Young birds, yearlings and old birds.

[Buster121]

I have lost 17 old birds over 5 national races this year. I lost 16 last year in one 18 mile training toss. So what’s better, training or giving them a race?

And that is a lot less than many others although a great shame for the losses

[Murray]

I recall Andy took those race birds to the 18 mile point for the first toss of the year. Most of them vanished. It'a mystery why previously raced pigeon get lost at the first toss of the new season. And it happens, I know.

I am beginning to believe that some of it is caused by the pigeons having low level diseases. Perhaps canker or a respiratory disease. They look great, bounce around, and take off and spin around, then land, mess about and take off again.
What they don't do is get up in a kit and fly or an hour, or two, until you have to lure them down.

I never go further than 5 miles with the old birds, first up. Then I observe. If they arrive out of breath or not in a bunch, alarm bells go off.

If they have an underlying illness, and they are taken too far, they may need to stop and catch their breath before the have left the liberation point. Or half way home. Then they start going missing.

I have lost far too many pigeons because i wasn't aware or observant. Hopefully I am learning a little bit.

[George and Morgan]

something is not right Andy i don't mean it in a nasty way i would have liked to have seen better results by now i still have to come back were the birds good enough then you look at the training and short races and maybe not the birds fault and at the same time not your fault i still think having no club is the main reason and i know there is nothing can be done about that i think the ybs should have as many national races as possible and i know there is a cost to this i also except you had birds home that did not race as ybs but getting home and racing home are 2 different things would it help if you were to be given birds from a 700ml family what do members think of that lets see what other members thoughts are i really would like to see 500ml birds on the day this year

[killer]

Horses for coarses, like begin like ,,the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree , etc etc ,it took generations in the early make up of pigeons to fly ,passed 400 miles & from them started to get 500 600 & 700 milers ,

[Andy]

something is not right Andy i don't mean it in a nasty way i would have liked to have seen better results by now i still have to come back were the birds good enough then you look at the training and short races and maybe not the birds fault and at the same time not your fault i still think having no club is the main reason and i know there is nothing can be done about that i think the ybs should have as many national races as possible and i know there is a cost to this i also except you had birds home that did not race as ybs but getting home and racing home are 2 different things would it help if you were to be given birds from a 700ml family what do members think of that lets see what other members thoughts are i really would like to see 500ml birds on the day this year

Yes something isn’t right, and that is the race programs have been chopped and changed not knowing from one week to the next where we were going. I don’t know what sort of results you are looking for George but I am holding my own against top fliers from around my area. Don’t forget this is national racing and totally different to club racing. It needs a different sort of pigeon.
The last couple of years have been very difficult to race at all. 2 years ago racing was late starting because of bird flu. Last year channel racing was again not allowed firstly due to bird flu then because of new EU regulations so no channel racing was available. The Nationals started racing from down Cornwall before realising channel racing wasn’t going to happen so turn North. All last winter we were told that channel racing would go ahead, but as the start of the season got closer it was obvious that this wasn’t going to happen. The only option to start with was a load of Guernsey’s before the BBC & CSCFC decided to give an alternative North road option. The BICC have now gone over the channel but you have to be registered with DEFRA and a vet. Only 2 races are available. Both from Saint Philbert du peuple 274 miles, only 5 miles further than I had from Hexham on the North. I have no races left for me this old bird season. So there hasn’t been any decent distance races or a proper race program for me. If club racing I wouldn’t have had any races over 165 miles for the past 2 years. Hopefully things will soon get sorted and we can have a known program and route.
I don’t think or want to be getting in birds from a 700 mile family. I could spend a fortune on buying in birds from proven distance pigeons but that would be against what I’m trying to achieve. It might be a short cut to getting to the distance but not what I want. The 3 birds I brought in as stock birds last year through Rich are out of Barcelona international winners so am looking forward to seeing how their youngsters go. George you say you would like to see 500 mile birds on the day this year. There hasn’t been one bird on the day from that distance in the country this year. The only 2 races where there could have been birds on the day there were no day birds.

[Murray]

No birds on the day from 500 miles this year in the whole country. That's an indictment in it's self.

It is a shambles, and who is to say it will not be the same next year? With respect to the administration of the sport in the UK, it needs to sorted out and a decision made before the 2023 season. Either there will be channel racing or there will be north racing.

The current situation is hopeless.

[George and Morgan]

i don't think the results are the fault of the birds

[Andy]

No birds on the day from 500 miles this year in the whole country. That's an indictment in it's self.

It is a shambles, and who is to say it will not be the same next year? With respect to the administration of the sport in the UK, it needs to sorted out and a decision made before the 2023 season. Either there will be channel racing or there will be north racing.

The current situation is hopeless.

The whole situation is a shambles at present. As you say hopefully they will decide in good time what way they are going.

[Andy]

i don't think the results are the fault of the birds

No it’s not the fault of the birds George. The best ones are still here despite all the messing around with the programs.

[George and Morgan]

i was talking on pigeon racing not your birds