back in time with the birds

going back to the 60.s when most of the strains were british did you breed less or more than you do now .to me it seems the birds maybe faster now but are not as good if you take the amount of belge birds flying over here now could this be the problem to much of old blood now gone so some breed far to many wereas years ago it was quality birds bred

quality birds, but quadruple the hawks all types and a few introductions to this country red tail kites, goshawks, and very few legal eagle owls as they where native to this country

Having been involved with racing and breeding birds for over 50 years Chris,its not alone the type of birds that have changed,but it appear to me at least,everything has changed,feeding,medication,type of birds,fanciers,their outlook,ideas,systems,gone forever are the days when a newbie acquired his birds from a local fancier,as late breds,or even eggs,when all birds were flown,to one loft,old birds mixed with young birds,you bred only from your best racers,you seldom kept stock birds,unless it was a very old,and usually top class performer,feed was pretty basic,but the selection process was the basket,no chemicals were used to prop up birds health,if they got ill,if you couldn't cure with what Nature provided,they died,as well as the illness in most cases,in a short period of time,we appear to have taken what to me was a very simple sport,made it utterly confusing,and complicated for newbies,especially in management of birds,and the administration,the feather merchants are prospering,the chemists,are having a field day,there are new and more lethal sicknesses about re our bird now than at any time,to me at any rate,the sport is in regression rather than evolution,populated by many golden oldies,with very little new blood coming on board.For me now getting on,it's not a problem,as I think I might have seen and enjoyed its best days,but for its long term future,with all the problems its now faced with,an aging membership,little recruitment,illnesses,B.O.P.and a multitude of others,oh and the inability of the suits,to recognise,and address these,the future,long term looks very bleak
,

exelent post merlin and i agree i think we have seen the best of this sport and it is in decline. i see a multytude of things that are bringing this sport down and one of them is the feather merchants that only sell top qality birds but have not raced in donkys years medication today i think plays a big part on our birds as back in the sixtys half this rubbish was not about and really birds were removed sotherefor better stronger birds were actually flying today they sneeze and its medicane are we helping no i dont think so the amount we breed these days are another factor were we used to breed ten twenty birds today its 30 60 some even 100 were is sense in this ?an old fancier once told me you breed 60 you will lose half as they stabilise themselfs in the space given is this true i wonder as we seem to lose a lot of birds young balance or rubbish how many birds have turned back up after raceing is this because they were unhappy were they ended up on farms citys and realised life is hard ?????