Young bird race season

[re lee]

It is geting very close to youg bird race season agin. I would think most are training there hopefuls on toss now. How has the training been going. And are your losses small. I have talked to some and a few had big losses and some had small.. One lost thirty birds out of a fifty bird toss. But the toss was but 10 mile south of an air base. And line of flight was towards the base. Might of had made a differance if the toss was at a different location. GOOD luck on the training and racing

[WhiteWingsCa]

In our area (Ontario), losses have been terrible -- and the races haven't even started yet!

OB season was a disaster for some, ourselves included.

YB training has been so bad for a couple of the (VERY experienced) guys in our club, they decided to not even race YB's.

5 of the local guys took their birds out together training -- two of them (the ones I mentioned above) got 2-3 birds back out of 20 or so each that first day. Perfect weather, no reason for it. Several of the birds have returned since, but not many. Of the other 3 -- they lost about 1/4 of the total # of birds they sent -- and most of the birds that did come home took several days to do so.

These were birds who had already had extensive training and conditioning.

Weather has been bad, so our own birds haven't had the training we feel they need to race yet. Our club/combine has had a "trainer" race already -- but we skipped it. The first "trainer" was to be a week ago -- but it was cancelled due to the bad weather THAT weekend, and due to the fact that most of the local boys hadn't gotten their birds trained either.

We don't know yet if/when we personally will start our YB's in the races -- if we can get them trained properly, maybe next weekend -- or we may end up skipping the YB season altogether.

It's been a rather weird year -- devisating floods just 20 miles from us, horrid weather -- swings from hot and humid to cool and dry, back to hot, all just in the past 2 weeks! When we hear about the horrible losses, it makes you wonder --- what is going on with Mother Nature -- are the magnetic field shifting too, as well as weather patterns?

[re lee]

Talked to another person. They raised 225 young birds this year. He said he was training in groups of 75. Not to have a fly away. So far the losses has not been that bad For them. But a couple years back. They tossed 200 And about 80 birds made it back. Not good. Yes perhaps there are some increased solar activity effecting the magnatic balance. It might be worth checking into. I will see what I can comew up with. Hopefuly.

[birdy]

Believe it or not but we just finished our YB season 10 days ago. We planned to end just before Thanksgiving but every time there was really bad weather it was on the weekends. I generally don't like to talk about my (my birds) results but we had the best season ever. We won 11 out of 16 club races - A & B races, and several combine races. We won Champion Combine Loft, 1st thru 9th Combine Champion Birds, and Combine Average Speed. We had some good numbers in the first races (600-700 birds) but the weather and losses took their toll and the numbers dropped significantly, plus some of the guys took off for deer hunting .

One super fantastic pigeon, 922, won 3 races. I've attached a pic of him and me moments after he trapped on the last 300. I knew it was a winning time and was so proud of him. Another great pigeon, 901, won 2 races and was 1/4 Ludo - Warren!

I think that I finally got the feeding right plus I tried some motivational technigues with the paired ones. I had their health right (only 1 time with antibiotics during the season) and was able to race most of them 7 races. As I am leaving the sport for a while - my wife and I are moving to England to be close to her ailing, elderly parents - I could not have asked for a better ending.

Sorry for the commercial plug, but I have some great racing pigeons for sale plus books - see my ad in the Birds for Sale section.

I guess it's strange to talk about YBs as everyone is breeding and preparing for OB racing.

All the best to you for the New Year!

Bruce

[TAWhatley]

Great photo Bruce! Congratulations on a successful YB season! That is a very handsome pigeon and the human ain't bad either <LOL>!

Terry

[birdy]

Thanks, Terry! I am so proud of all my race birds. They were so eager to fly this season and it was a lot of fun to watch them come home from the races and training tosses.

[re lee]

You had a good year. And Your trip to England will be another adventure. You will probably miss the birds. But while in England perhaps you can visit some flying lofts over there. And I am wondering If the queen still has raceing homers. Would not be a bad place to visit that loft. If she still has the birds. You can still stay in touch on this site And let us know how your enjoying the English life.

[birdy]

Thanks Robert. I know you know the ‘high’ from winning a race or taking a first in show. Well, I’m experiencing just the opposite with the lowest of lows getting out of pigeons. I’ve ridden an emotional roller coaster these last few months and know it’s not over .

My wife hasn’t lived near her family in 20 years and her brothers have been doing all the help with her parents. We go over every year or so but it's not the same. I retired last summer and she was kind enough to put up with one last race season. You all know how hard it is on a spouse that’s not into the hobby. I can’t tell you how many weddings and other functions I’ve missed b/c of shipping night, waiting for the birds, or figuring the race results. England will be an adventure and I hope a real learning experience. I hope to visit a number of top lofts – and will definitely seek out the queen’s loft. They race a lot of pigeons in the UK and I think it’s only second to Germany in the numbers of racing fanciers – not counting Asia (I may be wrong about my stats).

Thanks and I do hope to stay in touch. There’s a lot of racing pigeon forums and I visit them from time to time but they just don’t have the caring folks that you find here. There’s something very special about Pigeons.com and all its members .

Bruce

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Bruce,

Love the picture....the bird is so beautiful and you look so happy. I am sure your emotions are in turmoil over your coming move and all the changes that will come with it. I am sorry you have to give up your birds, you seem to love it so much. But I am happy for you that you have gotten to finish up on such a high note.

Linda

[birdy]

Thanks, Linda. I really appreciate and enjoy your postings on pigeons.com. I hope to become more like you in caring & feeding wild flocks wherever I may be. There's a real beauty in watching and being close to our feathered friends. Bruce

[SmithFamilyLoft]

Bruce,

Now just because you are moving does not mean you have to leave Pigeon Talk, and does not mean you have to give up on the birds forever, does it ? Now I know that wives are preety important, lord knows I have had three of them.

Some where along the line, you just got to get those priorities straight ! A good loft, in a good location, with some proven breeders put together over years of hard work....now that is a lot harder to replace then a wife !

My last wife, said to me one day that I loved the pigeons more then her, and that either the pigeons were leaving, or she was leaving. I told her I would really miss her.

Seriously Bruce, how long do you figure it will take, before you can sneak a loft into the back yard, without the wife catching on ?

Good luck buddy !

[birdy]

Hi Warren,

That's a great post! I'm still laughing... Yea, I hope to get back to racing sooner than later. It might be a couple of years but as Arnold says "I'll be back!"

Hey, do you know anyone in the UK who races Ludos pretty straight? How is it to meet the man himself in Putte? That would be a dream come true.

Thanks for the well wishes. Sorry, didn't mean to be so melodramatic in my swan song. The wife... well, she's a keeper, a Hall of Fame bird with beautiful eyesign (and ventsign, too! ).

All the best to everyone for 2005!

Bruce