Nice weather and South-South Western wind, sometimes 4-5 Beaufort; gave us the opportunity to train our racers properly. Five days in a row, we brought them at a distance of maximum 40 kilometres. But then they announced a North-Eastern wind  and cold temperatures of about 12 °Celsius and these were the reasons why we kept them at home in the weekend. Of course time and habits have changed. After such a long time of bad weather, we all want to start the season as soon as possible.

But as they say, it’s not that good to rush things. I know as no other that in earlier times, they never started to race their pigeons before the leaves were on the trees. The Late Jan Grondelaers and Jef Kempeneers, two masters in our sport, nevertheless on a different area, they both said that the widowers couldn’t begin to race before the temperature reached  20 degrees. And yes, we didn’t even mention the Ice Saints, which are at the calendar in the middle of May. Some will call me old fashioned  and may be I am because I don’t like to use medicines already at the beginning of the season because of the bad weather conditions. Thick heads are often the prove of this. That’s why it’s always better to prevent than already treat them, certainly at the beginning of a new racing season.
FLASH : while writing this article, we suddenly had an international call from Taiwan. It was one of our friends who was astonished while telling us that they released more than 60.000 pigeons (yes, you read well) on 2 large boats on the sea.  Only 3 pigeons returned back home. It was the first race on the programme, about 350 kilometres and a large number of pigeons came from Taipei, Chin-Tzu, Taichung, Taoyuan…

Again, three millionaires more!  The cause of this disaster: no visibility, high waves by a wild see and strong winds that drove the pigeons to the main land of China and the Philippines. Of course this has nothing to do with clever pigeons, which were born out of famous families.  This is more like the National Lottery; many interested parties but not a lot of large winners.
Question of a reader : somebody asked some explanation about training and the game with the hens on widowhood. The previous years, he always played the total widowhood but now he doesn’t have enough time anymore and so he decided to ace his hens. He plans to release them on a short distance every week on Tuesday and Friday before basketing and after they returned, he separates them half an hour later. On Saturday, after they arrived home from the race, they can stay together till the evening. His question is : “Can I keep my birds motivated by this system or will they be burned out too soon?” ”They get together twice a week for a very short time and during the weekend half a day. I hope you can give me your opinion and answer because you have a lot of experience.” Signed : W.S.

The short period that the hens and the cocks get together after a short training flight, has more of a positive effect than negative. Hens, which are in good health, quickly get the tendency to get together, especially those that aren’t locked up. And lesbian tendency is something you can miss. When the fancier isn’t around, they crawl together in a cosy corner where they can become intimate. Their interest and their eager for their cock will get to a zero point.  They will loose their interest in their cocks and that’s one thing you should try to avoid. Locking them up is the best solution. Put them in the basket every week and make them train very well every day, once or twice a day depending on your time available, it’s a must. Also the food is very important : observe and make sure that the hens don’t get too fat. It’s best to take them in your hand regularly and then it depends on what you feel about their volume. Hereby you can find out if you have to feed them more or less. When you can do this well, you’re on your way to success. Above all of this, by this system, you will be allowed to bring them on a nest in an artificial way at the end of July. The feeding birds have to take care of eggs and afterwards little youngsters, which you can pass on, on the ideal moment, depending on the importance of certain races. This system allows you to finish the season in a successful way. The conditions is and remains the same : ”You have to have good pigeons!” Because you can’t turn a donkey into a race horse.

About the fancier with the two identical compartments for his youngsters.  One compartment the pigeons trained for about 90 minutes and the other only trained for about 15 minutes. You already know what we advised: just change the pigeons from one compartment to another and wait for the result. Before publishing this article, we gave the man a call and asked for some explanation. He did follow my advise and after  4-5 days, all birds trained for about 90 minutes. To him, the problem was solved but to us the question remains  open.
“What can be the cause of something like this?” Without being there, I can’t give you an answer.

BLUE HEAVEN LOFT : locking inside our racing pigeons on Saturday and Sunday, has more disadvantages then we all suspect. The limited space, which our racing hens have to their disposal, makes sure that the mutual approach and attraction will increase rather quickly. Even when they get to see their partner five days in a row after their return from a short training flight till 40 kilometres. Now, only a few days later, we notice their mutual attention appears again. The lesbian feeling develops rather fast. This is not only a fact when several women stay together but also with separated racing hens that live isolation. This is something you can’t allow and you have to prevent and avoid it as much as possible. So we decided to shorten the period in which they can leave their resting place freely. Now it will be like this: free to eat and drink and then locked inside again. This means of course, that further on in the season, when the darkening stops and it becomes warmer, we have to let them drink again in the evening around 21.30 PM. You can’t believe how they come to drink one more time and then they fly into their resting place. In reward for this they get a few peanuts. I’m sure of it, that when they can’t drink one more time before the night comes, their digestion will suffer from it and hereby they waste too much energy to digest the grains they eat. So pay attention!

A French lady reader send me an e-mail, in which she said that the first problems of the Northern wind  appeared with her birds. “What should I do?” she asked , while she mentioned that I promised at the end of the season 2012, to mention the name of the product, with which I cured my birds against the Herpes virus. Well, these are two different symptoms. The results of a cold Northern wind are not the same as the problems that cause the Herpes virus. The only thing she should do, is to pay a visit to a competent vet, who will tell her what she should use, based on different antibiotics. This is another prove that the problems with the head and the eyes already can appear before the real season starts. Now you understand why we in BLUE HEAVEN LOFT are so carefull with a cold Northern wind and cold temperatures, to let our pigeons leave…the season has only begun…

Those that read the newspapers, listen to the radio or watch television, will have noticed that they talk a lot about gay and their entourage. Marriage between two partners of the same sex is also allowed in France now. Many people are pro but a lot are against it too and that’s the reason of the protest and the demonstrations. Lesbian women make their profit out of it too. We often notice this on our pigeon loft; hens that exchange their feelings and sometimes cocks too, but not that much.  These tendency aren’t good and it stays unnatural. Nothing can come out of it and what should we do with it? We can make it end by a separation or we just eliminate them and may be this is the best solution because it could stimulate the others to do the same. Gays and lesbians, we can’t use them on our racing loft! As far as it concerns me : imagine me diving into a bed with a gay. NEVER!  May be with a lesbian, yes, but only to show her that she doesn’t need any toys…

Till next time,

Your servant

THE LOST SON