I have posted the loft, club and combine results on my web site. Along with this I have the Wing-Time Report for each race. You can tell how many races the birds were in, and can see how they fared in relation to the rest of my birds.
A few birds have not been in any races. These are birds that were consistently late during training tosses, but I thought they might improve for the Convention Race. I do not think they will win the race, but maybe by being in the race, they may place. If I sent them to earlier races, I believe they may have gotten lost. Maybe by the Convention Race, they will be in good enough shape to perform.
The birds are responding better as the week’s progress. They are separated by sex, and have 16 hours of light. I have turned the heat on in my loft and close up the loft at night when the weather is cool. Most have a good molt condition. All have been going to training tosses of 45 miles, three times per week. The birds that do not race have a toss of 50-60 miles.
All will get plenty of tosses during the two weeks between our last official race and the convention race. They will be on a different training trailer, released with a different group of birds. It should be as good of an experience as a race.
I am hoping for a slight headwind, increasing throughout the race. A NNW wind is very likely, especially in mid-October in Minnesota. If we get that type of wind, I should have a few birds in the money.
Almost all of the birds have now been in two races. All but one convention bird has returned. The races were relatively easy, but the birds took the long way around. Birds in the northern part of the concourse came in much faster than birds in the South, almost 400 YPM faster! I hope the winds switch for the convention race.
The birds are now separated, and are on 16 hours of light each day. I have closed many of the box perches and the male birds have to defend their territory a bit more. The wing molt looks good, and I hope I can keep them busy enough in the next month that they do not drop any more flights. I am still a bit worried, but all should be well.
The first 100-mile race was cancelled due to weather. The birds were brought back to Central Shipping, and our club decided to release the birds from that point. I was not involved in the decision and dropped one bird out of the six I entered in the race. Good thing I shipped light. Another flyer that lived further away dropped four birds. As it was, it took three days to get five of the six back.
The second 100-mile race came after a week of bad weather. The birds could not get on the trailer as we had rain every day. I loaded them, but they got released as the weather turned good directly where the trailer is parked. I shipped light for that next race again. When the birds do not get shipped to a race, I run them out 60 miles or so to get them in the groove. I try to time it with the race. I believe that many of them sync up with race birds, so it should be giving them additional experience.
I plan on shipping as many birds as possible to both remaining 200-mile races – weather permitting. I look for bluebird days for the entire racecourse, relatively easy races. The experience of flying home from the long distances, and not letting up too soon, is invaluable
The bird inventory and race results are on the web. I have also posted a Wing Time Report that gives time on the wing for each bird in the race. I do not ship convention birds that have over 6 hours on the wing the week prior. My own birds I stretch out to 8 hours of win time.
If you are planning on coming up for the convention, please reserve your tickets and hotel room soon. I have a place for someone to stay if they want.