Temperatures swings have been 60-90's. Most of the birds have slicked out really nice - there are a few that did not come through a clean moult fully - but we will start training shortly. I have been laid up in bed with a foot injury the last week and not able to do much - having missed the start of our local racing too, I will have to play catch-up and will probably only fly the later races locally.
The Federation birds continue to be trained/released in our very backyard with huge flocks going over - they should be moving on soon as the next race is 120 miles. We do not want to risk having our flock mixing up and getting dragged to the West side 50 miles.
Roughly with 3-4 weeks training, should put our 1st race 3rd week in November - the temperatures being early morning 60's should make training more frequent/continuous than starting/stopping in 80-90's temps.
Should have a much better update by the end of this week - as we crank it up.
Best regards
Our temperatures have been below normal the last few days but warming back up to the 90's this week. Birds are finishing up the moult and looking slick.
The hawks have been unrelentless ~~! Yesterday three were on the lofts and not giving the birds a break. We have had a few droppers go missing and several of our own local team.
Hopefully by the middle of the month we should start up with the short tosses - and hope that the hawks have migrated by then. Our first Federation race is Oct 12th - also by then the mass of local birds would have been out further in training and not interfere with our loft flying/routing/short tosses.
We will have the clocks on this weekend - as with routing - a few birds are always missing/piggybacking/returning late, etc...
Dove season has ended. Lots of shooting within range of the birds - luckily no casualties on our local birds. OLR birds have been locked down - and continue to be locked down due to the finishing stages of the moult, incessant hawk activity - AND the mass liberations of birds in our area due to the Federation flying our OLR race direction this year. My personal youngbird team has been caught up in these birds traversing our area and we are down a few. Already early reports of birds getting dragged to the other side of town (50 miles away) ~! We made the earlier decision to delay the start training (mid October) of the ACD OLR birds once the massive flocks have moved through and further away from our lofts.
Two birds are in the observation bay (one for canker, other from last update that had excessive water in crop).
All else is good - doing our pre-training meds/supplement routine for 7 days followed by 5 days of canker meds.
Steve F.
Remembering our fallen heroes and victims today ~! Let honor their memory by continuing the fight for freedom and security and thank those who serve.
All else good here - a high of 96 today (unusual) but we will take it. Back up to 105 by the weekend. Neck moult in progress with lot of the birds - health seems great. We did treat with Adeno-zap as a precaution, and had Ropa B in water on Monday.
Our Versele Laga container is cleared - just in time for training prep - we feed the best of Versele Laga for our OLR. Currently Energy Plus for the moult (20%), we will rotate in Champion and Junior mixes as the training dictates.
Steve
Still record breaking temperatures here in the 100's. Usually by the end of August, I am breathing a sigh of relief to get the birds through July and August healthy and moulted. That said, we have 1 bird in the sick bay with water in the crop. As a precaution, we have Adeno-zap in the water for a few days just in case.... it's all natural and so it does not affect the birds.
During the dove season until Sep 15 - we do nothing with the birds - on lockdown. We did have 3 Harris hawks again patrolling the lofts - they got one bird from my personal youngbird team that I had on open loft prior to dove season.
We should be working the birds back in the air after Sep 15 in preparation for October training start. The later start the better as want the temperatures to be 70's to low 80's in the mornings. The birds dictate the schedule and we have ample time in December if we needed extra time to complete the series.
All good and quiet here ~!
This year our Federation is flying the same course as the Arizona Classic Derby. This means that 1000's of local birds will be traversing our loft as we are on the short end. We would have to make adjustments such as delay training until the local birds are trained out past our loft, do not train/fly on Arizona Federation race days, be vigilant on time of day that large groups of training tosses are passing through.
We will start ramping up on activities once dove season completes Sep 15th.
Hot hot hot spell from 110-114 for the next few days. We are not doing much with the birds - just rest during the moult - all the vitamins, minerals, all n one grit, feather supplements, and all you can eat buffet during this period when the birds are developing the most.
There are no birds in the sick bay - ACV and oregano-based supplements in the water a few times a week.
Until next time....
A record 115 degrees on Monday breaking a 50 year old high temperature on this date. Birds did not seem to be bothered... followed by some extremely high winds and dust storms that normally accompanies high desert temps. The next few days will be closer to normal 105 degrees but with potential dust storms ... will try to squeeze in an inventory in the mornings as we keep the birds inside and close off even the aviaries on stormy evenings.
Rain, rain and rain in the Arizona desert. We have not seen temps to 81 degrees for a long time.... 20-30 degrees cooler with the monsoon moisture.
All birds are now integrated (including the last arrivals). The next inventory will reflect all birds on the property. We have a few bands that need to be checked: WOC 94 is not scanning, and a couple other mismatches with numbers correct but Club Name incorrect
9th and 10th are coming in nicely. We will try to do some facebook videos in August to showcase the health.
Until next update....
July is almost gone - now to August and looking for a successful moult (ACV, Oregano extracts, vitamins, minerals, Versele Laga pellets, All in One grits, feather supplements).
General note: The fastest way to get a reply is text (480-215-4255), email (steve@irishsyndicatelofts.com), and Voicemail. With the abundance of TeleMarketing, Spam, Fraud Risk calls - it is not possible to answer every call.
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