"Luckily that remorse always comes AFTER the sin..."
 

The new year only just started and I already had bad points. My wife and I still were in bed, dark as hell but both awake, without saying anything…Till suddenly she broke the silence…And do you know what she said? You wouldn’t think it is possible but it was.  She literaly said: ”Michel, I think there’s not enough fresh air on the racing loft…”.  I clearly heard what she said but I didn’t answer, I only thought what did she notice now, where does she get it?... Because I’m always a bit pigheaded…not reacting immediately, being indifferent and most of all, not answering to what she said was wrong and this hurts with a woman.  When you’re silent as a man, it’s easy for a woman to think the worst.  And when women speak in dialogue, they don’t just give information, they also give something of themselves… I felt this very well but I missed the opportunity to score and bring everything back in balance.

So to me, 2011 started not that well and I couldn’t live long with that feeling. When we had breakfast together that morning, I started this conversation again by saying:  “Yu-Chin (that’s my wife’s name) where did you get it when you said there’s not enough fresh air on our racing lofts? Her answer was short and clear: “There’s so much white dus ton the windows and the walls.  You did some changes on the lofts, you closed everything at the front and at the back of the roof so the dust can’t go out anymore…” Again I couldn’t answer, but I thought too long to be good because she stood up while she sippe don her cup of coffee before she went outside to start her daily job on the loft. For the second time in a very short period, I realised making another mistake and again I felt guilty.  Women are very special but we men mostly realise this too late.  Their feelings are not only about the outside world but mostly about how they experience the outside world.  So the conclusion of all of this is… The windows get opened every day, at least for a certain period.  Yes, even I can still learn and now I realise that fresh air and light are very important to our feathered friends, certainly when the days are short and the nights are long.

In the mean time, all youngsters of the first round already have their ring on their paws.  Till now everything else stays very calm on the lofts. Till today, January 5th, another cock became an intruder while fighting in another box. He was eager to occupy the box of his neighbour.  I moved him several times with my magic wand. But what do you thing? It didn’t help at all, not even after some good smacks. Then I covered his neighbours box with white paper and I closed the shelve in between both boxes so he would be shocked the next time he search to expand his territory.  It helps to lock them inside for several days but once the boxes get open, it all starts again.  When I went on the loft in the afternoon, I heard them fight before I even get on the loft. You can imagine what I saw!  There was blood all over and as well the intruder as the owner of the box were full of blood.  It finally seemed they had enough, the battle was done.  I panicked by the sight, I took the intruder and I pull out his tail with one hand.  Hereby I hoped he would become calmer and may be he would use his energy to grow his tail back.  Normally a pigeon without a tail must give up in a battle but not him.

I wondered what got into him.  But when we look closely, we notice that cocks on nest are always looking for another place, near by, but outside their nest.  When they can’t find that place, they’re going to look for it with their neighbour. Also in nature, a male bird doesn’t sleep on the side of his nest but always near by.  Knowing this, it all got clear…We put some extra little shelves on the loft, at the left and the right and by the sliding door. So what happened? The intruder soon found his own place and stays away from his neighbour.  All such little things but you have to notice. On the same loft, in the same section, we also had a second case and we did the same with him and again it helped.  
Of course my wife noticed. When I let out the pigeons in the morning, she soon saw; two birds without a tail in the sky…In very short time, she was standing next to me and I knew exactly what she was going to say: ”Are you really going mad? Why did you do that?”… I didn’t feel to explain (again a big mistake) and she went on by saying: “We should do the same with you!”… and I escaped because she already had my magic wand in her hand.
When I put it all together…it wasn’t necessary to pull out their tail but I had to take car of those shelves sooner, then it wouldn’t have happened. I, who always see everything that happens on the loft.  I’m ashamed because I noticed the same on the breeding loft.  Not one cock that sleeps in his own box at night.  Why do they do this? But now, there are enough shelves.  In fact I already noticed a few years ago but I forgot to solve the problem on the racing loft.  Especially when the racers are breeding. Am I getting old?  It seems like this… so now it’s up to me to prove the opposit in 2011…Those that live will see…

“Here they are, the fighters ... although without the tail ...”

Question
A readers wife asks : what kind of food do we give to our racers, cocks and hens, during the resting period (January till April) that don’t have to breed. She already knows that we give Versele-Laga.
Well we also have some pigeons like that, cocks and hens, that don’t have to breed and are separated till the first training flights. These pigeons get half and half; Versele-Laga mixture: moulting-Subliem and moulting-Mutine Plus IC . Only once a day, in the late afternoon, they get a mix of those two kinds. A well-filled soupspoon per pigeon. Usually ther’s something left and they can eat the rest the next morning. More about food, which is very important, we will talk about in one of the next articles.

THE LOST SON