UkPigeonRacing

Another question on feeding, hope you dont mind:-
Most of you know that I have no interest in sprinting
but I really need some guidance from the sprint men to answer this question but with a bit of distance in mind......
When a bird comes back from a sprint race, people feed depurative or barley or something light. The 1st part of my question is - is this because you are already prepping the birds for the next weeks race?
The reason I ask is because it strikes me that when prepping for the distance, when a bird comes back from say 150 miles or more , I need it to replace whatever muscle it has used and it cant do that by feeding depurative and barley. So the 2nd part of my question is in prepping for 5/600 mile races should I be feeding proteins on return.
I am somewhat naive regarding feeding for racing so, as usual, would appreciate any guidance.

if Mike and neil were here they might of answered better but fats/energy sat on return and later same day then barley next day then back onto a system but protine feed can now be lighter than beans peas ect with same intake percentage

I give mine a light feed of diat and barley with added safflower then in the evening mix everything together widowhood plus added protein with beans then Sunday evening back on to their system depending on how hard the race has been I like mine to rest so no exercise Sunday and may be not until Monday pm.I believe rest is the most important thing.

Well i wish i could give a proper answer to this on why light feeding is good after a race but unfortunately this is where my vocabulary ends since theres certain words for the whole process within the pigeon in german that i dont know in english that happen. But ill try to explain to the best of my ability. Light feeding is important to "Purify" the pigeon after the race. Its essential for a fast recovery of the muscles and energy and digestion that the food is easily digestable. So that the pigeons glycogen levels etc is refuled as fast as possible. Theres more to it but as i said its very hard for me to explain properly unfortunatly but overall you can say the main thing is probaly the quicker digestion of the food for fast glycogen and energy for muscle repair

On return I like a little red grit and seed waiting for them only a little bit ,
Once the race is over and birds are split up I get a bowl and put in it 1 part of every feed I have then I put a tablespoon of gemthepax or oil to dampen the feed and put 1 spoon of lambs colostrum replacer on food a mix in this is fed to birds 3/4oz per hen 1oz per cock no more I want to get the digestive system working again
Lambs colostrum replacer is 79 percent protein so it really aids in repairing the tear after the race ,,
If its a normal race clear water on return if its real tough then it's full fat gold top milk and honey for first drink bk they only sip it but by 8pm that night the skin will be pink all blue flesh as gone.
Hope this helps atb tony.