THEMAN

I know what you mean RED about the virus and antibiotic issue in humans. However, I notice that vets do give antibiotics for viruses im not sure if its that the animal physiology is that much different in animals or that its given to help with a secondary bacterial infection due to the virus. I will not treat blindly I wanted to know the dosing incase I need to treat with antibiotics as I am new and have not really had any sick birds until now so I have very little in medication regimens. I will make a slide when I get off work to look for the eggs and oocytes. Thanks for all the info everyone keep it coming.

Hyacinth, what do you look for with the microscope and at what field strength? I have a microscope however it does not have 100x oil immersion lense if that is what is required. Also, what kind of slide is needing to be prepared smear, wet mount ect? What am I looking for parasite or gram +/- bacteria? Thanks. Billymac, What is the correct dosage of amoxycilln? You mentioned that vetrepharm has twice the strength, how many miligrams of amox per weight of bird. or how many miligrams per liter or gallon of water for broad treatment? Thanks.

I wasn't sure where to post this question so I posted it here and in racing pigeon forum. Mod please delete the one that you feel is in the wrong forum. I had a question regarding what loft management software you all used. I was looking at Hawkeye but another flyer just bought it and had some issues and could not call for support as they only do email support. They say that due to the fact that they are in Australia and the the time difference is the reason they do this. Well this is not a good method of support if you ask me a chat window would be better. Not to mention that my friend sent 3 emails that went unanswered. I went over and fix his issue and got a chance to look at the program, I liked it, but am leary about the support issue. Please do not think that I am bashing or flaming this software just stating my opinion, I am still very interested in getting it. So, I wanted to know what other programs are out there and what you all thought about them as far as ease of use, support, updates, backing up, and overall what you think of them. Thanks. Tony

I had a question regarding what loft management software you all used. I was looking at Hawkeye but another flyer just bought it and had some issues and could not call for support as they only do email support. They say that due to the fact that they are in Australia and the the time difference is the reason they do this. Well this is not a good method of support if you ask me a chat window would be better. Not to mention that my friend sent 3 emails that went unanswered. I went over and fix his issue and got a chance to look at the program, I liked it, but am leary about the support issue. Please do not think that I am bashing or flaming this software just stating my opinion, I am still very interested in getting it. So, I wanted to know what other programs are out there and what you all thought about them as far as ease of use, support, updates, backing up, and overall what you think of them. Thanks. Tony

Hello, I have a question for everyone. I have noticed some darkish green runny/normal droppings in the loft and was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what this could be. I have had a two birds loose weight and after I separeated them they died. I noticed the green droppings in the sick tank when they were still alive. I treated them for canker (as I noticed the deposits in the mouth and throat) I have subsequently treated the rest of the birds. I am just wondering if maybe it could be something else and what should I do. Any recomendations would be helpful and appreciated. I tried to upload a few pics that I took but the forum would not even allow one picture to be uploaded. Guess it was too big of a file. Thanks. Tony

Well, its definitely the water! I in the breeding section last night setting up another drinking cup for a new pair of breeders when I heard water shaking about. Sort of like shaking a juice bottle. I looked over into one of the idividuals and the cock was feeding the young. The sound was all the water in his gizzard! Amazing! Glad to know it was just that and that they aren't sick. I am however putting some electrolytes into their water to help balance them since they have had the diarrhea. The babies look really good though. Thanks again for all the advice. Tony

Sorry for the late info but here it is. I feed them 2-parts 16% 1-part Safflower and 1-part pigeon pellet, with a handfull of minced garlic. Its the parents that have the diarrhea not the babies(about 19days in age +/-). The grit is a gray oyster shell and regular grit at a ratio of 1 to 1 with red grit. The grit is ALWAYS available. and checked twice daily as one bird always wants the ONE piece of grit at the bottom of the cup and sifts and knocks grit out till he gets it.(wish I knew which piece it was so that I could put it on top for him. lol). Thanks. Tony

This is my first time breeding so please excuse my ignorance if this is a common fact. However, I have 6 hutches with breeding pairs. All have babies and soon after they hatched I started to notice loose droppings. It has progressively gotten worse. 4 of the pairs have some pretty watery droppings. They are all in individual hutches and do not share waters or feed. I figure that perhaps they increase their intake of water in order to feed the young and this in turn would cause the loose stools but they're pretty wet. So, I have a few questions. Is this normal? If not can I medicate while they are feeding the young and if so with what? Also, I have read that wood pellets help with moisture. I am thinking of putting some in the dropping trays to absorb some of the moisture but not sure what type of wood pellets to use, wood burning pellets?(again, please excuse the ignorance) Any advice will be quite appreciated. Thanks. Tony

The same thing happened to me this year (first time breeding) I put a hen together with a cock that one 1st place in a racing pigeon show. I had two eggs then three, I thought this was odd especially for a first time laying hen. The next few days a fourth egg was present. The 1st place winning cock was apparently a 1st place winning hen. lol. I dont feel bad given the fact that even the judge thought it was a cock. I seperated them and mated them with two other "confirmed" cocks and one is already on eggs and the 1st place one is about to lay(or so it seems). I have heard from the older flyers that it is possible for 3 eggs but most that I spoke to get rid of one of the eggs. Hope this helps. Tony

Well, I started locking them out, then opening the landing board when the other birds were almost finished with all of the feed. The birds learned pretty quickly once they entered and found some food that if they entered earlier they would get more. They now all come in when called. Well maybe not at the first call but they do come in. As always with pigeons its a work in progress. Thanks for all the advice. Tony

I agree with what Snowy posted and so I put them in the enclosed landing board and called them in with the rest of the birds and let them feed. I figure its been a while since they came in with the rest of the team to eat and drink they may need a refresher course. I let them out the next day to train and called them in. Only 2 would not trap. So locked out they are. We will see how long it takes before they get hungry enough to come in. Tony

I just had a new hen lay an egg on the bottom of the hutch and not in the bowl. I placed the egg in the bowl, followed by the hen. She did not like this and would sit in the bottom corner of the hutch where she layed the egg. She never sat on the egg in the bowl and the outside temp has been around 38f. A few days later she layed the second egg and I again moved it to the bowl. She did the same and sat in the lower corner again. Fearing the loss of both eggs I placed the bowl on bottom where she was. The hen and the cock have both been sharing time on the eggs like normal. I marked the number 2 egg and will post in Feb if they both hatched. Of course the egg was only cold for a few days but its intersting still the same at least to me. Tony

Oh I whistle but the only thing coming home are the cows. These birds have not eaten like I said I crate them and do not feed them for a day then put them back in the loft and loft fly them I will call them in (whistle) and most go in but these soon to be long neck birds. They aren't getting food elsewhere because I can feel them getting thinner. The crate worked for the others but ....don't know what else to do with these stubborn ones. Tony

Oh I whistle but the only thing coming home are the cows. These birds have not eaten like I said I crate them and do not feed them for a day then put them back in the loft and loft fly them I will call them in (whistle) and most go in but these soon to be long neck birds. They aren't getting food elsewhere because I can feel them getting thinner. The crate worked for the others but ....don't know what else to do with these stubborn ones. Tony

I have a few stubborn birds that do not trap with the others when called in. I have put them in a crate in the dark with only water for a day even two (on advice from elder flyer)and this has not worked, well for these particular 3 birds it has not, it did for the other 2. These are late hatches that were given to me when they were quite a bit older so I did not have a opportunity to train them as squeakers. So what methods do you all use to get your birds to trap when called. Thanks. Tony

From what I read L-Carnatine is a good supplement that they normally would get from worms and insects that they would eat in the wild. Its not in the grains we feed. Anyway this is what I read what are everyones thoughts?

What is the farthest race that your club does, and how far do you send your yb's and how far do you send your ob's? In our club our races are from 100-600mi. for ob's and 100-400 for ybs. Everyone is in up untill the 400 for ob's then there is a steep drop off maybe only 9 out of 30 flyers go to the 600. The reason I ask is that I noticed in the training thread that often folks dont train out beyond 30mi? Just curious.

Here is what I do. I have some synthetic bamboo shades the kind that roll up and you sometimes see on patios to keep the sun out. Any way I have them on all of the windows of the loft and I roll them down whenever there is rain or heavy fog. I hung them about 3-4 inches away from the window so that it doesnt rest up against the window and allow for ventilation but keeps the weather out.. The bamboo shades themselves allow for air to pass through them but they are tight nit enough to prevent the rain and reduces the fog. Any way this seems to work for me the loft is dry during the rain and fog, humidity however will still account for some moisture in the loft. Hope this helps. Tony

I'm in California Hyacinth.

TONY DURAN

http://www.redroselofts.com/ has a great plan for a loft as Westy stated. My loft was modeled after his plans. My loft pictures are actually on his site. Not very big but enough to get you started. Good luck.

When I first started I was promised the world, dont worry about birds we will give you birds, we will lend you crates, the club has spare clocks for begginers that you can buy if you want after one year, everyone will help you....Fast forward 1.5 months(loft building time) Loft still empty. If not for one flyer that gave me some young birds and late hatches I would not have had a team to fly. Number of birds from the gentleman that promised the world...0. Help that I received from the "Good ol boys club" nil. If not for this site and others like it could have been bad especially for the pigeons. So I learned on my own with very minimal help from a few flyers. Fast forward to 2 weeks before first race, can I borrow the clock now? Oh you can order one from jedds he usually has some. This was pretty upsetting, the previous issues I dealt with. The clock however, I was depending on. So instead of saving up the $800.00 dollars over a few months prior to the season I now had to fork it out on two weeks notice. Pretty upset by this time. Season started and finally had all I needed pretty much by either making it myself( crates, feeders, perches, trap, loft) or by buying it (waterer, clock, advice). I even mangaged to make the first page and beat some of the "Geezers". Now I don't want to paint such a gloomy picture of our club, because there were and are some flyers that finally came around and warmed up to me however, there is definately a "Clique" in the club. All I read online was that the old flyers will be more than happy to help the new flyers.....It just was not my exprience, and have since voiced it at our meetings. Maybe things will change or as the previous post stated they may just "die" out.

Over here in California they start pairing up late November. Thanksgiving to be exact. This is in order to have birds for first young bird race in September. That works out to ten months or so, hope this helps. Tony

I use minced dehydrated garlic in their feed. The wife picks it up for me when she goes to the grocery store and I put it in their feed daily. I like this better than in the water because you dont have the slime in the waterer. Gives the loft a nice garlic smell as well( must be in the droppings lol). Tony

Thanks for the words of advice everyone. I'm not sure that I would race them but just loft fly them as I really dont want to keep them as prisoners. I dont quite have my breeding section done so I inted to breed only around 5 pair. I will keep the rest with the team just not let them out. But if I could resettle them it would make things a lot easier when I loft fly them, so that I could let them out as well. Anyway just a thought. It seems after reading all the posts that prisoners is what they may have to be.