2012 Young Birds - Where you at in training ?

[SmithFamilyLoft]

I am thinking that road training must be in full swing for most folks. Some start earlier, some later, but I would think that the 1st Race for most folks will start some time middle of August to first couple weekends in September. For the United Pigeon Combine of which I am a member, for our geographical location, we figured it best for our start to be the first Saturday in September. So as of today, there is only 70 more days till Show Time !

Because of my laundry list of excuses, I have only about a dozen road training tosses in. Always thought distance was a bit relative, because a 25 mile toss for one fancier, might offer different challenges in different geographical locations. For some unknown reason, it appears that over the years, for one reason or another, I have progressively reduced the total number of tosses, while jumping them down the road further and faster.

I only lingered at the 5, 8 mile release points because I was unnerved by so many squeakers in the group. Completed my 2nd toss now from what I call my 35 mile release point. Unless there is bad weather, planning on 55 miles tomorrow. My first race station is 137 miles, and I want to get them there a few times before showtime. Not necessarily because they need to learn home from those locations, but with all the training in south central Pa. and Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, etc. I want my birds to experience larger flocks crossing their paths, and hopefully that experience will be of some value. The risk is of course, that they get caught up in a 400+ bird flock of group trainers, that turns a 55 mile toss into a 100+ mile foray to the shore of New Jersey or some such place, in 90+ degree heat, hot and exhausted, yet still hours away from home.

[Alamo]

My birds are on "Lockdown"...No flying or training untill around July 7th....Our first race is August 11th......That should be plenty of time to train 17 pigeons...Even if I wanted to toss single up,which I do not do with YB`s.....Groups of 4 to 6 work well for me...Alamo

[soundmajorr]

Hello Warren, i understand exactly what you mean about the sqeakers and also about the geogrphical locations. i am at 20 mile road tosses with my older young birds. i have a done a couple more tosses at this location due to the birds have to cross a semi large mountain, and up to date not one problem at all. knocking on wood. i just got started in pigeons so i have alot of late hatches, so i am going to begin my 2nd round road training probably in a week or two. out of this round i have 3 pigeons im perticularly eager to see how they do. at this age they look better than the older birds i have when they were this age. and the older birds are really good. so im pretty anxious as im sure we all are.

since i just got started i am more in the culling stage. breeding my own birds from some birds that were gifted and birds that i have purchased. so as these training tosses gradually get further and further i will hopefully see which are the better birds and the not so good birds. and then go from there with eliminating and so forth. if they pan out good or decent for that matter then i will enter races depending on how many birds i have left.

[SmithFamilyLoft]

Originally Posted by soundmajorr

Hello Warren, i understand exactly what you mean about the sqeakers and also about the geogrphical locations. i am at 20 mile road tosses with my older young birds. i have a done a couple more tosses at this location due to the birds have to cross a semi large mountain, and up to date not one problem at all. knocking on wood. i just got started in pigeons so i have alot of late hatches, so i am going to begin my 2nd round road training probably in a week or two. out of this round i have 3 pigeons im perticularly eager to see how they do. at this age they look better than the older birds i have when they were this age. and the older birds are really good. so im pretty anxious as im sure we all are.

since i just got started i am more in the culling stage. breeding my own birds from some birds that were gifted and birds that i have purchased. so as these training tosses gradually get further and further i will hopefully see which are the better birds and the not so good birds. and then go from there with eliminating and so forth. if they pan out good or decent for that matter then i will enter races depending on how many birds i have left.

I understand what you mean, but for the record, we understand that to mean that those who do not meet your criteria, are adopted out.

If it is taken any other way, people could think you were referring to lethal culling, which would be a violation of forum rules.

Sounds to me like you are on the right path. The "perfect" training, does not exist yet, that I know of. Pigeon guys still debate same stuff they did in 1965, except a lot more new faces.

I wouldn't necessarily suggest that anyone does what I actually do. I am not a serious local competitor. For me, it's about growing our local York Racing Pigeon Club. What's the point if I win every race every week ? New guys would all quit, and most of the clubs that would then have me as a member, I can't get excited about. So, it's more for the fun of it, and busting on my club mates when I get a chance.

When I can actually pull myself up out of bed, and get the loft helper, then get the dirty two dozen all loaded up, once I am out on the road, I can enjoy a view back to the good ole days of my youth, when a parent or friend would head out to our maximum distance of about 12 miles. Now, man...that was hard core training !!!

[soundmajorr]

no lethal culling being down warren. they would be given out to new flyers which there is plenty in my area. just because the bird is not to my liking as far as racing goes, doesnt mean that it wont be to someone elses. the number 1 thing as far as my birds are concerned is health. healthy bird, clean loft,clean water, good feed. a sick or unhealthy bird would do me no good in my loft, let alone racing. so im starting with that and then will continue to become a better fancier second. i learn new things everyday and try to apply them. as everyone knows theres a million different ways to do this. but theres also a lot of ways to go wrong also.

[SmithFamilyLoft]

I personally like the way you think !

I especially am interested in hearing from those who have cut flights, or are otherwise on lock down. Been there, done that, always wistfully looked at fanciers like me now, who is able to get down the road. Loft Manager took his teams down the road 20 days in a row now. They come home and trap like racing champs. Talk about a disciplined team ! My little crew is somewhat behind in times down the road, but doing more distance runs.

I am hoping this additional conditioning, will become an advantage on race day and will make up for any disadvantages for not doing a lock down system. It might just come down to who is more motivated to train. For this year's schedule, in order to tip the advantage over to the no lock down, might have to have dozens of additional training tosses for hundreds of more miles then the lock down manager can accomplish. How many more ? I really don't know. One year I think it was 2007, conducted a brutal training routine and ended up with 7 of the top ten champion birds in the combine with SFL bands on their legs. How much more is good and better, and at what point does it become counter productive ? I haven't any better idea today then I did ten years ago. And it takes more self discipline then I generally have displayed. It's a lot of work, and it costs a lot of money.

[soundmajorr]

on that note and subject you just mentioned warren, would you like to give your opinion on cutting and pulling flights? two questions...how do you feel about entering 1 loft races that cut and or pull flights? and secondly, how do you feel about cutting and pulling flights of your yb's? have you seen it effect or help your yb's while young or old birds?

[SmithFamilyLoft]

Originally Posted by soundmajorr

on that note and subject you just mentioned warren, would you like to give your opinion on cutting and pulling flights? two questions...how do you feel about entering 1 loft races that cut and or pull flights? and secondly, how do you feel about cutting and pulling flights of your yb's? have you seen it effect or help your yb's while young or old birds?

Takes us off topic. Pros and cons of various methods best on their own thread.

I don't really care what system a One Loft event uses. If their management and methods produce the desired results, then who am I to argue with success ? And success for a One Loft event IMHO would be among other things, a high percentage of entries making it to first race ideally 70%+ and a high percentage of entries available for the last in a series of events 50%+ the higher those percentages the better.

The One Loft event is not really about if one system is better then another, it is there to provide an equal playing field. I suspect I would prefer they do cut, since if the bird is in the loft, he goes to a race. Unlike local racing, where I can pick and choose which events to send a bird to, and can thus fly more natural.

[soundmajorr]

thank you for your answer even though we went a little off subject. im hopeful to see how others respond to your original post on the road training.

[preacher boy]

Hi Warren, Today was the first day I did any road training. I have a y.B team of 16 and they hatched from Feb thru april 18th, so you can see the range in age. Some of the team have been loft flying for about a month,and some just a few weeks. Today I took them out 2 miles from home and away they went. I watched them for awhile and they headed further from home. My heart sank thinking I had sent them too early. I went home and waited and watched and then after 15 minutes I started kicking myself in the rear. At about 18 minutes,two came in and I looked at the band numbers. Feb hatch.. At about four more minutes five more came in, and then in about 3 more minutes the rest came in. Not sure why they separated like that.. But whew !!

[italianbird101]

today was first training toss at 2 miles down the road for about 20 birds and they beat me home. Now I have to get into a regular training regiment.

[Granny Smith]

I feel way behind. My birds are not routing yet so I am still loft flying. Our first race is at the end of August, so I planned to start roadwork around the third week in July.

[ERIC K]

Originally Posted by italianbird101

today was first training toss at 2 miles down the road for about 20 birds and they beat me home. Now I have to get into a regular training regiment.

Mel how are the babies out of the SPW birds doing ? Hope you have good luck with them.

I still haven't taken any YBs down the road . One last OB race to think about.
My YBs are loft flying like rockets, but I will have to add some of the younger ones in as they get ready to join the flock. I will be flying different ages of young birds born from Dec to May so I have birds that are breeding and laying eggs to ones that have never been out side. Will be a wild ride this year .
Most guys in our club don't start the road training till after the OB season is over so if you think your behind don't worry to much. I know a guy that had late born birds last year and the first toss for them was with his older YBs at 40 miles and they did just fine.

[Revolution Lofts]

I've got 20 yb's loft flying, and another 10 that were bred late so they are in the trap training process, but they are trapping well so they'll be out with the others soon enough. I hope to start road training the 1st week of July!

[raftree3]

I took my oldest out to 8 miles then pulled the flights and locked them up. They're back to flying now. My younger ones are just now starting to route a little so after the 4th of July is when I usually start to haul them off. Lot of effort coming up but I'm excited for this years team....think I should have some good ones.