Wiley

Recently reading an article from vetinery Johan Van Der Cruyssen, and he believes that it's important that breeders be provided an extra calcium supplement and not just receive calcium for Grit. What is your opinion and do you use any extra calcium supplements when breeding and why.

Yes

Same as you tony, not going home till Monday this year

Booked train tickets last night

Reasonable would be an older version of photoshop of eBay Bern tbh, not many photo editing software can come close

The best fanciers in my opinion don't need to advertise Andy, the fanciers have and will approach them.

http://www.tourdesmaritimes.com/Photography/tips.htm This site will help you pal

Who in Ireland have u done research on?

I wouldn't bother treating for respo this time of year personally, I'd keep them in the avairy every day till just before dark and I'd keep the diet light plenty of barley. I'd also use ur tea with garlic.

He used to live not far from here Pete before he moved back to Ireland, was fantastic flyer here as well when he went back. Wembly way if memory serves me right Brasspenning pigeons

In our club when we ran it no birds were nominated first bird counted only always had surprise winners

We used to have 2 loft over loft shields, was beautiful and prized silverware to win. Everyone pays a fee to enter competition, and a draw is pulled out to make it for example Joe Bloggs vs David Dave, ect, ect. If David times before Joe he is knocked out. Competition goes down to only one person left.

Cheers lads

Hi Geordie, out of the 13x1st prizes won this season, 9 of the wins were with old birds where the hens where accountable for 5 of those wins. I wouldn't be without racing hens anymore.

I know a few midlands fanciers that race successfully using the middle distance Gerry plus system

My feeding is very light to be entirely honest with you and has a very high Barley content for many reasons. It has a high carb content, the moult takes a lot of energy and the carb content provides the necessary energy to go through a good moult. It also has a fair percentage of protein, although not as much a pea or bean, it's protein content is sufficient. It has a low fat content also, but that is not important what is important is that the birds dislike the grain and will only eat what they need, and feeding barley is the best judge of when a bird has had it's fill. Barley like wheat has a high sulfur content which also helps with the moult. It will also keep the weight of the birds and make it easier to get into breeding condition. It is also proven the use of barley reduces the tricho count.To this I will also supplement there diet with seeds that are high in fatty oils to help produce softer feathers as well as many of these seeds increase the protein content of my mixture In the drinker we use cider vinegar and garlic 5 days out of 7 a week. The garlic is chopped up and placed in the cider vinegars bottles and are left for at least a week to mature before it is used. Sedochol would be used twice a week and many know the use of it. "A mixture of Methionine, Choline and Sorbitol, to regulate the digestive system. Irregular digestion can be caused by changing diet, breeding, molting and extremely tough races - Promotes muscle growth, Optimizes fat burning, resulting in increased resistance - Promotes liver metabolism and kidney, Detoxifies the blood and liver, resulting in increased physical performance - Promotes the formation of new feathers during molt." Protecting the liver is very important this time of year as it becomes under stress of the moult. The idea is to make a birds moult as stress free as possible . I'm a big believer that during the moult the birds should be able to get as much air, and sunlight as possible so generally the wire doors will be in place to help to provide this. The birds are let out very little until they are paired, but they will be offered a bath once a week. A box with a very small would be placed in the loft to crest a vacuum for the feathers and it's amazing how well it works for the feathers. The birds and boxes are generally cleaned out once a week. The birds are fed communally and are fed once a day a handful at a time until they become picky with the grains.

How is the loft ventilated Andy and what was your thinking behind when designing the loft? Have you tested the humidity? Do you have a humidity gauge? Have you tried the salt test?

I personally think if you want to become a better fancier, you must compete against the best fanciers. If you are not competing against the best in your federation or combine, then that is the only time I'd be looking to join a different club, as I want to compete against the best.

Huge problem, I've found talking to fanciers that have the problem are uses of products such as Brewers yeast, gemethpax and zell oxygen. I don't know why or if you do but it's a link to the problem of those who have said it before.

A top flyer in LNRC uses Gerry plus as his base mixture all year round, and those that race in London will you tell you how dangerous this man is from 56 miles to 510 miles. Article is on the fancier below http://www.elimarpigeons.com/MC.htm

IMO no sprint pigeon should be broken down, especially if you want good output of exercise and performance. Years ago when we would break down using depurative mixtures and barley ect, beginning of the week we found their exercise around the loft poorly and to be fair had very little point of having them out until Wednesday onwards. Nowadays we feed heavier on the few days after return, and the birds exercise well every single day. Feeding the same mixture every day would create one thing and that's an ideal digestive system, which I believe to be one of the most important things.

I'd get a blow torch on em as well

Ow far you from Aycliffe pal

As stated Darren, it was quoted from Chris Balson, who was the loft helper of at one time one of the greatest flyers in the West Country Henry Gonsalves. I am and always will be a morning trainer as long as the temperatures have hit 10 degrees

"OK THEN HERE WE GO, THE FEAR SYSTEM IS USED BY MANY OF TODAYS TOP FANCIERS AND HAS BEEN PRACTISED FOR MANY YEARS NOW WITH EXCELLENT RESULTS, IT GOES LIKE THIS, YOUNGSTERS ARE TRAINED AS LATE IN THE EVENING AS IS POSSIBLE, ONLY GIVING THEM JUST ENOUGH TIME TO MAKE THEIR LOFTS BEFORE DARKNESS FALLS, ON THE FIRST 2-3 TOSS'S IT HAS HAPPENED THAT NO BIRDS MAKE IT TO THEIR LOFTS AND ARE FORCED TO HAVE A NIGHT OUT, SOME TIMES 3/4, 1/2 OR ONLY A HANDFUL OF THE TEAM MAKE IT HOME, BUT WITHIN A WEEK MOST IF NOT ALL YOUR TEAM WILL HAVE SUSSED ON THAT THEY HAVE TO GO LIKE THE CLAPPERS DIRECTLY HOME WHERE THEIR FOOD IS WAITING FOR THEM AND THE SAFETY OF THEIR HOME, MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS ALLOW IN THE BEGINING 5 MINS EXTRA TIME UNTIL THEY KNOW WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT, BASKET THEM AND LEAVE THEM IN THE LOFT FOR ABOUT AN HR BEFORE YOU TAKE EM TRAINING,PUTTING THEIR FEED INTO THE FEED TRAY IN FRONT OF THEM BUT OUT OF REACH, FROM THE MINUTE YOU REACH SAY THE 20 - 30 MILE TRAINING STAGE THE BIRDS NEVER FLY OUT AROUND HOME FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON, ITS JUST BASKET,TRAIN,HOME, EXCEPT SAY SUNDAY FOR A BATH THEN LOCK EM BK UP, SO IN THE BIRDS MIND EVERY SINGLE TIME THEY GO INTO THE BASKET AS FAR AS THEY ARE CONCERNED ITS A RACE TO GET HOME BEFORE DARK AND FOR THEIR FEED, THEY NO NOTHING ELSE, SO COME RACE DAY ONCE THE FLAPS ARE DROPPED THE ONLY THING ON THESE BIRDS MIND IS HOME, THEY PUT IN MAXIMUM EFFORT AND A SUSTAINED ONE RIGHT UPTO THE LOFT ENTRANCE, NEVER DEVIATING FROM THEIR FOCUS OF GETTING HOME AND WITH A CONSISTENT SPEED, YOU HAVE EXPLOITED THEIR FEAR OF THE DARK AND BEING LEFT OUT IN AN UNSAFE ENVIROMENT WHICH PIGEONS DO NOT LIKE, I HOPE YOU CAN SEE WHERE I AM COMING FROM, ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE MAY HELP ME EXPLAIN IT EVEN MORE, NOT ALL OF YOUR BIRDS WILL CUT IT, THEIR INBUILT NATURAL NERVOUS SYSTEM WILL FAIL THEM AND THEY WILL FALL BY THE WAYSIDE, BUT FOR THE ONES WHO TAKE TO IT, WELL I'LL LET THOSE WHO MAY TRY THIS METHOD TELL ME AT THE END OF THE SEASON" Something quoted from Chris Balson Pete, thought you might have found it interesting.