UkPigeonRacing

I am very pleased with my youngsters. There's only 9 left in the "big" youngsters team, I lost one, I think it may have hit a wire, and I've stopped two of the hens, one for stock, one not good enough.
Not many, but I don't think I've ever had a nicer kit of young birds. And fly! They do a solid hour every morning out of sight for much of the time, and another half an hour in the afternoon when they don't have a toss. We hear the terms "weightless" and "bouyant" to describe how a pigeon feels when it is fit. Well I've never had pigeons that are so bouyant in the hand before. I quietly picked a few up just a minute ago, they fill the hand, but they weigh nothing! Like they are made of air
Pink in the flesh, silky in the feather, bright in the eye, lovely. These things don't just do laps, they go over in a line abreast and away again. So They'd be as fit as can be, right?
Wrong.
Yesterday I took them out 15 miles to the first bend in the road heading west. I was going the speed limit, 100 kilometres per hour coming back, they weren't far behind me. They landed in a bunch and they were really puffing and blowing. Of course they recovered very quickly, but that shows that zooming around at home for an hour is a whole different thing to going even 15 miles in a straight line at absolutely full throttle.
I believe that road training does not get them fit. They have done that at home. Road training makes them go faster. Teaches them to fly with real urgency.
These have had about a dozen tosses now and it's sinking in. They are learning to race instead of home.

Good to hear things are going well Murray. The only thing I would say is that surely they shouldn’t be puffing after 15 miles however fast they are going. At the weekend mine were flying at 60 mile an hour for an hour and a half and still clapping around and roaring on landing. They could easily have gone straight back. Even my later ones showed no sign of fatigue.

Andy wrote: ↑Mon May 12, 2025 8:06 am Good to hear things are going well Murray. The only thing I would say is that surely they shouldn’t be puffing after 15 miles however fast they are going. At the weekend mine were flying at 60 mile an hour for an hour and a half and still clapping around and roaring on landing. They could easily have gone straight back. Even my later ones showed no sign of fatigue.

I hear you, Andy, but these are young birds, some of them aren't very old, and flying at maybe 1650 mpm, ( 1800 ypm) for the first time in their lives, with no wind, for 15 miles may have been a bit of a surprise.

Murray wrote: ↑Mon May 12, 2025 8:38 am

Andy wrote: ↑Mon May 12, 2025 8:06 am Good to hear things are going well Murray. The only thing I would say is that surely they shouldn’t be puffing after 15 miles however fast they are going. At the weekend mine were flying at 60 mile an hour for an hour and a half and still clapping around and roaring on landing. They could easily have gone straight back. Even my later ones showed no sign of fatigue.

I hear you, Andy, but these are young birds, some of them aren't very old, and flying at maybe 1650 mpm, ( 1800 ypm) for the first time in their lives, with no wind, for 15 miles may have been a bit of a surprise.

Yes I appreciate that Murray.

I'm loving this.
I can say what I'm doing.
Someone else can say they do it different.
We don't end making snide remarks about each other.
Welcome back to our forum

Its all about education that produces speed, do a job a couple of times and you will become faster. Great to hear others views , but this is my view and it works.

Devo1956 wrote: ↑Mon May 12, 2025 9:28 am Its all about education that produces speed, do a job a couple of times and you will become faster. Great to hear others views , but this is my view and it works.

Yep. I reckon it's the plan, but I always respect those do things differently

Murray wrote: ↑Mon May 12, 2025 9:24 am I'm loving this.
I can say what I'm doing.
Someone else can say they do it different.
We don't end making snide remarks about each other.
Welcome back to our forum

Well said Murray.
My ways are very different from a lot. So is the time I have available with the shop. But my system works fairly well for me. I don’t race on a line of flight. By racing in 2 different “clubs/combines” each week and switching birds from one to the other so a bit different line every week. With the 3Cs the bulk will be flying nearer the South Coast going into Devon and Cornwall. In the Combine more NW going towards Bristol. No I haven’t won the club yet but not far behind, and with these early races being so short and with tail winds it’s not surprising really.
As you know Murray I don’t train, although I except your training youngsters and mine will get a few, but probably no more than half a dozen, and starting at 9 miles, I don’t use any treatments for anything or put anything in the water. But my birds look a picture, good droppings, plenty of down feathers etc. Exercising and feeding, well that’s a whole different topic. Needless to say they don’t exercise like yours lol.

No Andy, I don't reckon yours exercise like mine. I've never had pigeons that exercise like these either. I don't know what's going on
But yes, after a long working life I am retired and no longer time poor. You cannot overstate the difference that makes.
As for your system, plenty of loft flying and little road training, if it suits your situation and works for you, it needs no defense. Stick to it.
Where I live, I found the hard way that if you do that you quickly have no pigeons. Here they must be drilled until they have but one purpose in life. To get home as quickly as possible.
We need to think on our feet and do what works.
As I read once, "If you were disappointed last season and nothing has changed, prepare to be disappointed again".