UkPigeonRacing

Well done Andy nice to see good returns as well

Good to see they are coming well, Andy. The system seems to be working.
Just gotta get them going a bit quicker......

Murray wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2024 11:44 pm Good to see they are coming well, Andy. The system seems to be working.
Just gotta get them going a bit quicker......

I’m happy with the system. The cocks are keen and trap very quickly. I’m hoping with a bit more distance they will have more of a chance to sort themselves out. I had two missing from the second race. One was brought back having gone into a loft in the combine with a bash under his keel. He was the fourth bird this week. I also have a 4 year old cock who probably shouldn’t be here. He had previously raced both South Road and North Road on natural but hadn’t actually made a race on the day. From the first race this year on widowhood he wasn’t here when I left for the club. I told them at the club that if he wasn’t there when I got home he would be gone when he did. I had a call from Roxanna while up the club to say that he was back. So he has been temporarily reprieved. The next race he was 5th bird then 4th bird and this week 3rd bird. He was always a bit flighty and hated being caught. Because he now fights for his box he is a different pigeon.
I have 6 naturals that I will be looking to start the weekend after next.

While it sounds like you are in a good, sound club, it is a shame that you can't get some distance into those pigeons. You spent years working on a family that would fly a distance, and now you have them on widowhood and inland racing, there's no distance!
Never mind, you are racing pigeons, and that's 10 points right there!

You did ok Andy
I can’t get my head around the club is 25 miles radius or more going by the distances flown it’s larger than my fed radius
I think for sprinting that’s near impossible if the winds against you yet the fed don’t give any distance to even things up a bit

Murray wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 8:32 am While it sounds like you are in a good, sound club, it is a shame that you can't get some distance into those pigeons. You spent years working on a family that would fly a distance, and now you have them on widowhood and inland racing, there's no distance!
Never mind, you are racing pigeons, and that's 10 points right there!

You are right Murray. I had some birds that were doing ok from the distance but when the fiasco of having vet visits, the shutting of marking stations and the cost being charged by the classic/national clubs for both annual subscriptions and birdage it made things unviable as far as I was concerned. If one of these clubs had stayed with a North road program things might have been different. A couple did have a few North Road races but have since reverted back to just channel racing.
I’m not prepared to have anything to do with DEFRA, with working in our shop 6 days a week I was finding it hard to get away for marking before the number of stations was reduced. Although having said that the BICC are marking at my club headquarters but still an hour and a half round trip without the time to get them marked. The price being charged by these clubs has been increased and the number of races available reduced as some are going together. You can nominate back into each but that makes the price per bird being sent extremely high.
The other problem I had racing the distance races was that I flew them on natural. Although it was nice having them on open loft because of marking being on a Thursday morning, or even earlier in the week, I found it very difficult to get the birds back on eggs. So the following two weeks the hens would be out because of laying and the cocks would be driving. Also if a pigeon was late back their mates would probably have repaired to something else.
I am enjoying my racing in the club. It is a strong club but a very friendly club. I am also enjoying racing widowhood again.

NeilA wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 4:35 pm You did ok Andy
I can’t get my head around the club is 25 miles radius or more going by the distances flown it’s larger than my fed radius
I think for sprinting that’s near impossible if the winds against you yet the fed don’t give any distance to even things up a bit

Neil, this photo I took using a distance calculator shows the difference between the combines most Southerly club and the most Northerly one.
You can that if we are at Stoney Cross on the edge of the New Forest or Brighton for example how different the line would be of the main batch depending on the wind direction. I live along the more Southerly line.

Hopefully if we end up going with the Three Counties both the distance and line of flight will be better. I will still be one of the shortest members but it should be better racing.

Andy wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 7:30 pm

NeilA wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 4:35 pm You did ok Andy
I can’t get my head around the club is 25 miles radius or more going by the distances flown it’s larger than my fed radius
I think for sprinting that’s near impossible if the winds against you yet the fed don’t give any distance to even things up a bit

Neil, this photo I took using a distance calculator shows the difference between the combines most Southerly club and the most Northerly one.

IMG_3340.jpeg

You can that if we are at Stoney Cross on the edge of the New Forest or Brighton for example how different the line would be of the main batch depending on the wind direction. I live along the more Southerly line.

Hopefully if we end up going with the Three Counties both the distance and line of flight will be better. I will still be one of the shortest members but it should be better racing.

Agree
that width from a few miles isn’t no good for you
How can you can say if the birds are good or bad under them conditions

NeilA wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 7:41 pm

Andy wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 7:30 pm

NeilA wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 4:35 pm You did ok Andy
I can’t get my head around the club is 25 miles radius or more going by the distances flown it’s larger than my fed radius
I think for sprinting that’s near impossible if the winds against you yet the fed don’t give any distance to even things up a bit

Neil, this photo I took using a distance calculator shows the difference between the combines most Southerly club and the most Northerly one.

IMG_3340.jpeg

You can that if we are at Stoney Cross on the edge of the New Forest or Brighton for example how different the line would be of the main batch depending on the wind direction. I live along the more Southerly line.

Hopefully if we end up going with the Three Counties both the distance and line of flight will be better. I will still be one of the shortest members but it should be better racing.

Agree
that width from a few miles isn’t no good for you
How can you can say if the birds are good or bad under them conditions

That is the problem Neil. It’s very difficult to know whether they are behind because they are slower than the winners or just flown more miles at the same speed as the winners.

Impossible to judge Andy
I don’t know how your going to select I guess just based on your loft records