Lemon juice

[Guest Doostalker]

Keys Jimmy   :D

 

Each to his own! 50,000 pigeon fanciers = 50,000 management systems.

 

Speckled, I like the idea of the filter. Must see about getting one.

[Guest shadow]

When I give multi vitamins I put on their feed after is is dampend with lemon juice as I find the birds are not keen on drinking if you put it in the drinkers, they dont bother about garlic or cider vinegar but they do wirh multi vits, I only found out by chance when one day I let them out and they all went staight to the fish pond and drank from it. they never drink from the pond any other time not even on race days when Ive had them dive straight into the drinker as soon as they enter

 

fly hard fly fair

[Guest]

Well, here I DON'T go again!  ;D

 

I think when you take Your Grace's   post along with Doostalker's, one would tend to explain the other: generations of fanciers have 'tried' out this and that, and when something 'appears' to work for them (without finding out the facts) they home in on that 'something' and stick with it over time, even though it  might not be the 'something' that is actually doing the trick for them. Products / methods do change over time.

 

In an earlier post, Doostalker also showed that it is very difficult to get facts on most products largely due to the absence of information on the label. But when facts ARE uncovered it is also pretty difficult to persuade people that have being using something  for yonks that what they thought their product does can, sometimes, do exactly the opposite.  :-/

 

It is NOT a case, in my opinion, of 'leading horses to water' (I think to use that phrase here would be insulting) but more a case of convincing others that it IS water.    If I may give you a recent example. We have an 80 year old fancier, an ex head teacher of chemistry, who advised me in 2004 to use Milton in the drinker. At the time I  thought Milton dangerous for babies and questioned him on this. His answer: "It's only Chlorine." And in 2005 he has three out of three on the result @ 465 miles.

 

And of course, the penny didn't drop until long after our conversation had ended: "But we've already got Chlorine in the water - and ITS dangerous too!"    ;D

 

[Guest]

I can confirm that that was my experince too, Shadow.  ;D

 

The birds would drink ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE except out of the drinker when I put multivits in it. During breeding, the concentration was doubled as per instructions, and it caused some of the birds to vomit. That went in the bin.

 

I also fell for the Tea lark too... on the worst possible day, race day. Full strength, 'water' consumption right down. Half strength - a bit better, but still down. What's going on here? Had a sip - tasted f*ing AWFUL.  >  Another 'something' in the bin.

 

Hence my reluctance to put 'stuff' in the drinker.   >  If it's on the food - the birds at least have a choice, they can take it or leave it - without ill-effect. But if it's in the drinker - and they LEAVE it (as they will) ...what good is water deprivation doing? In other words, we have apopted a practice that is having the opposite effect than we intended.

 

 

[jimmy white]

my pigeons are prisoners ,not through choice i might add, these birds can never pick arround the garden, so every now and again i give them pigeon tea which are just herbs, but i take the bitterness out simply by adding a couple of spoons of sugar, and they love it. i had a girl friend once [beleive it or not :) ]from cornwall who raced pigeons very succesfully, [ if i keep talking like that she might phone me up ;) ] who was herb mad,meant in the nicest way,she grew all sorts of herbs, and the pigeons were never away from this, in fact she called one of her 500 mile winners ,,herbie, and i thought she loved me so much, she would have called it after me, but it was at that point she left me ;D ;D ;D still theres hope for fame yet, young westy has called one of his latebreds sir james, and im very proud of that

[Guest]

I'd be interested to know more about herbs and herb teas, Jimmy.  

 

I've looked at three teas, tried two and liked one. First noticed 'tea affect' April/May 2004 when using cold household tea to clean a bird's eyes, mouth and throat of tree debris...bird started to sip and drink the stuff in small gulps, and became very calm and relaxed in my hands.

 

(1)  Advert for "18 herbs" , all individually named; checked them all out on the Web and discovered they included 'gems' like 4 seperate natural wormers. Bought it June 2004. Birds 'liked' the stuff 1/2 strength, water consumption went down but reasonable, but what really put me off (after using it for 3/4 months!) was discovering a 2002 date on the bottom of the pack ... using tea 2 years old  ??) I put it in the bin.

 

(2) Local Mill stopped stocking 'Natural' products and gave me an out-of-date packet of tea 'free'. Another "18 herbs". Took it home and had a look at it and the contents label - didn't tell me what was in it and it went in the bin.

 

(3) Heard a local successful fancier used 'Brand X'.  Bought it. Label contents? Zilch. But 'recommended'. Tried it full strength as instructed, birds wouldn't drink it - went everywhere for water, garden puddles, gutter, drain, water running down verandah wire netting - everywhere except where they should have been drinking. Half strength, not much better. That's the one that I tried and it tasted awful. It went in the bin.

 

If it's a palatable little gem you're sitting on, Jimmy, I for one would be pleased to know about it.  

 

 

[Guest]

Pigeon Tea - A blend of selected herbs and plants, each of which has a specific therapeutic action

 

Composition:

 

Wormwood: helps fortify, inhibit infection, stimulant, improves digestion, vermifuge-expels intestinal worms.

Tansy (Tanacetum): helps improve digestion, vermifuge-expels intestinal worms.

Bramble: helps fortify and purify the blood

Nettle: said to be an anti-anaemic and blood purifier

White Dead Nettle: reputed to inhibit inflammation

Yarrow: eases cramp and fortifies

Marigold Petals: a laxative and eases cramp

Hazelnut: purifies the blood

Caraway Seed: improves digestion

Garden Sage: inhibits inflammation

Sarsaparilla: slight laxative with general purificative action

St. John's Wort: inhibits infection, calmant action, vermifuge-expels intestinal worms

Thyme: fortifier, inhibits infection, stimulates appetite, vermifuge-expels intestinal worms, eases cramp

Plantain: purifies the blood, emollient

 

 

 

 

 

[Tony C]

I was led to believe that for the pigeon to absorb the B vitamins better vitamin C needs to be given to aid the process hence brewers yeast mixed with lemon juice.

[T_T]

My lemon juice is for using on my Prawn Cocktail with a bit of brown bread and butter on the side.

[Guest Silverwings]

nice one t-t ,my lemon juice goes into a vodka martini with ice ? even better on a nice evening at 'Bar Elsa 'Tossa de mar on the costa brava spain (what  a resort ) over here the lemon peel goes into the drinkers ! the juice on a nice peice of cod or plaice.....ray (dont forget the chips)

[Wiley]

isit true when putting lemon juice in the water it keeps the cancker and cocci rate down i think i read something simular to this in one of the 101 method books!anyone else read this?just interested

[westy]

i ent mate i ent heard of lemon jiuce either

[Guest coxy]

;)u neva heard of lemon juice lol muppet

[westy]

lol i ent heard of it in the water but i av heard of it.

[Guest coxy]

lol jokin m8 r u on msn if u r add me agen man cuz i aint up on mine i need tlk to ya

[Peckedhen]

It will alter the acid content in the water, making a less favourable environment for the cocci. I think it's the same theory as adding apple cider vinegar but with extra vitamin C. :-/ :-/

[westy]

how much to add.

[mO]

my understanding of Lemon juice, ACV etc is by increasing the Acid content of the water it helps to prevent Salmonella as Salmonella prefers an Alkaline environment,

I have been assured this by Gordon Chalmers the Canadian vet on another forum.

yours in sport mO.