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Racing Pigeon Digest Featured ArticleWhy are We Losing so Many Young Birds? Everybody has opinions of why some have heavy loses and difficulty in birds finishing a race series. Most fanciers say it is the difficulty of the race conditions (weather), others say the young age of the birds, others the frequency of the races and some the quality of the birds. Everyone is entitled to his opinion, but my opinion and reasons are completely different. I believe the major reason for the heavy looses is one of the following or a combination of several of reasons below:
FEEDING Since are birds are kept in an unnatural environment. A good trainer always makes sure his birds have a proper diet and ENOUGH FOOD to compete at their highest level. Each bird is different and observation at feeding time shows individual birds will chose grains to meet their own needs, some eating more corn, others extra peas, some more safflower or rice and others more peanuts. The bird's brain tells the bird its own nutritional needs at the moment, the quantity and type of grains it should be eating. What is good for one individual bird may not be needed by another. This is why we must provide a feed mixture with various types of grains and in enough amounts that our birds can select what it needs and the proper amount at each feeding. THERE SHOULD ALWAYS BE SOME FEED LEFT WHEN YOUR BIRDS HAVE FINISHED EATING. "MOTHER NATURE" has provided our birds with ability to select the correct grains when we properly provide enough of the correct feed and we must accept the fact that the birds know more about his own nutritional needs then we do. The basic grain diet should provide the following:
FEEDING SCHEDULE
Young birds should never miss a meal or be hungry or thirsty. Hunger is the most destructive factor for our race birds. Hunger brings about a rapid deterioration in the bird's survival functions. This will cause a series of problems like memory loss, fatigue, low concentration - homing becomes secondary to the need just to survive, many times causing loss of the bird. WELL PREPARED, PROPERLY FEED QUALITY PIGEONS DO NOT GET LOST. MEDICATION - The following pigeon diseases can be a problem: COCCIDIOSIS, CANKER, PARATYPHOID, E- COLI, WORMS, ADENOVIRUS, PARAMYXOVIRUS, RESPIRATORY INFECTION, PIGEON MALARIA AND PIGEON POX. Fanciers must medicate BEFORE and DURING the breeding and racing seasons. I have read articles from fanciers that say they do not medicate their birds and they win the large prizes. My only comment to these fanciers is that you are simply not telling the truth because you do not want other fanciers to be competitive and given a chance to win. Every successful racing loft uses medication; it is as important as feeding and watering your birds. You must understand that this is a preventative medication program. Fanciers must buy the best products for each of the diseases - buy each product individually from the manufacture and try to find two quality medications for each disease. STAY AWAY FOR THE PREMIXED COMOBO MEDICATION that have 3 or 4 medications already mixed by the supply house. As I said before, buy each medication separately, The fanciers must mix them themselves to guarantee proper dosages and to make sure they have the best medications for the problems. Also, stay away from the "hocus pocus magic tonics," they are a waste of money. MEDICATION SCHEDULE - Before breeding season place your breeders on a medication program 6 weeks before you want your first eggs. We prefer water-soluble medications and use the following combo mixtures that we mix ourselves: ONE GALLON OF WATER - MIX - 5 DAYS COMBO MIX
TWO DAYS FRESH WATER than 7 days of AMOXYCILLIN with vitamins, minerals, electrolytes. Mix 3000-3500 mg. amoxycillin per gallon of water. No more medication for breeders if they are only breeding 1 or 2 sets of young birds for the breeding season. WEANING PERIOD 26-30 DAYS OLD - add RIDZOL, AMPROL, SULEMET TO DRINKING WATER WITH vitamins, minerals, electrolytes. SETTLING -LOFT FLYING - NO MEDICATION FOR NEXT 30 DAYS UNLESS BIRDS ARE MIXED WITH OTHER BIRDS FROM OTHER LOFTS. ROAD TRAINING -RACE SERIES - 2 days before start road training, give combo mixture for 2 days. Let birds loft fly and land - do not force them to fly. Once you start road training - combo mix EVERY 8- 10 DAYS for 36-48 hours with vitamins, electrolytes, and minerals. Light training loft fly or 2 short 10 mile tosses when giving combo mix. Once race series starts- birds return home from race - first 24 hours the best vitamins, minerals, electrolytes in water - along with all they want to eat. This first 24 hours is an important time for recovery. The birds need plenty of rest and quality feed. NO TRAINING or loft flying. NEXT 24-48 HOURS COMBO MIX. LOFT FLY ONLY IF BIRDS LOOK GOOD. EDUCATION - As parents, we want the very best for our children. We send them to the best schools with the best teachers and equipment. We know education is important to help them achieve their goals and to succeed in life. We must do the same for our youngbirds in training for them to have the best chances to succeed and win the large prizes. When we settle the birds to the flying loft, we keep it simple. Show them where to enter or trap. We place them through the trap a few times by hand, VERY GENTLY. A few peanuts waiting for them after they trap will encourage them to trap quickly. This routine should never change. Always the same- loft fly or exercise, land, trap, peanuts waiting for them. Road training tosses should not begin until the birds start routing. We gradually increase the distances of our training tosses from 1, 5, 10, 20 miles. We stay at each location 3 times. On the 3rd toss we single toss each bird. We wait about 10-15 minutes between each bird. These single tosses force the birds to think on their own and not to rely on other birds to follow home. This is the first step in teaching the bird to be independent, builds confidence to navigate on its own. After we reach the 40-mile toss location all training tosses are single bird tosses. The birds must learn to fly independently from this point. When large bodies of water are a factor on your racecourse, such as large rivers or very large lakes, our training tosses are made as close to the water as possible. Remember the birds will look for closest land first then home from that point. Make your tosses up and down the coastline near large landmarks, as birds will use them when coming off the water. Another important area is teaching the birds to eat and drink in the shipping crates. Obtain a crate identical to one used by the club - size, color, same watering and feed locations; train birds to eat and drink in them. TRAINING - I have mentioned in many articles that fanciers over train and over work their birds before the actual race series starts. This over training will cause the birds to " burn out or break down". The birds reach their best performance level too early, maybe even before the race series starts, causing the birds to be too tired and exhausted (mentally and physically) to complete the race series. "ROUNDING INTO FORM" or " GETTING FIT" or "GETTING INTO SHAPE" describes an athlete, human or animal, slowly reaching and progressing to his best performance level. BEING AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME takes place over time, through training, conditioning, and actual competition. If we look at many of the results from the past race series, we will see the same pattern or results. The birds that finished in high positions in first few races never finish or complete the series. We have had great results flying our birds every week (YBS or OBS) with very little training during the days between races. We let birds rest first 2-3 days (giving medication, etc.) next 3 days before we ship, we loft fly or 1 or 2 short tosses 10-15 miles. Plenty of rest and food, then right back in the race. This practice lets the bird stay in condition and to give his best effort each race. Once the bird qualifies for the first race and has shown he can handle the race conditions, training becomes secondary to rest. A quality bird will stay in great shape racing every 6-7 days with just short loft flying time and 1 or 2 short tosses 10-15 miles. Give the bird at least 3 days to recovery from race - no training. If it was a real hard race, you may not train all week. Rest, at this point, is more important than training. We must accept that each bird is a individual and train, feed, medicate and motivate according to each bird's needs. OVERCROWDING THE FLYING LOFT - We as humans could not be productive or successful at our jobs or in athletic events without the proper rest our bodies require, stress free environments at home and work and strong motivational goals to keep us focused at our tasks. We must understand that we breed and train athletes. There is no difference between training and coaching a human or an animal athlete. They both need the athletic ability, proper training and coaching before the competition, excellent diets, and good health and hygiene habits, plenty of rest, regular routine and a stress free environment to stay in condition and compete week after week to win the large prizes. If you believe what I just written then we must practice the following rule: ONLY THE BIRDS THAT ARE FLYING THIS PARTICULAR RACE SERIES SHOULD BE HOUSED IN THIS SECTION-no extra latebreds too late to race, or extra non-flying pigeons. This is to give special attention to these birds at all times. The loft should have plenty of extra room for exercise, extra perches and extra spaces for nesting and mating boxes, extra floor space for eating and drinking without struggling or fighting for food or drink is necessary. After cleaning the loft daily and training for the day is over, the loft should be kept as quiet and undisturbed as possible so the birds can rest and relax. This also means that the fancier should stay out of loft - do not handle the birds or disturb them for no reason. Although the birds seem to get most of the fame and credit, the trainer plays an important role in the success at end of a race series. He must know and study his birds to see how he needs to train them. He must feed, medicate and motivate them to improve each race and finish the series. A fancier needs "GOOD COMMON SENSE". He must be mentally and physically alert, just like his birds. He must learn from his mistakes and continue to improve his own ability as a trainer. Accept that each bird is a individual and train, feed, medicate and motivate it according to its own needs. These needs will change on a daily basis and the trainer must observe them each day. A good trainer looks and listens to his birds, spends "quality time" with them studying their actions and behavior, treats each bird as a individual and learns what makes that bird happy. GOOD LUCK. |
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