The ideal weight

[Murray]

might be a daft question but from my point of view how would I know if my birds are ok with their weight ?

At this point it's not something you need to worry about too much. They are still young and developing, just keep the feed up to them and they will be fine.

[Wiley]

might be a daft question but from my point of view how would I know if my birds are ok with their weight ?

Tony,

I used to weigh every Tuesday, reason being they would have recovered any lose weight from Saturdays race by then. I'm stringent for records, and I would record where the pigeons came to the loft and in the club each week. Those that are scoring and winning clubs, feds, amals, I would set them up to be the same weight next time I sent them to their chosen race. What I would find when they was this weight is when they performed at their best.

thanks for that Wiley some good tips for the race season, what do you do for the winter / breeding season

Hi Tony

Breeding takes a lot out of a pigeon especially driving and rearing, so it doesn't really matter about weight....same with moulting....if I'm honest weight wise I'm not to bothered in these periods....I would personally start weighing again middle of January early February time when in my opinion you should start getting the birds out regularly, so they are fit enough for training on closest day where the weather is 10 degrees and weather is good and the wind not in the east to the 1st March. After this 1st toss it doesn't matter the temp or wind direction to me. But I'd regularly weigh then, especially if they was heavy, and I'd want to see how the workload influenced their weight.

[Tony-P-]

might be a daft question but from my point of view how would I know if my birds are ok with their weight ?

At this point it's not something you need to worry about too much. They are still young and developing, just keep the feed up to them and they will be fine.

ok thanks for the advice Murray.

Should I be changing the feed for these winter months not pairing up until Mid January

[Tony-P-]

Tony,

I used to weigh every Tuesday, reason being they would have recovered any lose weight from Saturdays race by then. I'm stringent for records, and I would record where the pigeons came to the loft and in the club each week. Those that are scoring and winning clubs, feds, amals, I would set them up to be the same weight next time I sent them to their chosen race. What I would find when they was this weight is when they performed at their best.

thanks for that Wiley some good tips for the race season, what do you do for the winter / breeding season

Hi Tony

Breeding takes a lot out of a pigeon especially driving and rearing, so it doesn't really matter about weight....same with moulting....if I'm honest weight wise I'm not to bothered in these periods....I would personally start weighing again middle of January early February time when in my opinion you should start getting the birds out regularly, so they are fit enough for training on closest day where the weather is 10 degrees and weather is good and the wind not in the east to the 1st March. After this 1st toss it doesn't matter the temp or wind direction to me. But I'd regularly weigh then, especially if they was heavy, and I'd want to see how the workload influenced their weight.

ok thanks for this Wiley looking forward to my 1st breeding season

[Murray]

might be a daft question but from my point of view how would I know if my birds are ok with their weight ?

At this point it's not something you need to worry about too much. They are still young and developing, just keep the feed up to them and they will be fine.

ok thanks for the advice Murray.

Should I be changing the feed for these winter months not pairing up until Mid January

Tony that is up to you. Some people like to change the feed around, I don't.
I feed the same mixture that I make myself, 365 days a year. They are used to it so they don't have digestive issues and because it's not too heavy they don't seem to get overweight on it.
Also to keep your young birds developing and maturing before you pair them up I'd be generous with the feed in the winter. When they start breeding it's a fair load on them, you want them in the best condition that you can.

[Tony-P-]

Thanks for these pointer Murray top man

[Murray]

At this point it's not something you need to worry about too much. They are still young and developing, just keep the feed up to them and they will be fine.

ok thanks for the advice Murray.

Should I be changing the feed for these winter months not pairing up until Mid January

Tony that is up to you. Some people like to change the feed around, I don't.
I feed the same mixture that I make myself, 365 days a year. They are used to it so they don't have digestive issues and because it's not too heavy they don't seem to get overweight on it.
Also to keep your young birds developing and maturing before you pair them up I'd be generous with the feed in the winter. When they start breeding it's a fair load on them, you want them in the best condition that you can.

This is just because it might be of interest, Tony. It's what I feed down here in Australia, by trial and error over the years I've found that they do very well on it all year around.
I know some would be shocked and horrified, but I've been surprised by what is fed in other parts of the world at times.

[Diamond Dave]

Looks very much like a widowhood/sport type mix that we'd use over here Muzza.

[Murray]

Yes it is! And that's my everyday mix. They breed on it, train on it, race on it, moult on and have their Bar Mitzvahs on it.

[Winfort Lofts]

Yes it is! And that's my everyday mix. They breed on it, train on it, race on it, moult on and have their Bar Mitzvahs on it.

What would the make up of that be @Murray?