Saturday 30 January 2010

New youngsters purchased

I purchased several new youngsters from the breeder/buyer in Merthyr today. I purchased 9 birds in total. Some outstanding fanciers birds will be coming to my loft for the young bird season in an attempt to win the breeder/buyer organised by the Gurnos Club. The pigeons I purchased belonged to:

Clive Harris
Williams Brothers
Lovell Brothers
Mel Mayo
Bobby Thomas
Darren Warrell
Martin Keoharne
Neil Shepherd

In addition to this I also purchased my own entry back to race for myself in the race which will take place from Folkstone.

I planning to pair my birds up next Sunday, so will be all systems go. Organising my share syndicate has taken a lot of my time up lately, but now everything is in place, I will be concentrating on the birds now 100% in preparation for the on coming breeding season. I hope everyone else a successful breeding campaign. Good Luck until next time.


Wednesday 27 January 2010

Shares sold!

After careful consideration, I have decided to limit the amount of shares syndicates to just 3. I have 8 other people on board for this venture and summer of fun. There are several reasons for this. They include, not being able to breed enough youngsters for myself for club racing, having too many reserve birds to activate and not enough shareholders wanting to activate them, thus leaving birds in the race unactivated. With 3 syndicates, there are 12 shares in total, to activate the main youngsters and if all 12 reserves are still in the loft at the 1st hotspot, another 12 shares in the reserves. I feel this is most sensible way to go rather than having birds which are unable to be paid, therefore flying for nothing. This way all birds will hopefully be fully paid up and we will have 12 birds in the race that are all competing for prize money. If you would like to become involved, I can place you on a reserve list for any shares in the reserves that are not activated by the current shareholders. Please email me if you are interested. Thank You.

Monday 25 January 2010

Sponsorship??

I have been busy this afternoon trying to sort out sponsorship for our syndicate for the Europa Classic. I plan to advertise the companies banner on the website and also print out T-shirts for the final race with the companies logo on the back. Anyone interested in becoming a sponsor please drop me a line. A lot of people attend the Europa Classic final race and all nearly pigeon related people. A great chance for some publicity for you or your company.

Shares getting snapped up quickly!

I am pleased to say the share syndicate venture has gone down well. The website has received its largest amount of hits in a single day when we advertised the venture yesterday. Since yesterday we have sold 8 shares in total, so hoping to attract another 5 or 6 people and hopefully then we will be able to enter 4 or 5 syndicates into the race. There is no rush though, and anyone wanting any more information please get in touch. £25 secures your share, with the other £25 payable at the beginning of April when the bird are sent to the Europa loft in Cardiff. C'mon join and lets get a Rasbull Loft syndicate winner claiming the 1st prize in this years main event!

Saturday 23 January 2010

Parted today

The birds were parted this afternoon. The hens and cocks are now back in separate sections. The reason for this is because one or two cocks have been treading four or five hens and parentage can not be guaranteed. I have had 8 out of the 13 hens lay so hopefully in the next couple of days the other 5 will lay as well. I will then repair the birds on the 7th February and I expect the birds to go straight down without any fuss at all. I am no rush to breed. I picked up my rings today at our Club AGM. I have 100 in total, and expect to breed at least 4 rounds from my stock birds. So the birds have 2 weeks of resting and relaxing before the real work starts!

Monday 18 January 2010

Finally sorted!

Tonight the last 2 cocks have finally settled into their boxes and after a few headaches and fighting between the pairs they are all now in their own boxes. I have had to close certain boxes off to stop over dominant cocks controlling two or three boxes. But all seems well now and I think things are starting to take shape. The plan now is to separate the birds next Sunday (24th January) and then keep them separated for 2 weeks before repairing them on the 7th February. I have 13 pairs now settled in their boxes. I hope the break will ensure all pairs go down at the same time and all eggs laid with 3/4 days of each other. All I need now is some nice warm weather and I will be in business!

Saturday 16 January 2010

Birds bouncing and looking really well

The warmer weather has really helped bring the birds into super condition. They have been paired up since boxing day and 11 out of the 13 cocks have now paired up and cooing in their boxes with their hens. I am having a small problem with 2 cocks who are still reluctant to pick a box. I am aiming to separate the birds within the next week and then leave them apart and re-pair around the 14th February. I want the birds in 100% health and condition before I allow any to go down on eggs. Leaving the loft tonight I am the happiest I have been with them. They really are bouncing and the cocks showing up to their hens and commanding their boxes. I have tried several new products to help them achieve this condition and I am over the moon with the results. I can't wait now to put the birds down on eggs. I have had several orders for young birds and if anyone wants any from my stock pairs please be quick as a good many have already been booked. There really are some quality birds which I have introduced to the loft, all of which have raced 250 -300 miles in their year of birth. Until next time, enjoy your birds!