# TRC Test Birds



## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I'm so glad to FINALLY tell our long kept secret to you guys here at PT. As a lot of you probably already know, me and Darby (aka - Fastpitch_dad) are in the same club. This year we'll have the honor of flying some young birds from two other members here on PT; Mr. Randy Hill and Mr. Ken Munson 
The majority of the birds are from Randy, but we asked Ken if he'd donate a couple to our club's auction. So now I have one of each in two auctions, and Darby has a few more in each auction.
We wanted to keep them updated, and by doing that in this thread, everyone else will be able to discuss some things as well.

Randy's birds are already here and getting settled into my new YB loft. Ken's are still in the nest and I can't wait to get them here 
I'm really excited to see how this coming season goes! I expect these little guys to kick butt!


Oh and by the way, yes, there will be pictures


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

How exciting!!! Looking forward to pictures of your new birds!


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

I hope they fly well for you down south. Ace was unable to fly birds for me this year so I sent the birds earmarked for him along with what I had bred for Darby. I could not send birds that direction without sending a few to Becky. We will see how they do. This will be a good test. This year I will have two teams of over 20 birds flying, one with Darby and the other with Steve Guzman in Albuquerque. This will be a first for me. I will be eligible in Albuquerque for all the accolades. Steve will also be flying about 10 birds that I bred for ACE out of his birds. 

Randy


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Sounds like a pretty good test to me! That's a lot of birds sent out. It should also help that me and Darby tried to split them up so that one of each clutch would be in one or the other loft. Even though they almost all appear to be related in some way, at least that way we'll see how babies from one pair differ from one loft to another. We may only be a few miles apart, but there's still lots of differences! 

By the way, these little (and big ) guys seem to be liking it down here. They seemed to know just what they were doing from the minute I took them out of the crate. Like they were right at home. Smart birds make it a lot easier on me


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

We don't have pictures yet?


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

MaryOfExeter said:


> Sounds like a pretty good test to me! That's a lot of birds sent out. It should also help that me and Darby tried to split them up so that one of each clutch would be in one or the other loft. Even though they almost all appear to be related in some way, at least that way we'll see how babies from one pair differ from one loft to another. We may only be a few miles apart, but there's still lots of differences!
> 
> By the way, these little (and big ) guys seem to be liking it down here. They seemed to know just what they were doing from the minute I took them out of the crate. Like they were right at home. Smart birds make it a lot easier on me


I only sent three big birds down there and one with three toes. The biggest being "Peanut" TRC 13. How he got his name is a long story. As for "Three Toes" AKA "The Mutant" he has two of his toes webbed together. Other than that he was normal. Darby is going to fly him hard and see what happens. 

The three birds get there size from a pair of siblings, Charlie and Diamond. There mama was third in the Alaska Gold rush. They are mainly Vic Miller birds by Jan Arden. Diamond bred a 1st at 250 miles and a 9th at 500 miles old bird. Charlie was the biggest bird that I ever had. He went AWOL on a loft fly. 

Randy


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Here is a picture of "Peanut" along side one of Darby's birds. When I shipped the birds down with 7 birds in each box one cost $58 and the other $62. "Peanut" was in the $62 box. I shipped the second round with 8 in one box and it was also $62. "Peanut" cost an extra $4. My original plan was to use the pair that bred "P" as pumpers but the sire bred three very good birds last year and the dam is off "Buzz" my best breeder and is a sibling to a 300 mile winner. She is the largest hen in my loft.

Randy


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Just a side note: "Peanuts" great grand dam was "Big Bertha". His Grand dam was "00" who had a sister "Great Big Bertha". "00" and "Buzz" bred the 300 mile winner. I would look for "Peanut" on the 300 mile race.


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

Thanks Randy for the pic. One of that birds look really big! Is that Peanut on the second left side?


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

First thing I would like to say is THANKS to Randy and Ken. I hope I can keep up my end as a flier/trainer, But with Becky's help I think I'll be OK. 

Now about the birds. Yes that's Peanut and he looks like a F-16 in the air. The first bunch of birds from Randy have been out some and I can tell you they fly , really fly. There is such a difference in the way the birds from Randy fly compared to what I bred.

This should be a good test of the birds having two 2nd year fliers fly them .
We are in the middle of the combine and here is the "predicted" mileage for the both of us.

Becky Me
182 178 McKenny
210 198 Gum Spring 
231 213 Madison *auction race*
294 276 Leesburg
204 187 Charlottesville
231 213 Madison *Powder Puff race*
294 276 Leesburg *auction race*
316 298 Fredrick 

From Randy I have TRC 14,15,19 and LCC 1119 from Ken in the first Madison race. TRC 14 and LCC 1119 are in the 2nd Madison also.
And the Leesburg race I have TRC 20 and LCC 1120


As this thread goes on you will hear more about TRC 15, AKA "three toes"/ "the Mutant" and LL 670, AKA "White streak" and TRC 13 AKA "Peanut". I'm sure Jess will name the rest.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

You go PEANUT!! I love the big birds..........he's quite a hunk.........are you SURE it's a HE and not a SHE? 
This should be interesting to follow these guys/birds/races...........we're ALL in for a big change come young bird season. Most of us have never experienced what we're about to experience..............


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

Can't wait for the updates! Good luck guys and gals!


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Peanut looks huge in that picture, but when I saw him, he didn't look any bigger than mine. He's a pretty guy though 

For the record, I have TRC 17 and LCC 1118 in the first Madison, and TRC 16 and LCC 1117 in the second auction race. TRC 17 and LCC 1118 are also qualified for the Powderpuff race


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Lovebirds said:


> You go PEANUT!! I love the big birds..........he's quite a hunk.........are you SURE it's a HE and not a SHE?
> This should be interesting to follow these guys/birds/races...........we're ALL in for a big change come young bird season. Most of us have never experienced what we're about to experience..............


Renee 
I think you are flying some of that "Peanut" blood via Ace as young birds this year. Hope they do well for you.


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

Becky and Darby, Sounds like you got a few nice birds down there already. Hope to get these outa the nest and in your hands ASAP. I am a bit superstitious though so try not to mention a name on mine if you name them. They are guaranteed to get lost if you do. (Just my silly reason for some I lost). Good luck this year and thank you for the thought of keeping us updated.
Ken


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Ken, I'll try my hardest  I'm also careful not to name many of them if I can help it. It hurts worse when you lose them and they're named it seems. I stick with the band numbers...until....after Old birds preferably 
I used to name every one of my homers that I could, but that was back before I raced and used bands. So I kind of had to call them something!


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I've got a few pictures so far. A mix of mine and others:


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

Becky, What a great looking bunch of birds. Nice and healthy looking. I really like the blue bar on the second row of perches. They look like winners to me.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Peanuts siblings. Very light BB with some white. Also large birds.

Randy


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

Wow what nice looking birds. They sure are light blue bars, almost a powder blue.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

They have a bit of Flor Engels blood in them. All my birds down form my Engels bird will throw white from time to time. Usually the second round of young birds. These are beautiful light light blue. 

Randy


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

Renee has two light powder blues she is flying this year that are 50% *Hillfamilyloft *and the other half *Ace's* that Randy just posted pics of the brother and sister to her on the ACES ORPHANS thread.

Ace


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I love the light blue bars. They look so clean and smooth. A pure blue bar. No dirty or darkening genes in those pigeons. I've only had a few birds this year that I've raised that come anywhere close to being that powder blue.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

The Dam is really light. An aunt of those two I call socks. She is a light bar with sox on her feet. Becky has a BC offspring from Soxs. If you research Engels birds you will see a splash bird apear from time to time. My splashes look just like the Engels when they get splashes. Big Bertha was the lightest BB that I had in my loft. She is in the Ancestroy off all these birds. The looked really interesting when they were young. I did not know whether they were going to be BB or Silver. I have never seen YB exactly like this. They looked like Mark's silver did in the nest. 

Randy


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

Becky,

If I have these birds, on the first picture on the third column perch starting from the left, I will race the red-bar and the blue-bar that is below it. I also like the blue-bar that is on the right of the red-bar. 

On the third picture, I like the four birds on the front center. I also like the bird that is on the front left looking at you. I find that curious birds are smart birds.

rod


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Just checking on the babies. Have they been out yet? Let me know if all are sticking around. 

Randy


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I know Darby's have, but mine haven't. They'll be coming out this Saturday though  All the young birds I had flown before I moved lofts, will probably have a hay day flying. I just hope yours don't go off with them and go too far!


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Just checking on the babies. Have they been out yet? Let me know if all are sticking around.
> 
> Randy


Yep all are out and staying up about an hour. sorry I haven't been on here much . Between state playoffs with the high school team and travel ball with the younger girls and a few other issues i just haven't had time. Two more weeks and things should get better.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Kids should always come first. We are also busy with Baseball. Last batch of birds will be heading to ABQ in a few weeks, after that what is left over will be on my small team. The birds have been doing pretty well in old birds this year in ABQ. I ( birds I bred) took 2nd this week, 7th(equal 1st drop) last and 13th the previous. I hope the blood brings you some good results in NC.

Randy


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

*update...*

on the birds. Well TRC 4 got hit by a hawk. The good news is he's OK. Seems to be a little sore. Ya know , come to think of it , he's pretty aggressive he may have picked the fight and ran the hawk off. He's as big as Peanut, so ya, that's my story and I'm stickin to it.

*TRC 4 whooped a hawk .*


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Saw an article about hawks in the Digest. Seems that geese decoys seem to help keep them away from the yard during loft flying. 

Randy


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

Nice looking bunch of yb's Becky! I hope they do well for you!


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Saw an article about hawks in the Digest. Seems that geese decoys seem to help keep them away from the yard during loft flying.
> 
> Randy


I read that too. I'm trying to talk my dad into letting me get REAL geese  Haha


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

g0ldenb0y55 said:


> Nice looking bunch of yb's Becky! I hope they do well for you!


Thank you!


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

Here's a few pics. Second picture is of Peanut


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Good looking birds everyone.........Peanut....wonder how the bird got that name?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Renee
> I think you are flying some of that "Peanut" blood via Ace as young birds this year. Hope they do well for you.


I had to come back and read this thread and remember where Peanut came from. You know, I do have a bird from Ace that is quite a bit bigger than the other 5. I don't know what the birds band number is right off, but I do notice him standing out from the other BB's in the loft. I've got a couple of breeder pairs that throw big birds and you can really spot them when all the birds are in a group together.


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

What are your guy's thoughts on racing larger sized racers? I have a pair of breeders that throw out large sized youngster also. Do they do just as well or better than the average sized racer?


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Lovebirds said:


> Good looking birds everyone.........Peanut....wonder how the bird got that name?


Peanut got his name in an unusual way. It stems from his band number 13. I teach 6th grade and have some kids that are gang wanna bees in my class. The write 13 on everything. They write it because the 13th number in the alphabet is "M". In the gange world this stands for "Mexican Mafia" or M & M. My favorite M & M's are Peanut M & M's. Hense the name "Peanut". Thats how Peanut got his name. Plus he looks like a peanut M & M with legs. 

Randy


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Peanut got his name in an unusual way. It stems from his band number 13. I teach 6th grade and have some kids that are gang wanna bees in my class. The write 13 on everything. They write it because the 13th number in the alphabet is "M". In the gange world this stands for "Mexican Mafia" or M & M. My favorite M & M's are Peanut M & M's. Hense the name "Peanut". Thats how Peanut got his name. Plus he looks like a peanut M & M with legs.
> 
> Randy


That's hilarious Randy! Great story about Peanut. I've had my run-in's with the real deal back in my days as a teen and a little bit after. Not something I'm proud of. You should get those kids involved with pigeons. Maybe they'll get a kick out of it and make a turn off of that horrible path that they're taking. Wanna bee's or "Poser's" as I used to call them can still get into some serious trouble.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Peanut has slimmed down a bit. Looks like you are exercising them.


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## bbcdon (Oct 16, 2007)

About 25-30 years ago, the Dordin strain was raced by various fanciers, and they are a large bird. I had a few, and they were so beautiful. Pierre Dordin in France many decades ago did well with them. Just like someone else stated, the race will give you the correct answer.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I personally like big birds. But then again, I like a lot of different body types.


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

well Randy here's a picture of peanut and TRC 9.
9 is about the avg. in the loft. The other exceptions are 3 and 4, they are as big as Peanut.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

How is "3 toes"? Is that bird normal other than the toes?

Randy


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

Here's "3 toe's"
He seems to be fine. first picture he's on the bottom








That's him in front


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

My big birds are slower. My smaller birds have difficulty flying against a head wind. So I suppose medium bird is the best compromise. Bigger birds have slower take off speed. This is my observation in my loft.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Checking on the birds, have not heard from you guys in a while. Wondering how training is going. I have a few babies in the nest that I will be flying around the house, the rest are in Albuquerque.

Randy


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Sorry for not updating you guys lately  I keep forgetting.

The birds are doing great and routing well. I just haven't been able to road train them yet  Tomorrow, it'll start though. I feel weird about it since normally I'd have at least my older birds down the road a decent ways by now. But, with the loft set back earlier in the year, and getting birds from all over creation, I wanted to wait a little longer to get as many birds as possible flock flying and routing good before I take them off anywhere. 
So this weekend I'll have a nice group up in the air. I'll have a few late hatches and a couple new birds at home, but everyone else should be more than ready 

The thing about our training is, the first few stops will be just...places. I haven't figured out exactly how far they are. But it's just to get them up to where my dad works, which is probably only about 10 miles, so he can take them to work with him once or twice during the week for a little exercise. By then we'll have where we're going figured out, since we haven't really decided on exact places yet.
I guess the good thing about this new course is, everywhere we go is in that direction  So they'll have a lot of opportunities to fly. The downfall is, the nearest highway isn't through the dead center of the course like last year, so we'll have to go all over the place just to get some distance (darn you crooked NC roads!).


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

*Super !*



MaryOfExeter said:


> Sorry for not updating you guys lately  I keep forgetting.
> 
> The birds are doing great and routing well. I just haven't been able to road train them yet  Tomorrow, it'll start though. I feel weird about it since normally I'd have at least my older birds down the road a decent ways by now. But, with the loft set back earlier in the year, and getting birds from all over creation, I wanted to wait a little longer to get as many birds as possible flock flying and routing good before I take them off anywhere.
> So this weekend I'll have a nice group up in the air. I'll have a few late hatches and a couple new birds at home, but everyone else should be more than ready...
> ...


Mary,

Just wanted to thank you for sharing this thread with us. It has been very heart warming for me and have been following it from the start. Guys like Randy and Scott, who helped make this project possible, are really the back bone of this sport ! Good job everyone !


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

*Good News!*

Just wanted to say I did a roll call today when I crated up the birds. Haven't lost a bird from either one of you guys (knock on wood!). Everyone's been hawk smart and quick on their toes. Hopefully it will stay that way!

They had a nice little flight today. Now they know what to expect from here on out. They didn't stay up long after getting home, it was HOT today!  But of course after a short drink of water they were ready to come out again


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

Sorry I have'nt posted in a while, this summer has been a little crazy. Anyway just thought I would give a quick update on the birds. I started with 38 birds for the YB season and training going good. As of today I still have 38, so thats a good thing. If I get a chance I'll post some current pictures. Well off to another softball game.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

sounds like you are doing something right. I figured softball has kept you busy. Keep us posted on how they are doing. 

Randy


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

MaryOfExeter said:


> Just wanted to say I did a roll call today when I crated up the birds. Haven't lost a bird from either one of you guys (knock on wood!). Everyone's been hawk smart and quick on their toes. Hopefully it will stay that way!
> 
> They had a nice little flight today. Now they know what to expect from here on out. They didn't stay up long after getting home, it was HOT today!  But of course after a short drink of water they were ready to come out again


I am sure you are doing a great job with the birds. Looking forward to the race season.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Still have all of yall's birds  It seems like everytime we get the chance to train, something comes up. Through the week it's either rained, looked like it was going to rain, or my dad forgets to get me up so I can load up the birds  Then he doesn't get home til 5:30, unless he has things to do after work. The weekends have been just as crazy. The 4th was a no-go, last weekend everyone felt like crap, then today I've been here (next town over) all day, since 7, for a local thing called Farmer's Day. I'll be here for at least another 30 minutes, UGH. Dad has to go BACK to work tomorrow at 5:30am to clean up after tonight's street dance.
So maybe, JUST maybe, he'll be up for training tomorrow. Twice, preferably. And I'll make a point to train at least every morning this coming week if I can.
Once I have something productive to update on, I will  So don't think I've been ignoring this thread. It's just nothing's going on that's important!
Except...I've found a few of your birds have turned out to be quite cocky little hams


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

When I was young and could not drive, my dad would help me take my birds on two training tosses before the races. One was about 10 miles, the other was 30 miles. The first race station was 80 miles. I would loft fly them morning and night. My birds beat the old mens birds. Some fliers in Belgium do not do much road training. Back in the day all they had was a bicycle. I think many feel the only way to get them flying is road training. If the birds are fed right and flying good each day, I think the road is not that important. I think many feed to heavy to the ybs and they just want to sit on the loft. So they box them up and make them fly. I remember my birds would do 1 1/2 hours every morning. Some do not even start road training until 4 weeks before the first race.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Well I know road training isn't everything, as a pigeon can see probably a 60 mile radius of land just by getting up in the air on a clear day. But I do like to get them on the road so they're used to being in the crates and being released somewhere other than home. We have a little trailer and we use the club's old shipping crates. Identical (but in worse shape) than the ones used in the races.
But when we're not training, like you, my birds are out once in the morning, and once in the afternoon. I wouldn't have it any other way. Of course they fly much more the earlier I let them out, since it get's hot and muggy quick in our little hole in the ground.


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

Well I finally got a break from softball for about a week and a half so I thought I would take a minute to post something.

I started with 38 birds and I currently have 35. Two birds were lost to handler error and one to a hawk. Training is going well, all the birds are out to 20 miles and trapping good.
With the combine moving the races back a couple weeks I hope this does'nt mess me up with the way I was planning to train, I guess we will see come race day.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Mine are also up to 20 miles  I have yet to do a head count to see how many I have since we've gotten up to that distance.


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

*Training toss*

Here's the birds coming in from a 30+ mile toss.












Birds were released at 9:00 am and at 9:47 had a bird come in, yes I said A bird. Well at 10:12 I had a group of 28 come in which is the picture above, and had one more a little later.
I'm not sure what happened on the toss, but I fill confident the other five will show up.


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

Here's a few pictures of a few of the birds.


*Jessica's Auction bird.*









*Here's a bird from Ken.*









*Hillfamily bird, TRC 11.*


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## fastpitch dad (Nov 21, 2007)

*A few more.*

*Hillfamily bird, TRC 4*









*A view of the Avairy*


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Really nice looking birds! The aviary looks very inviting.


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

Fastpitch, The nest mate to the pictured bird from me has green eyes!! Does this one have green eyes also? Birds are looking good and sounds like training is going well.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

You just wait until you see my babies Darby  Mine'll put ya'lls to shame 


Haha.
Maybe not but we'll see 
I think it's time for some pictures of the 'foreigners' as we call them here, LOL.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

MaryOfExeter said:


> You just wait until you see my babies Darby  Mine'll put ya'lls to shame
> 
> 
> Haha.
> ...


Becky is already starting the psyche-out. Next she will stare you down. You go girl.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Checking in to see how training is going. Let me know when the first race is. I would also like to know which brids are still around if you could send me a list. I like to assess which birds make it through training. This helps me decide on which pairs to keep together. 

We race this comming weekend in ABQ. 

Thanks 

Randy


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Wednesday I think mine will go to 30 miles, then friday or saturday (not sure when this test 'race' is supposed to go down), I'll send them to about 60-70 miles. I believe the first race is next weekend?


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Weather gets bad at the worst times  The club thing didn't go as planned, neither did other tosses last week. Finally the rain is gone for now!

Here's who I've got:

LL 672 BC
LL 678 BB
LL 671 BC
LL 677 BC (LIGHT)
TRC 16 BC


LCC 1118 DC
LCC 1117 BLK

I have 37 birds I'll be racing in this season. Then I have some late hatches for next year and some other injured/recently found birds who I'll be holding for a little while to get them back in gear for racing. That makes 47 in all.

Question for Ken, what colors was 1117 out of? It looks black but its underside makes me think it might be part grizzle?


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

Becky, Wow do you know your genetics!! That bird was out of a Black cock bird and a grizzle hen. The grizzle hen was my Hall of Fame qualifier in the AU for 2008 YB season. I have a full brother to that bird that is flying very well for me. These are tougher birds and will come home on the rainy head winds when the others quit. I hope it does good for you. By the way, is it a hen or cock?
Ken


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

If I'm not mistaken, I think it may be a he  I looked at him again and although he looks very black, I think he may just be a very dark DC grizzle. I guess we'll know if he sticks around for OB season, since I usually let them hatch a baby or two after YBs is over. Then we might see if he really is black or not. But oh well about the color. I'm just excited for some race results  Sounds like he's out of some dependable stuff!


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

You guys ever going to get those TRC birds in the air? 

Randy


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Well, we were SUPPOSED to start racing last weekend, but it poured Sat. and Sun. It's also supposed to rain throughout the whole race course tomorrow morning. But sunday looks clear, so we're racing then. If we wait any longer, I'll have eggs in the breeding loft before it's over with, LOL.
I'm ready to race!  I'm excited.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I sent 12 to each race and nothing is home. Our club did horribly, no one got more than 3 birds home in total today. And everyone pretty much shipped the limit (24 total) or close to it.

I'm trying to remember the distances for us. This week was 185, and next week is 210. Then the rest of the distances (not in order) is like....around 230, 204, 294, 316. Anyways, the shortest station left is 204 miles, which would be Charlottesville. That's the week after next. That will be the next and the last race I ship this season, and the last race from the North *period*. If I have any of ya'lls birds left, I can race them this season and in old birds if you want me to, but that's your call. Everyone else is staying home, and I'm not changing my mind. The combine was stupid for wanting to try this direction again, after they failed all the other times they tried. The other combine beside us even fails from that direction, losing a buttload of birds each race. Heck, one guy in our club left the other combine so he wouldn't have to go NE again, and look what happened  Needless to say, he's not racing right now, and is actually training all of his birds SW, because we're all pretty sure it'll be another 10 or 20 years before someone is stupid enough to try a different direction again. So once 2010 rolls in, what I have left will start training with them (the two guys in the club who are training that way right now and not racing) back down south.

Call me chicken, but I don't like breeding birds just to throw them away.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Oh yeah, and I sent everyone's birds except TRC 16, which I think is still out in the loft with the other 8 birds (not including some late hatches) I have left  I didn't really check, so he/she may be gone. Hoping for a full loft within the next week...


Also, I have no clue where Darby is


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## Kenneth Flippen (Sep 5, 2009)

sorry to hear about the returns our club(Mt. Airy Club) didn't do real well either A race 59 out of 108 B race 64 out of 105 Steve got most of his back. I had 21 out of 22 the rest of the guys lost around half thier birds. I'm sure alot will come in tomarrow. I wonder how danville did on the short end?

Kenneth

Flippen Loft


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

We will see what Monday brings. I hate when the races go bad. I hope Darby is ok. He is not returning my calls. 

Randy


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Wow..............racing these long races isn't fun is it??? 

I don't want to make you guys mad (the ones that race in our combine) BUT........flying North has NOTHING to do with how many birds were lost. 
FIRST of all, when you KNOW that you're birds have to fly all these miles on the FIRST race, you DO have to get them trained. Not trained to come home, but trained and in condition to fly the miles you're asking them to fly. 
Second of all, what was DUMB was the RACE STATIONS. 
How are you going to ask 300 or 400 birds to come out of the basket and 1/2 from the VERY FIRST WING BEAT,, go in one direction and the other half go in the other direction. AIN'T HAPPENIN............The majority of the birds that didn't make it home FOLLOWED THE WRONG GROUP OF BIRDS. My race was 126 miles. 
I know for a fact that one of my birds is in someone elses loft and will be released today to come home. At least HE was decent enough to call me and tell me. I expect there are other birds in other lofts that none of you will ever know about. That's sad, but it's true. The guys who has my bird was flying 135. Less than 10 miles difference, BUT, he lives 37 miles directly SOUTH of me. The bird came in with his first group. My bird didn't have any trouble putting in the time. He just went in the wrong direction. 
If all the birds had been able to come out of the basket and head in a southerly direction, the returns would have been much better I believe, as long as the birds were in condition to put in the time on the wings.
The bottom line is that most YB's are just a little dumb and we as fanciers HAVE to give them every advantage we can and this race course with it's idiotic race stations certainly doesn't do that. 
Now, having said all of that, 3 out of 5 of our members eventually got most of their birds home. I and one other flyer on the other hand got 1 bird all day long. I shipped 6. He shipped 6. 
I'm curious to know how the GCC did.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

It isn't the distance that concerns me, since distance racing is what I'd like to do, I just don't like the direction in general. And I agree, the race stations were a dumb choice. I would feel better if most the birds were going in the same direction, and not have to go every which way like you said. At least then I could hope mine are just chilling at someone else's loft, but I get the feeling a lot of birds are just scattered all over the place, because of all the confusion I'm sure the birds faced. If not now, sooner or later we'll be flying with/against the combine on the coast, and all those big combines up north.
I don't know. Doesn't matter much now. We'll see how many are back when I get home. It's been raining here since last night, so the numbers may be slim.
Also, the direction made it much harder for us to train as well.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I hear ya. Training for us wasn't pleasant either. Lots of back country roads that take you around your thumb to get to your elbow...........LOL
Ron didn't release my bird today because of the weather, so I didn't get that one back. 
Guess I'm out of average speed too in the A race. Sucks. I don't ever pay much attention to AS, but I don't like to drop out of it on the very first race!! I knew that this was going to be a tough season.............think anyone has learned anything? Everybody is up in arms about it now, but by the time "schedule planning" rolls around for next year, they'll forget all about it.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Yep. I swear there are some people in the combine who don't know what they're doing, and just go with the flow  We'll see what happens! I just want to go home so I can see who's back!


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## luckyloft (Oct 21, 2006)

I got 2 back sometime after 5:30 yesterday(I left for church then they were in the loft at 7:30 when I got back)both from the B race.I got 2 back this morning around 8am from the A race.I sent 9 on both races my milage was 177. Jeff


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I have one bird home. He's been a consistant bird on all the tosses (good and bad), being the first or second one in the loft. Everytime we had a bad toss, he'd be there long before anyone else. And he's one of MY birds. Meaning, his momma is the last remaining of my first ever homers. Homers, not racers, but from this year and last, all my 'Morgan birds', have done pretty good and stick around the longest. Dad is really proud of this bird now, and so am I.
Renee also has LCC 1117.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

MaryOfExeter said:


> I have one bird home. He's been a consistant bird on all the tosses (good and bad), being the first or second one in the loft. Everytime we had a bad toss, he'd be there long before anyone else. And he's one of MY birds. Meaning, his momma is the last remaining of my first ever homers. Homers, not racers, but from this year and last, all my 'Morgan birds', have done pretty good and stick around the longest. Dad is really proud of this bird now, and so am I.
> Renee also has LCC 1117.



That's good that the one made it back. I've got a feeling that some more might come in. Also, there's a chance that some will get a bird on the truck this week end. A couple of times, the driver has handed us a box with a bird when he arrived and none of us ever knew that anyone had our bird. LOL Don't know what the big deal is with making a stinking phone call.......


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## luckyloft (Oct 21, 2006)

Renee, just for your info, the 2 birds I got back on race day were out of AU-01-GRS-4618(BO) I only got 2 out of him this year that was the 2 that came back.Also the 1 that came back this morning was out of IF-DRP-08-8158. Thanks Jeff


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

luckyloft said:


> Renee, just for your info, the 2 birds I got back on race day were out of AU-01-GRS-4618(BO) I only got 2 out of him this year that was the 2 that came back.Also the 1 that came back this morning was out of IF-DRP-08-8158. Thanks Jeff


That is cool. Thanks for letting me know. Tell Bo that I said hi. If you ever decide that you don't want him any more........let me know. 
8158 is the one that I gave you down at the TRC club house isn't it? I told you I'd pick that one over the other bird. I've still got the other one too.


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

MaryOfExeter said:


> I have one bird home. He's been a consistant bird on all the tosses (good and bad), being the first or second one in the loft. Everytime we had a bad toss, he'd be there long before anyone else. And he's one of MY birds. Meaning, his momma is the last remaining of my first ever homers. Homers, not racers, but from this year and last, all my 'Morgan birds', have done pretty good and stick around the longest. Dad is really proud of this bird now, and so am I.
> Renee also has LCC 1117.


Did I miss something? Did LCC 1117 go missing? Sorry to hear about the high losses and hope you get alot more home. If they arent prisoners somewhere they still can make it home. You may have to sit out a few weeks to rebuild their muscle and confidence but you can still race them if they make it home. I have found many times my "lost" birds end up learning from their mistakes and become better birds.
Ken


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

whitesnmore said:


> Did I miss something? Did LCC 1117 go missing? Sorry to hear about the high losses and hope you get alot more home. If they arent prisoners somewhere they still can make it home. You may have to sit out a few weeks to rebuild their muscle and confidence but you can still race them if they make it home. I have found many times my "lost" birds end up learning from their mistakes and become better birds.
> Ken


Ken, one of the members of my club has the bird. He called this afternoon. He had one bird come in today from yesterdays race and 1117 was with it. He's bringing the bird to me tomorrow night and I'm going to try to get it to Becky as soon as I can. Hopefully this week. I'll take good care of it.
You are right about the "lost" birds. If they can somehow make it home on their own, then they learn a valuable lesson. The opposite is usually true of a bird that you have to go pick up though. Not ALWAYS, but most of the time. If I could release it down in NC and let it fly home, which would only be about 40 air miles, it might do the bird good. It's not like it's been lost for days or weeks. Just one day. It shouldn't be in bad shape. 
But..........that's Becky's call.


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

Renee, I agree it would probably best for the bird to let him find his own way if he is physically fit. But like you said it is Becky's bird and her methods so she needs to do what she thinks is best. Just glad to see you have some honest flyers who will make an effort to return anothers birds.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Well I guess my TRC test bird ordeal is not going as planned. Due to the smash last week and FastpitchDad AWOL or MIA, I do not think my birds are going to see any results sheets. I guess we live and learn. Just wanted to Thank Becky for putting in the effort to get the birds trained. Hopefully the birds with Fastpitch will find some old bird races in the future. Keep me posted if any birds return or you race "16" in races down the road. 

Randy


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Well I guess my TRC test bird ordeal is not going as planned. Due to the smash last week and FastpitchDad AWOL or MIA, I do not think my birds are going to see any results sheets. I guess we live and learn. Just wanted to Thank Becky for putting in the effort to get the birds trained. Hopefully the birds with Fastpitch will find some old bird races in the future. Keep me posted if any birds return or you race "16" in races down the road.
> 
> Randy


Randy, sorry that things aren't working out. 
I'll be honest with you. IF there was any way for us to know what a stupid thing our combine was going to do, first of all, I wouldn't have taken Aces birds and second of all, I wouldn't have flown YB's this year. In fact, if by any chance I had lost all of Aces birds during training, I wasn't going to fly YB's. However, when it was all said and done, there were still 4 of his 6 birds here and I told him I would fly them and that's what I'm going to do, but I won't fly them "just because"..........I didn't get them to loose them. 
I KNEW that this first race was going to be a disaster waiting to happen. 
I don't know if you know the whole story behind what has happend with our YB races. If you care to know, I'll be glad to fill you in. Other than that, what is going on is out of our control and has been for the past few months.
I DO think that if we can get past this next race, then the race stations that we fly from there on out will give the birds a much better chance of getting home without all the confusion. 
What happened last week end STILL just blows my mind and basically the attitude is......"SH** happens".........lets just move on. When the SH** happens because the humans are either to dumb to know better or just generally don't give a crap..........then the SH** is on US, not the birds. 
That's MY story and I'm sticking to it..........


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Ken, your bird is home safe and sound now. I didn't want to let it fly home because I was afraid something might happen on the way here. You could tell by its skin color that it had been worked pretty hard, even if it was only gone for a couple days. Now he's rested up and working his muscles back out. I may fly old birds. I may also fly more than one other race this season. But we'll see then. I've gotten over last weekend.

I need to go out in the loft tomorrow and count how many birds I have left that I can race, since I do have quite a few late hatches in there. But basically two birds from last weekend are home and the other 22 are nowhere to be found yet. Then again, last year I had a bird come home after almost a month, in good shape  We'll see. All my birds looked gorgeous so I wouldn't be surprised if they are couch potatoes in someone's loft right now. But looks aren't everything 


Randy,
I'm sorry things didn't turn out so great  I wasn't expecting to lose that many birds, especially good birds from other people. I didn't train them as far as I should have, but we couldn't afford to train any more than we did. So I can't blame this completely on the race course, although I do believe it's a crappy set of stations. I would have loved to kick everyone's butt with yall's birds!


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

Renee and Becky, We have a horrible release station for our first race and I typically only send a couple of birds each year just so I stay in AS. I skip this station and start my birds at the 200 because of the high losses each year from this station. I still managed to make 2nd AS with only shipping a couple of birds to this station and kept my losses to a minimum. I have lost as many as 18 out of 20 in prior years and we started with 48 birds this year and have finished with 33. This was a hard lesson for me but I finally decided to "put my pride in my pocket" and learn from history so as not to repeat it. You all know now that this station is a disaster waiting to happen, just skip it in the future. My birds start at the 200 even though they have only been trained out to 33 miles and I have had no ill effects for them. Did your release committee check the "K" factor for that morning? Was it good? There are sooooooo many reasons for high losses dont beat yourselves up. I just wish you had a better opportunity to test your birds out. Thank you again Renee for getting Becky's bird back to her and taking good care of it. She is lucky to have a friend like you.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Becky
Just to be clear. I wasn't calling you dumb. The ones who voted in this course are the dummies far as I'm concerned. Most ALL of them have been flying birds longer than you've been alive and SOME of them, longer than I've been alive. If I knew better, then they should have too. 
And the thing that gets me is that choosing McKenney as a race station over the other one, whatever it was, only saved their birds from flying about 15 or 20 extra miles on the first race. It really wasn't enough to make a difference one way or the other. 
Considering that Kenny was only 79 miles from the race station and his bird, along with yours didn't come in till the next day shows that they both probably put some miles on their little wings. 
I'm laying low this coming week end too. Maybe things will turn out a bit better. This race station is a bit more in *A* line of flight as opposed to *2* lines of flight.


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## whitesnmore (Sep 9, 2004)

Any news from Darby? Have you had a chance to race again Becky? Our season has been over for a few weeks now and we are getting ready to vaccinate the breeders in prep. for breeding season.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Nope for both of those. It's pouring right now so the race will be tomorrow. Probably won't ship it anyways. We need to get the birds out on the road since they've had this break, but we just haven't been able to. Also haven't heard from Darby 



Also, two days ago I got a bird home. Felt and looked as good as gold. It's one of mine off of my old birds. Made me a little mad that someone had been keeping it hostage this long without calling me, but you never know what the case was. Could have been hurt, sick, or it could have gone unnoticed in a sea of pink banded blue checks. Or the more likely, it was a pretty bird and they wanted to keep it 
Last year I usually got birds in this late on weekends we raced. But this one just sorta popped in out of the blue. I was very happy when my count jumped from 24 to 25


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