At last Mondays CCF AGM I was asked from the floor to investigate the possibility of increasing the speed of the shutters opening for liberation. Some people are indicating that the birds on the lower levels of the truck are given an unfair advantage by being released first.
I have contacted Hugo Kipp who is a senior partner in Geraldy and a world-renowned distance flier in Germany. To provide his considered opinion on the issue of increasing the speed of the roller shutters for a faster liberation.
Please see Hugos response below.
Hi Stephen,
it is not possible to increase the speed of the motor.
There have been no issues with shutter speed from any other organizations.
You have 2 possibilities:
1) You leave the start as it is (row by row – no injured pigeons). We have watched it in our federation. Over the years pigeons from every row (top, bottom, middle…) have won sprint races. We would recommend to leave the start as it is.
2) You make the “mass-start” without the shutter à the pigeons come out at the same time à the pigeons from the bottom rows hit the ground and (possibly) get injured. We would not recommend this.
Best regards
Hugo
From the above advice I recommend that we leave the operation of the roller shutters as designed and operated. I have advice from CCF liberator from many years ago when our previous trailer use to liberate all at once two major issues occurred.
Often birds would clash at the top of the truck causing many injuries. Secondly the birds on the bottom rows would be forced to the ground causing further injuries. The old tossing trailer has a split liberation with the bottom two rows that are released firstly to minimise the birds being forced into the ground.
For the best welfare of our birds I strongly recommend that the operation of the roller shutters remain as designed.
Best Regards
Stephen Shears
CCF President
Stephen Shears