# Our first race of 2008



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Well, we shipped our first race last night. Our club built a new trailer. Actually, Everett and one other member built it. You know how that goes. Not very many "doers" but EVERYBODY wants to get in the action after the work is done. 
Anyway, took a few pictures. Becky (MaryOfExeter) and her dad were there to watch the release and I THINK she was going to try to get some pictures. We'll see.

This is Everett and another flyer. Everett is the dark haired man.









Everybody's baskets of birds.









This is me telling the guys which crate to put the birds in.









This is the trailer.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Well those birds didn't stick around long, and they got out alright without anyone getting hurt.
The pictures weren't so great but we tried.









If you look close you can see some birds here  I don't think my dad was quite close enough.
















http://picasaweb.google.com/MaryOfExeter/August30th2008


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Those pictures are pretty good. The race isn't going so good so far. Course I only know what my birds did and one other flyer. 
I had a few decent birds, but the rest must be sitting somewhere. Guess they'll mosey in later. It's hotter and more humid that we thought it was going to be.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Did you help release the birds?


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Nah I just tried to stay out of the way. They had almost all the crates open before anyone came out. One shot out, the others just sorta sat there. I guess they must've found out how far they were from home and wanted the easy ride back


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## rainbows (Aug 19, 2008)

Lovebirds, that husband of yours is a true keeper, that trailer is a real work of art!! Good Luck with the race, hope all your contestants come home.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

MaryOfExeter said:


> Nah I just tried to stay out of the way. They had almost all the crates open before anyone came out. One shot out, the others just sorta sat there. I guess they must've found out how far they were from home and wanted the easy ride back


Well, they weren't THAT far from home!! LOL.........the way they came in, you'd think Marvin took em' clear to Florida!! 
Don't know what happened, if anything. I only know what 3 people out of 9 did, so I'll have to wait till tomorrow and see how everyone else did. 
Either our birds got tangled up with someone elses, or my birds went to Danville before they came home. I think some went to Danville and spent the afternoon.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Ah. How many birds did you send?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

MaryOfExeter said:


> Ah. How many birds did you send?


20. I've had 5 come home in the last 1/2 hour, so I'm missing 5 now. MUCH better than the 13 I was missing at 2:00. If no more come in tonight, I'm sure that they'll be in tomorrow morning.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I'm sure they'll be back soon


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

After all is said and done for the day........I'm out 4 birds.


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## Avion (May 28, 2007)

The four will most likely be there waiting for you in the morning.

George


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## Bluecheckard (Jun 23, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Well, we shipped our first race last night. Our club built a new trailer. Actually, Everett and one other member built it. You know how that goes. Not very many "doers" but EVERYBODY wants to get in the action after the work is done.
> Anyway, took a few pictures. Becky (MaryOfExeter) and her dad were there to watch the release and I THINK she was going to try to get some pictures. We'll see.
> 
> This is Everett and another flyer. Everett is the dark haired man.
> ...



wow that's a really nice trailer. sure they did a really good job buliding it. hope all your birds be back by tommorow!!!


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## Avion (May 28, 2007)

Renee,
Any news on the four missing birds? Also, The picture with Everett and another flyer, the boxes in front of them, are they your training baskets and if so, Where did you get them. They seem to be a lot taller than the one I purchased. My basket appears to be too small to allow the birds to stand upright in it.
Thanks,

George


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Avion said:


> Renee,
> Any news on the four missing birds? Also, The picture with Everett and another flyer, the boxes in front of them, are they your training baskets and if so, Where did you get them. They seem to be a lot taller than the one I purchased. My basket appears to be too small to allow the birds to stand upright in it.
> Thanks,
> 
> George


oh George Im glad you asked that, I don't like mine either and I just bought them...too heavy and big and not tall enough for my liking....still learning


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Avion said:


> Renee,
> Any news on the four missing birds? Also, The picture with Everett and another flyer, the boxes in front of them, are they your training baskets and if so, Where did you get them. They seem to be a lot taller than the one I purchased. My basket appears to be too small to allow the birds to stand upright in it.
> Thanks,
> 
> George


I've had two come back this morning so far. 
Those crates can be purchased at any of the pigeon suppliers. 
http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/catalog/2200.html
We bought some when we first got pigeons, but we purchased the wooden ones. Since then, my husband has built a few for new fanciers. The metal crates are nice. Just spray them with water, but they are heavy and I can hardly carry one full of birds. I can handle the wooden ones all right, but they're harder to clean. I can't even find one like the ones we have. Guess they don't carry them any more.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Sooooo..........I didn't do AS bad in the race as I thought. I didn't win however. LOL
We've got a husband/wife/son that all live on the same property so almost half the birds shipped were going to their house. Guess who won the race??? LOL. They took the first 9 spots and my birds came in 10, 11 and 12. 
I'm satisfied with that. Living so far to the west of all the other flyers, my birds didn't break out of the basket, but at least 3 of them broke off early enough to place in the top 10%.  
Don't know if yall remember me talking about Checkers.......a breeder cock that is a stray. 2 of my first 3 birds were his babies.


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## Avion (May 28, 2007)

Renee,
What mixture do you use for bathing with boraxo? How many tea spoons per gallon?

George


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Avion said:


> Renee,
> What mixture do you use for bathing with boraxo? How many tea spoons per gallon?
> 
> George


1 tablespoon per gallon


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## Avion (May 28, 2007)

Thanks. I am getting ready to give them their bath. This is always fun for me and the wife. Watching the antics they go through when they take a bath.

George


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Good job Renee,

It is hard to compete against that kind drag. When you have so many birds going to one place they just tend to drag the other birds with them.

Ace


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Lovebirds said:


> Don't know if yall remember me talking about Checkers.......a breeder cock that is a stray. 2 of my first 3 birds were his babies.


Just wondering. How have the young from Checkers been producing for you? Have you had him with the same hen? Have you tried his young from two out crossed hens back to their 1/2 brothers and sisters?

Ace


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ace in the hole said:


> Just wondering. How have the young from Checkers been producing for you? Have you had him with the same hen? Have you tried his young from two out crossed hens back to their 1/2 brothers and sisters?
> 
> Ace



I haven't really put much effort into Checkers offspring's offspring.....if that makes sense. Checkers has been with two different hens and we've gotten good babies off of both matings. I just moved one of his daughters to the breeding loft this year, so we'll see how her kids do. Really, the only grandkids I've ever gotten from Checkers daughters (and most of his babies are hens), were babies raised by the widowhood hens of his and they're not mated to any special bird. They're just mated to what makes them happy and want to come home. LOL


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

MaryOfExeter said:


> Well those birds didn't stick around long, and they got out alright without anyone getting hurt.
> The pictures weren't so great but we tried.





Wanted to say thanks for the pictures again. One of our members that lost a bunch of birds wanted to blame Marvin of course. He said it was foggy at his house and it was probably foggy when the birds were released. Luckily, I had a picture to show him that it was NOT a bad day to release birds. He needs to look in the mirror to figure out what happened to his birds. 'Nough said.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Oh you're welcome 
The weather there looked fine to me. It wasn't completely clear, but I didn't see any reason why the birds would get lost on account of the weather. Any clouds should have been high enough to where it wouldn't bother such good racing pigeons


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Wanted to say thanks for the pictures again. One of our members that lost a bunch of birds wanted to blame Marvin of course. He said it was foggy at his house and it was probably foggy when the birds were released. Luckily, I had a picture to show him that it was NOT a bad day to release birds. He needs to look in the mirror to figure out what happened to his birds. 'Nough said.


I read in the other post about blue bird sky...first I've heard of that. have you ever had a problem in that sort of weather or lack of clouds I guess it is.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

spirit wings said:


> I read in the other post about blue bird sky...first I've heard of that. have you ever had a problem in that sort of weather or lack of clouds I guess it is.


Yes and no actually. I've had bad tosses and/or races when the day was totally "cloudless" with bright blue sky. BUT, I've also had days like that, and mentioned it, and turns out nothing went wrong what so ever.........so I don't know if it's just coincidence or what.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Well, let's see. Last week I was 10, 11 and 12th place. This week I was 9, 10 and 11th place, so I moved up a notch. 
Same lofts as last week won the race. 
One of the three that I had on the drop was out of Checkers again and it was a different bird than the 2 from last week.


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Seems like rescuing Checkers has served you well! A good bird from a good loft!


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## rainbows (Aug 19, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Don't know if yall remember me talking about Checkers.......a breeder cock that is a stray. 2 of my first 3 birds were his babies.


please tell us newcomers the story of CHECKERS.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Checkers is a stray that trapped into our loft back in 2000. The owner said he didn't want him back. I sometimes wonder if the owner was even aware of which bird it was, because we believe that Checkers was sent to the AU Convention race in Detroit that year. Anyway, long story short, we were just getting started in racing pigeons and only had 8 birds, so we kept him. One of the best things we ever did. Who knew?? 

Here's a partial record of the birds he's thrown our way. 

Bred: 1st Club, 4th Combine @ 272 miles; 
2nd Club, 2nd Combine @ 470 mi (equal 1st)
1st Club, 4th Combine @ 470 miles; 
2nd Club, 17th Combine @ 550 miles
3rd Club, 28th Combine @ 166 miles
2nd Club, 2nd Combine @ 166 miles
4th Club, 4th Combine @ 166 miles (equal 1st) there were 4 birds on the drop


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## rainbows (Aug 19, 2008)

wow! what a gift!!


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