SEASON REMINDERS — APRIL Spring Flowers & Pigeon Powers
By Greg McKnight, Anaheim, California, USA
gregmcknight92804@msn.com
Old bird season is upon us, and many are racing or about to. Power building is part of the goal for the long season ahead. Things to remember with creatine, carnitine, & adenosine triphosphate (ATP) muscle builder products: take time to work on the animal, so start your system three weeks before the desired time for the 300-mile races to begin. I have used Gem Flight Fuel and Vydex Jet Stream, both excellent products with a proven track record. After a three-week program of 4 times a week, you’ll notice the body reserve in the handling your birds to improve greatly and continue to give twice a week in your maintenance racing program. Your feeding program is considered when the long races are upon us and added corn and raw Spanish peanuts are another method to help with the body reserves. Amino acids toward the end of the week are also recommended, and I use A-Lyte or Amino Stress.
I would Ivomec the birds for the dreaded air sac mite that inhibits form, and the birds remain skeletal when handling. This is a sure sign but be sure to give them treatment for worms, such as Medpet Worm-Out tablets. I follow up with a two-day treatment of baking soda at 2 teaspoons per gallon of water. Your droppings will firm up, and the down will appear on the droppings.
Canker treatments every three weeks are a normal cycle, unless you have a microscope to check for this ailment. I’ve seen the Tri-Coli tablets work outstanding and given on the following night of the race. You may use flock treatment products such as Medpet Cankerex-Plus or Medizole. Both are in the Zole families of products and work very well.
Respiratory is used before the season and during the season if, again, you don’t have a microscope to do a throat swab, then a normal routine would be every 3 weeks during the season. If you have a comeback race, this would be a good time to do this with a full 5-day treatment. Some signs to look for are wide rounded breath hole and actively breathing or laboring hard, color of throat, slime, color of the lower rim of the beak, color of the tip of the tongue, air bubbles in the outer perimeter of the eye, the body skeletal with no ballooning effect, mouths open when returning from exercise, no down feathers on droppings after checking in the morning from a good night’s rest. When handling the birds, put their beak into your ear and listen for crackling sounds. Sometimes, by holding their nostril with your thumb & index finger for about 30 seconds, then listening to the sounds is beneficial in determining respiratory ailments. All these are methods without a microscope to verify certain ailments.
Pseudo Malaria is widespread in the West & Southern areas, so I would treat with a 10 day or more treatment with Medpet Primaquin. I’ve found this enhances my birds’ overall performances, and no negative issues recognized. I follow up with Formula 72 or Red Cell. Both are full of Iron and beneficial after treatment.
My recommendation for training is to have the birds on a 7-day cycle, so if the birds are not coming home from the race, then a 100-mile trainer for the rest of them is beneficial for the longer races ahead. The birds will be ready physically and mentally for the longer races. The birds will perform and expect this treatment after awhile, and you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Breeders & young birds this time of year need special attention, so review them, as I know your focus is on the old bird team. Most of the breeders are on multiple rounds at this time of year, so viewing the nest box for any concerns like excess water around the nest bowl, or just stressed-out parents, need to be rejuvenated with vitamins and supplements during this time. Checking the weight of each bird by quickly handling each one will give you a read if things are not right. I would pill each one with a Fabry Ideal pill while going through the breeders, and in some cases give them a Spartrix or Tri-Coli pill. In some cases, separation is a good idea for a week, and then decisions to change mates or re-mate the same pair. This will help the stressed-out pairs. I use a product from Jedd’s called Breeder Protein Pack, a high-power protein grain mixture (20.5%), when breeders are feeding the youngsters. The cost is $19.95 plus shipping of $15.50 in a large flat rate priority box anywhere in America. I mix 30% of this to my standard mix during the feeding time, and this helps with the feather growing process. I use a product from GEM called The-Pax about 3 days a week on my second round of youngsters and was very delighted with the results. Another product I use from GEM is Impact, always on Fridays. I do this on Friday only because I’m programmed on this day of the week to give Impact.
Personal story from over 40 years ago regarding B-12 vitamin, and when hired by Mr. Will Waterhouse of Bekaert fame, one day I was noticing the breeders with what seemed to be a crust on the side of the beak and was concerned about what it was, knowing it wasn’t a respiratory problem, and all else looked well on the bird. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a bird eating droppings and thought, you got to be kidding me, what’s up with that! I thought it had to be a deficiency of some kind, so I viewed our personal library of pigeon books and read in one of the Old Hand books about this issue, and the result was B-12 deficient, so I added pellets to the mix after making sure it had the added B-12 in the pellet, and the problem was cured. My understanding is that B-12 is a needed supplement to the birds, and it doesn’t come in feed or water, but the birds digest and simulate it, and then excreted in their droppings, so that is why the birds were eating the droppings. Now to this day, I give the birds a B-12 supplement one day a week throughout the year. My advice to you is having this in your program of management!
Your environment is special, and it doesn’t have to look like a castle, but when entering, the smell and sounds are of joy to the birds and you. You can hear their contentment with cooing and activity in the loft. They just glow, and when handling, the bloom is all over your shirt like a round flour bomb went off on your shirt. Smell is clean, with no sourness in the loft. The birds like dark little corner areas to relax and to feel secure with no intruders bothering them. Some fanciers put a shade or cover half of the nest box for keeping the birds in the dark, if flying a natural system. Some double widowhood flyers even use a curtain to pull down to keep the birds calm during the season. Air movement is very important with turbulent air, with no drafts over the perches or nest boxes. Creating the proper loft is essential, and validation is when you fly well the whole season in any weather conditions and the change of season doesn’t affect your performance. One trick is when you change your grit container and it comes out in clumps; this means your loft is too damp. Take a cigarette into the loft and watch the smoke pass through the air, and this will give you a pattern to adjust for airflow.
Giving your birds the best chance to win is your part, then it’s up to the birds to perform to the best of their ability. At the end of the season, ask yourself if you did everything possible to achieve victory. Consider this when you’re culling the team.
Yours in the sport,
Greg McKnight
