Good luck Muzza and I hope you and Catherine enjoy a long and happy retirement togetherMurray wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:14 am Thanks everyone, for the good wishes. I finished at lunchtime today. Unexpectedly I was given a cake and flowers and a couple of bottles of wine by my staff !
We had a fair go at the cake and a couple of our customers got a piece too!
I will still be around to sort out the inevitable problems they will find, but I don't have to worry about the place 24/7 anymore.![]()
Life in Bendigo.
Because I had to do lot of hours the previous week while one of my staff had a break, and then the weather went bad, the young birds have not had a toss for nearly two weeks. The youngsters have built up in that time and are in phenomenal shape!
I got them out again today.
There was a lot of cloud being pushed through by a westerly wind, so I put the A team in the hampers and went 10 miles straight west.
I let them go and they cleared immediately. I was very impressed.
Less so when an hour and a half later I hadn't seen one.
I had all the others out by then.
Then they all arrived in a bunch, swooping and racing with the others.
They have been for an explore.
Tomorrow, the other half, the B team go.
The wheels may fall off yet, but these things are in great order.
I got them out again today.
There was a lot of cloud being pushed through by a westerly wind, so I put the A team in the hampers and went 10 miles straight west.
I let them go and they cleared immediately. I was very impressed.

Less so when an hour and a half later I hadn't seen one.

Then they all arrived in a bunch, swooping and racing with the others.

Tomorrow, the other half, the B team go.
The wheels may fall off yet, but these things are in great order.
Greetings from the land down under. 
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.

Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Today I took the other half, the B team, out to the same point, and once again they cleared immediately. I passed them a few minutes later when I was going 100 kilometres an hour, and they were going flat out!
I was still home well before them, they must have had a bit of a detour
but they joined in with the others and tore around for a while.
I think splitting them into two teams and training them alternately has been a good idea. We have been fortunate so far, in that they don't appear to have been smashed by the falcons. But the odds are that we will, and this way we won't have the entire team spread all over the countryside
.
Also, flying in a smaller group seems to somehow let them fly 'under the radar', so to speak, and they all seem pretty confident.
However, the next post on this thread could be me crying in my beer.
I know better than to get too cocky. The hawk, he is just biding his time. 

I was still home well before them, they must have had a bit of a detour

I think splitting them into two teams and training them alternately has been a good idea. We have been fortunate so far, in that they don't appear to have been smashed by the falcons. But the odds are that we will, and this way we won't have the entire team spread all over the countryside


Also, flying in a smaller group seems to somehow let them fly 'under the radar', so to speak, and they all seem pretty confident.
However, the next post on this thread could be me crying in my beer.


Greetings from the land down under. 
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.

Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
I was talking to my good mate David when I put marker rings on half of the young birds, and split them into two teams. I did it randomly, regardless of sex or age or what I thought of them. Half went in one team and half went in the other team.
He agreed it might be a good idea. He heard of one bloke in another state whose pigeons are being so hounded by the falcons that he has split them into four groups in an effort to stop them from being so terrified that he cannot train them!
If it got that bad here I would just give it away.
He agreed it might be a good idea. He heard of one bloke in another state whose pigeons are being so hounded by the falcons that he has split them into four groups in an effort to stop them from being so terrified that he cannot train them!
If it got that bad here I would just give it away.
Greetings from the land down under. 
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.

Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Well done Muzza, good to hear that another trainer has been a success 
as you say it does sound like a good decision to split your team for training, as the old saying goes "don't put all your eggs in one basket" 

Apparently we are in a dodgy period around here as the peregrine chicks are out of the nests and are being taught to hunt, thankfully that's not a problem for me around home but it is potentially when training/racing so when I suggested down the club that was going to think about starting to train my babies I was advised to hold off for another week or two.
Good luck with the rest of your preparations, I hope it continues to go well for you

Apparently we are in a dodgy period around here as the peregrine chicks are out of the nests and are being taught to hunt, thankfully that's not a problem for me around home but it is potentially when training/racing so when I suggested down the club that was going to think about starting to train my babies I was advised to hold off for another week or two.
Good luck with the rest of your preparations, I hope it continues to go well for you
Thanks Trev.
Well done to you on getting one of the very few on the day from Hexham.
I hope you get more coming in.
Well done to you on getting one of the very few on the day from Hexham.
I hope you get more coming in.
Greetings from the land down under. 
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.

Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.