The good start to the season continued with a good result at Hill Top. The birds where 3rd, 5th, 6th and 8th Club with 27 members sending 277 birds. These four birds where clocked in just over a minute and we had seven out of the ten birds sent in one and half minutes. We actually clocked six of these in less than two minutes.. Using a manual clock slowed me down a little :-)

To most this may not sound a good result - But considering the competition at the club this is good! It is not very often that one member gets four in the top ten at the strong Hill Top club. The club is one of the strongest clubs in the Worcester Fed - being club champions two years in a row.

The first bird clocked was "10" This half Vercammen bird (a sister to last years Cosworth bird) now has two 1sts and two 3rds to her name - and she's only just gone two! Her best racepoint is Kingsdown so she'll be on to watch at the weekend.

The second bird was Mike Lycett's hen. This hen and "10" came together - but she hesitated outside the loft and unfortunately lost a prize - again she improves as the races get longer and harder. The next bird taking 6th was my 2004 Worcester Fed winner - This 2003 hen is still looking good and I fancy her taking a 1st in the next two weeks.. She has won every year of her life and I cannot see a reason why this cannot continue.

The fourth bird was Alan Wilkin's black hen who takes prize money for the third race in a row - She's won approx 130 quid for me so far this year - Well done Blade!

At GGFC we finished 4th. 15 members sending 195 birds We had three spare hens arrive together and lost valuable time getting the birds off the stock loft. We eventually timed "00" the previous weeks winner. An east wind is not a good wind for me at GGFC - But the birds kept me in teh prizes for the fourth week in a row. "00" is a FVW off a Cosworth stud bred hen paired onto a direct Gary Downing cock, bred off the Inbred Cock (a pigeon we also owned).

Of the seven races I have entered this year I have took prizes in six. This has exceeded my wildest expectations but I don't want to known as just a good starter.. My skills as a fancier will know be tested as I try to maintain the form..

Getting form is one thing - maintaining/prolonging it is the hardest part..

One thing I will tell you is that this year I have not treated for respiratory prior to the season and judging by my results I think this was a wise decision. If nothing is wrong don't treat for the sake of it!

Keep working and keep winning - 5:40am start tomorrow!

This week was the first race in the Superclub. I sent my A-Team to this race.. The black hen, "87", My 2004 Worcester Fed Winner, "15" (5th Worcester Fed last year) and Mike Lycett's hen who has previously scored twice at the Superclub.

The birds came really well. I clocked the black hen off Alan Wilkins and "87" 16 seconds apart to take 9th and 13th Superclub. Thats the best performance I've put up in this elite club. They should get me a nice slice of cash back.

The only thing that worries me is that 9th appears to be the best I ever get - this is the third time I have finished 9th.. The aim for this season was a top 5 finish. Maybe one day I'll get amongst them :-)

At Hill Top I had a disaster. I was well behind and proping up the sheet. It's my fault! I selected the wrong team for the job. I sent 10 birds - with a high percentage of yearlings. The birds simply went through. The condition of my birds is good so I wont be taking any drastic action.

Andy Trumpeter had a clear winner here, starting were he left off last year (a potential £280 first prize here - I bet many clubs cant boast that!). The turnout at the club was great and we had 26 members sending. Hopefully next week I'll be able to climb up the sheet.

At GGFC I had a super day. I clocked a clear winner (over 3 minutes ahead) and also claimed 3rd and 4th. My birds rolled in from the Wolverhampton Fed and this perceived weaker team provided my best results on the day. This makes in 3 wins in 3 races and a total of 6 prizes. We had in excess of 200 birds at GGFC this week too.

Saturday was a strange night - In some ways I was pleased, In other ways I was disapointed - especially with the Hill Top performance. Racing three clubs in one day with restricted birdage is a hard thing to do - I push myself to do it because I think it pushes you to get a better team of pigeons around you. When racing one club you can rely on one or two birds - when you are competing with all the best fanciers in your area you cannot do this.

Got up early this morning to spend some time with the birds. The first team of young birds did an hour for the first time this morning. Things are looking good.

The early starts continue this week - We have GGFC and Hill Top to send to next weekend! Cannot wait!

Last but no least!

Conratulations to our friends Melvin and Charlie Duckhouse on an excellent win at the Superclub! Super start for two really nice guys.

The strong East North East winds this weekend combined with the dodgy weather forecast made me decide to keep the crown jewels at home!

I only sent nine hens to Swainswick in the Worcester Fed. Again I nomed one bird (The 87 hen), see picture below taken after she won Hill Top:-



Luckily I won the race with "87" and also the nom. We had a good turnout at the club. 14 members sent 150 birds. My bird is a little off the fed winners pace - but I had a decent pigeon into my location considering the strong east winds.

87 has won many prizes in her career to date. She won Hill Top's first race last year and 5th Worcester Fed. She was 4th club last week at Greets Green. She has about 6 club prize cards to her name now and many fed cards.

With 60 now in the stock pen - "87" and "18" My 2004 Worcester Fed Winner will be the bankers this season! She's a Jim Smith FVW based bird.

The birds came well this week showing no fatigue - Roll on next week.. The big races commence then!

I'm well happy with the Fed result, its a great start to 2008.

Bye!

I took them training tonight to Worcester. The birds where liberated at 5:30pm and to be honest they made a mess of it.

I took 14 birds and they came broke into three kits. For me thats a bad sign. When birds are clearing well they arrive as one pack and do a good velocity - today the birds took 43 mins.. Then hens took 29 mins from the same liberation point on Thursday.

Some look really well - others are way off reaching any kind of form.. The aim is to have these cocks firing in approx 4 weeks and some will be prepared solely for the channel.. Some of the yearlings will be tried at the sprints but they are mainly for the Kingsdown races..

My brain will be working overtime tonight :-(

Saturday 12th April saw the start of the 2008 season.

I only sent hens. They only had two training chucks. One from Bromsgrove approx 15 miles and one at Worcester approx 30 miles. In my opinion birds exercising well around the loft require little work, also it's much cheaper and easier this way.

Overall i'm pleased with the way the hens came. In the club (GGFC) we had 11 members sending 152 birds and I finished 1st and 4th. The first bird doing 1 hr 16 min 6 secs. For a velocity around 1830. The winning bird was bred by Alan Wilkins - also a moderator on pigeon-chat. The bird was a gift and is a Walter Docx. She was originally bred for the black races at Hill Top.

She's always been a bit of a favourite and hopefully she'll develop into a decent bird for me. Either way her season is off to a flyer.

I sent 22 birds and could only nominate one - I chose wisely ;-).

All 22 returned and the birds came ok. The main purpose of today was to get the birds race fit. We had a nice fast race and hopefully that got rid of the cob webs.. Fingers crossed for next week - We'll be racing at two clubs next week.

Bye

We have had a pretty dodgy weekend of weather. The birds did not go out on Saturday due to the gales but they where exercised am and pm on Sunday and Monday.

The hens went a little crazy on Sunday, flying for over 3 hours in total. At this time of the year this is a little worrying and the food has been adjusted to reduce their exercise times.

With 19 days to the first race I'm happy to say that the birds are now ready for training. My hens exercise so well around the loft that I only ever train them 3 times per year. These training spins will only take place when the weather is spot on. At present i'm not even considering training. If we miss the first race we miss it.. simple..

Andy Galley Birds



Jos Vercammen bird off Glen Cameron paired onto a latebred dtr of Copper off Mike Lycett.



My T ring from 2006 - The Dark hen and sister to my good 10 hen and the 4th Cosworth Gold Ring pigeon. 1/2 Wildie 1/2 Vercammen. Blue Cock 17 - Sire of 95 - 4 X 1sts prizes - 9 prizes in total.



Gary Downing cock paired onto a daugther of Pontorson Lady. Both pigeons have bred many many winners for us.



The parents of my 2006 Worcester Fed Winner. The hen is bred my Luc and Bart Geerinckx



A latebred som on Mike Lycetts Copper. He's feeding at present hence the mess on his wattles

This year we are having a chocolate race each week at the Hill Top Club. We all pay a tenner to enter and then the first chocolate timed each week wins the money. We had about 24 bred by Steve Blakesley (Blakes Loft) and drawed lots for them. Last year it was black pigeons and the year before grizzles. Next year it will be yellows! It's all good fun :-)

We call ours Thornton:-



Ugly aint he!

Next up is a pair of youngsters off Houdini's brother. They look a decent pair:-



Last but not least the Bristol Mealies - Looking well!

No chance of exercising the birds today! The winds are far too strong. The birds have been fed a touch lighter than normal and then locked up.

I counted the race birds today and we only have 37 to race. The other 4 have had knocks etc as young birds and wont be fit to race. For 3 clubs, MNFC and the MCC we are a little short on numbers - But I prefer being the small loft.

We now have 41 young birds.. 2 have worked back in the last 24 hours. One bird returned this morning, she's a Blue Hen "82" - she's off the Vercammen pigeon that Glen Cameron sent down. She's a bit skint after 3 days out - but glad to be home - Made me :-) too..

In addition to Alan Wilkin's Rohnfried birds and my own birds I have also aquired two mealies/reds from Bristol. The birds came from the Bedminster loft of RE Taylor and Sons. These are well feathered young birds and I'll get a picture of the pretty un's later today.

Any Rohnfried winnings won by my bird will be split 50/50 with Glen Cameron. Glen would not accept any money for the Vercammen bird he sent down so I promised to put one of his young birds in the Rohnfried. Unfortunately he cracked his second round so I had to ring the yb off my good 60 hen. Hopefully Glen will get something back at the end of the year for his kind gesture.

I paid my superclub fees yesterday at Mark Evans (Heart of England Auctions) shop Black Country Grains. This is the first time i've been to the shop since Mark took over and I have to say I was impressed with the products/corn on offer. Us Black Country lads are spoilt when it comes to corn shops. We have three of the best in the uk with Cosworth, Black Country Grains and Turbo Pigeon Corns. I get my corn from Cosworth but in the past have used all three shops - You wont go far wrong at any of these outlets - they all have something to offer.

The first 27 young birds are starting to flutter about and the other 14 are just starting to perch up.

Over the coming weeks i'll have plenty to talk about.

Until next time - keep smiling :-)