darkness systam

[mark proctor]

hi when do you lot start darkning your y birds of and when do you take them of the darkness systam ? some fanciers dont darken until the end of march ? whats your opinions on it lads? thanks mark..... :o :o

[Guest TAMMY_1]

hi when do you lot start darkning your y birds of and when do you take them of the darkness systam ? some fanciers dont darken until the end of march ? whats your opinions on it lads? thanks mark..... :o :o

 

have never tried it , think it is going against nature, but a lot do use it but afraid it is not for me

[Guest j.bamling]

i put mine on the spring equinox 21st March & I take it off the Longest day

the summer solstace 21st June

[Taylorsloft]

mine are on darknees now light from 10 am 7 pm untill last week in june

[Guest shadow]

tried it once I'm afraid its not for me not into young bird racing just like to educate them

[mark proctor]

keep the replies comming lads? i used to wean them strait onto the darkness  from weanning them of but someone told me there on natural darkness anyway untill march 20th ish...?  your thoughts? many thanks mark. ;) :)

[Guest cloudview]

dark ness is fine  if you want to send  to latter  races  usually channel events , round here any way  , iwould  put the hens on it  , and go steady with them as yearlings , as most  young bird races  are won with  them

[wba_paddy]

we put our pigeons on the dark right from parting until the 14 of june. i know a few fanciers who put their pigeons on dark in march and started to moult 1st week in september.we always do it john halsteads way and never had a problem. been flying on it since 1996.  

[Guest casbri]

i put my birds on darkness from parting in march till 1st week in june

[ALF]

Tried it for the 1st time last season and had my best y/b season yet but wont be going on darkness this year as i wont be racing my y/b's in the fed so wont need to put them on it this year!

[Wiley]

darkness is the only way to go

[carlsberg]

never tried the darkness but hoping to give it a go this time

[carlsberg]

what time of the day would you darken the loft and what time would you open them up the next day also does it make a difference if you do it a bit later than normal sometimes or has it got to be at a set time

[mark proctor]

thanks for the replies guys of to work now speak to u all later thanks mark. ;)

[Guest cloudview]

what time of the day would you darken the loft and what time would you open them up the next day also does it make a difference if you do it a bit later than normal sometimes or has it got to be at a set time

 

it does really matter that much  , try keeping to astrict routine can be  a pain in the backside  ,   ifound   that as long as you keep them on dark  above twelve hours  ,they will take no harm   mine go it  18..45  pm  untill  0730  .  thats the time i go to work .   mind you i did forget once or twice

[madmaxlofts]

i put mine on the spring equinox 21st March & I take it off the Longest day

the summer solstace 21st June

 

exactly the same as me open up at 9 close at 5

[Taylorsloft]

just sent for one of them superbulbs for the darkness youngsters.uvlight

[Guest chrisss]

this will be my first year of racing and if [a big if at the moment]i get enough ybs together the darkness system must be the way to go i have been told that from march 21st to the end of june will do it and for me open them up at 0900 and close them down at 17.00

[jojoe]

I was wondering with the darkness does it make much of a difference with 9 hours to 12 hours of daylight only, i'm trying to figure around my work ,  :-/

[PIGEON_MAN]

Personally i would say thats far to many hours of daylight,mine only have 8 hours between 9 and 5.

[jojoe]

Thanks, would'nt work around my work then, i like to have them in before i go to work after they exercise, and then i would'nt be home in time  to repeat, if i thought it would work up to 12 hours i would try it,

[schouwman71]

didnt fly darkness last year,my youngsters still won a few races but for over 150mls they do need to be on it,over that the darkness birds dominate results,really if you want to win young bird races over that then i feel you must fly on the darkness.i enjoyed racing last year without the darkness.

[Guest chrisss]

this is my first time racing, i am trying the darkness system out for the first time ,one thing i have noticed already [this is day 3 on it] is when i turn back the curtains they dive straight out in to the trap into the light is that normal

[schouwman71]

yea i guess it sounds quit rightto me,they like the light do youngsters so yea.

[Guest Paulo]

didnt fly darkness last year,my youngsters still won a few races but for over 150mls they do need to be on it,over that the darkness birds dominate results,really if you want to win young bird races over that then i feel you must fly on the darkness.i enjoyed racing last year without the darkness.

 

I agree I raced natural as it was my first season and got 4th in one race and was on the clock for most of the others in race time but come the longer races I was 10 minutes behind every week. So this year got half on dark and half on natural.

 

As per Kevin Hurst's book "East to West.'' hours of darkness are 8 hours