Old Pied

Hi Old Yellow If I understand you correct, your hens and cocks will train together, but the hens will have a 'head-start' as they will be training 30min by the time the cocks join them. What will be the reason for this, is it your view that hens need more training than cocks? Regards Old Pied

Hi All Trying my hand at widowhood for 1st time this year, mailed about it few weeks ago. I have 18 widowhood boxes with 18 cocks, all two year old. I introduced 30 hens so that they could pick and choose, two hens lay in 10 days time, but most hens only 4 days after the 1st two hens. I plan to put cocks on 'dry widowhood', and if I understand it right, it means they do not raise a baby, but eggs are removed, with the hen, after 10 days. But what about hens than lay 4 days later than 1st hens, must I leave then also for 10 days with eggs, or must I remove their eggs and hens together with the two hens that lay 4 days before then? Regards Old Pied

Remove grit while giving antibiotics (all kinds just to be on safe side). Other medication, leave grit in. Regards Old Pied

Hi All Nice to have a few minutes to chat again, been bussy at work, real 'mad house'. Like 2 hear your view on following. Fellow fancier breeds me a round (1st round) of babies each year, and in my loft the hens are by far the better racers, but in his loft, with the 2nd round, the cocks (of the same matings) are the better racers. Would you suggest it is due to different management, and if so, what could cause the difference. In the passed nor me or my friend raced on widowhood, both of us just natural. Regards Old Pied

Hi All Well then it seems that majority fanciers (who replied) think that good management are 'more important' than good birds. Well I'll also go for B. Since it is all about 'who will win the avareges at the end of the year?', I think that B with good management will fly more consistant over a period of months, maybe not even winning a single race, but should be there 'near the front' more often than not. 'A' would get his wins (every now and then), but missing the sheet every few races due to bad managment, would not make 'A' a champion. My 50 cents worth Regards Old Pied

Hi All Like 2 hear your view on following... Lets say fancier A and fancier B are neighbours. They race in the same organization. They both compete in all the races in the year, they birds are healthy. BUT..., Fancier A has gr8 birds, better than fancier B's average birds. But fancier B has gr8 management, better than fancier A's management. Who would you put your money on to win the averages at the end of the season? Regards Old Pied

Hi Black w f Agree, we forget no.2 so easy during 'combat'

Hi owen Can we perhaps combine your 'rule' (find a system that suits the person) with Andys rule that novice should obtain birds from one person. Perhaps we can say that a novice must look for fancier whose system will suit him/her (time and money), and if this person is racing well, one should 'earmark' such a person to obtain round of youngsters from? Just a suggestion

Hi Andy I agree about good birds, FROM ONE PERSON, as then the novice can also obtain the training program on which those birds perform from the same flyer, and saves alot of time and money by not having to figure it out himself. Hi Soapy I suggested only two as it must be the most important, and that way we can compile 'golden rules' and not just 'rules. You can mention more, was just a suggestion to mention only 2. What is acat box (i am in South Africa, dont know the term/product?) Regards, Old Pied

Hi All Lets say a novice approach you asking for advice. What is the 2 moste important things you would tell him to look out for / do when starting as novice/newby. Let limit (if you want) the advice to two items per member, and try not to repeat what was already said. Lets then see if we can 'agree to disagree' on the maybe 10 most important things to look out for/do, and perhaps we would be 'indirectly' reminding ourself of things we know, but forgot. My advice would be: 1-Never over-populate your loft 2-Write down day-by-day what you do with birds, and also what you give them, thus keep record.

Hi Wilkins first and most important, there is no 'rule fixed in stone' as to what is the best way to feed your birds, but guidelines do exist. What you put in, you must get out, otherwise you would end up with birds to heavy and not wanting to train/fly anymore. What you feed also depends on how hard you toss your birds (training around the loft in general does not take out of the birds as much as road training, as with road training there can be no 'flapping around', it is just full steam ahead), how cold it is (birds use more energy to keep warm) etc. As distance increase, I would feed versele-laga Energy plus as from Monday till Wednesday, (Basket Thursday and race Saturday) but as a 'snack' lunch time (13h00) and not as a full meal. Be carefull of overfeeding, i think many fanciers are guilty of that. I like to feed 3 times per day, as i believe it gives the birds body more opportunity to digest what they need from the seeds. Google the word 'Gordon Chalmers' and choose 'Dietary Considerations in Pigeon Racing'. Would like to hear others view on this info given by G. Chalmers, how you understand it, and how you would apply this knowledge in practise. Regards

I would agree that GerriPlus is good carb mix, and has many small seeds which i prefer as I think small seeds put less 'stress' on the birds to digest the seeds. As high fat i use EnergyPlus. But surely there are many on the market. Important aspect as mentioned by 'cloudview' is to feed high fats only to birds you are intending to race that weekend, otherwise you could end up with birds that are to heavy due to not 'taking out what you put in'. Regards

Hi Wilkens, Strapper and All That is a very important and good question Wilkens. If it takes 48 hours + for a pigeon to digest and store fat containing seeds in energy form, then it is of 'no' use to only feed fats at end of week just before basket, since the energy (fat) supplied by those seeds will only be available by the time the bird arrives home, or even later. One of the Ace flyers in SA once told me that he feeds high fat containing seeds on Monday and Tuesday (basket Thursday, race Saturday) as that way he can be sure the fat containing seeds are in the birds 'system' by the time it is liberated. Looking at the article that Gorden Charmers once wrote about feeding of racing pigeons, one should also keep the carbs high in feed when feeding fat containing seeds as the carbs assist the body to digest and store fat. Just my 50cents worth. Regards Old Pied

Thanx Kev Just this morning I ordered the dvd 'Wonderful Widowhood' by John Halstead. Have you watched it before.? Hope it will assist me in my 'new adventure' on 'widowhood'. Do you perhaps know if the video you mentioned is still available, and where? Regards Old Pied

Last 9 years different person to win Federation each year.