The clocking system that I use is a wonderful system except when I make a wrong entry. That's it for the day. I will clock the birds on Saturday afternoon to give you an update.
A very frustrated, Rick
Yesterday, the birds were released early in the AM into a very light rain. One hundred and fifty birds found their way out very quickly and proceeded to fly for the next one and a half hours. They were high and travelled far. I saw them three times, each time coming from a different direction. The light rain turned into heavy drizzle but it didn't slow the birds down at all. By early afternoon they were back inside and again beat the hawk. His time for a fly by seems to be five PM. Hope he doesn't change his pattern. The birds will be out again early today for a couple of hours of open loft.
Rick
Today, the birds went out early. As luck would have it, no hawks. The sky was clear, the wind a bit strong but no humid heat. They flew high and travelled far. There was a group that took their sweet time coming home. Another five returned from yesterday. The birds started a preventative treatment for respiratory in preparation of training. Tomorrow and the next three days we will not force the birds out. They will have open loft for a couple of hours in the early morning.
What started out, and almost ended, as a fine day was again spoiled by an attack from above. The birds are doing so well. They now use the loading ramp as the exit with absolutely no hesitation. All come in when called that is all except a dozen or so who haven't a clue what language I'm speaking. What they don't need now is to be driven from the board and chased from here to eternity. As last night, the birds scattered and are returning one at a time.
A relentless attack by a bird of prey scattered the flock in all directions at about 3:00 PM. The birds are slowly making their way back home, one at a time. I bet it wasn't a pigeon fancier who said" Isn't nature grand."
We didnot release the birds today. It's hot, humid with strong gusty winds and a sky that has fooled me twice. I have already lost 20 plus birds to pop up storms and do not wish to loose any more. Tomorrow and Sunday are to be terrific days and we will do hand inventory then.
Happy Canada Day
The birds flew an incredible amount of time on Tuesday. I sat and watched for more than two hours while they travelled back and forth around the area. High and low, they were every where. It was the first time they put on such a show. It was also the first time every bird now in the loft went out on their own. Not all went back in. A handfull have sundowners disease. When the sun starts to set, they lose their mind and simply can't figure out how and where to land or where the entrance is. The birds will leave the loft from now on through the loading chute to prepare for trailer loading. On Friday we will set the clock and run an inventory check.
On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the birds had open loft and bathwater to keep them happy. With the heat and sudden showers, not many birds flew for very long. The late comers and replacement birds will be released into the main loft by Wednesday. We will give them a couple of days to learn to follow the flock out. On Friday, we will force everyone out and set the clock up to see who is and isn't here. The following week will be the start of forced flying. We will start to sort out the teams, shuffling the extra birds around to equalize the numbers in the teams. This is for those who have extra birds.
On Friday, all birds, except the replacements just received, were walked out of the loft. Some for their first time. Not all came back in last night. This morning there were 12 on the roof and hopefully are over their fear and will come in soon. I have reset the clock and I hope it carries on with clocking. Also, last night I found a few birds with no electronic band that had made their way into my young bird loft and there are still a couple of bands that skip the clock. We'll correct all this before next Friday's inventory.
The first 18 birds in the clock were hand scanned. They are the last to arrive to the loft.
Your birds are doing well. Life has been easy for them. Lots of food, no forced excercize and plenty of free time to hang around the pool and lounge in the grass. Tomorrow that changes. It will be the first time that everyone is locked out. They will be out on the roof and I'm sure the local Redtail will do his part and give everyone a fright or two. We will set the clock to give you an idea of who is here. There are a couple of bands that are not reading, except the electronic number, and a couple who seem to not read at all. In july we will do a hand scan and fix the culprits. Also, we will allocate the extra birds to the proper teams in July and collect the extra activation fee before we start racing in late August. Training begins in July. We have replacements so we won't begin till about the second week with very short " oh look, I live over there" tosses. We will trailer train and keep them in overnight to learn were food and water can be found.
