winter training ?

[DJ]

hi  as most of u will know i have only just started keeping racing pigeons this year but havnt yet started racing them,  most of my pigeons have only been trained up to 30 miles but a friend has now offered to take them further over nov/dec/jan while traveling to work,  is it ok to train pigeons over the winter period?  im asking because i know that pigeon racing stops for winter and dont want to be sending my pigeons training if the winter weather can affect their homing ability :-/   this is probably a stupid question to a seasoned fancier but as a very green novice i would rather be safe then sorry     any advice would be appreciated

        debbie

 

[sapper756]

Are your birds fully through the moult yet?

[Guest]

Know its a degree or two warmer nearer the south coast of England than it is up here, but wonder why you feel the need to train birds in the off-season. Your first race is probably April 2008 and 50/60 miles so you are really quite well set up for it if you've trained them to 30 miles this year.

[sammy]

think the 30 miles they have been trained is sufficient for them untill next year would only train late breds in good weather the others should be left to develope   ;)

[ALF]

UNLESS THEY ARE LATE BREDS OR YOU ARE GOING TO A XMAS RACE THEN FORGET TRAINING AT THIS TIME OF YEAR ;)

[me]

hi  as most of u will know i have only just started keeping racing pigeons this year but havnt yet started racing them,  most of my pigeons have only been trained up to 30 miles but a friend has now offered to take them further over nov/dec/jan while traveling to work,  is it ok to train pigeons over the winter period?  im asking because i know that pigeon racing stops for winter and dont want to be sending my pigeons training if the winter weather can affect their homing ability :-/   this is probably a stupid question to a seasoned fancier but as a very green novice i would rather be safe then sorry     any advice would be appreciated

        debbie

 

 

One of the most famous and succesful fanciers to have graced these British Isles did something similar to what you are suggesting many moons ago ,but if my memory is not gone completely I think it was in february not nov or dec and this guy tossed them 200 miles plus before he stopped. He was seriously trying to test his birds, no bad thing, but then he was a "master"

 

[Guest]

:B keep them at home Debs . thank them for the offer , better off doing it in the spring  ;D                                                      andy

[jimmy white]

:B keep them at home Debs . thank them for the offer , better off doing it in the spring  ;D                                                      andy

 

yes,,,,in my opinion , sound sense debbie , patience with pigeons is a virtue,, it takes a long time to really get started racing pigeons [but making a mistake in the winter , you loose a year] if those birds have been trained 30 miles  [yb,s] as yearlings , i would wait until the month of may , then train them, and just give them a few races in the warmer weather , then as 2 year olds they could be capable of anything    best of luck   

[Roland]

Yes like Me I also read a great article of a fancier that became a great name AFTER he adoppted this method .... 'Only those wanting to be here enough wil be bred from' any report he made a present of them... And the rest is history as they say.

[DJ]

thanx 4 all your replies  as most of u know the majority of my birds are strays apart from the yb,s that ive bred which are aged between 6-1 months old, hopefully i will be racing next year so i just thought that i would send the old birds further then the 30 miles as they seemed to do that no problem and i would like to see how they go as the distance increases?  when i first started training at only 5 miles it was a disaster with most of the birds going missing for days on end and a few never did make it home but then they just seemed to get the hang of it so i went up in stages of 5 miles til i got to the 30 mile stage  most are thru the moult so it would have been nice to carry on training over the winter but as most of u think its a bad idea i will wait until april/may when the weather improves    thanx again 4 the advice            debbie

ps   how do u train-on the line of flight as i do or from different directions?

[bewted]

if you train in differant directions they will have a bigger knowledge of the area !!!!

 

just my opinion !!!!!!

[bewted]

and most importantly,,,,never train in an east wind !!!!!! could spell disaster !!!!

[Guest slugmonkey]

Agree dont train in east wind !!!!! if weather isn't too bad I train in winter often

You shouldnt be losing birds at 5 miles are you sure they were routed correctly and have you checked for respitory problems if everything is good try starting them farther ( I start at 20 miles ) also do you loft fly a lot, try to give as much open hole as you can

something else to look at this time of year is feeding most cut back on quality and quantity of feed I belive this is time of year you win races mine are on full rations and I am giving it cafeteria so they are getting ALL they want and they have an open loft most of the time I train in the snow and sleet here quite often

30 miles is ok but farther is better you have lots of time before racing starts so I would try to get them farther down the road you can rest them before races and and the more experience the better ( personally I like mine trained PAST the 1st station 2-3 weeks before 1st race )

we are flying in Spring Hill Fla and are seeing good results we train off season there we have posted 2 top 10 finishes against 2300+ birds and have won 1 section thus far we also had a 47th against 2500+ birds

[Guest]

not for me iam afraid

[Guest]

No winter training for me birds locked up to febuary,risks to high due to hawk problem.

[DJ]

thax again 4 the advice  its much appreciated    fanciers say dont train in a east wind but why is an east wind any different to a north ,west or south wind?  

                              debbie

                              

[Guest]

thax again 4 the advice  its much appreciated    fanciers say dont train in a east wind but why is an east wind any different to a north ,west or south wind?  

                              debbie

                              

;D ;D well Debs as strange as it may sound they can be / or are colder than other directions  ;D i think because of where they originate , siberia etc  : . and many fanciers have experienced losses or bad races (training) when winds have been Easterly     hope this helps  ;D     andy

 

 

[Guest shadow]

train to much and the birds can come into form to early and you may not get them right for the race season

[Ed Bourque]

what is form and why can't you train all year long ? I would think a least two  tosses a week would keep them in grate sheap all year long and you would not have to train as heard come race time. Atletes train year round. Ed

[mark]

and most importantly,,,,never train in an east wind !!!!!! could spell disaster !!!!

 

so what happens if you race in a east wind on a saturday. : : : :

[Guest]

 

so what happens if you race in a east wind on a saturday. : : : :

 

read my post above  ;D ;D                                        andy