Moult

[geordie1234]

I have now finished for the season and started splitting the sexes.

 

Any hints or tips to help get the doos thru a gd stress free moult?

 

what mixture do you feed?

 

Do you add anything to there feed or water?

[Wiley]

Sedochol for 7 days Straight then twice a week. Garlic is a common thing in the drinkers here in the winter months and would usually be one garlic bulb,one lemon and 50ml cider Vinegar to one pint of water, then 50ml of this will go to two litres of water.

 

The birds will receive all the racing mixtures not used, until everything is gone then the will receive a moulting mixture with a percentage of barley. Plenty of small seeds are given also like lineseed, rape and hemp.

 

Also the darkness young birds will go on lock down for 6 weeks.

 

Forgot to add my breeders receive V18 once a week generally a sunday

[frank-123]

George if i was going to get mine through the moult.Then i would be trying mariman's varimix feed top quality and if you don't have too many birds like you the cost wont be a fortune 25kg £13.50 from marlaw pet supplies.

 

Garlic in the water couple of days a week then plain water all the other days with plenty baths.

Good luck

[Guest bigda]

take water out for 1 day give butter milk, the next day and get a bag of new wheat then mixed down with moultin mix.

[just ask me]

sedochol will be used and buttermilk will be added to the water

 

also vegetables will be juiced added to the water also

 

as many baths as possible

 

 

corn will be whats left after the racing and breeding with a bag or two of moulting mix mixed togeather

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

We use a fairly standard protein rich mixture(as much as the wish)as well as all the usual pickstones and grits.Plenty of red band and a little hormoform.Use De Scheemacker Naturaline and linseed oil with Frazers pink mineral on an ad lib basis.The birds are allowed to come and go as they please and have a access to a bath everyday.

 

A good piece of advice I was given is to pay close attention to the birds when they are growing their final primary flight.You can learn a lot about them during this time.

[dal2]

I use up the corn and feed a seedy mix with hemp and linseed and keep the loft as warm as poss!

The rest will happen naturally!!!

[Delboy]

We use a fairly standard protein rich mixture(as much as the wish)as well as all the usual pickstones and grits.Plenty of red band and a little hormoform.Use De Scheemacker Naturaline and linseed oil with Frazers pink mineral on an ad lib basis.The birds are allowed to come and go as they please and have a access to a bath everyday.

 

A good piece of advice I was given is to pay close attention to the birds when they are growing their final primary flight.You can learn a lot about them during this time.

 

 

Not heard this one ,can u elaborate Lewis .I know that the moulting season is the most important part of the year and this is where folk fall down by not focussing on it.

[just ask me]

Not heard this one ,can u elaborate Lewis .I know that the moulting season is the most important part of the year and this is where folk fall down by not focussing on it.

 

 

was thinking just the same thing let us in on it

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

Not heard this one ,can u elaborate Lewis .I know that the moulting season is the most important part of the year and this is where folk fall down by not focussing on it.

 

I was told about this 4 years ago.It was something I never paid any attention to but started to keep an eye on it and been quite surprised by what I've seen.So much so I plan to take notes on the growth of this flight from now on.

I haven't quite got to grips with it yet but if studied properly I think you could almost grade your birds on their racing capabilities for the following season,especialy over the longer races.

 

It all came about from a story I was told about a bird that was bred from a pair that had 8 top prizes between them from 400 to 600 miles.The fancier who owned this pigeon noticed in November(when this bird was growing its last flight) a change in this pigeons behaviour.It went from being lively around the loft to acting in a way as if to save energy.Minimal flying and only coming off the perch to eat.The bird showed no signs of illness and handled well but the fancier felt the bird should be removed but was convinced not to do so by friends and family due to the birds breeding.

It came to the racing the following year and the bird started fairly well,nothing startling,There was then a difficult 250 mile race into a head wind where this pigeon topped the federation by 15 minutes.The fancier felt embarrassed as this was a pigeon he had considered killing a few months earlier.He went into the loft the following morning to find the bird dead.

 

From then on he started paying close attention to the birds during this stage of the moult and began to find the best birds from the long distance events were the ones who took the least time to grow this flight and showed the least strain(no strain).The ones who acted differently,even slightly during this time took the longest to grow this flight and either performed averagely or were lost when questions were asked of them.

 

The fancier is not a vet but the reason he felt for the initial birds death following the effort it put in to top the fed was a weakness with the heart.I don't know if this is the case or not but he felt with the last primary being the furthest away from the birds heart it is the most difficult for the bird to grow.One thing I have noticed though is my best birds of the last two seasons have grown this flight the quickest and with the most ease,showing no signs of strain and acting no differently inside or outside the loft to any other time.

 

It could be a complete lot of nonsense but we all have our own fads

[lanarkshire lad]

I was told about this 4 years ago.It was something I never paid any attention to but started to keep an eye on it and been quite surprised by what I've seen.So much so I plan to take notes on the growth of this flight from now on.

I haven't quite got to grips with it yet but if studied properly I think you could almost grade your birds on their racing capabilities for the following season,especialy over the longer races.

 

It all came about from a story I was told about a bird that was bred from a pair that had 8 top prizes between them from 400 to 600 miles.The fancier who owned this pigeon noticed in November(when this bird was growing its last flight) a change in this pigeons behaviour.It went from being lively around the loft to acting in a way as if to save energy.Minimal flying and only coming off the perch to eat.The bird showed no signs of illness and handled well but the fancier felt the bird should be removed but was convinced not to do so by friends and family due to the birds breeding.

It came to the racing the following year and the bird started fairly well,nothing startling,There was then a difficult 250 mile race into a head wind where this pigeon topped the federation by 15 minutes.The fancier felt embarrassed as this was a pigeon he had considered killing a few months earlier.He went into the loft the following morning to find the bird dead.

 

From then on he started paying close attention to the birds during this stage of the moult and began to find the best birds from the long distance events were the ones who took the least time to grow this flight and showed the least strain(no strain).The ones who acted differently,even slightly during this time took the longest to grow this flight and either performed averagely or were lost when questions were asked of them.

 

The fancier is not a vet but the reason he felt for the initial birds death following the effort it put in to top the fed was a weakness with the heart.I don't know if this is the case or not but he felt with the last primary being the furthest away from the birds heart it is the most difficult for the bird to grow.One thing I have noticed though is my best birds of the last two seasons have grown this flight the quickest and with the most ease,showing no signs of strain and acting no differently inside or outside the loft to any other time.

 

It could be a complete lot of nonsense but we all have our own fads

One thing i dont like is the last flight being longer and thinner than the 9th primary.

[Delboy]

Enjoyed it Lewis,enough for me to have a look this year.Ive always studied the birds in the moult and think people dont pay enough attention to it.I like to see a pigeon grow a fraction in length every year from yearling to 4 years.A sure indication its had a good moult. This is just one of my requirements during moult , probably more fads but seems to work out.Ive stopped pigeons for a year because I didnt think they had done this and they then have a great moult and score in national following year.jmo

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

One thing i dont like is the last flight being longer and thinner than the 9th primary.

 

Aye the quality of the last flight was a thing I forgot to add to the speel

 

I don't know if its right or wrong,but fanciers with records like his a worth listening to I think.

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

Enjoyed it Lewis,enough for me to have a look this year.Ive always studied the birds in the moult and think people dont pay enough attention to it.I like to see a pigeon grow a fraction in length every year from yearling to 4 years.A sure indication its had a good moult. This is just one of my requirements during moult , probably more fads but seems to work out.Ive stopped pigeons for a year because I didnt think they had done this and they then have a great moult and score in national following year.jmo

 

Have a look and see what ye can find.We won't find out the end result til 2013 but it will give ye something to amuse yourself with for a few weeks over the winter

 

Theres a number of wee selection tips I've been given and beginning to think these are the difference between the good fliers and the top fliers at the distance.

 

Its alright knowing about them though,should grow a pair and put them into practice .Would have nae doos left

[dal2]

Leave them in peace as much as poss and have them as lazy as poss??

 

If this means splitting sexs early, never handling, darkening or what ever the end goal is always the same??? A good moult???

 

Birds that struggle in the moult may have an underlying prob? the same underlying prob that forces them down when the racing gets tough??

 

In a killer world these birds would be eliminated before they finished the moult and you started breeding from them??? But the flip side is that the underlying prob keeps getting reintroduced by the fancier and the cycle starts again???

 

Was oot in the stock loft this morn wae the old boy and five poor buggers that didny have enuff decent offspring in the last 4 years met their maker and, sadly, the old van reet pied that failed too fill his eggs????Loads of club winners, fed winners and secta winners from him but time to go!!! Saved him the moult???

[Guest IB]

I think the moult is a perfectly natural occurrence and all the birds need are good food and rest. I had always thought splitting the sexes was to do with stopping hens laying, but now reckon its down to conserving energy through minimising activity, so channelling all the birds energy into the moult. I split them after the last YB race and within days they are bare. They are obviously still paired but they are still bare - I've been feeding them my own moulting mix which is 50/50 wheat & barley since OB racing finished.