There were a few birds on the roof today so we decided to continue with the same inventory as yesterday. The birds were released today from the same place they have been released the two days prior, they shot home today like they were on their final race.
If the air is clear tomorrow we will progress to the next release point which is 8 miles, there are some fires here in the PNW so we need to be careful.
This morning it was cooler than it has been and the birds flew for a very long time when they got home, again this tells us that everything is in good working order with the birds.
Everyone have a great day!
Rick & Olga
We finally got some cooler weather this AM so yours truly loaded up the birds and then got up on the roof to do some repairs from wind damage last night, it gets very windy here. The birds got released later than usual starting at 1005 and the last group of 6 groups went out at 1035. It took them awhile to get their head's on straight since the angle of the sun was not where it has been on our earlier releases, however this was a very good thing since it got the birds up high so they could see over the ridge to the south side where we will be training at next and all groups circled over the top of the ridge for at least 10 minutes before heading toward the loft a little over 4 miles away. This is not a pancake flat course, if yours birds do well here be proud of them! The third group got chased by a Prairie Falcon up high, did not seem to affect them too much as they have seen them before. The 4th through 6th groups did not see the falcon return.
We have most of the birds in the loft now, just saw a shadow landing while typing this update so I am sure we will get the few still out in today.
I am really enjoying training, praying that the air stays clear of smoke we often times get this time of year so I can keep the birds progressing. We have no timeline, we will do what is best for the birds and am in no big hurry to have the activation race. Would like to get the activation race in right before Labor Day opposed to after Labor Day, that way we can focus on collecting fees during the Labor Day weekend when the birds can not go out of the loft for 3-4 day due to opening dove season. If it does not work out this way then no biggie, again we are in no big rush and am not on a timeline.
Tomorrow I have a dental appointment 3 hrs away so the birds will be released early AM so I have time to get ready to leave.
Birds looked healthy and perky today while loading them up, I am tickled pink to say the least, hope it stays this way!
Today the birds were brought to our 4 mile station, right on this side of Konowack Pass. We will train from this same spot tomorrow furthering their confidence coming from that direction before we head over the ridgeline to the south side. Today they were released from the base of the north side of the ridge.
At the time of posting this there are 23 birds that have not clocked in today, there are more than that still flying around outside. Looks like this was a very good toss today!
As long as the air is clear we will continue to train. We are way ahead of where we have been in recent years, mainly because we have not had any smoke from NW fires yet which are usually a problem this time of year and keeps us from training. We will continue to train them so that when we do have smokey days along the flight path it will be that much easier to get the birds going again since they already know the routine and have already had several tosses under their belt, or should I say under their wings.
The birds continue to have baths daily to help maintain feather quality, reinforce their love of the loft, and to help them deal with these 100F days.
The birds have Primilac and Ropa B on alternating days, this seems to really be helping to maintain health in the loft. We have not had to remove a bird due to health for weeks, best year we have had health wise.
Everything is going great and the birds look amazing!
The birds are responding well to training, we have been inching them out on the gravel road that runs north to south behind our property. Today was their 3rd toss and they really have exiting the trailer down pat Tomorrow will be their 4th toss from 2 miles dead south which is the same direction we have taken them the last 3 days in a row.
It has hit 100+ the last few days and is forecasted to do the same this weekend and heading in to next week. We will get early AM releases to beat the heat when it is still in the 70s.
Stay tuned, it is about to get exciting around here!
Have a great evening!
Today was the 2nd day the birds were ran in to the trailer, they did it about twice as fast as yesterday and were released from the property.
The birds were released early this morning to beat the heat, most flew for about a hour and some much longer after being flagged just once.
We continued to run yesterday's inventory because there were a few birds on the roof this AM who had stayed out overnight, just wanted to show those birds in the clock for the breeders they belong to.
Flights are back in, birds are flying high and long and starting to route, they are loading the trailer nicely, they look healthy and have a sparkle in their eyes.......they are giving us every indication that it is time to start training!
First toss tomorrow, stay tuned!
We started to run the birds on to the trailer this morning and they were released from the trailer on the property. We will do this for at least two more days to get them used to loading the trailer so it becomes easier to load them for road training, hopefully later this week.
We have been flagging the birds for over a week now, all are up and flying and many well over a hour. They are being ran on Doxycycline at the moment just to make sure we clean up any respiratory issues before training begins, we don't see any respiratory issues but just want to give every pigeon a equal chance at excelling this year.
Birds look immaculate, really looking forward to seeing what these birds are capable of this year!
Still hot temps hovering around 100F at the peak each day, for this reason the birds are let out early AM so they can get some good wing time.
Everyone have a great day...stay tuned!
Flight regrowth is coming along nicely, should start training in about 2 weeks if the weather cooperates.
For now the birds are flagged ONCE as soon as they are let out, as we get closer to training we will shoot for 1 hr on the wing each morning with more flagging.
Health is outstanding, at this point birds are only being removed if they have severe injuries as they occur and they are rare right now.
We are right around 100F each day now so birds get access to a bath each morning.
While running the birds out this morning for their daily loft fly we handled several birds to see where they are at in regrowing their 9th and 10th flights. We are happy to report that the feathers are growing back in nicely and within 3 weeks they should be completely finished. Despite not having a complete wing, most of the birds are up and flying at least a few minutes each morning and many are out routing like nothing ever happened.
As we get closer to thinking about starting road training we will flag the birds up a few days in a row to make sure everyone is up and flying nicely before we head down the road. Getting air time is really never a problem here at the Apple Cup due to the number of Red Tail Hawks we have around here, they don't catch them or dive at them but they do get them flying high and long.
The first few tosses will be within eyesight of the loft by the way, we work these guys out real slow. The main obstacle is the Columbia River which is about 70 miles south of the loft, we do a lot of tosses on this side of the river to get their confidence up before attempting to get the birds to cross it for the first time. Once on the other side of the river we will do a few long tosses before having the activation race at 115 miles from Shaniko, OR.
We will continue to do at least one loft fly inventory each week before we start training. If the weather cooperates we will train darn near every day until we get out to at least 50 miles, then we will go about every other day but of course this is all due to weather and air conditions.
If we don't update again before the 4th of July weekend coming up, everyone have a great Independence Day weekend with friends and family!
Good morning everyone, get out there and fly your pigeons!
There were a few birds sitting on the roof this morning so we decided to continue with the same inventory for a second day to show those birds.
Health is holding wonderfully, only pulled one bird out since we pulled 9 and 10 and that was due to a unrecoverable injury.
All in all everything is looking great. While we were on vacation in TX we had the workers continue to loft fly the birds daily and from the number clocked yesterday it looks like most if not all are accounted for, minus the one bird we pulled as stated above due to a injury. We will let the birds back in the loft in about a hour, hopefully we pick up the few birds that were missing yesterday.
Flights are coming in nicely as mentioned yesterday, hopefully we will be able to start training late July and be on track to have the Activation Race around Labor Day which is our goal.
Sorry for the late clocking today on the inventory, did our normal troubleshooting and found out that a mouse had chewed through a cable. It took awhile but it is fixed now and the birds are clocking in.
Got in last night around 1 AM after a 7 day trip to San Antonio to visit our daughter and family before she goes on another deployment for 6 months. She has 11 years in the USAF now and only has 9 more to go to be like dad and retire from the military, a father could never be prouder!
Handled several birds this morning while forcing them all out of the loft, most are about 1" out on growing back their 9th and 10th flights. Despite having less wing for the time being, a good percentage of the birds flew high and for several minutes. Before the flight pull they all were flying high and for a very long time, in a few weeks they will be back to where they were before having their flights pulled.
Hope y'all are staying cool, starting to warm up here in central WA!