Feeding
That's a very interesting article, Buster.
It backs up what I have been studying and discussing regarding legumes in pigeon feed. Peas and beans contain a lot of proteins, but not in a readily digestible form. As the writer says, perhaps only 20% of the protein in legumes is utilized, and it takes a lot of effort for a pigeon to digest them.
This is why I am feeding a lot more grains and oil seeds and less legumes. The feed is more easily digested and the birds grow and thrive on it. Safflower, for example contains 16% protein, but is easily digested.
Ad Schaerlaekens says that peas have a use for nestlings, but have no place in the diet of young birds once they are weaned. He says peas are great if you want your youngsters to have blue flesh and be late home in the races.
I am not a champion like him, but I know the young birds are more bouyant and full of energy on a lighter mixture with few peas in.
It backs up what I have been studying and discussing regarding legumes in pigeon feed. Peas and beans contain a lot of proteins, but not in a readily digestible form. As the writer says, perhaps only 20% of the protein in legumes is utilized, and it takes a lot of effort for a pigeon to digest them.
This is why I am feeding a lot more grains and oil seeds and less legumes. The feed is more easily digested and the birds grow and thrive on it. Safflower, for example contains 16% protein, but is easily digested.
Ad Schaerlaekens says that peas have a use for nestlings, but have no place in the diet of young birds once they are weaned. He says peas are great if you want your youngsters to have blue flesh and be late home in the races.
I am not a champion like him, but I know the young birds are more bouyant and full of energy on a lighter mixture with few peas in.
Greetings from the land down under. 
I have been foster raising a few youngsters for my mate David again this year, and he gave me a bag of pigeon mix, a breeder mix I suppose, in return.
Nice mixture but a lot of peas in it. So, I got stuck into it, mixed it about half and half with my standard mix, then added extra safflower, maize, milo and wheat. It hasn't got too many peas anymore!
Looks nice, a little bit of vetch and stuff.
It's pretty crowded in the loft just now, so I am putting two bowls of the mix in the sputnik and two trays of it on the floor so the younger ones are not being pushed away from the feed. They all really like it and I am feeding 6 scoops of mix a day instead of 4 or 5.
The good thing is they are thriving on it. They are exercising very well, the little ones are starting to join in and they are zooming around, tumbling like rollers and having a ball.
Reading about how the champions around the world succeed, one thing seems to be the same. They all realise that to get young pigeons into the air and training hard, they have to get the heavy feed out of them. Light feed, plenty of it, seems to be the answer.
Nice mixture but a lot of peas in it. So, I got stuck into it, mixed it about half and half with my standard mix, then added extra safflower, maize, milo and wheat. It hasn't got too many peas anymore!
Looks nice, a little bit of vetch and stuff.
It's pretty crowded in the loft just now,
so I am putting two bowls of the mix in the sputnik and two trays of it on the floor so the younger ones are not being pushed away from the feed. They all really like it and I am feeding 6 scoops of mix a day instead of 4 or 5. The good thing is they are thriving on it. They are exercising very well, the little ones are starting to join in and they are zooming around, tumbling like rollers and having a ball.
Reading about how the champions around the world succeed, one thing seems to be the same. They all realise that to get young pigeons into the air and training hard, they have to get the heavy feed out of them. Light feed, plenty of it, seems to be the answer.
Greetings from the land down under.
Good to hear all is going well. I do think to a degree it depends on what racing you are after. Racing immature youngsters that are still growing is different than racing mature pigeons . Racing sprint/middle is different from racing long distance. Birds on a light feed wouldn’t have the reserves in a hard long distance race especially if going into a second day. Even youngsters would struggle on a light feed if they made a mistake. I do think this is partly why youngbird losses are so high nowadays. Everything is mostly geared now towards sprint/middle distance racing, birds hopefully all back in the loft in under 6 hours.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
As we have agreed on in the past, what a pigeon eats in the lead up to a marathon race is irrelevant. What a pigeon ate two years previously? Mmm, probably not.
The champion long distance racers all seem to have one thing in common. They feed heaps and heaps of maize and bugger all legumes.
The sprint racers, on the other hand, feed no peas at all.
We need to get the 'peas and beans' thing out of our heads.
The champion long distance racers all seem to have one thing in common. They feed heaps and heaps of maize and bugger all legumes.
The sprint racers, on the other hand, feed no peas at all.
We need to get the 'peas and beans' thing out of our heads.
Greetings from the land down under.
Good man Murray ,your coming around ,Ad & I agree on most things ,but peas & protein have there place in raising healthy babies ,for bone structure & muscle building ,I 50% agree with none for racing except ,using on Sundays ,Monday morning for repairing the the body ,then detoxing after ,we use garlic ,lemon juice & applecider vinegar ,for three drinks ,then 2 drinks bioprobotics to restore the guts , 
cheers. Sorry couldn’t read the article writing is to small for me, 
cheers. Sorry couldn’t read the article writing is to small for me, Click on it and will enlarge itkiller wrote: ↑Fri Dec 23, 2022 10:13 pm Good man Murray ,your coming around ,Ad & I agree on most things ,but peas & protein have there place in raising healthy babies ,for bone structure & muscle building ,I 50% agree with none for racing except ,using on Sundays ,Monday morning for repairing the the body ,then detoxing after ,we use garlic ,lemon juice & applecider vinegar ,for three drinks ,then 2 drinks bioprobotics to restore the guts ,
i agree the babies need protein to grow and develop.killer wrote: ↑Fri Dec 23, 2022 10:13 pm Good man Murray ,your coming around ,Ad & I agree on most things ,but peas & protein have there place in raising healthy babies ,for bone structure & muscle building ,I 50% agree with none for racing except ,using on Sundays ,Monday morning for repairing the the body ,then detoxing after ,we use garlic ,lemon juice & applecider vinegar ,for three drinks ,then 2 drinks bioprobotics to restore the guts ,
Which is why the old pair have a bowl of peas in the box beside the bowl of light mix. Up until a couple of weeks ago there were more peas in the mix while the youngsters were growing, but now they are all weaned and flying, they are on a lighter mix. But plenty of it.
Greetings from the land down under.