Back home again. My first assignment was to catch one’s breath. After three weeks in Taiwan and China, it felt good to sleep in my own bed, in the arms of the woman I love, the mother of my 20 year old daughter Linda.

And what about the pigeons on  “BLUE HEAVEN LOFT”? It’s hard to believe, you should see it yourself, the way my wife took care of the pigeons and made certain that nothing went wrong.  And what about our racers?  As you know, these have been paired on February 2nd, a kind of test.  Well, on my first day back home, I took all hens of the loft and brought them to the compartment where they’ll have to trai every day.  Some of them already dropped an egg again. We needed one youngster in each nest to which the cocks had to take care of for a few days.

In the meantime, the youngsters of the racers got weaned and they flutter around the loft.  This all went fast and that’s a first difference between the first round of the breeders (paired on December 20th 2012), these needed 2 till 3 weeks before they started to fly around the loft.
Despite the bad weather, our racers had to train twice a day, without a flag or balloons, they train for an hour at this moment.

At the beginning of April, we vaccinated our youngsters (also those of the racers) together with the testing pilots, against Paramixo and Herpes with Pharmavac Columbi 2, together in one treatment.  Neither the youngsters nor the testing pilots showed no problems. On the contrary, the day after, they already trained like they used to. Till now, everything seems to be going smoothly.  No signs of E.Colli or Adeno but of course this can still happen later on.  Nevertheless, the chance of getting it becomes smaller when they’re older. Also while we provide their drinking water every day with acids and complimentary products to support their immunity system. 

Dispite it all, everything seems to be under control but nevertheless, as we do every year, we had a microscopical research on their manure of 5 days, plus a swab of their throat checked on worms, coccidiose and cancer. All pigeons examined showed negative, except for a few, which showed some signs of cancer. According to the scientist it was to little to treat them. Besides this research, we also asked for a bacteriologic research of every bird, all in the same compartment, from a swab beneath their tongue, all individual put on culture in a specialised lab. In between the beginning and the result, it took them about one week but this kind of research takes away your doubt. The pigeons on “BLUE HEAVEN LOFT” all showed negative against all possible like : ferment, Klebsiella, Proteus, Shigella, Chlamydia, Mycoplasma, Salmonella; except for : “Hemolytical streptocoxes”. All examined pigeons showed positive. After a conversation with the specialists of the lab, we decided to treat them, which we did for 4 days in two meals per day, as they subscribed. One thing we remembered of this conversation that this research only holds just one moment and so it’s possible that with a new research a few days later, they all seems to be negative. But it’s a fact that almost nobody let them test a second time after they seemed to be “positive”? The fancier with the scientist can decide together if the birds should be treated or not. Those that read me and do all possible to play well, I advice to have that test while you still can, before the big competition starts.

View: youngsters department Blue Heaven Loft

Department of flight hens in Blue Heaven Loft

April 12th 2013 : “Blue Heaven Loft”.  It’s remarkable the way the birds train, as well the cocks as the hens, which have been separated for about 10 days now.  They all train for a full hour in the morning and in the evening and without any obligation. Three years ago, the crossing of the roof in front and at the back, was covered but in spring 2013, we opened it again. May be this is the reason while they get more oxygen? Or may be it’s because our birds had free flights, even with freezing temperatures? May be it’s this of what they take their profit now? I have the impression that they feel very well. Each time they have to train, they storm our of the loft, all together. In the past, there were always some pigeons that doubted to get outside, as if they were afraid to leave the loft. I also noticed that our pigeons are still rather nervous. With a bit of noise or trouble, they try to get away as if they were chased by a bird of prey. Their sexual lust starts to develop by separating them, especially noticed with the hens.  That’s why we had to start to lock them up after they eat and drink enough. And because everything goes that well, we have enough time to refresh the water and prepare their food. The cocks are fed individually, a well fulled soup spoon with candy seeds in the morning and the same amount in the evening of Sport Extra Subliem of Versele-Laga, regularly prepared with oil and beer yeast. The racing hens aren’t allowed any longer to get into their nest boxes, where they used to live. They are fed in the corridor in front of the compartments where they can eat and drink for half an hour before the move back to the compartment where they’re locked inside all individual, just before the cocks have ended their training flights. The good news is that spring is in the air so we have all opportunity to drive them away to train. More about this in our next edition.

Today, I received a phone call of a Walloon fancier, his voice deep and rusty. He had a problem and asked if I could help.  His youngsters stay in two identical compartments, which are separated with a wall. All youngsters have the same age, cocks and hens together. The pigeons on one compartment train for about 90 minutes while those of the other compartment only train for about 15 minutes. “What can I do about it?” the man asked. I told him that it’s not easy to advice him from a distance. Because the care taking is identical on each compartment, there probably is something wrong with the loft.  I advised him to switch the pigeons so that the birds that train for 90 minutes move to the other one and vice versa. Rather soon, within a week, the man should see a change and the results of the change. May be that one compartment isn’t well; less sun and oxygen? Or the pigeons that don’t train well, show some signs a certain disease, which is present but not already visible? We’ll let you know soon.

Something I read for you on Nieuwsblad.be : The reason why we don’t succeed in bed. Some scientists did some research and I thought that the reason was always to be found with women. This seems to be totally different… The failing is mostly because of a physical or psychological background or a combination of these two. Also stress can be at the base of this problem and it can take care of it that a man produces more hormones than adrenaline and cortisole, which obstructs the produce of testosterone. It’s also known that diabetics or people who have to take medication against high blood pressure, or anti depressives and fear stoppers, can all lowers down the sexual drifts. On the other side, they also proved that overweight has a big influence on the testosterone because the hormone is absorbed by the fat. Of course the age has an impact too. Mature men, who produce less testosterone and some of them get into the so-called “Menopause” and this is linked to lower libido.
I am such a lucky man because I’m not confronted with it. When I saw and red this text, I frowned my eye brows. It’s for sure: “ 20 years in  Taiwan, kept me intact and untouched” It’s a true fact!

Your servant

THE LOST SON