Mr Slater

As someone who has had a 15 year lay-off the magnet thing is new to me but mine deifnitely works. Only thing I've noticed is that the birds don't seem very keen to land within a pattern whilst it's going and they approach from any direction. Going to leave it in the car next weekend and see what happens.

I loved them as a kid, one of the few programmes I enjoyed. I've got a couple of the books and would love the DVD's, maybe one day

Not being able to use the speed controller from the hide doesn't matter, I certainly woulsn't worry about it. Set it to a speed and see how the pigeons react. When you get the right speed you won't be altering it!

I found one hidden in the depths of my garage. Added a rear wiper motor (it only turns through 90 degrees and then turns back) and a timer off eBay and it works a treat. Given that I had all the bits apart from the timer it cost me about a tenner.

I did a quick check on forma. WARNING * Formaldehyde is suspected to cause cancer in humans. * Formaldehyde occurs naturally at 0.12 to 0.38 parts per BILLION [ppb]. Sidestream smoke increases this by 0.23 to 0.27 parts per MILLION [ppm] (a 1000+ increase). * Long-term exposure at levels greater than 0.1 ppm appears to be a risk for cancers of the lung, pharynx, buccal cavity, liver, bone, skin, prostate gland, bladder, kidney and eye, leukemia and Hodgkin's disease. * Animal studies showed formaldehyde is an irritant to eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and causes cellular changes in the upper respiratory tract, a decrease in respiratory rate, and adversely affects the liver. * Formaldehyde exposure greater than 0.22 ppm is linked to respiratory symptoms such as cough, phlegm, chronic bronchitis, asthma, shortness of breath and chest colds. * Formaldehyde is known to produce allergic reactions and induction of asthma-like conditions, lightheadedness, dizziness, diminished dexterity, itching eyes, dry and sore throats, disturbed sleep, unusual thirst, and malignant disease in humans. * Human eyes are sensitive to formaldehyde at concentrations of 0.01 ppm, and are irritated by formaldehyde at concentrations of 0.05 to 0.5 ppm. * The main uses of formaldehyde in industry include fertilizer, dyes, disinfectants, germicides, preservatives, and embalming fluid. Just for your reference folks. Dave K Blimey. No wonder Boots don't sell it anymore then. Still the best decoys I've ever used though.............................

I've only just got my magnet so don't know, but your post got me thinking. I'm prepared to be wrong on this but............. If both decoys are flat a pigeon coming in will see them both turning constantly. If, however, both decoys were canted the same way it would see two lots of wing flashes and then the underside, two lots of wing flashes etc. I'd have thought the second scenario would be more effective. As I said, I'm happy to be proved wrong but it's certainly got me thinking.

As I've said elsewhere I'm back decoying pigeon after a break of 15 years, things have changed a bit.................... I've ordered a magnet (my home made one failed miserably ) and a speed control for it. I bought the speed control mainly to save battery life but I've been thinking, does the speed of the magnet make any difference to the birds willingness/lack of to come in?

How did you get the coach bolts to bite in the wall? You don't mean coach screws do you?

I bought a couple of these this week just to try them. I cut them down to reduce weight and was fortunate to have the ground spikes to a couple of old fishing umbrellas so cut the bottom 6 inches off these and attached them as points. I spigotted the points in place and used a 100mm bolt to secure, this doubles up as a kicker. I'm a bit of a a tart so finished them off with Realtree duck tape

I bought some today. I'd bought spares for the speed controller but fogot all about the timer for the flapper About a third of the price that Halfords wanted

Are they car fuses? Try Halfords or your local car spares shop. I bought mine off ebay and it has a car fuse.

I cut out everything from inside the bird, breast, ribs, viscera etc. The legs are removed altogether. The neck bone is snipped off below the skull and removed and then all remaining fat/flesh is scraped off with a tea spoon. I brush Formaldehyde solution onto the inside of the skin and inside the neck and mouth. They need supporting for about 4 weeks as they dry. To make the support for them just cut 4" of 40mm waste pipe and then cut along the length of it so you can open it up. Open it up and wedge it apart with a bit of scrap wood, just sit the carcase over this in a lifelike attitude. I force a piece of wire through the skull and into the body cavity to give it a bit of added strength. When they are completely dry you can brush them with wood glue and cover in sawdust, you can also glue a block inside that will take banding wire to allow them to rock. I don't bother with eihter of these but have done in the past. I can carry 6 at a time in the 5 gallon bucket I use as a seat, this gives them some protection and they last a couple of years. The head is always the first bit to fall off but it doesn't seem to matter to the birds coming in! If you want to pm me your email address I'll happily take some pics and send them to you.

Where do you get the Formaldehyde from? I had some left from years back which I think I got from Boots. Tried to buy some more today but they no longer stock it so if anyone knows of a supplier I'd be grateful too. I wish now that I hadn't used so much up

I make my own decoys from real birds. Cut out breast, innards, legs etc. and paint inside with Formaldehyde. Prop them up on something in a lifelike fashion and leave to dry for about 4 weeks, they last about 2 years if you're careful with them. Takes about 10 minutes to do one.

done

I went into my lacal fishing tackle shop and bought 4 telescopic bank sticks with screw in rod rest tops to use as hide poles. They were a cheaper option at the time, 20 years ago, but I don't know if that's still the case. Worth a look though.

Thanks for the tip re. Vista. Just ordered some cards from them.

It,s not just me that's had a lay off then! Hadn't been for 15 years and had a day on some laid wheat with a mate 2 weeks ago, picked up 60 between us and I was hooked again! Made a rotary thing with 2 decoys on it and a flapper that works off a wiper motor, added a timer off ebay and it looks the business. Visited one of the farms I used to shoot over and have permission for a day over some swathed rape tomorrow, I can't wait I'll second the hearing protection. I suffer with Tinnitus and it is horrible, don't let it happen to you.