Youngsters away and it’s mid March, I am feeding my birds twice a day they’re being flown once a day. Dortothy lets them out for me when she gets home from work at half three and I’m there to get them in and feed round.
I’ll clean them out after they have eaten as it gives me a little time to observe them in the loft until the evenings are a little longer. Once settled its in to the youngsters to darken them down for the night.
Before I go up to the house I’ll take a quick peek at the old birds all is well. Now while walking up to the house all sorts will going through my head, how they flew, the temperature, wind, all of this goes in my little book, along with what they are being fed. Now, if you don’t keep a ‘day to day loft log’ go out and get yourself a small note book as I cant stress enough how important this will prove. Perhaps not now but later when you are asking yourself when or why you will not forgotten, the small things, so make sort notes and come the end of the season when you look back on these notes a question may well be answered.
There are three things we need in order to win with pigeons, these are a good loft, good pigeons and health. Without any one of those three things you will never compete at a top level.
Coming back to that little ‘Ditchfield’ book that I mentioned in the last column, it’s surprising how a simple little book like that can contain so much information that is relevant, take this paragraph; ‘Your loft must avoid bad ventilation, draughts, damp and over crowding. These are all enemies of fitness’
‘Avoid dust, dirt and any sort of uncleanliness, these are companions of disease.
Adjustments
When I first moved to the area where I’m now living the people would invite me to call in when passing and have a ‘cuppa’. Calling in on one fancier he offered to show me around his lofts, I’m always interested in seeing different lofts, some-times more than the pigeons. I was some-what taken by the abundance of vents in the loft which I was being shown, they were on every wall! I asked ‘if they had ever caused any issues? The reply was ‘no, why do you ask? ‘I just wondered, that’s all’, ‘No, no problems’ came his confident reply.
That same fancier called me a good few years later as he had an issue with his youngsters. He did ask could he bring some of them for me to look at. I asked what the problem was? He told me that they were coming back from training but it was taking them the whole day, but they looked well enough. I suggested ‘it’s better for me to come to you as I want to see them in the loft’.
We walked into the loft on handling the pigeons they felt well, looked okay but there was a slight clinical issue. This could soon be sorted but first there was a more pressing issue and it had been there since my first visit. Confirming this was that the lesser experienced later bred birds in a different loft, with a complete different environment not great but I wasn’t there for that and any way they were homing without any problems.
I told the guy ‘when I visited you all those years ago I did ask if you had any issues with this loft and you said not’. I had seen things back then on my first visit, yet here we were some 15 years later. I was suggested what may help. Within a week or two after a short treatment for their heads along with the required changes to the loft all was well and birds were beating him back from training, so much so one day he was waiting for them he thought he’d lost them until he went down the loft, poked his head in and there they were all sitting inside.
The guy thought I was a genius, I wasn’t at all, it was a simple fix, this loft had never been right, however this year we were enduring east winds nearly all season and all these openings were now creating a major issue for the inmates in this loft.
There isn’t one loft that fits all, as the environment where you erect the loft can be different from one side of the garden to the other. So bare in mind when you build your own loft or go to a professional loft builder be prepared to make adjustments and don’t be afraid of making them, better get the loft right than keep treating for a reoccurring problem, it was in that little book what to avoid and any-thing that you do should be in your little book too!
Feeding
Now here’s a mine field, how do you tell a fancier how to feed his birds? If you were to ask a dozen champions how they fed their birds you would get ‘fourteen’ different answers. So my advice to any one without experience or who is struggling would be to see what brands are sold locally and that are obtainable on a regular basis, all these companies have brochures that will contain schedules for different disciplines and select one that is some thing that you feel you would be able to follow and use that as your basic guide. You don’t have to use all the tonics and potions that they suggest we are looking for a basic system that you can build on. What I will say is that diets in all sports be it humans or animals have changed from when that little book was written.
I cant’ tell you how much to give them because some days they will want more and some days less, so you have to observe, a little less is better than too much, you will soon start to get a feel for it and by observing the birds behaviour and writing down what you did (you did get that notebook). When you start looking back over the weeks you will most definitely see a pattern if you didn’t give them enough they won’t fly, too much and they think they’re in charge. If they clear every-thing up, give them a little more and I mean a little, they may leave one or two grains but no more, the ‘more’ will come later nearer the basketing day of the race depending on your chosen distance or indeed how many hours the flight will take.
Youngsters on the dark
If you are only just weaning those youngsters when you are handling them, any with a pipep tail feathers within a perfectly formed tail or fretted flight feathers remove them from the team now, it will save you time and money later on. If you think they will be okay make a note of the ring number in that note book that’s in your pocket and later let’s see if the question is answered. Also vaccinate them for paramyxovirus, sooner is better than later as we will want to do them again in a months to six weeks time, you don’t have to but, my vet and others have recommended it, so I follow their advice.
On weaning I would suggest when you feed them try and give them just maple peas for the first week and make sure they get access to a bath you will be surprised just how early they will take one.
When it’s your chosen time to feed them remove the drinker, fill the hopper with the maple peas and call them, blow a football whistle. It seems to be the standard thing now rather than shaking a tin and pays dividends when you will want them in from exercise later on. You don’t have to keep blowing it just a couple of times and let them have their fill, leave the hopper there a good hour before placing the drinker back, why? Well this way they won’t just grab a small amount, drink and then perch.
When the drinker is back leave the food in for a short while and observe the birds. I’m confident they will all drink and you won’t have to go round dipping heads in the drinker.
I’m no advocator of shall we say a heavy diet for young pigeons but it will do them no harm for the first week and it will get them used to eating the larger grains rather than them just picking the smaller parts of a mixture and they will, after this they can have the breeding mix they were reared on, then after a week or so on that we can lighten it so we can get them in the air.
If you want to race young pigeons and compete then I am afraid you will have to use the darkness system. I suggest putting youngsters on the dark as soon as they are weaned regardless of the date but if its your first time or haven’t not yet done so try and get them on by the spring equinox. We know it is behind us now, but get them on it if you haven’t already done so.
What is the ‘darkness system’? What does this mean simple, we all know the equinox is when we have 12 hours dark and 12 hours light. So now we want to be subjecting the young pigeons to 13 hours dark and 11 hours light. By doing so we turn summer into winter and the birds will moult the small feathers and retain their flight feathers enabling them to compete better, there is another reason but we will touch on that later. What time you chose to do this is entirely up to you so if you make the loft light at 8:00am then you will make it dark at 7:00pm. Yes its difficult if you are working. Maybe you have a ‘Dorothy’ or young son or daughter or perhaps a retired neighbour, now there is an idea, get them involved you never know.
Preparing the old birds
With the youngsters weaned it only means one thing, the old bird season is around the corner, yes its all go and it is now with young birds and old birds to care for you will soon realise how many birds you can manage. First thing on your list is worm every-thing, old birds and youngsters, we could send our droppings off to be tested but it’s the start if the season and we want to start with a clean sheet and by the time you have collected the droppings, posted them and awaited the results with todays postal service could run into several days so get yourself some Moxedectin 2ml per litre and worm them, 48 hours and its done. You will also have to worm them again in 14 days as any worm eggs that have survived may cause re-infection.
Another treatment that is recommended for the ‘old’ birds before racing is to treat them for possible head colds, an experienced fancier will spot these symptoms – respiratory infections. A five day course with doxycycline will see to this but ensure that all calcium products such as grit and pick stones are removed as this will render the antibiotic useless. After this the final treatment will be for trichomoniasis (canker) and this we do for seven days, why seven? Well five days will take care of the trichomoniasis, but we also want to do away with the Hexamita so run this treatment for the seven days. While treating the old birds for Tricoo’ it would be advisable to do the youngsters too, the youngsters will also require worming.
Now it is not my intention to be offering a ‘how to race your pigeons’ but hopefully encourage you along a little and hopefully help you raise your game and increase your enjoyment of this wonderful hobby.
Don’t just take it as gospel what I say, ask why, if you have a computer google it, this way you will understand why we do these things. There is a whole host of information out there that wasn’t forty years ago so use it! Until next time, keep ‘em clean! Tin Man