UkPigeonRacing

Buster121 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 1:52 pm

Murray wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:29 am Great to see you have got them home, Trev, but my blood ran cold when you said you went 10 miles first up.
I don't doubt you had some out overnight.
My first toss is always from about half a mile away and I usually take them down to the creek when the old birds are flying around home.
Then I go 2, 4, 8, 10 miles, more or less, and this year I went several directions.
I have lost about 20 of the 45 youngsters I bred, as many of them being taken by the hawks while loft flying as in training, but the ones that are left have had lots of training and are now hard to lose.
I take them 20 miles to a place that is open country, and even going at the speed limit I cannot beat them back.
Good to see you are training them in two teams, Trev, If you have a bad toss, and one team gets torn up, you have not done all your youngsters.
Good luck and keep the work up to them.

Mine always started at 20 miles then 30 finally 50 where they stayed all through racing

Murray wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:29 am Great to see you have got them home, Trev, but my blood ran cold when you said you went 10 miles first up.
I don't doubt you had some out overnight.
My first toss is always from about half a mile away and I usually take them down to the creek when the old birds are flying around home.
Then I go 2, 4, 8, 10 miles, more or less, and this year I went several directions.
I have lost about 20 of the 45 youngsters I bred, as many of them being taken by the hawks while loft flying as in training, but the ones that are left have had lots of training and are now hard to lose.
I take them 20 miles to a place that is open country, and even going at the speed limit I cannot beat them back.
Good to see you are training them in two teams, Trev, If you have a bad toss, and one team gets torn up, you have not done all your youngsters.
Good luck and keep the work up to them.

Murray wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 8:47 am

Buster121 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 1:52 pm

Murray wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:29 am Great to see you have got them home, Trev, but my blood ran cold when you said you went 10 miles first up.
I don't doubt you had some out overnight.
My first toss is always from about half a mile away and I usually take them down to the creek when the old birds are flying around home.
Then I go 2, 4, 8, 10 miles, more or less, and this year I went several directions.
I have lost about 20 of the 45 youngsters I bred, as many of them being taken by the hawks while loft flying as in training, but the ones that are left have had lots of training and are now hard to lose.
I take them 20 miles to a place that is open country, and even going at the speed limit I cannot beat them back.
Good to see you are training them in two teams, Trev, If you have a bad toss, and one team gets torn up, you have not done all your youngsters.
Good luck and keep the work up to them.

Mine always started at 20 miles then 30 finally 50 where they stayed all through racing

You can't do that here, and expect to have any pigeons left.
When we first moved to Bendigo I ran into a bloke who had pigeons. So, next thing I am invited to go out on a Sunday morning for the first club toss for the season.
About 10 blokes with vans and trailers, about 1000 green youngsters. Distance about 20 miles.
On the count of three there's a flurry of wings and a big mob of youngsters gather up and start going round, and round, and round
Then several peregrine falcons plowed into them and there were pigeons going in all directions. That was their first introduction to life as racing pigeon.
Long story short, by the time they got to the 40 mile training stage, lots, lots, were gone, and they were chasing them out of the trailers.
I have never taken my youngsters to one of those "trainers". They are simply trained to get lost or terrified.
The hawks around here are dreadful. Most thinking men do what I do. Start very short and train often, increasing the distance as they show they are ready.
Today some of them were edgy, and I figured the was a BOP somewhere. Next thing WHOOSH! they all took off, and when I looked up there was a BIG falcon soaring through, and these things were flying loops around it. Old Gordon and the old stock birds were up there, they aren't frightened of it. Seen too many and are too smart.
My young birds, instead of taking off in a panic and hitting power lines and hiding in the bushes, were tearing around the falcon too. Learning that if you are above it it cant get you.
It was funny when they came down, they were strutting around giving each other Hi 5's.

Trev wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 6:52 pm

Murray wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 8:47 am

Buster121 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 1:52 pm

Mine always started at 20 miles then 30 finally 50 where they stayed all through racing

You can't do that here, and expect to have any pigeons left.
When we first moved to Bendigo I ran into a bloke who had pigeons. So, next thing I am invited to go out on a Sunday morning for the first club toss for the season.
About 10 blokes with vans and trailers, about 1000 green youngsters. Distance about 20 miles.
On the count of three there's a flurry of wings and a big mob of youngsters gather up and start going round, and round, and round
Then several peregrine falcons plowed into them and there were pigeons going in all directions. That was their first introduction to life as racing pigeon.
Long story short, by the time they got to the 40 mile training stage, lots, lots, were gone, and they were chasing them out of the trailers.
I have never taken my youngsters to one of those "trainers". They are simply trained to get lost or terrified.
The hawks around here are dreadful. Most thinking men do what I do. Start very short and train often, increasing the distance as they show they are ready.
Today some of them were edgy, and I figured the was a BOP somewhere. Next thing WHOOSH! they all took off, and when I looked up there was a BIG falcon soaring through, and these things were flying loops around it. Old Gordon and the old stock birds were up there, they aren't frightened of it. Seen too many and are too smart.
My young birds, instead of taking off in a panic and hitting power lines and hiding in the bushes, were tearing around the falcon too. Learning that if you are above it it cant get you.
It was funny when they came down, they were strutting around giving each other Hi 5's.

I do get that Muzza, I guess the birds do need to clear almost immediately to escape being hit !!
Years ago if I went training I would arrive at my destination, put the baskets outside the car and give the birds a few minutes to settle and find their barings before releasing them, these days its get them out and get them gone before the hawks realise they are there. I reckon that is some of the problems with todays racing, I'm sure these birds see the transporters arrive and are hanging around like vultures waiting for breakfast and hit those batches of pigeons before they've got too far from the race points.