UkPigeonRacing

Posted: **Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:35 am**

Murray wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:05 am I have one which had a broken wing and now just runs around with them when they are in the garden. I have old pigeons which i justify keeping because they are good foster parents. We can find a reason for keeping just about every pigeon.
Which is why we will never be champion racers.
The top flyers are always looking for a reason to remove a pigeon if it has a weakness or is not good enough.
I will never be a top flyer. I am too soft.

Totally Agree

My mentor suffered no weakness At All in his lofts albeit winners or any signs of ill health,he turned my head quite a few times with some of birds he moved out…that’s why he was an ACE flyer over 40 years. R.I.P

Atb

Posted: **Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:48 am**

this bird had canker tried to cure him it failed that was a sad day for me he had to be buried in the garden not the heart to bin him

Posted: **Thu Nov 10, 2022 3:12 pm**

George and Morgan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:48 am this bird had canker tried to cure him it failed that was a sad day for me he had to be buried in the garden not the heart to bin him

He was a nice cock George

Posted: **Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:55 pm**

Murray wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 10:45 pm It's a difficult subject.

As you know I have not used any medications in my loft for some years. My own strain have developed strong resistance to canker and cocci and other diseases. Any young bird which isn't strong enough is usually removed while still in the nest. It very rarely happens.

However, I am like Trev, I have introduced some new pigeons in the last couple of years. They have had to adapt and get strong or get out. One, my big Jos Thone young cock bird, has had droppings that are runny and smelly off and on all his life. But he is a highly strung bloke, which might explain it a bit. I have a shed full of babies now, and some of them off the new stock pigeons have lose droppings compared to my old family. They are bred off pigeons which have been treated with medications every year for generations. Without the drugs they have to develop their own immunity. Which they do. The oldest of them are starting to fly strongly, and are fit and well.

It would be easy to give in and use antibiotics to 'fix them up'. But I wont do that. I am not treating a whole team of pigeons because a couple of them are not coping. I use the garlic and apple cider vinegar in the water, which really seems to help them,

I think Trev has the same issues. New pigeons introduced to the shed, breeding young birds without the resistance to the germs in the loft. The answer is simple. Reduce the numbers by removing the ones that are not thriving.

Just my thoughts, anyway.

On the whole I'm like you Murray, I'm more of a pigeon fancier than racer these days, I just love having the birds around. I've even had a few feral birds set up home in the loft in the past. In the past I've owned my own house or lived in tied accommodation so I've been able to just put up more sheds lol but now I live with Lisa in her council house I am very restricted on what I can have and if I upset the neighbours (who all own their houses) then the whole lot would have to go

I think the problem I had with the sickness in my youngsters was a combination of things but mostly down to overcrowding. At the start of the year I had over 60 birds in the shed, then once breeding got underway I was soon up to nearly 90 birds

then on top of that I had a run of strays coming in one of which was a Dutch bird that was showing signs of not being quite right, although she never got really sick and eventually cleared off I'm convinced she was the culprit. So I really brought this on myself and next year will have to make sure I don't breed too many youngsters.

Posted: **Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:58 pm**

pvdmr wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:35 am
Murray wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:05 am I have one which had a broken wing and now just runs around with them when they are in the garden. I have old pigeons which i justify keeping because they are good foster parents. We can find a reason for keeping just about every pigeon.
Which is why we will never be champion racers.
The top flyers are always looking for a reason to remove a pigeon if it has a weakness or is not good enough.
I will never be a top flyer. I am too soft.
Totally Agree
My mentor suffered no weakness At All in his lofts albeit winners or any signs of ill health,he turned my head quite a few times with some of birds he moved out…that’s why he was an ACE flyer over 40 years. R.I.P

Atb

I think this is right in all livestock be it domestic or in the natural world, at the end of day any sick creature in the wild nine times out of ten just simply wouldn't survive. With birds in particular a weak youngster would just be left to die by its parents or would be kicked out of the nest by its siblings.

Posted: **Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:59 pm**

George and Morgan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 10, 2022 9:48 am this bird had canker tried to cure him it failed that was a sad day for me he had to be buried in the garden not the heart to bin him

Very nice George and very sad too

Posted: **Fri Nov 11, 2022 8:13 pm**

he was off a mnfc winner

Posted: **Fri Nov 11, 2022 8:22 pm**

I must admit that when I was at the top of my game the first thing I done when entering the loft was to look for anything that wasn’t as I wanted and got rid of. I am much softer on them nowadays but they are tested harder on the road.

Posted: **Fri Nov 11, 2022 9:48 pm**

Ad Shaerlaeckens wrote this in his blog this morning.:

You know what I fear?
That they bring in a Trojan horse with the medicines.
Now it would not be certain that that horse ever existed. It could also have been a boat. There are also more and more doubts about the existence of Homer. Several writers/poets would have appropriated that name.

CONFIDENT
But what is certain? By introducing mostly superfluous medicines, these people bring disaster into their homes. Because it is especially common for novice enthusiasts to indulge in excess. Or to cure for non-existent diseases.
Believe me: That 'medicine hassle' with healthy pigeons only leads to one and the same end station: The disillusionment !!!
So novice and ambitious enthusiasts:
Get up from that easy chair.
Kick that cat off your lap.
Open that window.
Throw that bottle with contents of which you don't even know what it is for with a firm arc out the window, but above all: Eliminate those one or two sick pigeons if the rest are healthy and stay away from those medicines with your fingers.
I heard a vet would not appreciate articles like this at all. No problem. We live in a free country in which everyone can have their own opinion. Both you, him and me.

If a champion of many years standing says this, we might do well to consider it.

Posted: **Fri Nov 11, 2022 10:18 pm**

I do agree with most of this Muzza and unfortunately I don't think all these testing centres help, I know several fanciers who have had droppings analysed and in each case they have come back with traces of all sorts !!! Now in my stockmanship experience any creature with a good natural immunity will show traces of most ailments as that is where the immunity comes from. However I do also know from my years caring for live stock that their are certain things that were always treated for, the two main ones were worms and coccidiocis as these could drastically affect the development of the creature concerned, the other in calves was husk vac as this guarded against lung worm. Now I know very little about horses and even less about horse racing but I would bet that most if not all horse breeders treated for worms and coccidiocis in foals !!!

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