UkPigeonRacing

All looks very nice Murray. The chequer pied in the single photo looks quite a long cast pigeon?

Not really, just the way it's standing. Actually very athletic and handles well.

Nice birds there Murray, what is the blue from standing on the pot.?

Murray wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 6:16 am This is its nest mate
Good pigeons. 5DF7D9F6-09B1-4FC8-B760-8E5E6FFAC90D.jpeg

Nice as well

Devo1956 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 10:45 am Nice birds there Murray, what is the blue from standing on the pot.?

Not quite sure, George. I think it's off the Young Heremans stock cock. All those ones out of my blue pigeons look alike.

I have a pair of very old pigeons, who don't hatch anything anymore. But they are healthy and happy, so.....
Anyway, a few days ago I found the old hen in another nest box busy feeding the youngsters. They were about 7 days old, I had put rings on them. I took her out, but she was not going to be deterred!
So I got a clean nest bowl and grabbed one of the babies, and put it in their box. Now the old pigeons are busy pumping that youngster until it nearly bursts and the parents are very happy that they only have to feed one.

They are funny things sometimes. I had an old cock last year that started feeding the youngster in the nest box 2 below his. In the end the parents rarely fed it themselves as he wouldn’t let them.

Murray wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 7:33 am I have a pair of very old pigeons, who don't hatch anything anymore. But they are healthy and happy, so.....
Anyway, a few days ago I found the old hen in another nest box busy feeding the youngsters. They were about 7 days old, I had put rings on them. I took her out, but she was not going to be deterred!
So I got a clean nest bowl and grabbed one of the babies, and put it in their box. Now the old pigeons are busy pumping that youngster until it nearly bursts and the parents are very happy that they only have to feed one.

Brilliant they obviously felt that the parents needed a helping hand lol I guess that's an instinct that they never lose.

Murray wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 7:33 am I have a pair of very old pigeons, who don't hatch anything anymore. But they are healthy and happy, so.....
Anyway, a few days ago I found the old hen in another nest box busy feeding the youngsters. They were about 7 days old, I had put rings on them. I took her out, but she was not going to be deterred!
So I got a clean nest bowl and grabbed one of the babies, and put it in their box. Now the old pigeons are busy pumping that youngster until it nearly bursts and the parents are very happy that they only have to feed one.

Great to see natures helping hand or is that beak

So, some news. We have sold our home in Bendigo, and purchased a cottage in a town called St Arnaud, about 70 miles away. It is a nice town, about 2000 people, all the shops and supermarket, 3 petrol stations, a nice botanical garden and everything. Unfortunately we don't take possession until about the end of February, so we have had to rent a house for a short time.
The pigeons are a problem. There's no club out there, so it looks like I will be breeding youngsters for OLR's, and sending them to my mate David to race for me. There is a club at Maryborough, about half an hour away, but they only have three members and race with the Central Highlands Combine in Ballarat. Might look at that.
I have given 20 youngsters to a member of our club who is starting again, and 10 with special money race rings to David to race for me. Still have half a dozen youngsters off the best stock birds which I will keep. Mainly because they are the ones that are bonded onto me. I will keep most of the stock pigeons, a few of the very old ones might not go.
I will have to convert a shed at the rental property to keep them in until we move to St Arnaud and put the lofts back up.
It's all a bit of a performance, but this has been the plan all along. Sell the Bendigo house, pay the balance of the mortgage, and buy something freehold with some left over. I was a bit disappointed about getting rid of the youngsters, but as Catherine said, next year you will breed another lot just as good.
There you go. Everything stays the same until it isn't. My lungs aren't getting any better, so I probably need to have less pigeons to look after.
I will update you all on how it goes.