Darkness System

[hibby]

Who flys young birds on the darkness and who flys them natural? If flown natural are earlier birds better or not? I'm wanting to focus o/b long distance so see little point in forcing the ybs into moult. Do people agree or disagree that ybs on darkness have some goodness forced out at a crucial age when it can never be replaced? Just interested in people's thoughts

 

Greg

[geordie1234]

If your not really interested in winning with the ybs I wouldnt bother imo

[shugf2003]

The later the better if your flying natural its all about timing and the birds favoured condition

If your not worried about early racing pair up as late as possible used to like mine on there second nest with their second flight 1/4 to half way up for the longer races hope this helps good luck

[Tony C]

When I flew my youngsters on the so called natural system I found the 2nd & 3rd rounders made the better old birds. This could've been down to training the 1st rounders too late or they were bred whilst daylight hours was shorter than the 2nd & 3rd rounders, or a combination of both.

 

My preference is racing up to 300 mile so not really qualified to answer your question on how to treat distance babies. What I would do though is race them on the natural system as youngsters as I see no point in putting them on the darkness, they'll not be able to compete with sprint based pigeons whatever system used.

 

Re darkness, yes it does take a lot out of babies but if managed correctly they'll perform just as good as natural youngsters do as old birds.