Q: Every year I buy local futurity bands to support their races. I only fly old birds--if I wanted to fly these birds in the futurities, how far do I need to take these birds to get them ready? And do you think without them being in any races they would stand a chance against the more experienced birds?

Not only will you stand a chance, but I would say your birds will have the advantage. If they are well trained out to 30 or 40 miles, they never need to go past this distance before they are shipped to a race. They will handle 300 miles with no problem.

Also, it is an advantage that they never have been with any other birds for training or racing. And if they are healthy quality birds, you should do some real damage, for they will not have been hurt or abused on bad races. They should lead the flock rather than following it. This is a method that I have often used. The disadvantage is that you are training a lot of birds without utilizing them in the young bird races. You are doing a lot of work with no immediate payback.

I would suggest you read an article that Roy Dyck wrote about me posted in the "Articles" section of our web site.