UkPigeonRacing

I’m not racing this weekend and almost certainly won’t be racing the youngsters this year. I was just wondering what members thoughts are on racing in this heat combined with the very dry weather we have been having. It is forecast to get to 35c on Saturday. I know a lot will be looking to lib early. But although the first birds will probably be fine any that aren’t I think will really struggle. Dehydration is the biggest problem. Not only will they be flying in really hot conditions but also as it has been so dry there is very little water available to them. Most areas are very dry and apart from streams and garden ponds there are very few chances of them finding water. I think they could be in for a disastrous weekend racing for those deciding to race.

That is right, Andy, with early liberation, the first birds home would be fine, but as the temperatures rise the slower birds would suffer. That';s why they tend to race in the winter and spring in Australia, to avoid the heat.
In South Africa and the Middle East, places like Dubai, it gets pretty hot at times during the races, but the birds survive.
Here in Bendigo, we get weeks on end where the maximum temperature is never below 35c. I let them out in the evening if the temp is below 37c (100F) and they zoom around. Racing in that kind of heat would be another story. And it's not just the racing. It's the heat in the hampers that cooks them.

Think some are cancelling or considering cancelling this weekend

Murray wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:14 pm That is right, Andy, with early liberation, the first birds home would be fine, but as the temperatures rise the slower birds would suffer. That';s why they tend to race in the winter and spring in Australia, to avoid the heat.
In South Africa and the Middle East, places like Dubai, it gets pretty hot at times during the races, but the birds survive.
Here in Bendigo, we get weeks on end where the maximum temperature is never below 35c. I let them out in the evening if the temp is below 37c (100F) and they zoom around. Racing in that kind of heat would be another story. And it's not just the racing. It's the heat in the hampers that cooks them.

My old birds are on open loft. They don’t fly that much in these conditions and the drinkers need topping up regularly. I don’t think the heat would be a problem for racing it’s the dehydration that would get them especially with so little water laying around.

Sounds like it’s been a very difficult weekend racing. Speaking to Phil there are less than half the birds back from their race at 85 miles. Looking at some of the other clubs in the combine you can see from the results that the race wasn’t good. In one club the winner was doing in the 1400s ypm but the sixth pigeon was doing less than 600 ypm. In another club one member had 5 of the first six birds in the club, his first bird was 2 hours in front of his fifth. I hope a lot of the missing birds return but with the temperature forecast to be 34C again tomorrow and very little water around I’m not sure they will.
The biggest problem over here is that along with the high temperatures it is also very humid.

That's not good, Andy.
34 and humid is tough. They should not have raced in that, there were always going to be losses.
Once again, I wonder how many of them were dehydrated from a night in the lorry. It gets hot in the transporters.

Andy wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 9:54 pm Sounds like it’s been a very difficult weekend racing. Speaking to Phil there are less than half the birds back from their race at 85 miles. Looking at some of the other clubs in the combine you can see from the results that the race wasn’t good. In one club the winner was doing in the 1400s ypm but the sixth pigeon was doing less than 600 ypm. In another club one member had 5 of the first six birds in the club, his first bird was 2 hours in front of his fifth. I hope a lot of the missing birds return but with the temperature forecast to be 34C again tomorrow and very little water around I’m not sure they will.
The biggest problem over here is that along with the high temperatures it is also very humid.

Seen a result yesterday for one club by you 2 3/4 hours to do about 90 miles some members doing 600ypm and less not good at all

The pigeon interest must all ways come first ,

A bit behind on this post, as it happens our fed decided not to send that particular weekend due to the heat. However the only thing I would say is that for those fanciers who fly the extreme distance, especially across the water from points like Barcelona, St Sebastian etc the birds would have to deal with the heat both in the crates and on route home so with that in mind those birds should be able to deal with flying 100miles in the heat !!!

I think the big difference there Trev is that the transporters are far superior to the ones over here. The international birds are put onto Belgium transporters with air conditioning and one person designated to feeding, one to watering as well as a driver. Not one or 2 people trying to do it all. They are also in the baskets for a couple of days or more so have to have a drink. The hot air over there isn’t as humid as it is here being an island and we’re talking about inexperienced youngsters racing that probably went into the transporters the evening before being liberated and many were probably dehydrated before they even left the liberation site having not drunk in the transporter.