Pigeonbasics.com

tried cheese before speight , pigeons love it when they get the taste of it, cant say it ever done mine any harm,especially whilst feeding young, im glad you posted that as i was frightened to   well probably get some KRAFTy remarks on this one  

dont give them salted peanuts speight, just ones for human consumption, not roasted or anything, just plain nuts(red skins)

 well ya be putting that,   Krafty   remarke on burnt toast. then Jimmy lol.  

OK plain nuts (red skins) - how often do you gives them ? Every day or on the basketting day?

I never try any nuts yet and will try next year.

Quoted from jimmy_white

tried cheese before speight , pigeons love it when they get the taste of it, cant say it ever done mine any harm,especially whilst feeding young, im glad you posted that as i was frightened to   well probably get some KRAFTy remarks on this one  

Do you still gives Cheese/Nuts?

Do you used to put your cheeses/nuts in the blender to put in the corns mixutre foods or seperate?

An excerpt from Bob Rowland's article:

"for the longer distances I use omega 3 oils which are such as Flax seed oil, hemp oil, walnut oil, olive oil, rape seed oil, cod liver oil, and so forth. I DO NOT use oils such as corn oil, wheat germ oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, etc.... These are high in saturated fats or better known as n-6's (Omega 6)."

Full article can be found here:

http://www.pigeonbasics.com/articles/article17.html

Just sharing worthwhile information  

i dont race now but in the past ive broken bits off a lump of cheese rolled it in to a ball and fed them this as a tit bit, took a bit of getting used to at first ,but once they got the taste they ate it no bother, im still laughing at speckleds post, trust her, [cant find smillies], even done the same with burnt toast,,true, the charcoal is good for them as well,, daft as it all may sound.
no speckled im not going to try fish and chips next, mind you the vineger might help,   [ smillies]  there cumin to take me away ha ha

Craig

We don't give our birds salted peanuts.

Quoted from Peckedhen

Does this kill any bacteria or mould Speight?

I use bird peanuts as those for human consumption are expensive. I'm having second thoughts after reading this thread.

A friend of mine says "To make sure peanuts are free of Aflotoxin. Aflatoxin is produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus. ..."

peanuts should be for human consumtion, and bought in small ammounts, i used to give them peanuts whole whilst preparing for longer races.. in the shorter races, i would use them broken up and very sparingly ,more or less for a tit bit, p.s they are very fattening, and off course only pure clean peanuts, not salted.

Im lucky on that one jimmy we get peanuts for human consumption they meant for the birds really but i think me and the dog eat most of them our distance birds tend to get quite a few before they go

same as me rose, the longer the wait the more peanuts you eat, no wonder they say peanuts are good for the distance for the owners me and my old parrot" max " [about 50 years old] used to have them all eaten before the birds come back, good for the nerves and saves the fags  

On the subject of eating waiting on birds coming home, used to do the same with the mixture in the tin that was supposed to be 'the rattle', with me as the whistle.  

Only trouble then was 'whistle' usually dried up and I needed a drink to get it working again.  

Can't really comment on peanuts other than what I've already said about 'human' and redskins. Remember they do go off quickly, so maybe the little 38p bags out of Asda are the safest way...

Just a general comment on feeding 'X' before going in the basket for a number of days; Wondered if it made any difference on the bird's performance 72 hours later when it would really be flying on whatever it was given in the basket the night before? Nowadays that would seem to be cribbed maize.

 

Good reading on peanuts, if you go to http://www.allpets.co.za/allpigeons/steven/peanuts.htm, this is enough confirmation for me to use peanuts. I chop red skin peanuts into quarters (takes ages, but its worth it) and microwave them for 10-15 seconds, let them cool down and give the birds as many as they want for there last feed B4 basketing for the channel. They absolutely LOVE peanuts and will follow you round the garden once you start to give them.

This year I spun some peanuts in a blender, just so they come in smaller pieces, and then used it to supplement my trapping mix. Didnt have to use a lot, but they knew first one in got the peanuts; never had birds trap like these.

We use Raw Spanish Peanuts.whole ,not chopped. like to get 3 or 4 in each bird for the 200 and 300 mile races

Quoted from Chatrace

We use Raw Spanish Peanuts.whole ,not chopped. like to get 3 or 4 in each bird for the 200 and 300 mile races

Chatrace, what about short races?

I have never fed peanuts am curious about the microwaving though are you concerned about destroying the nutrients as many vitamins are very heat sensitive

WHAT AGE CAN I GIVES YOUNG BIRDS FOR PEANUT'S E.G 24  DAYS OLD OR 30 DAYS OLD.

hyacynths i think has the best idea, safflour or shelled sunflower seeds has near the same content as peanuts, as ive read of problems feeding peanuts although ive not personally experienced them myself.  But pigeons do love peanuts!!