basket day what do you do?

[Guest CS]

Basketing Day

 

As the day of basketing approaches, it becomes increasingly important that everything is done correctly. An error now means that there is little time to correct it or for the pigeons to forget. The fancier should walk into his basketing centre with healthy, fit, motivated pigeons that are calm in them and ready for the task at hand. The fancier’s efforts during the week culminate on the day of basketing. The result on race day is a direct quantitative assessment of these efforts.  

 

What to drink

 

Of prime importance is that the birds drink well during the day. Often, clean, plain water is the best. Many medications are bitter and these are best avoided. Anything added to the water should be familiar to the birds and very palatable. Benefit can be obtained in some birds by giving probiotics, multivitamins or half-strength electrolytes. Do be careful, however, as sugar-based or electrolyte preparations put in the water too concentrated can actually dehydrate the birds.  

 

What to feed

 

Carbohydrates and fats are the energy sources during flight. This does not, however, mean that the birds should be gorged with these types of seed. This only leads to the accumulation of body fat, which is a hindrance. The diet should be based on these grains but should be fed at a level matching the birds’ exercise to allow them to become full and buoyant but not heavy in the hand. A grain mix based on corn, safflower, milo, wheat and rice is good. It makes no sense to feed more than approximately 25% legumes (peas and beans) now. Any grits, pick stones or other supplements that contain excessive (more than 2%) salt should be removed 1 - 2 days before basketing but returned to the loft before the birds return  

 

When to exercise

 

Some fliers prefer to keep the birds in the loft on basketing day. This prevents the risk of the birds over flying due to their race

 

Readiness or a loft scare. The last thing anyone wants is for the birds to fly their race around the loft on basketing day. Keeping them in also allows for controlled feeding. With the birds in the loft, there is no chance of the first birds through the trap eating substantially more than the last ones in or getting more of an opportunity to selectively eat more of the tastier grains, e.g. safflower. If kept in the loft, the birds also cannot get wet if it does happen to rain. It is nice to send birds covered in bloom and definitely bad to send birds that are damp. The decision to keep the birds in or not is more important for sprint racing.

 

 

[jimmy white]

a big question really, i,e w hood , natural, sprint , distance etc, but in general i used to like my w,hood cocks out early every morning inc friday ,, bath  friday morn and right in again and fed w,hood mix , left in peace all day till basketing shown hens [sometimes ] varying times suiting the cocks b4 showing hens tried to get them to eat a bit ,, even a handfull od redband , mainly to get them to drink ,, but many ways to skin a cat ;D

[Guest shadow]

clean water food until 12-00 hrs and resting in the loft

[David Home]

I flew widowhood and if it was a relatively short race, I have actually taken the cocks a mile up the road after putting the show hens in and liberated them. Gave them about 30 secs with the hen then off to the club. I always used to put a blanket over the basket to keep them calm. When at the clubhouse I would put a drinker on the basket to with just fresh water in it. Just incase there was a slight hold up at the clubhouse when ringing the birds for the race.