May 1st … the temptation was big. The sun high in heaven but still we kept our birds at home. A cold North-East wind, 3-4 Beaufort, scared us off. Of course, we felle the tension now that everybody else is racing, some even raced Pithiviers which is already 350 km. And BLUE HEAVEN LOFT is standing nowhere. But we’re not mournful, we keep everything under control and a lot is possible with well trained birds.

We’re on schedule. The last week of April, we stopped darkening the old and the yearling birds and from that moment on, we turned over to a bigger speed. In the morning from 7 till 8 o’clock, our hens can train and from 8 till 9, it’s up to the cocks. Both for one hour. In the afternoon, all of this is repeated; from 16 till 17.00 hours the hens and from 17 till 18.00 hours the cocks. With two hours of training every day, the condition becomes better and better. But we also must mention that the food has been adjusted. With this kind of training, they need more and rich food and one soupspoon per pigeon is not enough. Some pigeons use more than others and here you must pay attention that it’s best to feed them extra individually. Nevertheless, you must pay attention.

In BLUE HEAVEN LOFT there are some smart pigeons who regularly hurry inside and fly into the box of his neighbour to steal some grains. They do it every time again till the “owner” of the box arrives and then they hurry to get into their own box. It’s not often that they start a fight which is remarkable. On each compartment is a certain cock who’s the boss on the floor. I don’t like that because he usually prevents the others to drink and eat enough. And he, because he’s busy keeping the others away, doesn’t eat enough himself either. Regularly we close such cocks inside, certainly after the evening training. Do his fellow racers notice this?  Well, they usually take the opportunity to eat and drink. Being a fancier is not only giving some food and water, you also have to watch them carefully and observe how everything is going on the loft. This is also the reason why we regularly give a coffeespoon of HERBOMIX(HAP) or  ALL IN ONE  grit of Versele-Laga in their boxes. 
They wait for this as if it’s a super dessert after a good meal. 

I also notice that hereby the pigeons get more attached to their boxes. Probably because they receive their food in their own boxes twice a day. Hereby, the pigeons also get used to the hand of their master. If there’s something I don’t like, it’s a shy bird on the loft which means, a pigeon that leaves her box when the master wants to take it in his hands. It’s the same for pigeons that leave their nest when you want to take it. We don’t like these pigeons and such a bird should be a very good one with good results and otherwise they have to leave.
I learn every day : a study among married couples showed that 28 % of the women aren’t happy that they don’t have enough sex because their husbands are not in the mood. The author COX even mentions that this already appeared in the primal times. In those days, men didn’t take the effort, once they conquered their “prey “. According to this expert, married men and women, see their sex frequency drop.  Couples, which are married more than two years have a lot less sex than who only know each other recently.
And I thought that I wasn’t normal. But I am because I always do what a woman desires and loves: sex.

Provides energy and is also convenient to use

BLUE HEAVEN LOFT :  May 11th … the old and yearling birds got into the basket for Soissons. Last week, they did 2 x Momingnies with always a short training of 30  km some days before basketing. Both flights didn’t go that well, no chain results. And among our testing pilots we had many losts: +- 1/3 didn’t return back home. This must be because they didn’t have enough experience nor training in their year of birth 2012 .  Those that are left, will be trained and played among our youngsters. But we made this conclusion:  we won’t go on with experiments in 2013-2014 with youngsters that are locked inside in an open aviary till September and then moved to the racing lofts. Nevertheless, it’s already been proved that it’s possible but here for you need to have a lot of patience and hard work to race them with success as yearlings.
On the basketing for Soissons, somebody mentioned that he couldn’t race with his pigeons. A couple of hours earlier, a member of his family told us that this man couldn’t put in his birds because they were ill. But in fact, they weren’t.  They all were too light and too skinny. The vet didn’t find a thing; not in the manure nor in the throat and not even an abnormal matter in the blood.  He was talking about 15 widowers spread over 3 compartments. Finally, the scientist solved the problem. Before in this edition, we already mentioned it; the case in which a cock is the boss on the floor on each compartment.  The one who’s always aware that no other can eat and drink enough. The fancier here, always took away the food after half an hour in which the birds should have eaten enough. A shortage which results in a large problem. Pigeons which can’t eat and drink enough are not capable to score. Their only faith is stress and become thinner. As you see again, a little inattention can have big consequences. So, pay attention and don’t wait to react when something like this happens on the loft.

Our youngsters 2013 train well; at least one hour a day. Of course with our balloons. Nevertheless, we had this year an case of  ADENO-COLI, bad manure and vomit as a result. Till now, we were spared of it but some strangers, which vomited and green manure on the plank, are probably the reason why.  Unbelievable to follow this kind of evolution. The ADENO-Capsules of our vet Raf Herbots are always in the house and these took care of the problem rather soon, together with light food and not too much. In fact it’s rather difficult to escape it, nevertheless you are carefully watching them. It’s a bit of a consolation but it’s better they have it now then during the racing season.  

Sunday May 12th :  the race from Soissons wasn’t very successful. The weather was bad; a lot of rain and low clouds on the whole race line. It wasn’t an easy flight even though they were helped by a strong South West wind. Result: irregular arrivals and at noon there were still some birds missing. We don’t mourn because the game has started and BLUE HEAVEN LOFT is already watching out for the next middle distance race, next Saturday May 18th.

Just want to tell you this :  I always thought nothing could happen but recently I got confronted with the opposite. In the middle of the week, I was attacked by heavy pain in my back. The whole neighbourhood must have heard because each time I bend forward and afterwards get up, I screamed like a pig. And when you never had to take any medication, never any antibiotics but now I had to go and see a doctor and to me that wasn’t easy. He soon found out the problem. Diagnose : “Lumbago” and I had to start a treatment immediately with a painkiller and something against inflammation, a new product on the market : “VIMOVO”. And all of this just at the moment that the MEDIA is talking about this kind of medication almost every day and we can’t get it without a prescription of the doctor. I had no choice but when you never had pain, never took any kind of medication, it’s not easy to deal with. But now I was obliged because of the heavy pain… And yes, it helps, it eases the pain and I almost feel like any other person on earth…

We will be back on May 30th, just after the first national race from Bourges. In the mean time, I wish you all a lot of success on the future races. We’ll meet again soon…

Your servant

THE LOST SON