Keeping My Birds In During Winter

[Guest VADER]

Hi im coming up to my second season in racing had quite a few heavy losses just getting over it.recently while my birds have been out a female sparrowhawk has gone into them twice resulting in my birds scattering everywhere.ive decided to keep them in for a few months but worried this might not be ok for them and ruin them for next season.any help or advise appreciated.

[frank-123]

mine have not been out since September keep them safe

get them out three weeks before pairing and stay with them if you can

[tiger]

it wont do ur birds any harm bein locked up . jmo

[Guest bigda]

it is a must that all our pigeons are locked up, we cant let the hawk survive, it will have a tase for othere birds and they are getting rare-er by the day, that will be the rspb thinking its the cold thats killing off the song birds. we know diferant, but what i would say to all fanciers that have over stocked to hold on to them till march april time even a sickly bird as they make way in clearing the flight paths the pigeon helped many a poor sole in need, and it looks like it is about to help its keeper again, and also remember they stray streeter that comes in, be kind to him as you would your old stock bird

send him, on an important mission, you never know what fancier he will have help out, once again so lads the bin is not the place for our Heroes.

[andy Burgess]

better to lock them up than them come to harm .

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

Each to their own and I suppose personal circumstances will dictate whether or not you birds are out in winter.

 

I personally wouldnae like to be locked in a shed from September through to February though

[Guest KING BILLY]

the prob with keeping them in is getting a fat buld up aroung vital organs hart kidness and liver its verey hard to get rid of and its normaly half way throw the seson before it completlay away then your wondiring wats hapend

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

Last season ours were on an open loft all winter-They had a nice moult and only had one blind egg out of around 30 pair.

Lost fewer to BOP than a clubmate who kept his on lockdown from September to March.

 

Different set of circumstances this season,so its not really possible to do this at the minute.Still try to get them out 3 or 4 times a week.

[gulkie]

i let mine out for a bath once a week but i stagger the days their out

i also have 6 lookouts that i had no rings for :emoticon-0136-giggle:

[OLDYELLOW]

Keep them in keep them safe starve bops , once through moult knock there food back Rearing should keep there weight off once reared then start letting them out , no problem with over weight birds if you feed correctly

[Guest KING BILLY]

Last season ours were on an open loft all winter-They had a nice moult and only had one blind egg out of around 30 pair.

Lost fewer to BOP than a clubmate who kept his on lockdown from September to March.

 

Different set of circumstances this season,so its not really possible to do this at the minute.Still try to get them out 3 or 4 times a week.

have to agree with you on this one when thare street wise and getting out you lose less i no of a fancer who keeps them in frome the end of the racing till he pairs up and as soon as he lets them out carnage he loses about 8 to 10 then it settels down when thare street wise and the winter fats of them i would hate to keep them in and rastion thare feeding i keep doos to enjoy them flaping about me when am thare and not hanging to the wires every time you go out to the loft free flying thares nothing better to watch the hens wiz about and the cocks claping about

[Walter swanston]

Here in Northern Dumfriesshire there is only one solution during winter.If you want to keep pigeons to race in 2012 KEEP THEM IN .Otherwise carnage.I regret having to disagree with experienced fanciers but I have tried it the other way and owing to the sparrow hawk and peregrine problem it amounts to about one pigeon lost per day,Street wise??? That`s a joke

[Guest KING BILLY]

Here in Northern Dumfriesshire there is only one solution during winter.If you want to keep pigeons to race in 2012 KEEP THEM IN .Otherwise carnage.I regret having to disagree with experienced fanciers but I have tried it the other way and owing to the sparrow hawk and peregrine problem it amounts to about one pigeon lost per day,Street wise??? That`s a joke

is it the same during the breeding seson or doo you just train i thout widow hood men let thare cocks clap about during the seson

[Walter swanston]

It is not really safe to let pigeons out here until the hen sparrowhawk goes to nest in April.I hate to let birds out for predator food.I am only too well aware that this is not an ideal way to keep racing pigeons but the situation is forced on me by the RSPB

[Guest KING BILLY]

It is not really safe to let pigeons out here until the hen sparrowhawk goes to nest in April.I hate to let birds out for predator food.I am only too well aware that this is not an ideal way to keep racing pigeons but the situation is forced on me by the RSPB

whe all doo wot whe can for the benifit of the doos but if i had the same problem as yous i would chang for the benifit of my doos but to say to keep them in is not the answear i doo beleve doos thats locked up for 6 months are alot harder to get going at the start of the seson but thay always are the exepstion who will prove us all wrong

[Dooheed 5]

not lettin them oot wont do them any harm! never let mine oot last winter and i had a good season as for them gettin fat just ration the feed. To not feed them for a day now and again wont do tem any harm either !!

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

I can only empathise with the likes of Yeboah.Where as we have had good birds killed round the loft its no where near as big a problem as you guys have.

 

Agree with KING BILLY as well in as much as I also get a lot of pleasure on a nice winters day seeing the doos out enjoying themselves in the fresh air and a bit of sunshine.

 

Oldyellow must be right as well as I know loads of people who can keep their birds in all winter paying close attention to the feeding and they come out with performances year after year.

 

Many roads

[JohnQuinn]

At the moment my lot get out twice a week on my days off work. Percy has been about on 3 occasions that i know of but hasn't struck them. A prisoner got out and was around for 4 days before finally vanishing, to the Sparr i believe but have no evidence to prove conclusively that is what happened to it but i'm pretty sure it didnae just up and off after hanging around for so long.

Had them out today again without incident and i'll have time to get them out tomorrow too after work, its an each to their own situation and i choose to let mine out.

Certainly the weather isn't an issue for them as you can see.

[victorious]

Hi im coming up to my second season in racing had quite a few heavy losses just getting over it.recently while my birds have been out a female sparrowhawk has gone into them twice resulting in my birds scattering everywhere.ive decided to keep them in for a few months but worried this might not be ok for them and ruin them for next season.any help or advise appreciated.

 

build yourself a good big avairy let birds access it each day to bath etc that should keep them in good nick and let them stretch their wings i know a lot of people lock them up all winter and it doesnt seem to bother them they still race well enough but with our now changing climate its hard to do when we get some better winter days than summer days so really a good avairy would help but sayin that maybe if the ones i know let them out in winter they would do even better ,just a thought.

[victorious]

build yourself a good big avairy let birds access it each day to bath etc that should keep them in good nick and let them stretch their wings i know a lot of people lock them up all winter and it doesnt seem to bother them they still race well enough but with our now changing climate its hard to do when we get some better winter days than summer days so really a good avairy would help but sayin that maybe if the ones i know let them out in winter they would do even better ,just a thought.

[geordie1234]

Mines unfortunately will probably never be back out at my lofts until they go to there new lofts May time maybe earlier can't risk leaving them out without me being there or they will just be cat food any spare time I have i'm at the new lofts so i'm not risking it

[Guest Tooshy Boy]

GEORGE.HOW FAR AWAY IS YOUR NEW LOFTS.///

[geordie1234]

GEORGE.HOW FAR AWAY IS YOUR NEW LOFTS.///

1.5 miles

[Guest Tooshy Boy]

SO YOU GOT IT ALL TO DOO AGAIN THEN I MEAN BREAKING THEM AGAIN BEST OF LUCK MATE.///

[geordie1234]

SO YOU GOT IT ALL TO DOO AGAIN THEN I MEAN BREAKING THEM AGAIN BEST OF LUCK MATE.///

For the best mate looking forward to it. I will breed a strong yb team and take them down there then break the old birds I will keep my lofts at the house so should be very easy to break. I have 16 pair of old birds so should be able to get myself a team together no problem