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Helpful Tips Please feel free to email questions. #1. How about racing on the “Dark System” with only half your pigeons. As you wean the youngsters place the young hens on the "Dark System” and the young cocks on natural light. The young cocks will be going through the motions anyway because their future is in the widowhood loft. The young hens can be pushed and raced hard because only the top ones will be bred from and the remaining hens will be used as widow hens. #2. Want a secret ingredient to super feather, unlimited stamina and superb health. Mix flaxseed oil on the grain and add Brewers Yeast, Whey protein and minerals. The flaxseed oil is loaded with Omega 3 essential fatty acids, and must be supplied from the diet. The brewers yeast and Whey adds essential amino acids. #3. Looking for youngsters to grow like weeds with the most amazing feather and muscle. A few times per week feed your breeders grain coated with flaxseed oil and mixed with Whey Protein. Whey Protein is the purest form of protein and comes from yogurt and cheese production. For years the manufacturers tossed it out. Now it is the craze in the athletic world for high performance. I am in the human nutrition business and all my clients use whey for the essential amino acids. #4. Young birds look sluggish and are not flying. Try adding 50% high quality barley. They will be flying around the loft with endless energy in about a week. #5. Are vitamins and minerals necessary? Soils are depleted of all the minerals, crops are not rotated, grains are harvested too early or too late, long storage, etc. Multivitamins and minerals are a must. Give several times per week. We use our own blend that I formulated and added garlic with extra electrolytes and fruit sugar. #6. Salmonella is a problem that many pigeons battle. Often when a bird looks tired the salmonella takes off a bit and the pigeon’s immune system knocks it back down. The healthy and less stressed the pigeon the less likely salmonella will be a problem. Here is the tip. Apple Cider Vinegar one ounce to the gallon lowers the pH in the gut, which makes the salmonella, count drop. This vinegar also has many trace minerals in it. Use it during the winter months and two weeks before racing and breeding. #7. Ivermectin the wormer is not effective against roundworms. Ivermectin is a great wormer but use another that will get the roundworms. Once the worms are eliminated the ivermectin may keep them worm free. #8. Ivemectin Sheep Drench 3 cc’s to a gallon in the bath water will kill all parasites, lice, mites, flies, depluming mites etc. Give weekly and the birds will be pest free. It can be used as a spray, 10 cc’s to the gallon on the loft walls and nests to kill parasites and it is not harmful or will give off any fumes. Never get Ivermectin on your skin or it will penetrate into you. If you are spraying it wear protective gear like a mask and space suit. Never inhale mist. We have not used anything but ivermectin for parasites in several years. One bath will totally eliminate the stubborn quill mite. #9. Food for thought. To lengthen a pigeons career racing always give a minimum 5 days rest after every race. Let the bird out to fly but no road work. Your birds will all be very fresh come season’s end. #10. If a pigeon is lost for a long period like a month to a year, treat it like gold. Anyone who has ever had a pigeon live wild and then return usually has a champion on his or her hands. Let the pigeon go through a normal molt before being raced hard and watch the vitality it has and the possessiveness it displays. #11. House attic
fans that are thermostatically controlled are a super idea #12. Rabbit pellets can offer the birds the best greens possible in an easy to use form. Try a couple of handfuls per section per week. Your pigeons and your results will be glad you did. #13. Remember that are squab grows so rapidly the first 25 days that one missed feeding will stunt it. Feed the breeders several times per day or place the feed in large feeders. It is so very important that the babies are being pumped at sun up and sun down. #14. Have an old cock that you are afraid he will go sterile soon? Never take him away from a hen. Leave him mated all winter. Being around the hen will help keep his testosterone level a little higher then if he was separated from the hens. A couple more productive years will result. #15. Do you have an old sterile and nearly crippled cock? Let this old boy live with your widow hens. He will keep the focus of the hens so they will not mate with other hens. He is also too old and blind to pick one hen and start a family. This works! #16. Widowers look dull and tired? How about giving the hens on Thursday along with nest bowls and nesting material and leaving them with the girls to Monday after the race. Now separate and see how invigorated the cocks are. #17. Adeno virus is a problem in most combines during young birds. When it is first heard that adeno has struck give 1 heaping teaspoon of Aureomycin concentrate to the gallon of water and continue this until adeno has passed. The aureomycin concentrate helps settle the gut and keeps everything in check and the birds will continue to digest their feed and not upchuck. This is a big secret I have used for several years with no problems of adeno in my young bird team. #18. How about giving the young birds pepper leaves from the garden along with basil leaves and garlic chives. They love it and your young birds health will improve. #19. I purchase minced garlic in the jar and liquify it in the blender with a little water. Next I pour it into ice cube trays and throw a cube in each waterer. Take some time and make a big bag of garlic ice. #20. All my waters are 5gallon buckets with the tops cut down and a two inch drill hole punch is used to make three holes. I make a plywood cover with a 2” by 6” fastened on the underside with screws, to keep the top in place. Each waterer is messured to hold slightly more than a gallon. #21. Never use garden lime in the pigeon loft. It is high alkaline and that is exactly what salmonella needs to survive. There are plenty of Belgian loft whites on the market and they are not dusty. Rub them into the wood for a great white finish and nothing sticks to the wood. #22. Grated floors are excellent except during the racing season. All the Belgians removed the grates in their racing lofts after a couple of years. They claimed the birds did not come into proper form. If he Belgians are doing it I am doing it. It is like not taking Michael Jordan’s advice about basketball. If you do have grates place solid floors over them during the race season. #23. Widowhood, double widowhood, widow hens, natural? What is the best? Here is the scoop. There is no better system than straight widowhood racing only cocks. This is the #1 system known and if one comes along that is better for racing old birds I will let everyone know about it. #24. Anyone need some tumblers or rollers? I have plenty and if you pay shipping they are yours. I leave them open trap all the time and let the resident hawks feed on them. The resident hawks seem to keep other hawks away and they take the rollers at ease. This removes the pressure off the racing birds. #25. Do birds drink during a long or tough race? In the heat pigeons stop and drink or even land in the water to drink during a race. I would not be surprised if they drink several times during a long day. My cock “Dragon” that won the New England Open 600, in 95 degree heat on the day by a huge margin had sea weed on his band. So do not try to fool yourself. If they are hot and see water they will drink during the race. #26. Why all the
losses during young bird season? The biggest cause is the young
birds are not trained young enough. Pigeons learn best when young.
A. If you wean in January you better start training those young by
old bird season or your losses will be great. B. Light and
dark systems push the birds to maturity so they must be trained out to
about 35 miles long before the molt is finished. C. Treat
for respiratory disease before you start training. Paramyxovirus is hitting hard in many lofts around American. Vaccinate all pigeons with injectable PMV vaccine immediately if they have not been done. Vaccinated pigeons are not effected!
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