Thursday 30 May 2013

Count up!

I have counted up the birds in the loft and we currently have 33 in the 1st team who are starting to range (disappeared for 3 hours the other day.) They are flying the skies out and are really looking the business. I am very pleased with this team. I have 35 in the 2nd team and they have been out twice around the loft. They are fairly strong so they will be grouping in the next couple of times out I would imagine.
I have had a bit of young bird sickness in the loft again this year and I think the 2nd team are going to go down with it very soon. 1 being sick on the perch and looking hunched up. This is part and parcel of modern day pigeon racing though and very quickly dealt with when you know how to treat and the signs to look out for. I am fairly certain we will have them back to full health in the next week or so. They will then go out daily and once flying for an 1hr and 30 mins we will look to begin training. I am planning on the middle of June to begin training although the 1st team could go now and I am sure they would come very nicely. I will basket train the 1st team this week so they are aware of the basket and confident and settled once in there. I have just 4 young birds left in the stock loft and these will be another 7 to 10 days for these to be weaned off. So in total I will have 72 young birds to begin training with if all come through this bout of young bird sickness. I am more than pleased they have developed it now rather than in the middle of the training or racing. Its out of the way then and once dealt with we can really give them some work and hopefully have a great season.

Thursday 23 May 2013

Moving on nicely

We did send our 2 Old Birds to Ramsgate on the 11th May,  but they were off the pace. I put this down to the fact we only have 2 so to make the effort for just 2 is hardly worth it. So I have decided enough is enough for the Old Bird season. However, I am pleased we have them both and they will now now be trained with the young birds.
The young birds are coming along very nicely indeed. We will have 2 teams of around 40 this season and the 1st team our flying out for 1hr 30mins each afternoon and trapping very well. (I have put a video on the site's homepage.)
As you know we had a dreadful breeding season what with losing half the parents in one training toss earlier in the year. We have been inundated with offers for young birds via Pigeon Pixels website members. I would like to thank all who have offered birds to myself for the coming season.
The 1st team consists of some quality pigeons from Shaun Hughes of Sunderland as well as birds I have purchased from various sources in the Uk.
We have half the 2nd team in the loft and the other half will be delivered this week. I picked up 19 from Lyndon Rowland on Sunday and I really enjoyed meeting this fancier from Tamworth. The birds are mainly Van Loons and are in excellent condition. The other 20 are in transit from Ireland and these are coming from the Eamon Wright of Shortcut Lofts. Again a very good fancier and I am looking forward of taking delivery of this batch.
I will be getting the 2nd team in the air as soon as possible and then we will be looking to start training around the middle of June with a bit of luck.
We have 4 birds in the Somerset One Loft Race under the name Rasbull-lofts.co.uk, 4 in the Welsh Region Classic Challenge and 3 in the Pigeon Pixels One Loft Race based in Ireland and 1 in the Irish Region Classic Challenge. I will keep you updated on the progress of these youngsters that are representing Rasbull Lofts throughout the season!

Friday 10 May 2013

Taking Shape

Everything in the loft is now taking shape slowly. I have been informed the 40 youngsters that will form Team 2 will be ready for delivery in the next 2 weeks. I will be glad when all the birds are finally in the loft and have been broken in and out flying. I have moved Team 1 from the aviary section to the racing section. They are all flying out really well and doing around 60 minutes exercise daily at present. This has now freed up the avairy section ready for Team 2 when they arrive. I have the 2 old birds now in with Team 1 and they are flying very well and hopefully will be sent to Ramsgate (200 miles) tomorrow afternoon in preparation for the first of the channel races from Fourgeres in a couple of weeks. Again I am not too interested in the old birds this year and just sending them for the big races later in the season to fill time until the real fun begins with the young bird racing! The weather is terrible at the moment with rain, hence basketing for Ramsgate being put back to Saturday for a Sunday race.

Thursday 2 May 2013

Now for the Youngsters!

I have now passed my driving test and therefore I will now be concentrating 100% on the coming young bird season. I have decided to scrap the Old Bird season this year and will just send our 2 experienced Old Birds to the longer races this year.
The young birds will be split into 2 teams and hopefully we will have around 80 birds in total and therefore each team will have 40 birds. I have the first team out grouping and flying for between 45 minutes and 90 minutes which is very pleasing. The other team have not yet arrived in the loft but hopefully within the next 2-3 weeks will all be settled into place.
The young birds we have at present are currently in the Aviary section but I will now move these across to the Old bird racing section so that the 2 Old birds can exercise with them. They will be that much older than the 2nd team so therefore can pick a box etc in the nestbox kitted out section.
I intend to loft fly the 1st team for the next 2-3 weeks daily and then hopefully will start with the basket work.
This year we have birds bred by ourselves in various lofts around the country. 4 have gone to the Somerset One Loft race, 4 have gone to B.Williams and Son for the Pigeon Pixels Welsh Region Classic Challenge and 4 have gone to Eamon Wright in Ireland for the Pigeon Pixels One Loft Race and Irish Region Classic Challenge. We will keep all informed on their progress throughout the season and hopefully they will do the loft proud.
I am intending to send the 2 Old birds to a race now in the next 2-3 weeks but they need to get fit first around the loft. The two did race the other week from Newbury 97 miles but returned off the pace. Now they are going to start exercising with the youngsters I hope they will soon come into form. I am looking at the channel races for these two birds though and all the inland races will soley be used for training.