tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7459016014337831622024-02-02T00:12:36.106-06:00Young Bird TrainingA day to day journal of a racing pigeon young bird team's training and races.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-29054433169731484912017-10-04T09:26:00.002-05:002017-10-04T09:26:46.410-05:00I'm not racing, this season, but I'll sell you some Pigeon Poo!Finally Fall! I have a variety of late hatches I really should be flying and then training. Man! So busy! I need to pair up my two Black Eagles. I'm not sure they were a pair after all. <br />
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The Evansville Racing Pigeon Club Young Bird racing season is going strong. Follow them at <a href="http://twitter.com/evvrpc">http://twitter.com/evvrpc</a> <br />
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We are taking a break from racing this week because it is time once again for the <a href="http://www.nutclubfallfestival.com/">Evansville West Side Nut Club Fall Festival</a> We are booth #47 and the only place to get Pigeon Poo (it's a treat - you'll like it!)<br />
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Come on out to the nation's 2nd largest street festival (I heard this once, not sure if it's true). I see you at booth #47. It's a great cause! "Won't you please help us ship pigeons to Alabama?" :-) Oh, come on! Have a chili cheese hot tamale!RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-65666484472697371612016-01-22T15:58:00.001-06:002016-01-22T16:03:49.087-06:00I had an ACE Middle Distance Champion?!<table border="0" style="width: 720px;"><tbody>
<tr><td><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">NATIONAL ACE PIGEON SUMMARY REPORT (Middle Distance)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">AU National Database</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2014 Old Bird Season</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Printed on January 22, 2016</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Qualified birds from Indiana<br /><br /> POS AVE UNIRATE NAME RACING PIGEON CLR SEX QUALIFYING RACE MILES<br /><br /> 1 4.229% Robert Threet 0319 AU 12 EVV BB H 224, 167, 224, 224. <br /> 2 4.953% Mark Helfrich 0981 AU 13 EVV BC H 168, 225, 309, 225. <br /> 3 5.881% Donald Goodwin 0967 AU 12 EVV BB H 227, 311, 169, 227. <br /> 4 6.085% Randy Bean 4836 AU 13 WII BCH H 98, 337, 141, 298. <br /> 5 6.111% Steve Helfrich 11435 AU 11 HELF RCOP 168, 283, 225, 168. <br /> 6 6.142% Mark Helfrich 0459 AU 12 EVV BB H 225, 225, 225, 283. <br /> 7 6.434% Mark Helfrich 0444 AU 12 EVV BC C 225, 168, 309, 225. <br /> 8 7.153% Randy Bean 6261 AU 09 IDA BCH C 98, 98, 337, 298. <br /> 9 8.462% Randy Bean 4849 AU 13 WII BCH H 186, 189, 337, 141. <br /> 10 8.509% Steve Helfrich 0234 AU 12 EVV BB 309, 168, 225, 225. <br /> 11 8.674% Randy Bean 0690 AU 10 IDA BCH H 186, 189, 298, 141. <br /> 12 8.738% Mark Helfrich 4811 AU 11 EVV BC C 168, 225, 225, 309. <br /> 13 9.450% Randy Bean 6838 AU 09 IDA BCH C 186, 98, 337, 189. <br /> 14 9.588% Steve Helfrich 0238 AU 12 EVV BC 309, 225, 225, 168. </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>I have been scaling back, so I gave this bird and his father to other club members. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>I was not aware of this. Thanks Carl for pointing it out. </b></span>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-43480844378135033762011-10-11T09:52:00.000-05:002011-10-11T09:52:20.890-05:00No Futurity RaceThere will be no Futurity Race for me this year. I had only one of my 10 futurity birds left. For some reason, this was a particularly high loss season. She had been out 165 miles when I lost all of the remaining futurities so I held her back and just gave her deep training drops along with the rest. On her 4th drop from 64 miles, she did not come home. That was Sunday. On Monday evening, while driving home on the divided highway I saw a dead bird - a pigeon! It had to be a pigeon the size and color were right and there's not a lot of pigeons in the suburbs so it stood out (still amazing that I noticed it). I pulled over and walked back. Yup! A pigeon wearing the same blue race bands I use. I grabbed it's foot and pulled it back from the road to flip it over (I can't imagine what the passing cars thought of my actions). Sure enough, it was my last futurity bird. What a strange thing!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUu7AfxpiCx3Oo3zCVd-y5apyraPcxgnzQ-zn13gDVxbgLlZPs9mJcmkqvEAiD9z0H-HJ-lL2y6rpMcgwAOD9Srg9e785KKKMQdTY90PHFv7rDZR56eeEXQSmaYYj5HQ7uzPNVOiOhHS2/s1600/last.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUu7AfxpiCx3Oo3zCVd-y5apyraPcxgnzQ-zn13gDVxbgLlZPs9mJcmkqvEAiD9z0H-HJ-lL2y6rpMcgwAOD9Srg9e785KKKMQdTY90PHFv7rDZR56eeEXQSmaYYj5HQ7uzPNVOiOhHS2/s320/last.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-50441893073312100482011-09-17T13:53:00.000-05:002011-09-17T13:53:48.884-05:00It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.It's been busy. I missed a real high point. After 5 seasons of Young Bird Racing, I finally won! <br />
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<pre><span style="font-size: xx-small;">National Database-1 EVANSVILLE RACING PIGEON CLUB 09/17/11-12:44
Mt. Vernon IN
Weekly Race Report Page 1
Open and Junior Category
Name: FT. CAMPBELL 1 Young Bird Race Flown: 08/31/2011
Release(A): 07:00 Birds: 188 Lofts: 8 Station: FT. CAMPBKY (0201)
Weather (Rel) PC, SE 5, 60 deg (Arr) PC, SE 7, 80 deg
POS NAME BAND NUMBER CLR X ARRIVAL MILES TOWIN YPM WS Cus Pts NDB Std Pts
1 THREET ROB/30 5311 AU 11 EVV BB H 08:46:02 91.384 00.00 1516.795 187 97
2 THREET ROBERT 5393 AU 11 EVV GRIZ H 08:46:14 2/30 00.12 1513.892 186 95
3 THREET ROBERT 5324 AU 11 EVV BLK H 08:46:25 3/30 00.22 1511.355 185 92
4 HELFRICH S/30 11323 AU 11 HELF BB 08:48:19 92.274 01.14 1499.335 184 89
5 HELFRICH STEV 11306 AU 11 HELF BC 08:48:20 2/30 01.15 1499.104 183 87
6 HELFRICH STEV 11310 AU 11 HELF BCWF 08:48:20 3/30 01.15 1499.104 182 84
7 HELFRICH STEV 11327 AU 11 HELF BB 08:48:20 4/30 01.15 1499.104 181 81
8 HELFRICH STEV 11307 AU 11 HELF BC 08:48:21 5/30 01.16 1498.874 180 79
9 HELFRICH STEV 11329 AU 11 HELF BC 08:48:22 6/30 01.17 1498.643 179 76
10 HELFRICH STEV 11390 AU 11 HELF BC 08:48:27 7/30 01.22 1497.492 178 73
11 HELFRICH STEV 11321 AU 11 HELF BC 08:48:33 8/30 01.28 1496.112 177 71
12 HELFRICH STEV 11360 AU 11 HELF RC 08:48:48 9/30 01.43 1492.674 176 68
13 HELFRICH STEV 11366 AU 11 HELF BB 08:48:53 10/30 01.48 1491.532 175 65
14 HELFRICH STEV 11328 AU 11 HELF QUAL 08:49:05 11/30 02.00 1488.797 174 63
15 HELFRICH STEV 11314 AU 11 HELF BB 08:49:06 12/30 02.01 1488.570 173 60
16 HELFRICH STEV 11402 AU 11 HELF BBWF 08:49:06 13/30 02.01 1488.570 172 57
17 HELFRICH STEV 11394 AU 11 HELF BKSP 08:49:09 14/30 02.04 1487.888 171 55
18 HELFRICH STEV 11401 AU 11 HELF BCSP 08:49:11 15/30 02.06 1487.434 170 52
19 HELFRICH STEV 11311 AU 11 HELF BB 08:49:14 16/30 02.09 1486.753 169 49
--------------------------------- Above are 10 percent -------------------------</span></pre><pre></pre><pre style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The next race - no so good. 70th place and I dropped 7 birds (out of 31). </span></pre><pre style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We flew the first two on Wednesdays to avoid dove season opening weekend. </span></pre><pre style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I picked up 2 birds just in time for race 3. I held back the two stragglers and sent</span></pre><pre style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">24 birds. I only got back 8 race day! So, at the end of the day I now had 10 birds.</span></pre><pre style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I had 31 only four days earlier. Very depressing. I did get several birds in the top </span></pre><pre style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">10% and 20% though.</span></pre><pre style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></pre><pre style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">National Database-1 EVANSVILLE RACING PIGEON CLUB 09/17/11-12:49
Haubstadt IN
Weekly Race Report Page 1
Open and Junior Category
Name: COLUMBIA 5 Young Bird Race Flown: 09/10/2011
Release(A): 07:00 Birds: 159 Lofts: 8 Station: COLUMBIA, TN (0203)
Weather (Rel) PC, Calm, 52 deg (Arr) Cloudy, WSW-5, 75 deg
POS NAME BAND NUMBER CLR X ARRIVAL MILES TOWIN YPM WS Cus Pts NDB Std Pts
1 SIMPSON DON/8 4434 AU 11 EVV BKCK H 10:57:52 179.426 00.00 1327.593 316 97
2 SIMPSON DON 4430 AU 11 EVV BLCK C 11:01:08 2/8 03.16 1309.527 314 94
3 GOODWIN DO/30 4561 AU 11 EVV BC H 10:50:01 169.333 05.32 1295.631 312 91
4 HELFRICH S/30 11307 AU 11 HELF BC 10:50:49 167.769 08.24 1279.229 310 87
5 GOODWIN DON 4596 AU 11 EVV BBWF H 10:54:57 2/30 10.28 1268.427 308 84
6 SIMPSON DEB/6 4485 AU 11 EVV BLCK H 11:10:33 179.426 12.41 1260.363 306 81
7 SIMPSON DEBBI 4483 AU 11 EVV BLCK H 11:10:35 2/6 12.42 1260.220 304 78
8 THREET ROB/24 5323 AU 11 EVV BB C 10:58:39 167.476 16.37 1235.086 302 75
9 HELFRICH M/30 4859 AU 11 EVV BC C 11:03:58 167.945 21.18 1211.598 300 72
10 HELFRICH STEV 11306 AU 11 HELF BC 11:03:53 2/30 21.28 1210.692 298 69
11 HELFRICH MARK 4114 AU 11 EVV BB C 11:04:10 2/30 21.30 1210.606 296 65
12 HELFRICH STEV 11315 AU 11 HELF BBWF 11:03:56 3/30 21.31 1210.444 294 62
13 HELFRICH MARK 4802 AU 11 EVV RB C 11:04:58 3/30 22.18 1206.652 292 59
14 BUTCH GARR/15 4314 AU 11 EVV H 11:02:17 165.270 23.10 1200.609 290 56
15 BUTCH GARRISO 4324 AU 11 EVV H 11:07:23 2/15 28.17 1175.801 288 53
16 SIMPSON DEBBI 4480 AU 11 EVV BLCK H 11:33:48 3/6 35.55 1153.361 286 50
--------------------------------- Above are 10 percent -------------------------
17 SIMPSON DON 4040 AU 11 EVV BLCK C 11:33:50 3/8 35.57 1153.220 284 47
18 SIMPSON DEBBI 4482 AU 11 EVV BB C 11:33:52 4/6 36.00 1153.045 282 43
19 SIMPSON DON 4041 AU 11 EVV BLCK H 11:33:55 4/8 36.03 1152.834 280 40
20 SIMPSON DEBBI 4050 AU 11 EVV GRIZ C 11:33:58 5/6 36.06 1152.631 278 37
21 SIMPSON DON 4435 AU 11 EVV BLCK C 11:36:45 5/8 38.53 1141.039 276 34
22 GOODWIN DON 4509 AU 11 EVV BB H 11:24:04 3/30 39.34 1128.607 274 31
23 HELFRICH STEV 11314 AU 11 HELF BB 11:23:12 4/30 40.47 1121.839 272 28
24 GARRISON B/16 4275 AU 11 EVV RDCK H 11:37:03 163.374 01:00 1037.857 270 25
25 BUTCH GARRISO 4312 AU 11 EVV H 11:47:32 3/15 01:08 1011.660 268 21
26 BUTCH GARRISO 4353 AU 11 EVV H 11:47:32 4/15 01:08 1011.649 266 18
27 BUTCH GARRISO 4322 AU 11 EVV H 11:47:35 5/15 01:08 1011.473 264 15
28 BUTCH GARRISO 4306 AU 11 EVV H 11:47:37 6/15 01:08 1011.320 262 12
29 GARRISON BUTC 4218 AU 11 EVV BLCK H 11:51:48 2/16 01:15 985.396 260 9
30 THREET ROBERT 5321 AU 11 EVV BLK C 12:12:15 2/24 01:30 943.969 258 6
31 THREET ROBERT 1229 AU 11 APA BC H 12:20:15 3/24 01:38 920.365 256 3
32 SIMPSON DON 4432 AU 11 EVV BLCK H 12:43:44 6/8 01:45 918.702 254 0
--------------------------------- Above are 20 percent -------------------------</span></pre><pre style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">
</span></pre><pre style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today's race was one of the best for my birds - not sure how I did against the</span></span></span></pre><pre style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">other but 9 out of 10 came in at the expected time. I may only have 11 birds left,</span></span></span></pre><pre style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">but the are pretty good based on that race. Gotta go - they are waiting on a bath</span></span></span></pre><pre style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(since they can hear that I gave the breeding loft baths). :-) </span></span></span></pre><pre style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></span></pre><pre></pre>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-14858873808298525142011-08-30T09:23:00.001-05:002011-08-30T09:23:46.823-05:00Chicken Guts Made Me Late<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://is.gd/vw7bGK" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://is.gd/vw7bGK" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not my pic - Never got that close.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I left 15 minutes early for my usual pre-work training drop of 42 miles. Tyson has a chicken processing plant down that way. Evidently, <a href="http://www.14news.com/story/15356989/part-of-the-pennyrile-shut-down-after-semi-accident">a truck full of "chicken guts" jack knifed and closed the south-bound parkway down</a>. Another truck, trying to get around, somehow jack-knifed and closed the north-bound lanes. So much truck traffic was being diverted off onto the nearest exit - that pretty soon two trucks wrecked on the exit and they closed THAT exit down. What a mess! RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-17677683706519157972011-08-27T21:24:00.001-05:002011-08-27T21:25:22.513-05:00Jumping up another 22 miles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZQI7bzuaEdsjUmhyphenhyphenoc0GO_c_qnC4RtAhHbUqG5r4WjE0M0Gful0vOcdpheQuzP8rr0Rh_elzR2s2z2nqguLLlgRrElXrHl5e4W9bkDHAtwBbE4FM_YT-XQF5Ymz9Zn6nBniMyq5cE4R7/s1600/IMG_20110827_062955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZQI7bzuaEdsjUmhyphenhyphenoc0GO_c_qnC4RtAhHbUqG5r4WjE0M0Gful0vOcdpheQuzP8rr0Rh_elzR2s2z2nqguLLlgRrElXrHl5e4W9bkDHAtwBbE4FM_YT-XQF5Ymz9Zn6nBniMyq5cE4R7/s200/IMG_20110827_062955.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I woke up at 4:30am. "Might as well get the birds down the road", I thought. I love it that time of morning. It was cool. I even saw my breath when I first exhaled on the back deck. Your eyes are so completely dark adjusted it seems like there are so many more stars. I get my preview of the winter constellation, Orion, rising over the trees. I'm pretty sure that out of place star west of Taurus is Jupiter - unless my eyes are so dark adjusted that Saturn seems that bright (unlikely). <br />
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The birds are easy to load. And very quiet - except one: Ug! That ugly common has trapped back in! I took him off 42 miles and he came back two days later after (as far as I know) only being in the loft one day. Impressive homing instinct for a mature, untrained common barn pigeon. Let's see if he can come back from 64 miles.<br />
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I was early. The site is higher so just as I got there the elevation rose so that the sun rose. I would give it another 12 minutes while the birds settled. I gave the common a 12 minute head start. ;-) When I released them, they circled only once and then headed on an exact bearing for home. Sixteen beat me home. According to the weather channel, they had a 2mph head wind and still covered 64 miles in 67 minutes. (Wow! Please do that in a race sometime!) The other half was WAY out. My theory is these guys were so fast the others wore out trying to keep up and must've set down to rest because they have been coming in all together from 42 miles (last 3 of 5 drops anyway).<br />
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Surprises - 5391, the son of 306, came in 3rd seconds behind the first two (the first 15 all clocked in within 2 minutes. 306 was the son of a white show racer and my slowest but very loyal 500 mile bird. It'll be interesting to see how he does in races.<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=robertspage-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0002IEQM8&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-57348968310892474782011-08-25T10:00:00.000-05:002011-08-25T10:00:56.377-05:00Lookin much better from 42 miles<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvXxRrJBENHVLP2wDuv6csuNihZuEgEKazzVtnrqDkcGG0lppXkYPfZE5VXTa9YOUavPu-I6A9DpEsJjG79PPZD4zjg3CXlSiRaf7YWCSJd50PK4KlY6s6kokTUtzWzvxLqaRKs4BkTpYK/s1600/IMG_20110825_070301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvXxRrJBENHVLP2wDuv6csuNihZuEgEKazzVtnrqDkcGG0lppXkYPfZE5VXTa9YOUavPu-I6A9DpEsJjG79PPZD4zjg3CXlSiRaf7YWCSJd50PK4KlY6s6kokTUtzWzvxLqaRKs4BkTpYK/s200/IMG_20110825_070301.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite drop</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMEcID4E-s5D8QcWt5Swcp5c0cG8MMX1NXAZnarR9gq3xLo_L6qYqwdwD_7uLhwvsV860kCEaHZ6PuJQrYNTRx_nBH57SVw50sanafbeQsETTMirEcN8_aUy-QQscVZ2YuCXeHKeLKy2SO/s1600/IMG_20110825_070311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMEcID4E-s5D8QcWt5Swcp5c0cG8MMX1NXAZnarR9gq3xLo_L6qYqwdwD_7uLhwvsV860kCEaHZ6PuJQrYNTRx_nBH57SVw50sanafbeQsETTMirEcN8_aUy-QQscVZ2YuCXeHKeLKy2SO/s200/IMG_20110825_070311.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">racing pigeons against sunrise</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Yesterday's time was really good. Today's was slower but they had a pretty good head wind and even then it was okay - they were on time anyway. The best part - 27 of 30 clocked in on time! I check the loft and I had 31 last night. HOWEVER, 2 of them were without race bands which means they weren't here Sunday when I banded them all. After I released them, I called and the loft manager said there was already one eating. A straggler had come in - a futurity. Oh well. This was the 4th drop from 42 miles. Tomorrow makes 5 drops (as I want them to break this early). This weekend the weather is looking good for 2 drops from 64 miles. Then, if I can (and the weather is looking like I can), I will drop them from 42 miles again Monday & Tuesday (boxing night). I like to get them a good stretch before shipping.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-80141535205998065472011-08-24T08:46:00.000-05:002011-08-24T08:46:04.041-05:00Meh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMcyO82D6ELpWfD-_zDpA14TlWDKPlrXCNxnnqqqfe8RhP0VN2YjsnRmwCfYsKUngMLsz-MjEJR-G7eZP6KIRk0jHBeVjdfgxq3gSvo3H8BXcwqaK09uf7IH06SrkE1zqZkOBKtib32Fm/s1600/IMG_20110820_091953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMcyO82D6ELpWfD-_zDpA14TlWDKPlrXCNxnnqqqfe8RhP0VN2YjsnRmwCfYsKUngMLsz-MjEJR-G7eZP6KIRk0jHBeVjdfgxq3gSvo3H8BXcwqaK09uf7IH06SrkE1zqZkOBKtib32Fm/s200/IMG_20110820_091953.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Been too depressed by results to post. This has been the worst batch ever. I've begun to wonder if they've gotten respiratory infections again. I dropped 34 birds from 42 miles and only got 15 back after 2 and a half hours. By dusk I had 27. In the morning I had picked up 3 (I think) but it these came in after I closed the loft and it looked like a raccoon got one of them. <br />
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I wrote down the numbers of the birds that clocked in mostly together more than an hour late - the rest were way out and all over the place. I figured the 2nd half of stragglers pulled these guys down SO I basketed them separately for a separate release. When I release the "fast" birds - they would not leave the site. They kept circling and coming back. After nearly 20 minutes, as risk for being late for work, I released the "slow" birds. They quickly found the others and together they all went straight home and clocked in pretty on time. Weird.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_54BG3rrJTr169o3mu6vmrN7nxMfM4ik3J4otFNIe6JPD37OxICHZFRqJGI0qPV_ud7tzsYgVSk41WpIClK-3pfXv3ig7CtTp_bhz3eDGrXL1jRPmVqasT2f8XGWYuNenYAirGjJy_Qxm/s1600/IMG_20110824_065631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_54BG3rrJTr169o3mu6vmrN7nxMfM4ik3J4otFNIe6JPD37OxICHZFRqJGI0qPV_ud7tzsYgVSk41WpIClK-3pfXv3ig7CtTp_bhz3eDGrXL1jRPmVqasT2f8XGWYuNenYAirGjJy_Qxm/s200/IMG_20110824_065631.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
This morning I had 30 birds in the loft. 10 of my 12 blacks (dropped Picard). I dropped both pretty tortoise grizzles from Alaska. That makes at least half the Alaska birds. These guys are kitting tightly and took off in a hurry towards home. It was their 4th drop from 42 miles. About 2 miles north, they crossed in front of me coming back heading straight west from the east. *sigh* (They should be going straight NNW). Oh well. I hope to get them down there tomorrow and Friday and then jump them up to 64 miles Sat & Sun. The race is only 92 miles next Wednesday so they should be fine.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-21619921997823441562011-08-15T09:27:00.005-05:002011-08-15T14:28:54.028-05:00Looking Good at 24 miles!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKU_x02Tj9ION1zRV2mEtVLDAy7awoD0K2tS2125sLGmmsTUNuzRAgVICNblug-B784kmOwf9PPAIZ6sIshJfwB7XYUW2krP5738Nx69eXOaas5QIBz_RH3C9KSyyiRehBWdsChUa55oYa/s1600/IMG_20110815_070848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKU_x02Tj9ION1zRV2mEtVLDAy7awoD0K2tS2125sLGmmsTUNuzRAgVICNblug-B784kmOwf9PPAIZ6sIshJfwB7XYUW2krP5738Nx69eXOaas5QIBz_RH3C9KSyyiRehBWdsChUa55oYa/s200/IMG_20110815_070848.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJ8jPRzd5SGYTR_BgaQYZUnORcTwVDnNyUOzDBZfDUJu0jdZ79MZ7Oh5QbVgvWbWMAS5XcnVmQbNAdBIK5Y4GqzdUfsEJ_WtfD-xv3KlvLMtsJr9JtHU2esFpU4aOlALxNWeT3IFNSs8L/s1600/IMG_20110815_070850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJ8jPRzd5SGYTR_BgaQYZUnORcTwVDnNyUOzDBZfDUJu0jdZ79MZ7Oh5QbVgvWbWMAS5XcnVmQbNAdBIK5Y4GqzdUfsEJ_WtfD-xv3KlvLMtsJr9JtHU2esFpU4aOlALxNWeT3IFNSs8L/s200/IMG_20110815_070850.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The corn was much taller than previous years at this drop. I am a couple of weeks later than usual. There are 36 that are doing well and another 2-3 that are struggling. I was worried I'd be able to get done with training but it looks really good. If the weather does ok - I'll be at 42 miles by Friday - an entire week before shipping for the first race. I hope to get them out 64 miles before that (and maybe one drop at 82 miles if we're really lucky (and I'm not too sleepy)).<br />
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I finally remembered to turn on my camera before releasing! :-)<br />
RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-34847869542701653632011-08-12T08:42:00.001-05:002011-08-12T08:45:33.957-05:00And then there were 36<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNe3jFHhcNziOiMw_2uMXbhjE84i-1DUmVL8QplHBmtgp8oT2CEhNRHEnW5HsK6QnJbLQYwodbFjIZ71x4ID-IvABzn41MtrbGBDpGIHHpQOpkFOw4_SlJgTDmyRH6C9oZb1pFotgc8az/s1600/12milesYB2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNe3jFHhcNziOiMw_2uMXbhjE84i-1DUmVL8QplHBmtgp8oT2CEhNRHEnW5HsK6QnJbLQYwodbFjIZ71x4ID-IvABzn41MtrbGBDpGIHHpQOpkFOw4_SlJgTDmyRH6C9oZb1pFotgc8az/s200/12milesYB2011.jpg" width="200" /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=robertspage-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0395698480&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to enlarge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Okay, these 36 look pretty good. I keep forgetting to take pictures. This one was taken too late but it's all I've got. They are doing wonderful at 12 miles (although I dropped those last 3 weak ones on the first drop from here). I am going to drop them across the river and into town a bit. It's about 14-15 miles. Two drops there and then we jump up to 24 miles. I want them to know this area well, it is probably the breakpoint.<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=robertspage-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0395698480&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-21106802262100806162011-08-10T16:49:00.000-05:002011-08-10T16:49:29.050-05:00Slow GoingIt is going to be exciting this year. I still need to get all the racing bands on the birds and get them in the computer. I hope to get them used to the computer trap sooner this year (that would be right now!). I took a week off to medicate them. I believe many of them had respiratory infections. They are mostly looking better now. I hope to jump them up to 12 miles tomorrow. 16 days until we basket for the first race. Yikes! I'll be lucky to get them trained out as far as I like (64 miles).RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-54499440724119525172011-07-28T08:59:00.000-05:002011-07-28T08:59:46.304-05:00on the 3rd day of trainingI dropped another yesterday. I had two weak fliers this morning. Not sure what is going on. I left back Aqua so I only too out 40 this morning. I'm giving up on Aqua. The black hen 5381 is acting pretty weird. Her and a pied blue bar flew up in a tree. After the others left they took off each by themselves toward home. I will medicate them and hold them back when I jump up to 6 miles tomorrow. The other 38 looked real good.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-27471370144536804192011-07-26T08:40:00.000-05:002011-07-26T08:40:02.663-05:00And then there were 42Sad and strange. A first. While dropping the birds from their first training release I found a dead bird in the basket. It was 5380 - the one that seemed to be having problems after vaccines Saturday. She felt a little light but had been flying. I sure didn't expect to find her like that. I basketed just before 6am and released just before 8am. I have administered that vaccine nearly 200 times in the last 4 years and never had a problem. <br />
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I held back one: Aqua. The one with the freakish obsession for drinking bath water. He has, no doubt, picked up something from that bad habit. He was seriously light this weekend but I administered some meds and he's feeling better. He has always been strangely tame. He flies up on our shoulders when we go in to feed. I keep meaning to hand feed him. I think he's going to be a pet instead of a racer. (Sorry Phil - yep, he's one of yours).RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-62142033814694989492011-07-24T09:21:00.000-05:002011-07-24T09:21:02.630-05:00Least favorite part is doneMy least favorite part of this hobby is administering the PMV vaccine via syringe. It takes a long time and I always feel bad about it. This time I had two incidents. I hit a vein on one and it bled a bit - not too much but that still bothered me. More scary, one of my blacks was having what appeared to be an anaphylactic reaction to the vaccine. I didn't notice until I was closing them up at night. First I noticed he was not in his roost. Then I noticed he appeared to have a cough but, under closer inspection, I decided he was having some breathing difficulty. I watched him a bit, considered administering Benadryl, but then decided he was not in immediate danger and left him alone. Sure enough, he was fine this morning.<br />
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While the birds were waiting in the boxes in the A/C (their first time being boxed), I cleaned the loft, put down litter, fresh water and feed for their return. After two syringes (12 birds) I'd drop them off and freshen the feed a bit (since the early birds would fish out all the good stuff). I was after 4pm when the last batch was dropped off. I put the bath pans in and they became very excited and stopped feeding and came up for a late afternoon bath (it was miserably hot). After the bath - they we wondering why they were cooped up. So, I flew them. I'd say 2/3rds felt up to some flying. The next morning - all of the regular fliers were ready to go. I have a few who always have to be tossed out and one black hen who is nesting. So, things looked back to normal today. <br />
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I will begin training Monday morning. I have exactly one month to get my 19 training drops in (three each 2.5 miles, then 6, 12, 14, 24, 42, 64 and one at 82). I can (and often do) squeeze the 12 & 14 down to 2 each and forgo the 82 mile at the end for a total of 16 drops. If I thought I were really pressed for time, I'd drop the 3rd 2.5 mile and drop from 64 miles only one. <br />
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If I get ahead of schedule, I continually drop from 42 miles because it is a convenient location. It's just off the Interstate and it takes me just as long to get to the 24 mile as it does to this drop. The 14 mile also takes longer than it's worth but I want them to know that area well and hopefully break no later than that.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-83609319128055384262011-07-11T18:06:00.000-05:002011-07-11T18:06:01.716-05:00Kitting Nicely<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvwHhdrc2gqrpcXyqiv_UqYWnGHPc7D1_a1j7TZZz_cav1W2K6Wt8OgDCg52Tv3JPHh4p_YV2_ZIIR_fq1sFb3Baf_UxqWzSTiXZ3vk7Kr4Mws10OgbUYHHKzO_WuI-l0AqAVdDcbg1ofF/s1600/kittingYB2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvwHhdrc2gqrpcXyqiv_UqYWnGHPc7D1_a1j7TZZz_cav1W2K6Wt8OgDCg52Tv3JPHh4p_YV2_ZIIR_fq1sFb3Baf_UxqWzSTiXZ3vk7Kr4Mws10OgbUYHHKzO_WuI-l0AqAVdDcbg1ofF/s200/kittingYB2011.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I was worried about the younger half but they are all kitting now. I had to shoo several out. The Alaska birds seem to not like our 115 degree heat index and prefer the cool loft (amazing design - it stays pretty nice in there - I need to put a thermometer in there to see how cool). <br />
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I can't wait to start taking them down the road. It's going to be fun!RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-55146091994743495412011-05-19T08:27:00.000-05:002011-05-19T08:27:58.076-05:00Late Breeding Means Short Old Bird SeasonI had a terrible breeding season. Not sure exactly why - perhaps the bitterly cold winter over came my tricking them into thinking its Spring with extra morning and evening lighting. At any rate - I really needed all of those late hatches for the Young Bird Team and didn't want to risk losing any feeders so I stayed out the first 5 races. Combined with the terrible weather - I am just now getting the birds out 42 miles. They've done that twice and have been loft flying in the evenings since March so they're in fairly good condition - though the older cocks are a bit heavy. They switched the 165 with a 300 so I had to lay out yet another race. I hope to get them a 100 mile training drop before going to their first OB race of 225 miles.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-7426839285576403002011-04-08T10:53:00.000-05:002011-04-08T10:53:53.490-05:00New Young Birds from Alaska<div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyQhD1w-EAlbWG_1GQ9wv2yoImao3JuKKUVl_nKiUukIoPIiOkhMub_xnKWHXl5m93Vf8yprG6URUDxPUJKMF8RFmm8c8_BQ1AOAaG-l-XWzwfWqsfPiaKf7klrkfa2Qa5slEpgp25MZk/s1600/AlaskaYB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyQhD1w-EAlbWG_1GQ9wv2yoImao3JuKKUVl_nKiUukIoPIiOkhMub_xnKWHXl5m93Vf8yprG6URUDxPUJKMF8RFmm8c8_BQ1AOAaG-l-XWzwfWqsfPiaKf7klrkfa2Qa5slEpgp25MZk/s200/AlaskaYB.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Just got four new young birds - very pretty young birds from a breeder in Alaska! They got here pretty quick - two days - and looked good and healthy. They settled in with the rest of my young bird team very nicely. They are two light and two dark grizzles. I especially like the darker grizzles as they have quite a bit of red. I would call them almond or bronze. Steve calls them tortoise. They are actually redder than the picture shows. I have 22 young birds banded with more on the way. I am hoping for about 36 on the 2011 young bird team.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-44088227598845924932011-03-08T09:23:00.000-06:002011-03-08T09:23:29.295-06:00Evansville Racing Pigeon Club new member driveI told the rest of the club - "If <a href="http://animal.discovery.com/tv/taking-on-tyson/">Mike Tyson</a>, The Coffee News, <a href="http://www.courierpress.com/events/2011/feb/24/7334/">Courier & Press</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/Laurenfox7WTVW">Fox 7</a> & <a href="http://www.wiky.com/on-air/wiky-morning-show">WIKY</a> don't bring some interest into the new member drive at Central library tonight - I'm going to start getting discouraged!" We had a whirlwind of a morning promoting the Evansville Racing Pigeon Club's New Member Drive this morning. The event is at <a href="http://evpl.org/aboutus/locations/ce/">Central Library tonight</a> at 7pm and we're hoping for a crowd! At 6:55am we were on Fox 7 and then had to be over to the radio station at 7:40am. <a href="http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=252916&shr=addthis">(Click here to see the video).</a> Cross your fingers!<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=robertspage-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1888617004&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-85536103380926581302011-02-17T08:25:00.001-06:002011-02-17T09:34:26.106-06:00Nearly 70 degrees - First Liberation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmVFuu3SmaZGP3ObLwOVJyB4OoL3T72hi3HFmpMX2RWHM3YhIiODjswoIFtGDXKF4p2MppRwLj7UXm-yIG4qk_gCFmoe8dOZ87GnIKnleZd88ycMULa6llgfVy-hNNNlGUvOQcYkTNMbl/s1600/firstflite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmVFuu3SmaZGP3ObLwOVJyB4OoL3T72hi3HFmpMX2RWHM3YhIiODjswoIFtGDXKF4p2MppRwLj7UXm-yIG4qk_gCFmoe8dOZ87GnIKnleZd88ycMULa6llgfVy-hNNNlGUvOQcYkTNMbl/s200/firstflite.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>It was the first time many of the late hatches had been out and just about the only time the old birds had been out since I started training young birds. I came home early and they looked pretty antsy - it had been nearly 70 degrees (it's supposed to break a record today at 72). As soon as I opened the trap they started busting for the exit. With only 30 minutes before sun down, I figured they'd be safe from hawks, especially if I stayed and watched - which I did (supper got cold, oh well). You could feel their joy as they climbed into the wind and then zoomed down with the wind. The late hatches tried to keep up with the old birds and after less than two minutes were back on the roof panting, resting before going again. I was amazed that everyone went back up fine - even the late hatches. Such an intelligent bird! I expected some of the Young Birds would protest and try to get back in the Young Bird loft but they didn't. The <a href="http://www.silug.org/%7Erobert/loft/">11' geodesic winter fly pen</a> spoiled them, I guess. Need to do this every night and start getting them conditioned for old bird races in April.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-85438976638474236882011-02-11T08:25:00.000-06:002011-02-11T08:25:54.756-06:00Breeding Season Well UnderwayI'm being more selective this year. I moved eggs from two preferred pair to two foster parents. I am determined to keep certain pairs from reproducing this year due to their track record. Still - it felt weird to break eggs this time of year. I worry the pairs I've taken eggs from will hesitate to start another round and I really need them to. It is going to be a very interesting young bird team! Black Eagles, Black Knights, black Houbens, Black Diamonds - it's going to be a dark year.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-91909010955633896602010-11-04T10:19:00.002-05:002010-11-05T13:53:36.646-05:00Stitches<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswtr0a_T-jB0K7s_LwqMrZJ_C_6RUoU3K27AUB70zT-p5SlD4mQPrhyXELJwzRCBVqwm-RgA1OdYwvu72pLhgICsqeTZ27LfHB04we34vTjZn5H-BBBNKi8bH_FaXwm_9LOdDXnLVVZtp/s1600/3331a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswtr0a_T-jB0K7s_LwqMrZJ_C_6RUoU3K27AUB70zT-p5SlD4mQPrhyXELJwzRCBVqwm-RgA1OdYwvu72pLhgICsqeTZ27LfHB04we34vTjZn5H-BBBNKi8bH_FaXwm_9LOdDXnLVVZtp/s200/3331a.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I just realized that my best bird ever, the young bird that came within 42 seconds of winning the big race, was the one I had to <a href="http://is.gd/gIlNO">stitch up before training</a> because she got damaged by a hawk. Tiny little hen. Never would've guessed her to nearly win a 300 mile race as a young bird.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-25327422960232233742010-10-29T13:56:00.002-05:002010-11-05T14:02:33.260-05:00The Big Race - 42 seconds to win<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1p00JqpzvLV_6l9pn4bBHSjqL7fSLVyylErfNcKTnlmgmPEo84JSsECdJd8a0WsPRZJD2Iu3o3r_y5L9ezTAUzLcM-Sl1mq9jLHqjpoM_JXOXWj9ybgD6efc17GoNLvgKJeJOeJBuaP7/s1600/3331b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1p00JqpzvLV_6l9pn4bBHSjqL7fSLVyylErfNcKTnlmgmPEo84JSsECdJd8a0WsPRZJD2Iu3o3r_y5L9ezTAUzLcM-Sl1mq9jLHqjpoM_JXOXWj9ybgD6efc17GoNLvgKJeJOeJBuaP7/s200/3331b.jpg" width="162" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3331 Click - Good hi-res</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It was hard work. Two and a half extra hours before work boxing and driving the birds down for training - several days a week. I sat out the 225 the week before because it would start off with a head wind. I felt that would grind them down too much before the more important Futurity and Triple Crown race the next week. Instead, I sent them on the short race which was later, after the wind shifted into a tail wind. They coasted in real causal, obviously not too hurried or tired. The winds were westerly and my loft being 6 miles straight west of the rest meant the scores weren't anything to brag about. <br />
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Then came the week of the race. I really poured it on! I just loft flew them Sunday through Tuesday but Wednesday, Thursday and Friday they went for 42 mile flight before breakfast and were then liberated most of the rest of the day. The always did this in about 50-55 minutes (usually against a slight head wind) but on Friday - they took 1 hour 45 minutes. My guess is, the hawk was back bothering them. I noticed it likes to perch on the loft about that time of day waiting on them. Oh well, they got an extra hour of training and were then locked in until basketing for the race. I can honestly say I don't see what else I could've done for them. They were in great condition. <br />
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[Race Day: About 1:20pm] I was goofing off after feeding, watering and even bathing all the critters. Eating lunch while watching TV. I wasn't even thinking of looking at the loft clock until 2pm. The phone rang. It was Larry asking how many I got back. "What? You've got a bird already?!" "Got a bunch of them and they've been here a while. You'd better go check your loft!" So I ran out to the loft and I had 7 birds in! The first came in at 12:26:18! They had flown 308 miles in 5 hours and 11 minutes! I was amazed. What's more, I was 15 minutes ahead of a loft 6 miles shorter than me. "That's a pretty good indicator!", I thought. I didn't get too excited as this never seems to turn out.<br />
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RACE RESULTS: I got the first bird in! However, 12 seconds later 2 more birds came in together at Marks loft 6 miles east and almost 1 mile north (overflight) of me. They took 1st and 2nd place. I got 3rd place with a blue bar #3331. "42 seconds to win" the computer said. It was pretty cool and a little annoying at the same time. I've never scored higher than 3rd. 2nd would've, of course, been better. But 42 seconds from 1st place after 300+ miles was pretty cool! I'll take it.<br />
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<pre><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">National Database-1 EVANSVILLE RACING PIGEON CLUB 11/05/10-12:59</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> Evansville IN</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> Weekly Race Report Page 1</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> Open and Sportsman Category</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Name: BIRMINGHAM 13 Young Bird Race Flown: 10/23/2010</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Release(A): 07:15 Birds: 134 Lofts: 9 Station: BIRMINGHAAL (0207)</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Weather (Rel) Clear, SE-5, 57 deg (Arr) PC, SE-15, 80 deg</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">POS NAME BAND NUMBER CLR X ARRIVAL MILES TOWIN YPM WS Cus Pts NDB Std Pts</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 1 HELFRICH S/30 10145 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:26:28 309.191 00.00 1747.107 532 96 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 2 HELFRICH STEV 10172 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:26:30 2/30 00.02 1746.920 528 93 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 3 THREET ROB/15 3331 AU 10 EVV BB H 12:26:16 308.276 00.42 1743.103 524 89 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 4 HELFRICH M/30 2509 AU 10 EVV BC H 12:27:38 309.389 00.57 1741.737 520 85 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 5 HELFRICH MARK 2590 AU 10 EVV BC H 12:27:42 2/30 01.01 1741.365 516 81 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 6 HELFRICH MARK 2580 AU 10 EVV BC H 12:27:46 3/30 01.05 1740.994 512 78 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 7 HELFRICH STEV 10121 AU 10 HELF BC H 12:27:35 3/30 01.07 1740.866 508 74 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 8 HELFRICH STEV 10141 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:27:36 4/30 01.08 1740.773 504 70 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 9 HELFRICH STEV 10161 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:27:37 5/30 01.09 1740.681 500 66 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 10 HELFRICH STEV 10114 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:27:38 6/30 01.10 1740.588 496 63 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 11 HELFRICH STEV 10106 AU 10 HELF BC H 12:27:39 7/30 01.11 1740.495 492 59 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 12 HELFRICH STEV 10130 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:27:39 8/30 01.11 1740.495 488 55 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 13 HELFRICH STEV 10235 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:27:40 9/30 01.12 1740.402 484 51 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 14 HELFRICH STEV 10139 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:27:41 10/30 01.13 1740.309 480 48 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">--------------------------------- Above are 10 percent -------------------------</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 15 HELFRICH STEV 10191 AU 10 HELF BC H 12:27:42 11/30 01.14 1740.217 476 44 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 16 HELFRICH STEV 10147 AU 10 HELF BCWF H 12:27:43 12/30 01.15 1740.124 472 40 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 17 HELFRICH STEV 10174 AU 10 HELF BCSP H 12:27:44 13/30 01.16 1740.031 468 37 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 18 HELFRICH STEV 10154 AU 10 HELF BB H 12:27:45 14/30 01.17 1739.938 464 33 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 19 THREET ROBERT 3305 AU 10 EVV BC C 12:27:30 2/15 01.57 1736.159 460 29 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 20 HELFRICH MARK 2522 AU 10 EVV BC H 12:31:03 4/30 04.22 1722.908 456 25 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 21 HELFRICH MARK 2550 AU 10 EVV BC H 12:31:05 5/30 04.24 1722.726 452 22 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 22 BUTCH GARRI/9 2217 AU 10 EVV BB H 12:30:55 307.548 06.05 1713.386 448 18 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 23 BUTCH GARRISO 2214 AU 10 EVV BCWF H 12:30:58 2/9 06.08 1713.142 444 14 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 24 GOODWIN DO/19 2664 AU 10 EVV BLK H 12:35:34 311.262 07.01 1708.866 440 10 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 25 GOODWIN DON 2699 AU 10 EVV BB H 12:36:32 2/19 07.58 1703.755 436 7 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 26 GOODWIN DON 2760 AU 10 EVV BB H 12:36:34 3/19 08.01 1703.552 432 3 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 27 HELFRICH MARK 2521 AU 10 EVV BB H 12:34:43 6/30 08.02 1703.148 428 0 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">--------------------------------- Above are 20 percent -------------------------</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">----------------------- Below are the first birds from each loft ---------------</span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 45 GARRISON B/14 2767 AU 10 EVV BC H 12:35:04 305.564 12.14 1680.250 356 0 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 48 LARSON LAR/13 3036 AU 10 EVV BB H 12:35:37 304.857 13.30 1673.534 344 0 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 70 SIMPSON DEB/2 0449 AU 10 HKY GRIZ H 13:15:03 321.742 35.56 1572.705 256 0 </span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 87 SIMPSON DON/2 2739 AU 10 EVV BC C 13:32:25 321.742 53.18 1500.319 188 0 </span></span> </pre><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=robertspage-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002DKXX7W&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-40821569476411958832010-10-21T09:21:00.000-05:002010-10-21T09:21:53.314-05:00Hanging onto "McCloud"I thought I had lost 3323 yesterday. Been having a lot of hawk trouble. He has been consistently among the first bird in from races and training. In fact, he earned me a 3rd place AU diploma in the race before last. The highest I have ever placed in our super competitive club of old veterans and their old bloodlines. He must've been first one in from another 42 mile training drop and gotten chased off. The hawk later fed on one of my rollers and 3323 came in late in the afternoon. When I thought I had lost him, it made me sick. "I haven't even gotten a picture of the bird that earned me my first 3rd place diploma." So, I took this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIvR4ivfe7zGnqluQG_APjui5QFtshnD4957ML1ztPjIV4VIpiZghOg_bv1F6cotKN6t98SqxTgrWg0WMUV0IFKAp7QxehqKykEIUnmJZoKyVAVp98gNDbFPrx72hm0Ge8QFWyfkSkfvCG/s1600/2010-10-20+17.03.56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIvR4ivfe7zGnqluQG_APjui5QFtshnD4957ML1ztPjIV4VIpiZghOg_bv1F6cotKN6t98SqxTgrWg0WMUV0IFKAp7QxehqKykEIUnmJZoKyVAVp98gNDbFPrx72hm0Ge8QFWyfkSkfvCG/s400/2010-10-20+17.03.56.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-39121274932320208992010-09-29T08:59:00.002-05:002010-09-29T09:12:09.211-05:00Good Birds! (Well Behaved Anyway)I held back 4 late arrivals from this weekend's race. Did very nicely! My best score sheet EVER! With a 3rd place diploma winner (my highest ever!), I was very happy. This weekends race is a bit further so I am taking the remaining 22 young birds out today and Friday for a 42 mile conditioning drop. The sun sure comes up late now.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxENb3_hRjwnba61Y_Hn3fgm3ot6C0OS0p_UN_rwJK02Zo79Tcf6pSsF_hiVTRM4lLd3h9TGtLRKHClDqwRIF8sMnhZwr-3HFQdbuXgOe0oyjuXTfQfZeA7hN2-IO_3nnnkLxNV3fiSmJ/s1600/goodbirds_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxENb3_hRjwnba61Y_Hn3fgm3ot6C0OS0p_UN_rwJK02Zo79Tcf6pSsF_hiVTRM4lLd3h9TGtLRKHClDqwRIF8sMnhZwr-3HFQdbuXgOe0oyjuXTfQfZeA7hN2-IO_3nnnkLxNV3fiSmJ/s320/goodbirds_sm.jpg" width="239" /></a><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=robertspage-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002OK2OIK&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>The drop is exactly an hours drive for me. I stopped about 30 minutes before the drop at the last (good) gas station and filled up and went inside to get coffee. I came back and drove the remaining 30 minutes then opened the back hatch of the van to find that one of my baskets was not latched on one side and two birds were out! I stared at them and they stared at me. They seemed to be thinking, as I was, "This isn't right!" Thank goodness they stayed on the blanket I put down! I decided to just do what i always do - set the baskets down and let them settle a bit before the release while I eat my breakfast. So I did. The two loose birds just ambled back toward the opening and stayed there (still on the blanket) while I ate. I decided it might be funny to film the release with my cell phone. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyhaIl1XbLA">So I did (sorry it came out sideways)</a>.<br />
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They must've gotten out at the gas station - I would've heard them otherwise. I know they rode the last 30 minutes just standing next to the other baskets. I was thinking this morning how calm and gentle they've become. Heck! Maybe I don't need baskets!! :-) I really love working with these animals. They're pretty amazing creatures!RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-745901601433783162.post-73456976334556272192010-09-20T14:56:00.001-05:002010-09-20T14:57:28.319-05:00Another Bad One - for me<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=robertspage-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002Y27P3M&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Well, most of the others did well. For some reason, only 9 of 29 came in on time. I got 12 more - but they were really late. That's really all I have to say on it. There was a hawk and it got one of my rollers. Not sure of what happened as I was out of town.RAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10116429541709326996noreply@blogger.com0