First 2023 youngsters

[Trev]

I have also moved several times over the years and each time taken established birds with me, most moves were fairly local. As with Andy the first move was from our family home in Lancing (where I too had my own little loft) to a bungalow only a couple of miles up the road in Sompting. I raced there pretty successfully for 8 years before moving about 7 miles west to Angmering, I don't remember losing many birds in any of these moves either. I only raced there for about 3 years with limited success before making my biggest move which was 54miles across the Solent to a tied farm cottage on the Isle of Wight, again taking only my best birds with me, these too were let out as soon as possible with as I remember very few losses. Unfortunately due to personal issues and heavy work commitments the birds really took a back seat and although I raced them for 6 years they never really achieved anything and in 2008 I left the farm and moved into rented accommodation so the birds and lofts all went.
I did try to set up a loft again a couple of years later but my failing marriage finally failed so that never really got started. It would then be another 8 years thanks to Lisa and brother Andy before I started keeping the birds again. One thing I have learned over the years and was told by an old club member after my move to Angmering is that however successful you were at your previous location it will take several years before you re-establish a successful team of pigeons to a new location no matter how close or far it might be.

[Murray]

I was told that by an old fancier once too. He said it takes 5 years if you are careful and 10 years if you are not, to establish a racing team after a shift or starting from scratch.
Actually, it doesn't.
My mate David built a lovely new loft, went out and purchased some quality stock pigeons and bred a team.
He trained them thoroughly and proceeded to win week after week. I reckon that if you have a good loft, good pigeons and enough ambition, you can win straight away.
What most of us do is get the wrong pigeons, ones from long distance strains, then spoil them and are reluctant to put them on the road and sort them out. Five years latter we have a shed full of 5 year old pigeons, which are too old and too slow to win much.
The successful blokes, meanwhile, have tested and sorted the pigeons every year, and have a shed full of racers which perform in the races he chooses to compete in.

[Andy]

I agree that you can win quickly after moving. But I think there is a big difference between starting with a new team than trying to move and race an existing team. When I moved mine from one part of the farm I was on in the 1980’s & 1990’s, around a mile apart it wasn’t a problem. But when I moved a winning team 200+ miles from the South East of the country to the South West it was different. Although the good breeders continued to breed good birds the ones that had been winning struggled. It did take a couple of years or so before I started getting consistent birds again. It was with a couple of new introductions into my old family that started to perform well.

[Murray]

Many years ago I was at the club one night, and a bloke was boasting that he had shifted the loft after the race the previous Saturday, and had raced that following Saturday.
I thought he was full of hot air. But in fact he had.
I did it myself latter on. Tossed the birds every day from the new place, then after the race on Saturday, shifted the loft, pigeons, nests, eggs, babies, the whole lot, and let them out the next day. They spent the day commuting back and forth to the old place, and by nightfall were all settled in.
I raced some the following week, and they obviously came home via the old place, but next week, after some more training on the line of flight, came home well.
I was talking to a mate the other day about it, and he agrees, good pigeons will rehome easily, most of the time. It's the dumb ones that are too stubborn to change. I think he's right.

[Andy]

Many years ago I was at the club one night, and a bloke was boasting that he had shifted the loft after the race the previous Saturday, and had raced that following Saturday.
I thought he was full of hot air. But in fact he had.
I did it myself latter on. Tossed the birds every day from the new place, then after the race on Saturday, shifted the loft, pigeons, nests, eggs, babies, the whole lot, and let them out the next day. They spent the day commuting back and forth to the old place, and by nightfall were all settled in.
I raced some the following week, and they obviously came home via the old place, but next week, after some more training on the line of flight, came home well.
I was talking to a mate the other day about it, and he agrees, good pigeons will rehome easily, most of the time. It's the dumb ones that are too stubborn to change. I think he's right.

A short distance may be fine. Especially if racing back to the same area. But moving them 200 miles and racing in a different direction is a completely different matter. My next move was one of 100 miles. The pigeons broke in well with very few losses but it still took a while for them to start performing again. I agree that the better birds are the easiest to break, even if having been raced elsewhere but racing them to a complete different location is another thing. I found it best to keep the best racers from previous locations as stock birds when moved, although they were flown out.
I remember dad winning the London & South Coast Combine from Bergerac 414 miles against thousands of pigeons with a pigeon that had been lost off the loft as a youngster. We then moved to another house, probably less than a mile away in a straight line. The old loft was put back up at the new address and the pigeon turned up a while later at the new house, being raced the following year.

[Murray]

Absolutely. We are talking just moving a couple of miles in a straight line. The pigeons probably know the whole area anyway.
Moving 50 or 100 or 200 miles is a different thing. I had pigeons out flying after a 150 mile shift, but it was the following year before raced them.