hopper feeding widowers

[Guest]

hi all what are your thoughts on hopper feeding your widowers  thanks all jon

[Wiley]

i think all depends what sort of racing you want to achieve and also depends what you have got in the hopper.I mean many of the successful long distance fanciers have a hopper full of peas and beans infront of there birds all the time, but i think if it was the sprints you were hoping to achieve i dnt think hopper feeding would be the answer unless i feel it had a high amount of barley that you were feeding and you would know when the brids had had there fill as they would leave the barley

[jimmy white]

i agree with wiley, in sprint races if the birds were hopper fed , they would only eat the grains they wanted , i would prefer to feed handfull by handfull to make sure their eating the full mix i wanted them to eat,,, differant for distance

[Wiley]

i agree with wiley, in sprint races if the birds were hopper fed , they would only eat the grains they wanted , i would prefer to feed handfull by handfull to make sure their eating the full mix i wanted them to eat,,, differant for distance

 

bang on jimmy does what i do supply a little at a time and keep placing food down in the hopper wait return after a cuppa, if eaten put another level down, untill theyve had there fill or untill theyt stop eating the barley

[thunderboult]

my old birds last season had access to gerry plus in a hopper on the floor(it's always there for them) in 13 races they were never worst than 5th club scored in every old bird race won inland av., r-up channel av.+combined av. and the breeding of them......van geels,jan arden,van der espt,busschaerts(distance one's)+tournier flown roundabout ,for the longer races i'll also give em red band in their boxes i think if they want food they can have it , it's all to make them happier at home so that way then they want to come back they've won the short fast races(100mls vel-2028)also the tough races(240mls 1st,2nd,3rd,4th vel.987,982,949,939)this year in 5 channel races messac,poitiers-bbc,oudenaarde-welshsoutheastnat.,picauville,lessay-welshsouthroad we've had 100% RETURNS and we only started in 2004 yb's

[jimmy white]

congrats on your results thunderboult,,,,i think the point i was trying to make was that the pigeon doesnt know the distance your going to send it , this feeding may well be fine ,and suiting you , but i beleive in the further you send the bird the more you have to feed for the race,,i.e. the high protein races are the 5 to 600 mile races , the high carboheydrate races are basicly sprint, adjusting the feeding from say 100 miles to 350 miles, and you do find individual pigeons prefering individual grains , which may not be beneficial, as i said , as the bird doesnt know how far your going to send it , but your results have been very well ,so the old saying goes,,,never change a winning system

[Pompey Mick]

I have a hopper in my widowhood loft all the time, with  beans in. I feed a mixture on return to the loft after racing & exercise and you would think thet had seen no corn since the last mixture feed. I normally keep the mixture below 1oz a day and let them top-up from the hopper as required. I vary the mixture during the week as per normal widowhood schedules.

[Guest mytton6]

Hi Pompey Mick

                   and how do your birds fly on this system