UkPigeonRacing

Diamond Dave wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 11:55 am

Devo1956 wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 11:12 am

Diamond Dave wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 11:05 am Ah, of course Dev. I Know everything you say n do is for the benefit of others and probably me being pathetic but the opening sentence in your post included the word "guidance". and that's how a new starter could perceive it.
It made me think if we had a poll on here as to how many do use anti biotics on a regular basis as an ongoing support to racing.

Dave, can i be honest. Going through young bird sickness is very stressful, for the birds and yourself. I have been to some lofts with young bird sickness, and it was not a very good visit. I hope your bird improve and get back to normal. I took natural products to help this guy, birds were flying around after a few days.

Thanks Dev, much appreciated.

Dave this is what was happening at the guys loft, Birds dying and not in a very good state.

Diamond Dave wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 11:46 am

Tony-P- wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 10:51 am as a new starter, this make for a very interesting read, to see the different opinions of people and the way they deal with Y/B sickness. I can see that a lot of you have different ways of dealing with Y/B sickness and for me some of it can be very confusing on the best way to deal with it if my own birds ever got it (once I get the birds that is) I would be looking for the advice off someone who has the experience of keeping pigeons for many years and dealt with Y/B sickness over the years, and been able to help the Y/Bs to fight it back to being a healthy pigeon again. Now if this means Vaccination's, pills and potions ect to help the birds then I would do this but I would need the right advice from the start not 20 different ones to confuse me, as this would not help the birds or me.
But again good to read different opinions on this.

That's a choice that you have to make for yourself
I guess that boils down to what sort if fancier you want to be.
Will it be a "win at all costs" type of fancier or do you just want to race and enjoy seeing your birds come home.
For me it is the latter. But I have been told by quite a few ppl on here (some that are no longer with us) that I am just a "pigeon keeper, that my birds are shit and I will never do any good."
They could all be right but the beauty of this sport is that it is for everyone - for me, I just love my birds and seeing them home I am not bothered -win or lose. I have other things in life that come before pigeons.
It will be whatever you want it to be mate and that's your choice of the type of fancier you want to be.
Good luck with them mate, can't wait to see the photos of your loft... and your birds.

Dave I agree 100% i got told basically the same and that I was a loser, that is why i have that as my signature if you look, cards were and are good but best for me is seeing them come home

Tony-P- wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 9:01 am how old are the Y/Bs when they get the jabs

We do after 1 directly after weaning and another one 4 weeks after for rota virus.

Spieker-Loft wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 12:51 pm

Tony-P- wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 9:01 am how old are the Y/Bs when they get the jabs

We do after 1 directly after weaning and another one 4 weeks after for rota virus.

Thanks Leon

Buster121 wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 12:30 pm

Diamond Dave wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 11:46 am

Tony-P- wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 10:51 am as a new starter, this make for a very interesting read, to see the different opinions of people and the way they deal with Y/B sickness. I can see that a lot of you have different ways of dealing with Y/B sickness and for me some of it can be very confusing on the best way to deal with it if my own birds ever got it (once I get the birds that is) I would be looking for the advice off someone who has the experience of keeping pigeons for many years and dealt with Y/B sickness over the years, and been able to help the Y/Bs to fight it back to being a healthy pigeon again. Now if this means Vaccination's, pills and potions ect to help the birds then I would do this but I would need the right advice from the start not 20 different ones to confuse me, as this would not help the birds or me.
But again good to read different opinions on this.

That's a choice that you have to make for yourself
I guess that boils down to what sort if fancier you want to be.
Will it be a "win at all costs" type of fancier or do you just want to race and enjoy seeing your birds come home.
For me it is the latter. But I have been told by quite a few ppl on here (some that are no longer with us) that I am just a "pigeon keeper, that my birds are shit and I will never do any good."
They could all be right but the beauty of this sport is that it is for everyone - for me, I just love my birds and seeing them home I am not bothered -win or lose. I have other things in life that come before pigeons.
It will be whatever you want it to be mate and that's your choice of the type of fancier you want to be.
Good luck with them mate, can't wait to see the photos of your loft... and your birds.

Dave I agree 100% i got told basically the same and that I was a loser, that is why i have that as my signature if you look, cards were and are good but best for me is seeing them come home

Thanks for that endorsement Steve. None of us should
have to justify what we do. We all have different motives , motivation, goals, abilities, ambitions and circumstances but we all have those little bundles of feathers in common

[quote=Tony-P-
[/quote]

Hi Dave, To be truthful I want to get the birds and work with them, get them racing and breeding my own birds, get them training and flying around the loft that's my goal.
Once I have done that I'd like to learn my trade in the pigeon world and be able to compete with the others in the club how ever long it takes to get my first win.
I know there is a lot to learn and with the set up I will have I won't have great numbers of pigeons it'll be a small loft and small numbers, saying that I will only be able to keep the best of what I have to race and breed with.
[/quote]

That's a great plan Tony, just hope you get as much enjoyment out of them as I have over the years.

Diamond Dave wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 1:15 pm [quote=Tony-P-

Hi Dave, To be truthful I want to get the birds and work with them, get them racing and breeding my own birds, get them training and flying around the loft that's my goal.
Once I have done that I'd like to learn my trade in the pigeon world and be able to compete with the others in the club how ever long it takes to get my first win.
I know there is a lot to learn and with the set up I will have I won't have great numbers of pigeons it'll be a small loft and small numbers, saying that I will only be able to keep the best of what I have to race and breed with.
[/quote]

That's a great plan Tony, just hope you get as much enjoyment out of them as I have over the years.
[/quote]
I hope so to Dave, I know its way off and there's a lot of work to be done before hand but I can't wait to see the birds flying round the loft and then me trying to get them in that should be fun, all down to the training of the food / feed I know but once I've cracked that my next step will be training then in the basket and road training. I'll be getting as much training as the birds will we will both make mistakes but that's all part of it.

Albert wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 8:57 am

Diamond Dave wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 8:19 am Aaaaaaarrrgggh. Had one die last night.
On handling some that have had it for 5 days now - I can't believe the weight loss. I have had birds fly 600+ miles come home with more weight on them.
I am going to buck the trend and feed them an energy corn. Every one says feed light and I havre been feeding a depurative up to now but that's not making any sense to me at the moment. Surerly going in to it and coming out of it an energy corn must be more beneficial?
What are others thoughts......


.

Have tried it every way Dave, but if you are talking the energy mix that they sell, well it is small seeds anyway and easily digestible, and would make sense. But at the end of the day the birds that survive, are I.M.O. more robust. And when you get them over it, I have no fear of putting them in the baskets with others at the club. The birds that, get very severe weight loss, are usually the ones that don't survive, and sometimes you have to be kind.

I agree Albert. As with any virus there is no cure. Birds with good immune system don’t get it, or if they do not badly. I’ve never had a good pigeon die of an illness.
The lofts that seem to suffer most and have the greatest losses are those that are constantly treating for this and that. If you prop up sick pigeons that don’t recover themselves within a couple of days or so I can guarantee these will be the first to go down in racing.

As I posted earlier Dave. Feed as you would normally feed. It doesn’t make any dywhat you feed if they are bringing it back up. But feeding a food with very little nutritional value certainly won’t help them recover. If I’m ill, very rare, the last thing I’d do is stop eating.

Ive heard good things about frasers primalac when it comes to youngbird sickness

Mark1021 wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2026 9:44 pm Ive heard good things about frasers primalac when it comes to youngbird sickness

You can only try these things Mark, if you have beet told good things about the product. The choice is yours to make, If you use it give us feedback please.