UkPigeonRacing

I'll be alright, Dave.
I took a pain killer first thing and I've been out and fed them and opened the front up to let the sun in. Ran the scraper around and I'll go out and clean some nest boxes after breakfast.
Like I say the body is a bit fragile but I've got too much going on to let that stop me.

There is always something to do, So how many birds do members keep?

I've got 17 pairs of stock birds, half a dozen other bits and pieces, and a heap of youngsters nearly ready to go to their new homes.

After a brutal season losing quite a few of my old favs and more y.birds that I wanted to, I am wintering 11 pairs for racing which includes 10y.birds and then my usual 6 pairs at stock.
To be honest, this amount is so much more managable for me.
Last year I had 15 pairs for racing and 4 or 5 late breds and was considerably over-crowded. I even adapted my boxes to add another 4 nest boxes last year.
Not so much too many to manage but too many for my litte set-up.
Big lesson learnt.

Diamond Dave wrote: Tue Oct 06, 2026 8:31 am After a brutal season losing quite a few of my old favs and more y.birds that I wanted to, I am wintering 11 pairs for racing which includes 10y.birds and then my usual 6 pairs at stock.
To be honest, this amount is so much more managable for me.
Last year I had 15 pairs for racing and 4 or 5 late breds and was considerably over-crowded. I even adapted my boxes to add another 4 nest boxes last year.
Not so much too many to manage but too many for my litte set-up.
Big lesson learnt.

We all do it Dave.
It's like getting teeth pulled at times, getting rid of pigeons that have done well or have potential to do well.
We just have to do our best.

Hope your feeling better soon Murray keep us all up dated mate and good luck with your ribs healing soon

I'll be honest I find this the best time of year, it's a time to reflect and prepare for the upcoming season. What worked, what didn't work, what needs to improve and what are you going to do next?

It's also the time of year where I start working out what am I going to pair with what, many an evening working out what bloodlines I want to go with what, and how many times can I bring one line into a pedigree.

I'm also weird and spent the last 30 years playing with feed. What feed will give me the best moult and what feed can I knock up for my breeders when they are rearing. Maybe I'm just fanatic but I can always find something to do or something to research in pigeons

I'm a bit like that too, Wiley.
In the middle of winter when it's the "off season", I'm still out first thing, scraping and feeding and thinking about which cock to mate to a hen that I like and which pairs to leave and which ones to try a different mate.
And I'm learning that they often know better than I do. I cunningly broke up a pair and gave the cock a young hen only to have a youngster from the other pairing win a nice race.
Baldrick has nothing on me.