News and Updates

Oct-19-2020

HELLO BREEDERS

Here is the latest update. The birds have been going out everyday it is not raining or the wind blowing to hard. There were several birds who had not come out of the loft literally scared to death. A week ago Sunday I pushed them all out with the trap blocked luckily for 3 days in a row we had no hawk attacks and the birds relaxed a bit, but that was short lived. They have been devastating this year.

I am confident we will be able to start training in the next couple weeks and be on target to start the races Thanksgiving weekend as planned.

You can look forward to an updated inventory this next weekend.

Thanks again for your participation.

Bud

Sep-23-2020

YOUR LONG AWAITED UPDATE

Your long awaited update

My apologies for such a long spell with no updates. This has been a difficult time,

and I hope I am caught up with the family situation for the time being.

Thank you to those who sent me well wishes at my mothers passing. I am back

from Oregon and had to stay a bit longer than intended to make sure my dad was

settled and would be okay.

The birds are doing well, the health is very very good. What is not good is the hawk

situation. This is by far the worst year I have ever experienced. We have relocated 7

so far and there are at least 2 more, maybe 3 which are relentless!

My personal young bird team has been sacrificed to protect the 1-Loft birds. I have

also lost several prized breeders killed and their head eaten through the wire in my

individual breeding pens. I am amazed at the cunning and the intelligence of my adversary.

The last time your birds were out, one hawk would not let a group of 10 or 12 land and trap.

He chased them every time they would try to land right up until dark, those birds were not

seen again.

I will be doing a hand inventory next week with the cooler weather. I hope to be off and

running next week and regular updates will resume.

Thanks again for your patience and kind words.

Bud
281-924-5197

Aug-10-2020

UPDATE

Hello Breeders

This summer has been one of the most challenging I can remember.

We have not escaped the young bird sickness experienced by so many
other one loft races this year, though in our one loft birds it seems to have
pretty much run its course.

We lost about 35 of the 400 birds to illness, and have 8 in the hospital pen.

Yesterday I moved 12 fully recovered birds back into general population to
retrain them with the trapping routine.

Things really went from bad to worse over the last couple weeks, but are
beginning to level off. I expect we may lose 5 or 6 more before its all over.

The illness took a real hold about 10 days after we had 8 inches of rain in 5
days. It has been a battle ever since, and hope is we are at the end of it. I
will mist the loft again this week in an effort to kill anything lurking.

The majority of the birds which we lost were the later ones which came in.

The majority of the birds are doing great. Most have finished the body molt
and most are more than halfway through the wing molt.

I have had a few personal issues to deal with as well, I had a couple health
set backs but am now recovered.

If that were not enough things to deal with, my mother passed away last
week. She lived in eastern Oregon about halfway between Portland and
Boise. I need to make a trip out there for my 86 yr old father, there is just
not a good time to go and leave the one loft birds. But at the same time I
need to.

I have help in place but now all is a timing issue. There won't be a service
as such at this time due to local COVID-19 restrictions, everything is up in
the air, I must be flexible. I hope you can allow me that time when I will
need to be away for a short time.

Thanks for your patience and understanding through this stressful time.
As always you can call if you have any questions.

Bud
281-924-5197

Jul-20-2020

JULY 19 UPDATE

Hello Breeders, hope this finds you all well!

It has been a rough couple of weeks. The health of the birds was greatly challenged after the large amount

of rain a couple weeks ago followed by extremely high humidity, heat and a heat index in the teens for over

2 weeks.

We did lose about half a dozen birds though this time with 4 or 5 more which will need to be put down. I will

be in touch with the affected breeders this week. Young bird sickness, circovirus or ????? not sure but it hits

some birds really hard really fast and others just waste away to nothing. The mortality rate is not that bad

but one loss is to many.

The majority of the birds are looking great and are in great shape; molting heavily and trapping well, finally.

There were about a dozen birds that just did not want to trap on their own. Whatever their issue was, they

seem to have gotten over it.

The next item on the agenda is to get the clocking system updated and set up for this season. Hopefully

Terry will be available when I am. Then we will be able to post a current inventory on wincompanion.

As always, if you have a question feel free to give me a call

Bud
281-924-5197
www.TexasHolidayDerby.com

Jun-30-2020

END OF JUNE

Good evening breeders, it appears as though the
rains may be over for a few days, but the high winds
have temporarily taken their place. Here at the loft
we received right at 8 inches of rain in 5 days.

It was tough going there for a bit but we made it through.

We did lose 3 more birds this last week The owners
have been. The hospital pen has three
more which may not make it, and I think that will be
the tail end. The rest of the birds are looking very
good and moulting very heavily.

When we get rains like we did last week any bird with a poor immune system suffers; part of what makes flying here such a challenge.

We have great ventilation and plenty of room so the majority seem to handle the added stress very well.

The birds are finally starting to get the hang of trapping, for some reason it was more of a challenge with this group as a whole.

With all the rain, I did not get the pictures I had hoped to but they will be coming.

I hope everyone is healthy and staying that way, and I hope you each enjoy the coming July 4th weekend.

As always if you have a question feel free to give me a call.

Bud
281-924-5197
TexasHolidayDerby@gmail.com
TexasHolidayDerby.com

Jun-23-2020

WOW!

Hello Breeders, wow is all I can say!

We hit 400 birds for the start of the series! Never expected that, and am humbled by the entries.

Health is still holding, there continue to be a couple birds a week I need to pull from the flock and isolate,
we have lost 12 and have 8 others in the hospital pen. Four of those will get moved back to "gen pop" this
week.

If you have lost a bird, you have been notified so you could send a replacement.

If you are on facebook you should be able to go there after this week and sign up on my channel
Texas Holiday Derby where I will be posting videos and pictures.(after next week)

A lot of rain and bad weather expected this week so will [play it by ear. Birds are learning the trapping

system but it seems to be hard for many, not sure why.

Again thanks for the support, I will do my best.
As always, any questions feel free to call.

Bud
TexasHolidayDerby.com
281-924-5197

Jun-15-2020

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER ARE HERE

Greetings Breeders from the Texas Holiday Derby! Important info please read.

Things at the loft are proceeding on schedule birds are allowed to freely trap out into the aviary as they wish and trap back

into the loft. They all have not got the hang of it yet, but they are learning. we will give them another week or so to discover

it on their own, then force them out to fully understand the routine before we release them all.

We are right at the 380 mark with a few replacements yet to come in. The health has continued to hold strong. We have lost 6

birds to illness and 6 others had to be put down on arrival to protect all the other birds,, and 6 more with various ailments in

the hospital pen. There has been nothing consistent as far as ailments go they have all been different.

July 1st is a pivotal day... last day for replacements and also the last day to enter for average speed, $25 per bird you can

check on wincompanion. If there is NOT a large green dot on the far right for a bird, that bird is not in average speed. Only

birds with a green dot on their line will be competing for average speed.

All birds listed on the "BIRDS" list are here.

Any questions feel free to give me a call.

Bud
281-924-5197

Jun-08-2020

BOY ITS HOT!

Texas Holiday Derby Update

A very heart felt thank you to all this years participants!

My goal this year was 300 birds. That goal was shattered last week and
this week will be more than I could have hoped for. We are sitting at 342
birds right now and due to some delays in shipping last week I expect
the last 30 or so birds this week. Several birds are needing to be replaced
because of the boxes they have been sent in.

We have received 2 boxes of dead birds in square/rectangular boxes with
flat tops. I highly recommend using the boxes which are angled at the top
so if the postal/shipping personnel are not paying attention and pack the
boxes tight against each other and on top, there is still at least some air
getting to the birds. Many other boxes which were cut down were simply not
appropriate to ship birds in, most with not enough air holes for air flow.

For the most part the health has been excellent. There have been a few
issues, we have had a couple birds expire and a total of 6 pulled from the loft.
The owners have been notified.

As you already know, any time you mix birds from dozens of lofts from all
around the country there will be problems pop up. The key is early recognition
and quick action.

Thank you again for your trust and support of this race.

As always feel free to call if you have any questions.

Bud
281-924-5197

Jun-01-2020

THE BEGINNING OF THE END...OF ACCEPTING BIRDS THIS YEAR

Hello Breeders, we are coming down to the wire here

accepting birds for this years race.

This is the last week to accept birds unless you have

already made arrangements.

Replacements until July 1st.

We have 269 birds/perches taken care of and (3 to check in yet this morning) 266 showing on wincompanion.

I am expecting 60 - 70 this week maybe more! The health this year despite all the rain has been holding, and

at this time all things are good. The birds are enjoying the new expansions to the loft and I feel we are right

on track.

I appreciate your participation in the race this year and will do my very best with the birds.I feel truly honored

to handle your birds and to have your trust.

We have lost a few breeders who were planning on participating this year due to illness and even death. This

was one reason you may have noticed the reservation numbers go down as I deleted them from the site.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.

Bud
281-924-5197

May-25-2020

MEMORIAL WEEKEND

Hope you are having a blessed Memorial weekend, If you are a veteran, many thanks for your service. If you are not a veteran, hug one and tell them thank you for their service!

Just a quick update. We have 216 birds in after today (picking up 2 this afternoon) and expecting +/- 100 this week. That will put us over the 300 target.

Several people have contacted me saying their babies will not be ready till the first week in June. so if you are in that situation also we will also take them next week. Replacements can be sent until July 1st.

We have only had 3 birds needing to be replaced, all 3 for different reasons. The owners have been contacted. The overall health is excellent.

As always any question or concern fell free to give a call!

Bud
281-924-5197

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