Well here we are near the end of another month. It`s been a busy time for us, what with our 2nd auction of young birds from our Barcelona yearlings, some absolutely outstanding youngsters for sale. This time we decided on an internet auction which we held with elimar pigeons, and we are really pleased to say that all pigeons on offer were sold. Some fanciers got some wonderful youngsters at a very good priceand we wish you all success with these babies for the future. As  I`ve already said, they were of outstanding quality and breeding, John being very particular on their rearing. They were fed Beyers Breeding mix and John would alternate between Gemthepax on the corn for a couple of days mixed with Whey Protein powder, like the body builders use, which he would mix in a cup with the Gemthepax until it was paste-like, then he adds it to the corn as it is easier to mix on the food when made like this, then when he was not using this combination he was using natural colustrum which, as I`ve  told you before, we get on a very regular basis from our good friends our neighbours, the dairy farmers. From what I am told, we are very fortunate to get the natural product as it is not so easily available in the UK.

Once the auction was over it was back home to get things sorted out as John was to return to England to work for three months so he had to split the yearlings, get the nest boxes into the 2nd loft, which fortunately our friend John Harverson built for us whilst we were in England.  I mentioned John to you last month. He is another fancier living over here 12 miles away from us in the barn, which was nothing more than a storage room before so he and our Connor call it the “Bat cave” due to a couple of resident bats. He is a chippie, so well handy as he gives John a hand with bits and bobs, so John made the boxes whilst we were away and then gave John a hand to get them in then we cleaned out all the lofts sprayed then powdered them with Bio-Super which I have also mentioned to you before which kills 99% of bacteria in an hour and smells lovely too and it really does keep the lofts super dry.

The next thing was redecorating the interior of our stock loft. You remember the one I told you about that blew over back in March, anyway it's all put back together and we have put the stock birds back in there on a deep litter we buy out here called “Bior Litiere”. It is chopped up linseed stalks and again this too is super absorbent, so with this and the Bio-Super our lofts are never damp.

As an extra precaution we purchased some big spiked posts, again from our neighbours, and John and John H and our friend Mathieu got them well and truly into the ground and screwed to the loft so hopefully we will never have a repeat of that ever again.

I must just tell you this I came back from shopping last week and was bringing it all in doors when I remembered I hadn`t shut the gates so I flew outside looking for our Sophie-Lou. I looked up and down the road to make sure she hadn`t escaped then when I was certain she hadn`t my next lookout was the garage as she loves to go in there and sit on the lawnmower. I could not believe my eyes when I went in there and this is where she was. How she got in there I just don`t know, and not only had she climbed in and turned herself around but she climbed up to the top box and opened all the doors on her way down as we shut all the boxes off.

Then we received a phone call from our good friend and one of our sponsors Brian Wall of Gem Supplements asking if it was ok for him, Mick Bunney and Kevin Bakes to come out to see us and of course the lofts so the trip was arranged for 20th September. They spent the night with us and took us out for dinner at our local steak house the “Buffallo Grill” so thanks boys for that, it was nice to have a night off from the cooking. We all  enjoyed steak and chips and after much chat back home for more beers,

When asked their comments on the lofts this is what they said: “Very very impressed with the cleanliness of the lofts and the whole setup, the pigeons are a picture of health in an excellent moult. It is ideally situated for the health of the birds with plenty of fresh air it is a pigeon fancier's dream.

Everything about the lofts spells winners and plenty of success,the quality of the pigeons was outstanding as you would expect of birds being sent to a one loft race”

So thanks chaps, some wonderful comments, what can I say other than we give it a 110% as we are very keen to get this venture established and what with being able to compete in the Barcelona International next year we really want to do you all proud.

 

This Friday the 26th September I had a visit from another of our sponsors, Patrick De Mulyder of Beyers bringing our monthly quota of corn (at the moment that is obviously their premium moulting mixture) and as I am here on my own with John being back in the UK for 3 months working I asked him to check the birds for me and he said they are in great condition moulting out nicely, so it`s nice to know I`m doing it all ok yesterday and today Sunday I got everything in the lofts bathed as we have had some lovely weather for the birds to bathe and just relax. Today the 28th the shoot season has begun so I wont be letting anything out just let them bath in the aviaries and finish off their moult

Brian Wall (left) and Mick Bunney enjoying a beer in our garden

Well that`s about it from me for now. As always, take care and look after each other. Lou x.

Ps: I had a visit yesterday Sunday from our club president Marcel Loquet, who is extremely good at the distance flying he won the Tarbes National this year and was 4th International. He has some pigeons for sale at 60 euros each. Below is info he mailed me. It is in French but you can see the origins and the positions any interest don’t hesitate to call me.

vend jeunes mal et jeunes femelles 2008 plus jeunes/2009.voici les origines cultiver robert ben calais part achat direct descendent 048 vendu leplus.au monde .chr.van der velden .de hollande descendent du 048.aben robert ..wimmuller .kuypers de neer hollande. devos etienne de deerlijk achat frere du zidane 1intrenational voici les resultats 1 et 2 national de tarbes 3 international et 10 sur 12500 pigeon 5 national de barcelone et 23 sur 2000 pigeon 71.et 103 narbonne internationaal sur 12201 aux 60euro piece prende contact 03.21.41.28.29.ou part email marcel.loquet@wanadoo.fr ou lou john.mcgee320@orange.fr merci lou marcel