Systems

[Guest Paulo]

Heard a lot about the darkness system for young birds everybody seems to be using it these days. Would you recommend it for a novice to use for his young birds or is it best just to use the natural system with them and still win races.

 

Also what is best system for novice to use when racing old birds, natural or widowhood?

[Guest shadow]

The best system for novice or beginers has got to be natural till you get more experience with your birds

[stevebelbin]

Paul, I would say time and transport is the biggest factor. Widowhood is the easiest with limited time and will bring some good results if followed properly, also the birds will hold their form for longer. Natural is ok, but the birds need a lot of training and you need to plan out what stage the eggs or YBs will be at for certain races. Widowhood is definatley a waste of good hens, but sacrifices have to be made somewhere along the line. I think for racing YBs darkness is usually the only way to be competitive, in the later races as most natural YBs will be dropping to bits by the end of the YB season and are normally best kept for the next season. The problem for most workers with the darkness is the hours that the birds should be in dark are the hours a lot of people work i.e. 9-5, so for me at least im knackered, as I race on my own and wouldnt expect someone to go round every day to my garden.

 

So its just down to your personal limitations really. You will soon discover that to be up their with the big boys you need to have a few systems on the go at the same time, with a partner who can be at the loft when you cant be my personal opinion only).

 

The biggest thing Ive ever learnt as a novice, is the only way to compete is to have the right tools for the job, and the only way to find them is to put them in a race pannier and see how they do, you will soon find weed out the bad ones. The best pigeons Ive owned never seem to ail, so I no longer keep birds that need propping up.

[Guest]

One of the most important things for a novice is to learn how to keep the pigeons healthy, once you have got a handle on that, you can start planning on which systems of flying to use.

[ACE LOFTS]

i agree with steave mate, also like steave says about "partners" try and get your self 1 down our loft there is three of us, 1 works shifts, 1s a cab driver, and last of all the handsome 1 "me" is a sparky and all works well with timing. 2 of us r all ways there we take the training in turns and all just muck in when we clean the loft, my advise to any novice of someone starting up is get your self a partner oh 1 more silent partner i forgot to tell u but shes part time and thats the wife she only gets involved when we need here to take the blinds off in the morning for the darkness.

[westburylofts]

would have to agree with steve

 

MAKE A PLAN AND STICK TO IT

 

RAY

[Tony C]

I agree with shadow, learn the basics.

[Guest Paulo]

Cheers for the advice guys. Think for my first season as it is only young birds I will be flying I will concentrate on the basics, good diet, hard training plenty of roadwork and will seperate the sexes and put them together when they come back from a race or a toss if I win I win if I don't well I'm learning all the time and developing a good strong team of future old birds. Then might give darkness a try the season after. Tons of good advice on this forum.

[antwerptom03]

I seemed to do much better when i worried less about what system my fellow racers were using and more about making sure my birds had a happy and healthy loft to come home to

Tom