“When you have problems, you have to solve them, that’s the only way to success...”
 

The racers and the youngsters are vaccinated at the beginning of March and I noticed that some of them had some inconvenience. Did you notice it too? Normally we keep our vaccinated pigeons inside for a few days but because of the good weather, my wife prefered to open the loft so they could get outside and inside. I don’t like this out- and inside walking and so I decided to close the youngsters outside. While I was cleaning the loft, my wife appeared because she noticed that all entrances were closed. There was no need for me to explain because her eyes said enough, if her eyes were bullets, I would be dead.  While I was still holding my cleaning material in the hand, she said:  “Michel, can’t you listen to me one time when I ask you something?” I put a step in her direction, she didn’t move and I asked: ”Come on darling, I’ll make it up to you while I dropped my cleaning material. I reached out for her hand but she ripped off and ran downstairs while she cried out: ”Don’t think you get away with it this time.”  I saw her running away, I wanted to say something but I wisely shut my mouth. Women are totally different than men. I don’t know what you think about this? But I have the experience that when you want to be happy with a woman, you really have to love her a lot and just don(t have to understand too much. Women are completely different: they think that when you want ot be happy with a man, you have to understand him a lot and less love him.

Our youngsters are already darkened and they’re already used to it because around 16.00 hours, they’re already resting in their little boxes. They also listen very well and this year we decided to use the automatic “ding-dong” again.  After two or three days, they already got used to this sound and they hurried inside by hearing the “ding-dong”.  The system is better than the whistle and they soon know that by hearing this sound, it’s time to eat. Another thing you have to observe well; in the morning we give a lot of fresh stones on different places. When you watch carefully and only feed them once a day, you soon notice that within a few hours, the little stones are gone. Of course red stones are good but when they eat too much of it, this could be bad for the intestines. Red stones don’t only absorb the bad bacteria but also a part of the good ones and that’s not good for the intestines.  It’s a fact that our pigeons don’t have a lot of it but we still have to be careful. A solution is to mix the little stones with white lime and oyster shelves. Some firms of mixtures of little stones also add a lot of aniseed and this explain why the birds like it so much. So be careful and keep a close look to the manure…

The problem of the “distorted racers”… Men of science don’t agree about this problem. A well-known scientist in our sport sais that this can’t be the result of an infection with  Staphylococcus but more the result of a bad condition and too much training. He even goes a bit further and gives the example of somebody buying pigeons with a fancier who has this problem. He concludes that the buyer, since he bought these pigeons, also has the same problem and so these pigeons pass it on to their descendants. This proves that it’s part of heredity and that’s hard to believe because they already wrote a lot about the heredity through the egg. Never before I heard that these pigeons also produce pigeons with the same problem. All we could believe is that the inclination of the problem is hereditary. The fact that the problem of distorted racers is not the result of infection with Staphylococcus, is concluded by this scientist of a result he done before. Pigeons, which are infected by these Staphylococcus are skinny and no longer vital. But which fancier waits that long? What do we think about it?  Here in BLUE HEAVEN LOFT, this kind of pigeons are those that flew 10.000 km of prizes in their wings.  When we let these birds fly in spring, they train as if their lives depend on it. And then something strange happens.  Observe your racers because with those pigeons that aren’t trained very well, this aspect can appear.  You soon notice, when you take a good look. These birds aren’t eager to fly out, they are a bit afraid and they wait, they only leave the loft when I come inside with my stick. You can also notice on the loft, when they want to fly from the floor into their box; always a waddling movement before. It’s important to pay attention to these pigeons. Nevertheless, I was pointed at the facts two years ago with two yearling hens. They became distorted racers but they both had a good prize-list on their names. We still trained them along with the others and this went well, as long as the flag was up. Once we took the flag away, they fell on the ground and they hide under the big shelves. I kept on playing them, in spite of the complaints of my wife.  She preferred these birds to stay at home and get rest. And really, it wasn’t very nice to see but these two hens won regular prizes. Not at the top of the result but among the last 25% of prizes. I never forget when I put in one of them as last signed, with the thought in my mind that may be I would never see her again.  A lot of squabbling with my wife before and most certainly afterwards… Montluçon Semi National was on the program, still a race of more than 500 km. It was a lovely day, north-east wind and normally the location isn’t important then. But you won’t believe it but our hen won 2nd national prize…. What did we learn here? You don’t have to eliminate these birds when they’re capable. The fly the whole race all by themselves because they don’t follow the mass at the start. Once they get into the steam, the pain in their joints probably disappears. We noticed this many times during the training flights from 40 till 60 km during the week before the race. Winning the second national and not leaving together with the mass at the beginning…then you start to ask questions.  Where was the mass of the pigeons, will we ever know?  We can only guess…

With pigeons that can’t get well into their box the day after a race, it’s another problem. They have problems with the acidify of the muscles and their tension is troubled like a rubber that’s stretched out for the first time. This won’t return to its normal position and those pigeons that had these problems, won’t get normal either.  Pigeons that had to pass over their pain limit of the muscles, can become distorted racers although we notice every year that they start to score well, once the crossed the pain limit. A pigeons that comes home too late, three or four hours later than the rest, has this problem.  Pay attention, once the bird recovered well, he remains within the top of the result…

That’s all for now.  We will be back at the beginning of April and hopefully with good weather. We will talk about white gloves, sweaty hands, identification points and last but not least about what’s good for women is bad for men. See you soon.

THE LOST SON