CRC
News and Updates
Aug-14-2022
INTERNET DOWN…951 BIRDS HOME

Internet network it currently down.  Most of the birds are home and the race is in the clock.  Hopefully posted soon
Aug-13-2022
SPRINT RACE INFORMATION

Good Afternoon Flyers,
 
Birds had a nice cool trainer this morning from 55 miles.  Birds headed straight out the trailer and disappeared in the correct direction to the north.  Ten minutes later I hear the wing beats of a large flock of pigeons overhead and see about 300 pigeons racing due south and they disappeared behind the southside of Pine Mountain as they hooked around.  This is usually an indication that the birds are familiar with the release sight and start to do some routing.  
 
Birds are doing well.  The last 4 tosses have been mass releases and the birds have seemed to figure that out just fine.  Appetites have increased with the cooler night time temperatures.  GPS is always on the trailer and can be found under the race info tab on the website.  Birds have access to water on the trailer on every trainer, so are familiar with drinking out of the trailer.  
 
Tomorrow looks like a nice day to move to the 86 mile station.  This will be the sprint race activation toss for those that choose to participate.  Here are the rules...they can also be found on the website under the race information tab.  I made a change to not include the 86 mile activation toss in the series.
 

"Optional Sprint Race Series: $150 per bird due after 86 mile sprint activation toss. 3 race series to include 103 miles, 103 miles, 150 miles. Payout to top 3 birds in each race and top 3 in average speed sprint series. 50% capital prizes to average speed and 50% spread to each race. All birds go to these races/trainers as they are on our normal training schedule for the main race series.

Optional Overall Average Speed First Place $5000. Must be entered in sprint series to be eligible. Races include 103 miles, 103 miles, 150 miles, 200 miles, 250 miles, 300 miles, and 367 miles."

 
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  Payments are best made via Zelle, Check, Money Orders, or Venmo.
 
Have a great weekend.
 
Lucas
 
--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
Aug-02-2022
GOOD MORNING!

Good Morning!

 
Birds enjoyed another day of loft flying.  The weather has been keeping me from taking the birds down the road.  We have had several days with temperatures over 105 degrees and dry thunderstorms with lots of lightning and wind.  There have been a few fires in the area causing some smoke, so we are just in our "normal" holding pattern.  The birds love to loft fly and I get lots of wing time out of them, so when we have a break we will be back on the road.  
 
Birds are content in the loft.  The design of this loft really helps to keep the birds comfortable on these hot days.  The roof peak is over 20 feet tall, so all that heat rises and goes out the peak vents.  I have garage doors on the north and outh ends and those are wide open during the day for air flow.  The east aviaries are shaded after about 12 o'clock, while the south aviaries are full sun all day.  The birds have a lot of options...even on the hottest days I will have birds soaking up the sun on the south end.  Baths are offered every few days, which the birds always enjoy.
 
I hope this finds everyone well.
 
Take Care 
 
Lucas
 
--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
Jul-24-2022
GOOD AFTERNOON!

Good Afternoon Breeders,

 
Most of the birds are home from this morning's trainer.  Looks like we had a group get themselves into some trouble, with some birds still out and sporadic late arrivals.   Overall, the birds are doing well on the road, with the exception of a few birds in the injury ward with wire hit injuries.  I will continue group tosses until we get out a bit farther.  
 
This week is going to be hot!  The birds will take a break from road training and loft fly in the cool mornings.  I do not want late birds to try and make it home when it is over 100 degrees on road trainers.  There is plenty of time to push them down the road when it cools down the following week.
 
Birds are looking and feeling good.  Each morning when I load birds, I try and handle a few birds from each section to make sure they are on track.  Appetites are good and I am not seeing anything of concern at the moment.  There are some birds still molting heavy and this break will do them some good.  
 
Have a great week and stay cool! 
 
Lucas
 
 

--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
Jul-12-2022
GOOD AFTERNOON!
Good Afternoon Breeders!
 
Birds enjoyed a relaxing loft fly this morning and now are lounging around in the aviaries enjoying the heat.  First week of road training is now in the books and the birds responded well to the new routine.  There are a few stragglers that I am keeping an eye out for and assessing day by day.  If you see one of your birds you have concerns about feel free to reach out.  
 
Late birds today are coming out of the north, when I let them out to loft fly this morning they took off straight north and I didn't see any birds for about 30 minutes, then small groups started coming back.  I have noticed this in the past, that once I start road training they like to really take off and  route.  
 
I will continue to train in smaller groups until we get out to 50 miles or so.  The smaller group training for us seems to reduce wire hit injuries.  We have a lot of high tension wires along our course and these can wreak havoc on the larger flocks.  
 
Road training will resume on Thursday with a 15 mile toss on the other side of the mountain. 
 
Have a great week!
 
Lucas
 
--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
Jun-26-2022
Good Morning Breeders,
 
Birds are out enjoying some beautiful summer weather.  The 10th flight is about 3/4 of the way grown in and the birds are back to flying great. This week I started pushing them off the loft a few times during each loft fly session to make sure they are all getting some wing time.  Birds are molting well and are happy to lounge around in the loft and aviaries during the hottest part of the day. Baths continue to be offered twice a week, which they love.  
 
This week will be more of the same, with road training starting after July 4th.  I am seeing more mid air collisions than I like to see resulting in injuries, but it seems to be unavoidable with this many birds.  Birds were treated with routine canker meds this last week and will have a follow up deworming at some point this week.  
 
 
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
 
Lucas
--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
Jun-12-2022
GOOD MORNING

Good Morning Breeders,
 
Cool and wet here at the loft this morning, so birds will be staying in and enjoying the rain in the aviaries.  This week should dry out a bit and be pleasant with highs in the 70s.  Birds are back to flying well after having their 10th flight pulled and spending several days just hanging out on the loft for their loft flights.  I haven't had to push this group yet to fly, since the raptors tend to do that for me. Looking at the calendar I will probably start to flag them a bit starting the 20th and do our first road trainer around the 4th of July.
 
Birds are continuing to molt well and appetites are good.  The new antennas I received for the clock are working better, but not perfect.  I have some more new equipment coming this next week to trial and see if I can get our clocking a bit tighter.  
 
We finished our old bird series this last week with the 500 mile race.  500 is a tough race for us on this course and again this year we did not have any day birds.  Looked like we had a good day to possibly get some this year, but thunderstorms and rain moved on to the course in the afternoon shutting the birds down.  Early the next morning they started coming in, so they were close.
 
Results attached in the link...need to change the date to 6/08 in the date field to get results
 
I hope this finds everyone well!  Have a great week.
 
Lucas
 
 
--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
Jun-02-2022
GOOD EVENING!
Good Evening Breeders,
 
After checking chips and pulling the 10th flight yesterday, the birds enjoyed a nice relaxing warm day in the loft.  They enjoyed a nice salt water bath and a bunch of kale and romaine lettuce.  Birds handled great and I only pulled one bird out for observation that wasn't a 100 percent.  Electronic chips were all functioning properly.  The whole process went smoothly with minimal stress.  At most, each bird only has to be in the holding pen for about 30 minutes before they are processed and allowed back into the loft/aviaries.  
 
Birds will now be on natural light from here on out...this should put most of them into a pretty good body molt.   Appetites continue to be good and I am happy with our current feed mix.  I continue to alternate Primalac and Ropa B in the water. Drinkers are disinfected at least daily if not twice a day when it is warm.  Now that all the birds are together in the main loft I Virkon the loft about once a week.  
 
Last weeks old birds race results...next week 500 miles
 
New antennaes are working better, but I am still dialing them in.  I will probably keep the birds in for another day or two and then back to loft flying.  
 
Have a great evening.
 
Lucas
 

 
--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
May-26-2022
GOOD MORNING!
Good Morning Breeders!
 
Beautiful sunny and warm day here in Central Oregon.  The birds are out flying and enjoying the warm weather.  Summer has finally arrived with a couple 80 degree days, which has been lovely for both me and the birds.
 
Birds continue to loft fly daily as the weather/wind permits.  I have many small groups taking off and routing...I have some birds going missing on these flights.  I had a friend about 10 miles north of me bring back one youngster that must have traveled a little too far away on one of these trips.  These groups are having fun but seem to get themselves into some trouble by going too far, encountering wires, and/or raptors.  Overall, health continues to be good, even with the cooler wet spring.  
 
I did receive four new antennas from Topigeon and have installed them, so hopefully this will solve our clocking issues.  I did extensive testing with the previous model that I received earlier this year and found them to be defective.  I will be handling all the birds next week to confirm bands are in working order and pull the tenth flight.  Birds will be going on natural light in the next few days.  
 
Trailer went in yesterday and had bearings, brakes and tires serviced.  I replaced a broken tail light and did a thorough pressure washing.  Birds will now have access to the trailer, so they can get used to loading and unloading.  Road training will start the first week of July.  
 
Old Bird Results from this past weekend. Two races left in the season, a 200 mile and 500 mile!  500 mile is my favorite and the one I look forward to all year.
 
Hope this finds everyone well!
 
Lucas
--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
May-16-2022
GOOD MORNING
Good Morning Breeders!
 
Birds are out enjoying a beautiful morning here at the loft.  We are finally getting some warm sunny weather.   I have been  working on trap designs and antenna placement to try and catch all the birds when the birds trap quickly, so inventories are not 100 percent correct.  I will get it all dialed in well before training starts.
 
Birds continue to do well and are starting to group up nicely with several groups starting to route.  I have one last group to settle and then all the birds will be together in the main flock. Hawks and falcons continue to be an issue, but I do my best to keep them at bay.
 
Congratulations to Daren Youngblood...his bird was able to clench the 400 mile race win yesterday!
400 Mile Race Results
 
 
Have a great week!
 
Lucas
--
Lucas Cramer
503-510-2661
 
Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B
« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [8]9 Next »