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 News and Updates
Jul-30-2021
UPDATE 35

Birds continue to train in two groups.  The older group has been out 15 miles and the younger group has been released close to the loft.  The first 20 miles always seem the toughest.  We have seen our fair share of injuries already this season.  We will have both groups together in a few weeks once the younger ones catch up.  As expected older birds are slicked up very nice with the molt, while the younger birds still have a little more to go.  Cooler temps are back today and should last at least a week
Jul-27-2021
JULY 27TH UPDATE

July 27th Update

Training has started!
The younger groups continue to be trained from the back of the property while the older birds have been moved out about 1.5 miles.  We will be combining both groups soon.  We do have a nice cool down coming Thursday, after almost a week of high heat and high humidity.   Once this cool down hits we expect the younger group to start showing more wing time.  Once we see this they too will be down the road. 

As a reminder, we would like to get all of the birds named so if you haven't done so already please name your birds or we will do it for you.  If you need help logging into your account please contact us or send us the names and we will get the name put in for you. 

 

Below is a link to a short video of the younger birds being released from the property

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ubtnDdFYM
Jul-19-2021
The birds were back loft flying today after being kept in for 2 days due to rain.  The health is very good right now, probably the best we have seen it in three seasons.  We still practice the same daily routine with loft flying two separate groups.  Both groups have been trained from the trailer several times.  Essentially what they are learning right now is how to load into the crates and being released from the trailer.  We are not ready to move the birds down the road just yet.  We are waiting for a better performance from the younger group.  We still have time before we need to start road training so patience is key right now in ensuring the birds are ready to start moving down the road. 

Its also time to start naming your birds if you haven't already.  Giving the birds names is something we have done for the past several years.  Fanciers have the opportunity to name their own birds before we begin to do it for you.  If you can't access your account or don't know how to go about it please feel free to call our office or send an email and we can get it done for you or help you access your account to do it yourself. 

We will be finalizing the weekend events within the coming weeks in regard to what there will be to do for fanciers attending the race weekend.  We of course will have the basketing and banquet the day before the race and will have other events as well.  Attached below again is the flyer with the available hotel/campground information that was released a few weeks ago.  For those that requested information regarding campers we have provided the 2 closest sites to the loft.  If you are choosing to stay at Blue Chip Hotel & Casino please remember that rooms must be booked by September 10th if you want the discounted room rate.  The Booking Code is listed below.   And, for those flying in we get asked many times each season what the closest airport is.  The closest airport to the loft is South Bend (SBN) however it is not a major airport for all airlines.  The closest major airport is Chicago - Midway (MDW) which is between an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and half from the loft.  Keep in mind there is a shortage of rental cars across the nation right now and bookings fill up quickly.  If you need a rental car you may want to look into that now.  

As always if you have any questions please feel free to give us a call or send an email. 
 
Jul-11-2021
UPDATE 32

This afternoon while calling in group 2 from a loft fly we had about 30/35 birds continue to fly.  This is normal to see however this particular group had to of gotten scared by something because they were flying out of sight.  We did see the group once again, and watched birds returning in singles early evening.  We last counted 10 returning.  We have left the traps open for another hour and are hopeful to see more birds return this evening and in the morning.  Tomorrow we will reset the clock and show an inventory. 
Jul-06-2021
JULY 5TH
We hope everyone enjoyed the 4th of July Holiday.   The heat is back for a few days as our temperatures are back into the 90's.  Our daily routine continues to be the same with the birds loft flying in 2 different  groups.  We do see progress in both groups.  Our routine will stay the same until the birds start routing.

There have been 2 videos posted to YouTube of the loft from this evening as we walked through to close up the building for the night. 

A reminder for those that are interested in either participating in the race or adding to their team, there are birds available on the For Sale List from many different breeders.

Click the link to view the list of birds on the For Sale Team.  Simply click the link, and then select "For Sale" as the breeder name to see the full list of birds.  If you are interested in a particular bird you can check the "Training Results" daily to see if the bird is clocking.  When going to the training results find the breeder name of "For Sale" and all the available birds will be listed that are clocking. 
Bird List Link
Video 1 from July 5th
Video 2 from July 5th
Jun-22-2021
UPDATE 30

This past week was quite hot and humid at the Hoosier Classic.  This week we are welcoming a nice cool down for a few days.  Sunday night into Monday morning we experienced very strong storms with winds upwards of 80  mph.  That storm has knocked our satellite off the loft for internet service.  We have a technician scheduled to come tomorrow (Tuesday) to get it fixed and we will be back up and running with clocking the birds.

The older birds are flying better each day while the younger groups still tend to play in and around the yard of the loft.  Overall health is great with the older groups, however the younger groups are still working through some bugs.  This will stabilize within the coming weeks.

The birds will continue to exercise daily weather permitting.  Once routing has started we will start road training.  We have several weeks before that will start though.  

Remember there are plenty of birds on the For Sale list that can be purchased for those that would maybe like to add a bird to their team or anyone who would like to participate but was not able to get birds sent in. 

Have a great week everyone and we should have the internet fixed by tomorrow late morning to get the birds clocking again. 
Jun-16-2021
UPDATE 29
Daily Routine
Birds continue to exercise daily.  Today the 1st groups out were the older groups.  This time of year we are able to start letting them out around  5:30 am.  The older groups are forced to fly for 20 minutes at this time.  The 10th flight just popped so very soon they should be more comfortable flying.  The younger groups have not been forced to fly and will not be forced to for another 3-4 weeks.  We usually start training the 1st week of August, however we will train once the birds show us they are ready. 

Health
As expected health is very stable with older youngsters, however we still find some of the youngest ones falling behind.  This to will stabilize with intake now over and everyone moved to the main loft. 
We have treated everyone for worms yesterday and will start a 7 day treatment against Canker starting Thursday.  We will be using Tricho Green by Dr. Norbert Peeters.  

Sneak Peek
Two events for the final race weekend have been confirmed.
Sunday October 17th - Day of shipping
Ganus Family Loft will return with there "Super Star Auction" with a line up of 50-60 pigeons to auction at his hunting lodge in LaPorte, IN, located only 15 minutes from the Hoosier Loft.  Mike guarantees only the best will be offered at this auction. 

NEW- Monday October 18th - Final Race Day
America's Dream Loft (Jim Gabler) will auction 40 off his Top European Imports.  Those that follow ADL know that Jim spares no expense when adding to his stock loft.  Jim promises to only bring his best.
Planning your weekend
As mentioned before, there is a room block at Blue Chip Hotel & Casino where the Banquet will be held on Sunday October 17th.  
In the past several fanciers have chosen to stay at other local hotels.  Below is a list of hotels in Michigan City, Indiana (close to Blue Chip Hotel) as well as locations for campgrounds.  Several have contacted asking about local campgrounds for RV's and we have found 2 in the area.  One of them is closer to the loft and the other is closer to Blue Chip Hotel.  Please review the information below for accommodations.  Please note that only Blue Chip Hotel & Casino has a room block for the weekend. 
 
Jun-10-2021
UPDATE 28
Update 28 for 2021

We have officially closed our intake period for the 2021 season.  As of Tuesday 6/08/2021 we have had every bird entered in the race clocked in including birds that have been sent as replacements.  After completing this we have 4378 birds that have clocked.  

Today, Wednesday June 9th we set the clock for a loft fly.  We noticed during the clocking that there are currently 3 antennas that are not working, causing many birds to not clock on the loft fly.  We have high temperatures and high humidity here.  We will work on the antennas and have the birds clock again tomorrow to pick up any that have been missed.  We do not want to stress them today trying to get them to go over antennas again. 

Moving forward we will continue to set the clock every other day.  With the amount of birds we have no matter how hard we try to slow them down coming into the loft we always have a few that manage to miss the antennas.  By setting the clock every other day it will allow missed birds to clock the next day and hopefully help us keep a more accurate inventory of the birds.  


Other than an issue with the antennas today, everything is going well this season.  We are seeing the end of the usual viruses that we see early in the season come to an end.  The birds have all handled the intake and settling process quite well.  We can't say enough that we truly believe the changes made during the off season have only benefited this season for the better.  

Also, as a reminder, Please Do Not Make Changes To Loft Names moving forward.  Any changes made by a fancier in Wincompanion may prevent the birds from clocking.  
Jun-01-2021
UPDATE 27
The intake period for the 2021 season is officially over.  We will no longer be accepting new entries or replacements.  We will do a final import with Benzing in the next 1-2 days once we finalize some name adjustments and unpaid perch fees.  Please remember ANY unpaid perches will be put on Hold and once we do this final import the birds will not show in clocking results.  

The ninth flight on the birds is starting to come in and today we started the process of altering the 10th flight.  This process, again will take several days to complete from start to finish. During the next few days we will also be moving one of the final groups out of quarantine leaving only 1 group left.  We will focus now on getting the last arriving groups settled and letting the birds out daily to exercise.  

Hope everyone had a great weekend and we will keep you updated as to when we are done with the flights. 
 
May-28-2021
UPDATE 26

Birds were kept in the loft today due to cooler temperatures, high winds & rain.  Depending on the weather tomorrow (winds) we will be letting them out to fly. 

Hopefully this cool down doesn't last more than a day.
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