Pigeon Droppings
 |
2008 YOUNG BIRDS - YOUNG BIRD KITS |
Posted January 1st, 2008 |
We are not going to fly YB's this year--2008. As a result we will offer 5 - 2008 YB kits. Each kit will be 10 birds and will be $1500, including postage and box. The kits may be Janssen, Verkerk, or Tournier, or Ariel family. Since they are flying kits, they will be bred for flying.
|
||
|
Club Training Toss |
Posted September 8th, 2007 |
Next Saturday is our first race...100 miles from the South. So far, the winds have been out of the south for every toss I've made. My birds are flying by and cooming back from the north...for some strange reason. This is not exactly typical. I am not a really excellent blow-home flyer. I do not do well. Wish I knew why. Certainly part of it is a motivation issue. I really don't motivate the YB's as I should. I may have to separate them this year if I want to compete. Their condition is excellent, they just are over flying. I sent 100 and got 77 in the first drop. The guys in town (5 miles west and 4 miles short) beat me about 2 minutes, apparently. I didn't see the majority of the drop hit, but I did see about 15 birds coming from the north as the others were landing. Oh well...maybe when we really race they will do better. They didn't have a great week given the bad toss on Tuesday. I did get them all back today. We had the first bird in the clock at the PA Dutch Classic, yesterday. There were quiute a few on the drop and we finially got "lucky" and had one go in first. We had all four of our birds in the first drop. In the first race we had 3 of the 4 in the first drop. The winner yesterday was a straight Verkerk Janssen. It will be interestong to see how they fly around the loft this week. I really expect them to continue the great loft flying...I'll let you know. Tom
|
||
|
YB Training |
Posted September 4th, 2007 |
Like many others in West Texas, I did not train this past weekend. Saturday was the opening day of dove season. I have had them "shot-up" before, and I'm not very interested in that happening again. I did loft fly them and they did great. Both Sat & Sun they were up for over an hour to 1-1/2 hours. I was scheduled to go to Mississippi this week for work. Today was my only opportunity this week to train....so I did. It was not a good idea. The weather was bad. Skies were essentially 100% overcast, it was dark, and is sprinkled on me for 94 miles (94 air miles). I sat there about 45 minutes and released. They had a small tail wind, but the skies were not very inviting. They headed in the right direction, but you could tell they weren't really happy. When I got home there were no birds. In about 5 minutes 6 birds hits. I watched them come from the north...I took them south. I watched the first 40+ birds all come from the north. They straggled in all day. Tonight I still have 10 missing. I took 103. Until today I had only dropped 1-bird (I think) while training. They had been 60 miles 4-times prior to today. They don't seem hurt, but now I've got to watch them and take it easy with some of them. It was totally my fault....the bad part is that I got a call right after I got back from the toss and the trip was postponed. Yikes, sure wish I had known that before I decided to toss. It seems as though 1-bad toss is required prior to each YB race season. I certainly hope this was mine. They have been looking and acting great...now I must let them recover. Tom Beard
|
||
|
Chris Peeman |
Posted September 4th, 2007 |
As many of you know, Chris Peeman has stomach cancer and is not expected to live too much longer. I visited with Chris the past two weekends and had a great time with him. He was actually better this week than last...he really had his sense of humor and was able to laugh a little. It would be great if you could drop him an email, or give Bea a call and ask about him. He actually misses hearing from you. If you don't know him, he's a great guy and a real credit to our sport. He is a fancier! Tom Beard
|
||
|
Young Birds |
Posted August 15th, 2007 |
| I started training the YB's last week. Their 1st toss was about 6.5 miles, the 2nd toss was about 11 miles. The 3rd toss was back to the same 11 miles spot. The 4th toss was 25 miles, and today I took them back to the same 25 mile spot. They have been acceptable. So far I don't think any have been lost. They are coming in an inconsistent way. Today they came in 2 large groups about 10 minutes apart and them the remaining 12 came in about 15 more minutes. I started with 104, I think. I am releasing them all together. I don't find any advantage to the smaller groups...but I could be wrong. I have group trained this way for years and have had consistent good results. I have tried every way. This is the easiest, fastest, and the birds still race well. They have not been separated, either. I will keep them this way until the races start. If they do well I will probably not separate them....just because it is easier. The first race is the 3rd Saturday in September. That's 4-1/2 weeks. I have been going every other day. I have decided that pounding them every day was counter productive, for me. The day around the loft seems to help them get re-oriented and refresh their confidence. I will probabvly step out to 25-40 miles Saturday and stay there until they all come together in good time. Right now, I am only marginally pleased. They look good and act good...I just waited too long to get them down the road. They are loft flying well. On Tuesday they flew about 1-1/2 hours around the loft. A few came down just over an hour, but in excess of 85 stayed up. Typically, they fly a minimum of an hour, which is my goal; anything past that is gravy. I'm convinced that if they will fly an hour around the loft on a daily basis, you can minimize training, and have a very successful YB season. If they maintain an hour I will road train on Wednesday only at about 50-60 miles plus the 90-100 mile Saturday toss for those not in the Saturday race. We are flying south this year, which is a fast course, so I guess it might take more road work to keep them really sharp. We'll see !! Tom Beard August 15, 2007. |
||
|
I'm finally back in the USA !! |
Posted July 24th, 2007 |
| Since my last entry I have been to China and back. I arrived in Hoston this morning at 2:00 AM. I will be back in Midland in a couple hours. (It's about 10:30 AM, Tuesday) The Texas Center Race was a disappointment for me. They paid 10 places and I think our best was 17th. Both bird returned, which was significant, as many did not. I expect to win, and am disappointed when we don't at least get money back. We all know that these one loft races are all up for grabs....especially ones in July in Louisiana. China was interesting. I saw more average flyers this time. Went to one spot in Beijing where the entire block is for pigeon lofts. Most were brick outside, two story lofts, with the flying loft on the 2nd floor. There were 42 lofts in this block. I saw some really nice lofts and birds. I also went to the Ejerkamp (sp) China loft. Very nice birds and a one loft race loft that held 6,000 birds. It was about 20 feet above ground level and had wood slat floors and a concrete pad under the entire loft. As you might imagine, labor is cheap, so everything was very clean. They had at least 20 employees, total. The lofts are a two locations, about1/2 mile apart. The one loft race loft is separated from the main breeding and flying facility. Stuart Chu kindly gave me a great one-day tour. It was a good trip and very interesting. For those of you that have called and think I rudely do not return your calls, please realize I have been gone for almost 2 weeks. I will return all calls in the next couple days. I look forward to getting the YB's going. They have not been out during my absence. I decided to let the moult work harder. Tom |
||
|
Texas Center Convention |
Posted July 12th, 2007 |
| The Texas Center 2007 Convention began today in Lafayette, Louisiana. We enjoyed three lofts visits with a great lunch at the home of Fred Werner, where we saw his "Pigeon Palace". We also saw the lofts of Alfred Zaunbrecher and Larry Johnson. All the lofts were really nice and very functional. This afternoon Freddie Rivera presented his seminar entitled: "Choosing Breeders Using 10 Basic Criteria". He demonstrated some of his criteria using a bird and answered a number of good questions. Following the seminar all attendees were able to handle their convention race birds. There were 3-one loft categories: 4-$50/bird lofts; 1-$100/bird loft; and 1-$250/bird loft. The race will be liberated tomorrow morning (Friday July 13th). The race will apparently be 170 miles. The temperature will be in the 90's. The heat factor should be about 106F. It will probably be a hard race....and it usually is at these TC Conventions due to the extreme heat in the TC area. We have 2 birds in the $250-loft, which is the only race we choose to enter. There are 53 bird remaining from the original 100 that were entered. We match the % lost...we have 2 birds left. Both birds are "Ariel" family. One is a BB C that is a double great grandson of "Ariel" on the mother's side, with "Ariel" also on the father's side, as well as, the "Godfather", Ludo Claessens's "Michael Jordan", and "Super Gaby" & "Crystal" from Gaby Vandenabeele. The other bird is a BB H bred by a son of "Ariel" paired with a daughter of a DeKlak X an inbred "969" hen. I have no idea how they will do. The hen just dropped her 8th flight and the cock is ready to drop his 8th flight. Both handled well and looked alert and relatively "slick". The tail was complete on the cock and still in the process of molting on the hen. The underside of the end of cocks tail feathers were dirty (which I attempted cleaned with my fingernails), so perhaps he is paired and has some motivation to hurry!! Both birds are the product of 1st time pairings. Chas Siegels is from this area, and Ed Minvielle competes with the Lafayette club. They have set up their store in the convention hotel. For those of us who do not have a "pigeon" store near our homes, this is a real treat. As a member of the AU Speakers' Bureau, I have the opportunity to present the seminar tomorrow. My topic is "Year' Round Health System for Better Breeders". I have prepared a "Power Point" presentation and look forward to the seminar. I hope the presentation will be helpful and well received. The information is based on our experience at Double T Lofts and is probably not suited for everyone, but it has worked very well for us. The goal of the health system is not only to maintain healthy breeders, but to produce youngsters with pristine health. The seminar of Saturday will be presented by Jean-Louis Jorissen, from Europe, and will is entitled: "Combatting Young Bird Diseases Naturally". I am really looking forward to his presentation. It would be my preference to use something as beneign as possible, rather than some of the medications that may be more than necessary to prevent a sickness...and may even be counterproductive in the long run. We are pleased to have most of the AU Board in attendance and we will have the opportunity to receive a National Update from President, Steve Lawler, as well as a presentation entitled: "Protecting the Sport" from Bill Desmarais, an AU Zone Director. I hope to report more tomorrow or Saturday............Tom PS: If you have questions or comments for me, please email me at: tom@doubletlofts.com I will make an effort to answer all. If you want me to post the question and answer, please tell me so; otherwise, I will do it privately. |
||
|
Attention turns to Young Birds |
Posted July 3rd, 2007 |
| Now that we are done racing the OB's we will concentrate more on the YB's. The 9th flight has grown in and the 10th was pulled last Friday (June 29th). We gave them a SalBac shot on May 28th, when we pulled the 9th, and a booster on June 29th. This is the first time we have given the booster. Our club has started shipping the 300 miles races on Thursday, rather than Friday. Last YB's we had a little sickness following the first overnight trip in the trailer, so I decided to give them the SalBal booster shop. I will be gone most of the next several weeks, so the birds will simply get loft exercise with no discipline until I return on July 24th. Tosses will start when the 10th is completely (well almost completely) grown in. Our first YB race is the third Saturday in September. Most of our breeders have been separated. We do have the race birds tiogether to raise 1 baby. We put our best flying hens with our best breeder cock for a round. We will keep "Adam", "Noah", AsDuif", and "Soloman" breeding as they are too valuable to stop. We will also raise out of several other select birds, but 90% of the breeders are shut down. We will watch the hens closely for parathypoid...it sometimes seems to creep up on a couple hens after they have been separated. Next week is the Texas Center Convention in Lafayette, LA. I will leave on Wednesday morning. We have donated an excellent bird off "Zeke" and "Reflection" for their auction. It is a small hen, and really excellent. I have the opportunity to present one of the seminars. I will speak Friday , after the convention race, about "Year 'Round Health System for Better Breeders". That will be a fun time!! The TC Conventioois always a great time. On Sunday morning July 15th I leave on a trip to China. I will return on July 24th. |
||
|
Last Race |
Posted July 3rd, 2007 |
| This past weekend (6/30/2007) we made an attempt to participate in the Midwest Classic Race from Topeka, Kansas. Rain ruined that attempt, but we did move west to Salina, Kansas, and flew about 540 mile, rather than 600. We (Double T Loft)shipped 8 birds and were pleased to place 1,2,3,5,7,14, 30, and 34 (8/8). There were 9 lofts and 178 birds. Our release was 10:45 AM Saturday and we began clocking at 08:48 AM Sunday. It was disappointing not to get a 600, but we had a great club race with good results. Our last club race was June 2, 2007, so we had a 4 week break between the last 500 and this 540 mile race. We typically fly a modified widowhood system. For this race we flew the birds to eggs. The winner was a 4 year old son of "Noah" (full brother of "Adam") when he was paired to "Eve" ("Adam's normal "Hit Pair" mate). The second and third place birds were nest sisters off a son of "Crack 711" and "Ariel" when paired with a daughter of "Superman" and "Beauty". Please read about these breeders on this website. |
||
|
Welcome to our Blog! |
Posted June 26th, 2007 |
| This is the first post (of many) in our new blog appropriately titled: Pigeon Droppings. We will be posting many of the things that happen with our birds and we hope it will give ideas and encouragement to others who are interested in pigeons. We hope you enjoy reading! | ||