bluey

Good to see you back

Any information that can help prepare pigeons for the longer distance races will be appreciated. I guess feeding will be the number one priority for most but trying to describe the way to motivate will be just as important. For me I am not prepared to send good inland winning pigeons over the channel. I do know that fanciers should send their best but for me it is too much to risk.

Good luck to you. Terry Haley, Mark Bulled and others have made the switch with success.

I will not be able to let my birds out for almost one month. What would be your plan to get them to racing fitness as soon as possible once able to fly out. Bearing in mind their first race could be 155 or 190 miles two weeks from beginning loft flying. My options while they are confined to the loft are do I feed well and fly/train the weight off or feed light and try to build them up ? They will be trained and raced natural. Any input will be appreciated.

Wishing you all the best in your ambition to win from the longer races, I am not interested in Classic/National racing the hassle of travel to marking and clock checking is not for me so stick to Fed racing which with only four channel races per year means that distance pigeons are not high on my list of priorities. However I have to say that any one who wants to achieve success must always be looking for better pigeons and better sprint birds are just as hard to find as distance pigeons. Distance pigeons come from a smaller pool and take longer to identify, trying to choose from a larger pool of sprint racers to suit the environment and the methods used to race can be just as difficult as finding long distance racers.

Very difficult to describe however here is my attempt. Pigeons with good conformation will fit your hands no matter the size of your hands or the pigeon. Sometimes they are wedge shaped, wide at the wing butts tapering back to a narrow tail, with others they are less wide at the front but still have an aerodynamic shape. All will have a tight vent and bright eyes when healthy and in good condition.

Not been on for a day or so, thanks for your answer

Can you say what Flightpath is and how you think it helps ?

Appreciate your disappointment with Thurso race, take comfort from what you learned from your results. Please keep us up to date on how you race young birds

Why maize in the basket ? And perhaps more importantly how much maize is in the mix fed by the conveyor ? Barca International birds are fed Cribs maize, British birds at the distance are at the mercy of conveyors who take them there for profit.

Peter I sympathise with your knees now and dread mine in the future. You must be more generous than me in the peanut allocation

Are you willing to name the the mixes ie; Versele/Marimans/Bamfords etc; ? 75% fat is that 75% fat mix or 75% actual fat ? Different providers have similar grains but in different proportions. My usual feed from 3 days before basketing is 50/50 Bamfords Widowhood Express and Marimans Super Winner plus 10% Bamfords condition seed. When going for distance I usually add maize and/or/both peanuts at the same 10% depending on the weather, how they are exercising and my prediction for the race ahead. Your comments will be welcome.

If you do not want to have trouble catching and handling your pigeons start while they are in the nest. Get them used to your hands from a week old by playing with them as you scrape out they will walk into your hand when you offer a peanut. It is easy to make pigeons tame if you start early enough.

Even though flying natural I am seeing my birds eating very little, about an ounce a day when i see them leaving barley early in the week and paddy rice approaching the race. Thats why I will try Wiley`s approach of a bit more protein in the build up for my last channel race. ps looking like 2nd club from today at Messac

I usually up the maize and fats for my last channel race, with only one contender I will now up the protein (more maples in the mix) a little

I think that where you live and race to affects how you can race your birds. Where I live inland racing goes to 200+ miles after that we are over the channel which is a different ball game. I do not send good winners over the water, mainly based on their ancestry and also not wanting to risk them being lost. I do have some awaiting liberation from 400 miles that have scored inland more than once and have been across before but not arrived in prize winning times from the channel races so do do not have a great deal of confidence in them this time. However they had to go they were always beaten by loft mates in the earlier races and are now at an age where they are approaching the end of their racing careers.

There is little chance anything bred now will race this year. The earliest young birds can be trained is from about 10 weeks old, unless you have a short come back race in September they would be thrown away.

How much is 28 grams in ounces ? Mine are not eating a lot, today 34 birds have only had 28/30 ounces and are not flying as much as I would like. They are only doing 10 minutes or so with no oomph as they fly. My first channel race this week and have been trying to build them up adding maize and peanuts to the regular feed. Usually on an ounce and a quarter over the day and they fly well for 20 minutes plus at am and pm exercise which I am happy with as they then have free time around the loft. Having said that they are eating less than usual they are not responding to my calls when feeding in and are also landing on the house roof which I have tried to discourage and until this year has worked.

Racing natural too I will add my bit also. I feed a small amount of food 4/6 ounces for 30 or so birds before letting out for am exercise at 8 00 am ish then a similar amount after loft flying. Then 4/6 ounces at midday. 4/6 ounces before pm exercise at 4 00 pm ish then fed to appetite to finish the day off. The timings depend on my good lady`s working hours but are never more than an hour apart. They generally have 1 ounce or a touch more per day depending on appetite. They are on an Irish mix with 2 parts depurative and 1 part condition seed (double Peter`s recommendation I`m afraid) from Sat till Wed then on a mixture of two widowhood mixes and 1 part condition seed till marking. Any bird that is in it`s box also gets a peanut while I am scraping out, needless to say they all get one am and pm after being on this routine for some time. I think of this as hopper feeding by hand. Using this method my birds have done very well winning a few races into a location furthest to the west in my club and federation.

1212 testing

and the peanuts which they must take from the hand after there feed. The time to start preparing for this is while young birds are in the nest. After putting rings on play with young birds beak, I do this twice a day while scraping out. They will never be afraid of your hands and when older and they know what peanuts are they will almost walk into your hand when offered up to them.

Can too much hemp be given ? If so how much is too much ? How did you find out ? Looking forward to your reply, always interesting reading in this thread

Although I am retired the timings are based on my wifes working hours of 8 00 am until 4 00 pm so she can stand in if I am otherwise occupied. I think of it as hopper feeding by hand. It could be adapted to a four times a day feeding system to suit someone with out help or the chance to feed mid day. I must add the feed is measured so they only get what I think is required. Giving a small amount before exercise I think helps the pigeons fly a little longer before wanting to come in for feed. It works for me. Remember the saying fat pigeons cannot fly, hungry pigeons will not.

Racing my birds natural I feed five times a day when racing. Before and after am and pm exercise also mid day. As long as they fly 20 minutes minimum I am happy. Towards the end of the week as fats/energy grains and seeds are increased they will fly for up to an hour sometimes more. It is the way they exercise rather than the length of time that is more important to me. When I see them tumbling and swirling through the sky, like young birds in the early stages of learning to fly, then I know they are fit to race.

Back in the 60s I visited the local champion. He fed the same mix as me apart from one addition -50% cinqantina maize 45% maple peas and 5% tares. The addition was dog tooth maize, although I did not know the exact proportion. He was a regular visitor to Belgium so was obviously influenced by their feeding methods. He was possibly ahead of the times regarding feeding methods of UK fanciers. I am now almost 50 years older if not wiser but am a firm believer in increasing fats as the distances get longer or the prospect of a tougher race. Breaking down with a weaker mixture is not a good idea to me, I believe protein feeding is required after every race to recharge the batteries. This thread is one of my favourites and has given me plenty of food for thought. Please keep it going Peter