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hi can u help im trying to find the ins and outs of darkness with old birds if u can help i would be greatfull

i cant see any point in it , with obs, the reason for darkenning ybs is to make the ybs think its winter, therefor like latebreds theyll have a full body moult and have a full wing [some latebreds will cast some flights depending when their bred] but with old birds they usually start their body moult when they have cast about their 4 or 5 th flight. the racing will be well finished by then. youll find the obs will cast there first flight after heve sat more than 12 days on there second round of eggs, thats why the widowhood boys, seperate them after theve been sitting 8 to 10 days , theyll hold there flights a long time and keep in condition a long time, only my opinion

JON JON, HAVEN'T HEARD OF HAVING TO DARKEN OLD BIRDS. IS SOMEONE AT THE WIND UP WITH YOU?

Ive read about it on the net somewhere, and know someone who does it, it is to relax the cock birds in the early part of the week and then increase the light as the week goes on, which in turn increases the heat in the loft which is said to bring on form and perks them up. Ive fitted blinds in my loft to stop the cocks seeing the YBs while the YBS find their wings, and may try the above for a few races. The bloke I know who does the above told me to watch his birds when he puts them in a show, as our clubhouse has heating he would always put his birds in first so they would get the full benefit of the heat and the difference in the birds was amazing. One thing to note though is he only darkened the loft of his sprint team and his channel birds are kept in natural light all through the week.

YES I ALSO HAVE SHADED THE W HOOD COCKS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WEEK , BUT NOT DARKEN ,IT ,,,JUST ENOUGH TO KEEP THEM NICE AND CALM, I WAS THINKING HE WAS MEANING THE ACTUAL DARKNESS SYSTEM AS IN YBS

JON-JON,
           I THOUGHT AS JIMMY DID, DARKNESS AS IN Y/B SYSTEM.. I HAVE USED VENETIAN BLINDS ON THE WIDOWERS IN THE PAST FOR SHADING AS JIMMY HAS DONE TOO..........

thanks i know about darkness with ybs there is an method for the oldbirds darknesss system i know its being used in holland by a few fanciers dirk sepers being one  but i can not find any info on it i have a few ideas of my own but would still to find out about the method

widowers  rest better in red light used to use orange curtains  fully closed on sunday evening ,gradualy increasing the light in stages towards the end of the week they associate this with the impending arrival of their hen, CREATURES OF HABIT) seems to help to retard the prgression of the moult ,the curtains also allow a flow of oxygen into the loft ,allways sprinkle oil of eaucalyptus onto the curtains helps get those clefts open ,and get that oxygen into the blood  ( jon jon , sepers does use this system your right and his pigeons and results are outstanding) i have some ...ray

i used to do something similar  but it was 'that the inside of the loft was painted a a quiet pale blue, and pale blue curtains[well to be honest it was pale blue bin bags over the glass windows] but it was far from dark, and there were plenty air vents in the loft, these were rolled down as the week went on, i had a camera in the loft with a moniter in the kitchen, where i could sit and watch them in perfect peace,and very light now and again there was an awkward cock , he was taken out.i got this idea fro my brother, who breeds canaries, i asked him why all the canary show pens were pale blue, he said it seems to have a calming effect on the birds.
i did use a red light for the xmas race one year , fanciers were calling it the red light system, i had some funny knocks at the door, but thats another story
p.s i won 500 pounds in that race, true

JIMMY,
          I PRESUME THAT WAS A BAD YEAR AT THE XMAS RACE WITH THE RED LIGHT. I SEEM TO REMEMBER YOU USUALLY WON MORE DOH THAN £500.....

JIMMY--WAS THE WALLPAPER DARK  

well it was something like that    cheers

Ive read that in a few books about the pale blue colour to the walls, I may have to paint mine as the white in my loft does tend to make it feel cold.

I think you might be missing the point I have darkened my lofts since I started after I noticed the better birds were usally in the highest darkest parts of the loft I dont try to alter moult or anything like that but if you look in the wild the pigeons that are out try to find dark places to hide anyone that keeps pigeons knows they are the bottom of the food chain and in nature they use this dark space to hide they are hard to see there and can use the element of suprise to escape I have burlap curtains I use to cover the wire windows of my loft