Most pairs on eggs

[Murray]

Unfortunately I now have 5 missing, the ones at Roy's are apparently quite happy sharing the wild bird seed that his wife puts out lol so it could be a while before they feel like coming back
I also had a late bred yesterday that wasn't looking too happy, I also noticed that its beak didn't look right. On closer inspection this morning I realised that the top half of its beak had somehow been forced right down through the bottom half its beak making it impossible to eat and drink and very difficult to breath. I have managed to push the break back in place so hopefully it will be ok in a couple of days. I have seen this before many years ago but couldn't see then or now how it could happen without the bird suffering considerable damage else where

How long were the pigeons locked up at your place, Trev?
I have found that the trick to homing old pigeons in to a new loft is to get them out almost immediately.
Seems backwards, I know, , but while their new nest box is all new and clean, and the hay in the nest bowl is fresh, and the feed is in a bowl....They will stay after a couple of days.
When they get out, they will almost certainly head back to the old shed.
If they are locked out of where they came from, after a few hours sitting on a loft where they are getting no love, they tend to come back and not let on that they have been anywhere.

[Andy]

I agree Murray that you can keep birds in too long. When they are eventually let out all they want to do is fly. I haven’t had much success in breaking old birds that have been shut in for a long time. Even with youngsters that I got from Louella that were kept in for a long time to make sure I had something out of them all disappeared when let out the first time.

[Trev]

The birds have been a bit messed about over the past year. Sadly their previous lofts are no longer there due to the retirement or passing of their owners. The 3 fanciers concerned were some of mine and Andy's earliest mentors and longest standing friends within the sport so the sentimental part of me really wanted to keep their legacies and life times of work going which is partly why I am now so overstocked.
I put a temporary shed up at our Mum's and took 12 birds from Roy Olliver, 4 birds from Brian Doick (who had retired a couple of years ago but had given a few birds to the late Laurie Everett) and I had another 4 birds from Laurie. I also had half a dozen of the youngsters Laurie had bred last year before he sadly passed away, the rest of Laurie's birds and loft went to a fancier in Brighton and the rest of Roy's birds went to a new starter in Chichester. Because I really wanted some youngsters from these birds and due to the fact I didn't want them all going back to their previous homes where they could become a nuisance, I didn't want to let them out before I had them settled on eggs or babies to give them a good reason to stay put. When I seperated my birds in November I selected 8 of the younger birds and brought them up here with the view to breed a round of youngsters from them and hopefully break and race them, my birds would then be shut up for a couple of months and only let out at weekends, then we had the outbreak of avian flu and the birds were put on lock down. Due to the Sparrow hawk problem I don't pair up until late February so all these factors put together the birds haven't been out flying from any loft for the best part of a year.
I did breed a couple of late breds from a couple of Roy's pairs last year at Mum's which are now in my loft and the same pairs have bred a couple of 2022 youngsters for me, the next round from these two pairs are destined for Andy's Barcelona team, once these are settled back on babies Mum will start letting the birds she has left out and hopefully some might stay there. I did foster the eggs out from the birds I brought to my loft so even if these birds don't return I will have something from them.
Sorry for the long winded post but I hope it makes sense

[Trev]

The first eggs should start hatching later this week so while cleaning out the birds this weekend I decided to check some of the eggs to get some idea as to how successful this round is likely to be, unfortunately I was a bit surprised to find there are a fair few empty eggs !!! I'm a little disappointed as some of the empty eggs are from the stock birds and from a couple of the birds from Roy and Laurie that are now missing, having said that I'm also strangely relieved as I don't have the space for too many youngsters at the moment. I'll just have to wait now to see just how many hatch and then I can decide if I want to keep any of the next round of eggs.

[Andy]

It does sound that it’s a common problem this year for some reason. My hatchings haven’t been great either.

[Murray]

I agree Murray that you can keep birds in too long. When they are eventually let out all they want to do is fly. I haven’t had much success in breaking old birds that have been shut in for a long time. Even with youngsters that I got from Louella that were kept in for a long time to make sure I had something out of them all disappeared when let out the first time.

I once had a Stichelbaut x Jansen hen from an old Dutch bloke who lived in Christchurch, NZ.
He had one that had had arrived in time to win the Old Bird National, 575 miles and quite a lot of money, but, the thing sat out on the roof, and didn't win.
He was furious, and promised to 'Pull its Head Off'.
I stepped in and, long story short, had a National race pigeon in my shed.
Within a week, I had her paired up, in a nest box, and had driven into the city twice to get her and bring her home.
It can be done, if you are serious.

[George and Morgan]

ybs from a hen bred by Paul & Steve

[Andy]

Where has all the white come from George? What colour is the sire?

[George and Morgan]

old grizzle cock sire of your grizzle

[Trev]

ybs from a hen bred by Paul & Steve

Very nice George, the blue looks fiesty