question for forum

[jimmy white]

whats the forums opinion ,,,in   [ 1 ]   letting birds out every day in winter

                                            2 ]  keeping birds in everyday in winter

       reasons

 

 

personally i like mine out each day  , providing its not thick fog ,blizzards  , gales or driving rain or snow,  that i take more dampness in the loft with my feet  :-/  i beleive they keep in better condition , build better immune systems , get vits from the sun [seldom ;D] minerals they pick, that we cant give threm , and a nice shower of soft water rain now and again , will keep their feathers and preening gland in good nick  

[pigeonpete]

whats the forums opinion ,,,in   [ 1 ]   letting birds out every day in winter

                                            2 ]  keeping birds in everyday in winter

       reasons

 

 

personally i like mine out each day  , providing its not thick fog ,blizzards  , gales or driving rain or snow,  that i take more dampness in the loft with my feet  :-/  i beleive they keep in better condition , build better immune systems , get vits from the sun [seldom ;D] minerals they pick, that we cant give threm , and a nice shower of soft water rain now and again , will keep their feathers and preening gland in good nick  

 

like to keep them out as often as possible, after they finished moulting jimmy, keep the feathers ,muscles in tone, an athlete wouldnt suddenly stop exercise alltogether in the closed season would they?

[sammy]

whats the forums opinion ,,,in   [ 1 ]   letting birds out every day in winter

                                            2 ]  keeping birds in everyday in winter

       reasons

 

 

personally i like mine out each day  , providing its not thick fog ,blizzards  , gales or driving rain or snow,  that i take more dampness in the loft with my feet  :-/  i beleive they keep in better condition , build better immune systems , get vits from the sun [seldom ;D] minerals they pick, that we cant give threm , and a nice shower of soft water rain now and again , will keep their feathers and preening gland in good nick  

liked to have them on open hole hopper fed beans bath in front of them all day long pigeons loved it ,now i can only let them out at weekends when am there due to hawks

 

[jimmy white]

 

like to keep them out as often as possible, after they finished moulting jimmy, keep the feathers ,muscles in tone, an athlete wouldnt suddenly stop exercise alltogether in the closed season would they?

 

i agree fully p,p , but here of a lot of fanciers keeping them in for the winter,, mainly wanted to find out if theres a real reason for this  [or lazyness :ill cope it now ;D]) [appreciate some fanciers cant, due to work situations etc ]

 

[hicky]

most peoples young bird teams are flown on the dark so at this moment i like to keep mine in to moult just looseing out at weekends for a bath

[Guest Greig the doo Drysdale]

let this years young birds out most ays cocks on day hens the other but my yearlings and older dont get out as I have just introduced some new birds to join them

[Tony C]

I found by letting them out everyday the young/yearling cocks would start raking the skies for hours. I felt this was not doing them much good so now they go out once a week.

[Guest]

i let mine out 3 times a week,depending on wot weather we are having.i think u keep them from gaining too much weight through feeding larger feed like more beans etc.bath each time they are out.

[DOVEScot]

We let our birds out all year, break the ice in the bath for them. they love it

[Guest]

;Dwould love to have them out as often as possible . gives my heart a lift to see them flying  ;D . however by location i keep them in all winter and have done for past two years , lost a few good birds during off season to the hawk , heartbraking , and i am not the only one . another 2 fanciers in my village have had birds since the sixties have put large avairys on the front of lofts recently to keep the hawk at bay ?                   andy

[REDCHEQHEN]

Have had the hens out almost every day - as I have two very late late breds in with them - they've flown 'forever' - 2 hours a day some of them, although there is a hawk or two about, they haven't been a problem - the crows have kept them at bay - but we have had excellent weather of late and staying in the garden with them hasn't been a problem. The cocks have been out 2 or 3 times a week. (They weren't out yesterday cos it was too windy !!)

 

[rockinrick]

i always allow open loft  thru winter as it keeps birds fit , also less work in loft .  8)

[timbarra]

its not always to do with the weather or if they go out in the winter or not, its to do with the muscle rebuild and breakdown , which in other words means muscle mass !!

if you want to build muscle on your pigeons the exercise regiume must be correct, you must know what makes a muscle grow bigger and stronger, exercise is only 50% of it.

the pigeon or any athlete must exercise to break muscle tissue down and break the muscle fibers.

what builds muscle up after this which also builds the muscle bigger and stronger to cope with extra work load is.....REST. MUSCLE GROWS WHEN YOU OR ANY ATHLETE RESTS !!!! THIS IS A FACT.

also amino acids and protein building blocks which supply the muscles with proteins , also carbohydrates which you need to supply energy to exercise in the first place... so what you need is.

 

GOOD NUTRITION BALANCE

EXERCISE PATERN

RESTING PATERN

WATER  WHICH MAINTAINS GOOD SYSTEM FUNCTION

 

GOOD PIGEONS

GOOD KNOWLEDGE OF PIGEONS

 

GOOD ENVIROMENT

 

AND PATIENCE, OR SO MUCH PATIENCE AND REMEMBER THEY ARE ANIMALS NOT MACHINES..

 

SO LETTING THEM OUT IN THE WINTER IS A MUST BUT PERIODICALLY WITH GOOD REST PERIODS AS YOU WOULD ALL YEAR.

 

HOPE IT HELPS.

 

[DOVEScot]

its not always to do with the weather or if they go out in the winter or not, its to do with the muscle rebuild and breakdown , which in other words means muscle mass !!

if you want to build muscle on your pigeons the exercise regiume must be correct, you must know what makes a muscle grow bigger and stronger, exercise is only 50% of it.

the pigeon or any athlete must exercise to break muscle tissue down and break the muscle fibers.

what builds muscle up after this which also builds the muscle bigger and stronger to cope with extra work load is.....REST. MUSCLE GROWS WHEN YOU OR ANY ATHLETE RESTS !!!! THIS IS A FACT.

also amino acids and protein building blocks which supply the muscles with proteins , also carbohydrates which you need to supply energy to exercise in the first place... so what you need is.

 

GOOD NUTRITION BALANCE

EXERCISE PATERN

RESTING PATERN

WATER  WHICH MAINTAINS GOOD SYSTEM FUNCTION

 

GOOD PIGEONS

GOOD KNOWLEDGE OF PIGEONS

 

GOOD ENVIROMENT

 

AND PATIENCE, OR SO MUCH PATIENCE AND REMEMBER THEY ARE ANIMALS NOT MACHINES..

 

SO LETTING THEM OUT IN THE WINTER IS A MUST BUT PERIODICALLY WITH GOOD REST PERIODS AS YOU WOULD ALL YEAR.

 

HOPE IT HELPS.

 

 

Totally agree this is the best theory of training in any sport

 

The trick is to get them training and not straining

 

[deanbruton]

all our birds ar locked up during the winter too many losses with predators, especially now with not much food about, will start letting them out in January after they have been on depurative for a couple of days to shed the winter weight.

[leighton1984]

my birds are in the loft all winter.  if we let them out the hawks are at them they are around 4 pairs around my lofts . they can eat the pigeons in the fields be for my birds as there  is around 100 still in the farmers field by me.

[just ask me]

timbaraa u make a good point there might try it next year i have allways kept them in but i have had brill resuls hard to know if i should change a way that is winning for me i find when i keep them in they go through moult faster and at the moment i have 2 cocks which dropped 2 flights at same time and even had 1 cock that dropped 3 which i think there is no way u could leave them out i like my birds to go through moult as fast as possible  allways leave them out after they drop last flight  and with hawks during winter i find it danourous its just what i find by keeping them in allthough u do have me thinking for next year allways great to hear other ppl ideas

[Guest]

Have always let the birds fly out. There are times when some aren't interested in flying, and that for me has always been down to the moult - but I believe that's the bird's decision, and not mine to make for it. If it doesn't wan't to go out, fine by me.

 

Reasons I like them to get out :

 

so I have the section to myself when cleaning out - there's no danger of accidently injuring a bird either that might follow me around or get under my feet.

 

so the birds remain fit & fresh, 30 minutes to an hour exercise is better than none.

 

so the birds remain streetwise - awareness of whats going on around them all the time they're out. If they get 'lifted' more than a couple of times and / or I see them with head cocked toward the sky for longish spells I'll bring them in.

 

At the mo, I work 9-5, Mon - Fri, so one sex gets out Sat for a few hours, (0800 - 1100-ish) and the other goes out Sun (0900-1200-ish), with a bath after feeding. Mon - Fri they are now hopper fed with feeders filled each morning at 0730.

[ALF]

BIRDS ARE'NT OUT MUCH AT ALL DURING THE WINTER AS MRS HAWK IS AFTER THEM MOST DAYS AND SHE HAS KILLED A FEW OF MY CLUB MATES DOOS THESE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS > > > > > >

[thunderboult]

we use to let our's out through out the winter but last year we had hawk problems so this year they won't be out till after the moult(give em more chance to get away)and then not every day(so we're not predicable)

[Guest]

Well I have not been that successful racing becasue of my damn obsession with the ye. However as you will have seen on other posts I beleive I have now cracked the eye and it's time to start proving it by results. I can give you my experience last winter and this season.

Last season 2006 was my first with YB in Devon, they did well for me. Then from mid september until March 1st they did not go out of the loft, two reasons, firstly Percy and secondly my loft is in a field a couple of miles away and in winter I go to the loft at 6.15 /6.30 to put down food and water by torch ligtht and only 'see' the birds at weekends.

So for five months the birds never went out of the loft. They then had two hours a day out of the loft and two training tosses to the first race. My love is cross the pond and with my yearlings I was then, from Lessay, Messac and Cholet, 2,3, 4 and 1,2, 5, & 6, and 2,3,4.

No exercise in winter nothing, but not bad? I shall do the same this year! Theories are alright (I know that from eye sign!!) but you can't beat practice to beat bullshit!!

[ac]

Keep at it Alan,a lot of fanciers have moved down here and dissapeared rather quickly,becouse they cant win a carrot.My birds are locked up from october-february,never done them any harm at all.

[Roland]

Timbarra exactly .... hence why one can do so very well will 'racing only and correct feeding' like Ricky Mardis did so very well.

[Guest]

Roland you make the forum for me. Well done matey, I genuinley always look forward to your comments.

AC spot on most including myself never realised this would be the toughest place for pigeons. And I realise it will be a few years yet before I get myself sorted and up to your standard.......however  I have a partner who is as keen as mustard racing and whilst I can breed birds to score in the NFC and BBC like this year for him then it proves I'm on the right track!!

[timbarra]

IF YOU NEED ANY IDEAS ALBEAR (ALAN) JUST ASK , BUT WIN YOU MUST AND AS FOR EYESIGN..... WELL WIN FIRST AND PROVE YOUR THEORY AS YOU SAID.

 

ITS NOT WINNING ONLY THAT MAKES A CHAMPION, BUT WHEN YOU GET KNOCKED BACK AND FAIL AT ATTEMPTS TO WIN .. THAT YOU MOVE FORWARD AND KEEP GOING FORWARD.. THIS MAKES A CHAMPION .

 

BECAUSE WHEN YOU CANT BE BEATEN ANYMORE AND TAKEN ALL SOMEONE CAN GIVE THEN YOU WILL WIN!!