News

Announcement of intake dates for the 2025 Race Season

Now that the intake for 2024 is complete we wish to advise our valued clients of the intake dates for the 2025 Yearling Series.

Breeding should be planned taking into account when our quarantine loft will open and the desired age when the birds enter the race loft.

Birds for specific intakes should be delivered to agents or shippers before the intake dates into Zimbabwe. Exact intake dates will be advised by the agents closer to the time.

Quarantine opens in Zimbabwe on 1^st October 2024 and closes 31^st January 2025. The intake dates into Animals to Fly for European pigeons will therefore be September to December (exact dates will be announced in due course).

2024 and 2025 rings will be accepted but no previously raced birds can be sent.

Please listen to this podcast regarding Key Breeding Dates for the End-of-the-year Intake - https://flightofthechampions.buzzsprout.com/2244146/14536748-key-breeding-dates-for-the-end-of-the-year-intake

This season we will be tracking the performance of different aged pigeons to see which perform best at Victoria Falls. There are many old pigeons that are sent to the race. This may impact on their ability to perform well and also survive the full series without flying away or getting lost. Please see the updated chart attached, 37% of pigeons are on the 7th flight or older when we receive them into the race loft. In our opinion these older pigeons are more difficult to settle. Ideally the birds should arrive into our race loft having moulted 6 or less primary feathers (which is 30 days after the birds are shipped to our quarantine loft).