UkPigeonRacing

Friday morning I decided to let my birds out so they could have a bath and that I could them out, they had been on lock down since Sunday so were keen enough to come out. I had a couple of errands to run so after cleaning the loft as the birds were enjoying their bath I decided to leave them out until got home. I got back mid afternoon, Lisa had been next door for a coffee with our neighbour and informed me that there was a pile of feathers on their lawn. I got the birds in and after giving them time to eat and settle down I went to see if any were missing, it didn't take long for me to notice that my 4 year old blu hen who won Bordeaux (431 miles) was missing This bugger just won't give up, I don't wish that fate on any bird but why is it the dozen or more feral pigeons that are on my loft every day never get caught nor do the orsorans in the loft that wouldn't be missed
Now today I was helping our brother Rob move a shed from our neighbours garden round to our Mums. It's a big shed with 4 side panels, 2 end panels, 4 roof panels and various other bits so my neighbour said we could use his Motorcycle trailer to take it round on. As he is building a new shed/garage his trailer is currently under a tarpaulin in his garden, when Dave lifted the tarpaulin he said there's one of your pigeons under here !!! I couldn't believe it, it was my blue hen. She was reluctant to be caught but it was obvious that she couldn't fly, eventually we managed to catch her. The poor thing has had a big chunk of her neck and right shoulder eaten away which is obviously why she can't fly and few broken wing feathers, she is back safely in the loft and this evening was cooing to her mate in the nest bowl. I hope she will recover ok but wouldn't be surprised the shock of it all proves too much for her I'm a day or two. Anyway she is safe and warm tonight so fingers crossed

What a shame Trev really hope she recovers, as you say they never seem to bother with ferals same here a bridge 100 yards away full of them but when you watch the hawks they just seem to go over them without a second glance

Good to hear she is still alive Trev. I’m sure she will recover. Probably won’t race again but I know that she is the dam of 2 nice yearlings I have. It’s surprising how they recover from a hawk attack. I haven’t had one die after being hawked despite how bad they seem. I had one hawked this year that couldn’t fly for a long time afterwards and nearly lost an eye. She is better now and does go off for a fly but the wing is still down so will never race again. I also had a stray in last year that hit the trap with 2 broken legs and a big gash down her side. In thought she wouldn’t make the night. But she is still here and seems fine now. A scratch from a cat is a different matter. They always seem to die a few days later even from the smallest of wounds.

That's a shame, Trev, she is very lucky to be alive.

Hope she recovers.

Thanks all, she is hanging on in there

Hopefully she recovers well ,very lucky ,it would of been heart btreaking ,those falcons must start paying or our sport is lost ,