This month's update on the looking after my dad's pigeons

I've just buried the remains of another two chicks. They were offspring of my granfather's racing pigeons which makes it extra painfull for me. In one months time I've found also about one dead rat a week, and caught three live ones in my cage traps. The caught ones I released in a country field atleast five miles away.

This morning I've also plugged the main entry hole where the rats come in from the side of the neighbours's wall (finally). First a lot of steel wool and then a good construction of big wooden blocks needly blocked against the wall and window sill. I do hope that those chick killers are now locked up but I'm sure that they've surrounded the wall which means there are rats coming from atleast two neighbours and a ditch. I've heard it from both my dad's prime care physican and car mechanic who have their homes at both of the street that the whole street is infested.

What a struggle but I'm slowly gaining ground on them. Keeping both the feed and the chicks out of the reach. No wonder that they're less little brids in the neighbourhood either. I've ringed six chicks now and two remain. One of is a feisty little chick who reminds me a lot of my dear broken wing one who has actually the same parents, and the other a clever little nummer that actually walked away from its nest as soon as possible. The second was born with a lot of white spots all over and is now holding court in its own little box.

My dad is well, but last month he had a very bad period of being super depressed about his own situation. That also means that when it's really good weather he can't clean his pigeon cots either any more. I've ordered ten new rings for next year. Still ringing the late ones with this year's. Have a lot of pigeons that I need to remove too. I'll seperate male from female first then (after viewing the good instruction postings on YouTube) and try to select the best out of them. For racing pigeons that means a combination of pedigree analysis, physical in-hand evaluation, health checks, and performance tracking. Mainly in-hand evaluation needs to done next. I'm giving myself a bit of time because it's not so easy for me to select. I'll see how it goes next month.