Flying in the heat.

[Devo1956]

I was reading about this topic, and come across Steven Van Breemen writing on the subject, how do members prepare their birds in these temps.

Flying racing pigeons in the heat
With regard to the strange races of section 7 in Holland, where pigeons came home totally dehydrated and lost 30% of their bodyweight, I asked a number of our authors to comment the problem. How they look upon it you can read below.



Dear Steven,

Scientific answer about flying in the heat:

Total heat load = environmental temperature + body temperature + UV thermal Load

If you change any one of these variables you change the total metabolic rate of the bird which corresponds to high energy demand and there by higher consumption of minerals, fat, and other vitamins.

Best regards,

Bob Rowland.



Dear Steven,

Thank you for your email, good to hear from you. It sounds like there has been some frustrating things going on with the racing recently.

There is no single disease that comes to mind that would cause the symptoms, however, any disease can make the races particularly taxing for the birds and prolong recovery. I would imagine however, that you have already had all of the routine checks done to ensure that your birds are healthy. The two most common diseases that lead to excessive thirst during racing are; wet canker and respiratory infection causing inflamed air sacs. With wet canker the trichomonad organisms produce a toxin that makes the birds thirsty, while when the air sacs become inflamed they lose their moisture conserving ability and the birds lose excessive moisture in the exhaled air. When correcting the ensuing dehydration they often over-compensate and drink excessively. As you say however, there may be concern that the conveyers are not watering and feeding the birds adequately. Experiments have shown that pigeons deprived of water for 24 hours at 25C become 5% dehydrated. Given the high body temperature of pigeons(41.7C) and the number put in race baskets, the temperature within the basket can get much higher, even on cold days particularly if the race basket is poorly ventilated. Birds released that are only slightly dehydrated can be expected to orientate poorly and take longer to recover. In Australia water is continuously available even when the birds are being basketed except when the transporter is actually moving. I hope these short notes are a help.

Regards,

Dr. Colin Walker.

[Anthony webster]

A friend raced in extreme heat
Barley n linseed in 100 degree heat
In Thai land
50 percent maize 40 percent paddy rice think 10 percent mung beans in extreme heat

[Murray]

The heat doesn't worry them much if they are raised in it. Trust me.
Crowding in the hampers is what kills them.

[king]

A friend raced in extreme heat
Barley n linseed in 100 degree heat
In Thai land
50 percent maize 40 percent paddy rice think 10 percent mung beans in extreme heat

Is that 100 deg in old money Ant? so 37.78C? I know a guy in India that races in 43C so that would be 109F He says they only stop racing when it gets to 45C/115F

[Anthony webster]

A friend raced in extreme heat
Barley n linseed in 100 degree heat
In Thai land
50 percent maize 40 percent paddy rice think 10 percent mung beans in extreme heat

Is that 100 deg in old money Ant? so 37.78C? I know a guy in India that races in 43C so that would be 109F He says they only stop racing when it gets to 45C/115F

Yes old mick Broome who raced in Australia don't no what part he said it was that hot he had to soak bedding in a bath of water n ring them out to sleep it was that hot, he said 500 miles on the day with barley n linseed said European mix birds would sit on loft n pant
Because of he's breathing he moved bk here to uk n as won many races he was a carpenter but said he could stop work in racing season he won enough money, I could of listened to he's story's for ages.

[king]

A friend raced in extreme heat
Barley n linseed in 100 degree heat
In Thai land
50 percent maize 40 percent paddy rice think 10 percent mung beans in extreme heat

Is that 100 deg in old money Ant? so 37.78C? I know a guy in India that races in 43C so that would be 109F He says they only stop racing when it gets to 45C/115F

Yes old mick Broome who raced in Australia don't no what part he said it was that hot he had to soak bedding in a bath of water n ring them out to sleep it was that hot, he said 500 miles on the day with barley n linseed said European mix birds would sit on loft n pant
Because of he's breathing he moved bk here to uk n as won many races he was a carpenter but said he could stop work in racing season he won enough money, I could of listened to he's story's for ages.

Yeah Australia is very hard on the birds. Was reading an article on 700 mile YB racing out there across ground so dry the only water the birds could drink was from cattle/sheep troughs on route

[Murray]

There are heat protocols in place here now, where they aren't liberated if the expected top temperature is above a certain number. It varies from area to area. Generally in the low to mid 30's.
At home they will happily exercise in 39 degrees, which is a bit over 100F.
The pigeons need to be bred in the heat so they are accustomed to it.