pigeonscout

I do not understand how they are getting into your corn bins if the lids lock down tight. Are you sure they or not in the corn before you put it into the bin.

I would try the vinegar as it will be safe for the birds http://www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/snails-slugs.htm

Hard grit is use to grind the corn and the soft great i.e. red grit dissolves and releases minerals and trace elements. Let them have what they want they will slow down the intake in a couple of days. They are only building up on what they had been lacking.

Kale is a very good green to give to the birds.

Dr Ann Wigmore, one of the most well-known proponents of raw diets, even suggests that over 80% of the nutrition in food is destroyed via cooking! PS I took the above statment from a vitamin web stie

I was once told that the best greens you can feed your birds is in the form of rabbit food and the birds have no problem eating these small pellets that contain all that is in fresh greens. If you like elderberries you can mix then in blender then make ice cubes with the juice and this will keep them from going off. When you want to give it to your birds just pop an ice cube into the drinker. You can also soak garlic in water for 24 to 48 hours and then make that juice into ice cubes.

You are right and I stand corrected and a bit wiser. :)

The snow was that deep here in 1963 or 1964 that on the way to the shop I tripped over something. I looked round to see what I had tripped on and it was the cross on top of the chapel spire. ;D ;D ;D :P

I have to agree with oldyellow on this one, I can buy a good multi vitamin / minerals for £7 and that does me all year. How much would it cost to buy all these vitamin / minerals in the form of fresh fruit and vegetables? And after buying all the fresh fruit and vegetables my birds would still need vitamin B 12.

A 4/10 is a small canon ??) ??)

I had a small aviary 3ft x 3ft made from piano wire so I could see my birds better when they were in it. I use to hate when my birds got killed and then seeing the rats come out to eat them. I could not stop the hawk but I was able to kill the rats with rat poison or placing the dead bird beside a rat trap like this one covered over with grass. http://www.solwayfeeders.com/productsdetail1.asp?STOCK_CODE=1905.

was this also your post http://forum.pigeonbasics.com/m-1232816474/s-6/#num6

I hear what you say about people having enough salt in their diet without adding more but can the same be said of a pigeons diet. Pick stones and minerals contain salt and the pigeons that are given these seem to be in a far better condition than the birds that do not have them. I have sent you a PM with a link to a site I think if you have not already read it you will find it very interesting. The way I give salt to my birds may not be the best way but until I find a better way of making sure each bird has it I will give it in the water once a week and they can flush the excess out out the next with the fresh water. I sent you a pm with link to a site you may find it good reading.

It would stand to reason that the eye sign expert who has the gift of picking breeders just by looking at the eye should be able to breed a loft full of winning birds. There are DVD's books and videos on the subject. I watched one of these videos and the man never once talked about the winning birds he has bred. So can anyone tell me if any of these eye sign experts are top winning loft.

You make a good point but would the body not turn the sugar into energy and flush any salt the body did not need back out. I am not 100% sure on this and I am always willing to learn it is just something I pick up from joop koch when he was here at my loft. If you could show me data that says a small amount of salt once a week is not good for them then I will take your advice and stop using it.

If someone knew what to look for in a pigeon eye that told him it was a breeder of winners then would he not have a loft full of winners?

This is good answer and I would do as you are saying if I was in his position. One tip and a very big tip is when the young birds are not flying freely at the start of the year feed them 75% barley 25% flax seeds for 14 days they will start flying for hours about the 8 to 11 day.

You and the rest of the uk fanciers put the UK back on the racing pigeon world map. To send 6 to that race and have all 6 make it to the final race takes some doing. You have without any shadow of a doubt top birds well done.

No one knows kees Bousa birds better than Kees Bousa and Kees Bousa is buying Kees Bousa pigeons back from John Gerard. That tells me that Kees Bousa himself believes that John Gerard has the best of his family of bird. Read what Kees Bousa says about John Gerards collection of Bousa pigeons http://www.tauben-auktion.de/auction_details.php?name=KEES-BOSUA--UPDATE---KEES-BOSUA&auction_id=2535

I give my birds 1 tea spoon of salt + 4 sugar in 2lt of water once a week when racing in hot weather and it has never done them any harm. Doctors use to give this to new born babies in their bottle if they had vomiting and diarrhea to stop them dehydrating

Took this from another site. If you can get the water under cover and off the ground it may help, tennis balls and apples don't work. If it's a small amount of water then dropping one or two glass irn bru bottles filled with boiling water in can act as a hot water bottle staving off the water freezing..if its a plastic drinker on the side of a cage, wrap a sock over it and try tucking a rechargable gel hand warmer inside the sock next to the bottle (or under the bowl) They are cheap to buy...about £5 for two... and they heat for about eight hours, once chilled simply boil in a saucepan for ten minutes to use them again...they work for years!!

Bit like our house then ;D ;D ;D

That is good advice and I agree with you 100%

So you are now saying that when you first said cocci you meant coccus and not Coccidiosis that we all refer to as cocci in the pigeon sport. Your having a laugh.

Maybe they are the ones making it cheaper by only puting 5% ronidazol in the mix and not 10%.