! Unfortunately, as with most things in life, it's pure greed that will let these organisations down.
As far as losses go it does sound absolutely frightening just how many birds do go down, especially from training, but in reality do we really know how these numbers compare to the amount of birds lost every year by us all as individuals from our own set ups !! I bet if you added all those figures up it would make frightening reading too.