UkPigeonRacing

Well with only one race left this season, I can't help but look ahead to next season!

This year saw me reach my goals of "not finishing last!" On multiple occasions throughout the season, and one occasion even reached 4th, missing out to a spectacular performance by a club mate who also topped the fed sheet!!

However, I now aim to build on this and look to improve for next year, and wondering if I should give darkness system a go?

What do you plan on doing differently next year?

Hey Winfort. I was lucky enough to have a good OB season (by my standards) but YBS destroyed my YB season.
But, I intend to make some changes to my loft over the winter to allow me to race roundabout next year.
Got some "serious" learning to do in between now and then.

Winfort Lofts wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 6:31 pm Well with only one race left this season, I can't help but look ahead to next season!

This year saw me reach my goals of "not finishing last!" On multiple occasions throughout the season, and one occasion even reached 4th, missing out to a spectacular performance by a club mate who also topped the fed sheet!!

However, I now aim to build on this and look to improve for next year, and wondering if I should give darkness system a go?

What do you plan on doing differently next year?

I somewhat change my plan every year to some extend. Its a hard sport because you really dont get to many tries in your life to do it right. Always tell my dad you really only get 1 crack at the whip each year and with that you have to stick through that year because to many big changes within the season are not good. I do make very small adjustments usually through out the season but in general yeah my results may be good but i still change alot every year when it comes to supplyments, training, Rest time, Loft setup etc. But i think even if id be amongst the top in the whole world i would still change things yearly that probaly has to do with me as a person tho very curious and always down to try something new. It can backfire it has backfired 1 year so far on me but thats the lesson you learn from it you go back an analyze and avoide what you would say went wrong that year. In my opinion only with alot of trial and error you can get things right so to just stick with the same each year i just couldnt.

With the darkness system. For alot of fanciers its a no go same goes for light but me i do both and darkness is only worth if you do both. We have almost the middle of september and my youngbirds all still have their feathers. Moulting Barely set in for some more for some less but overall they all still have the condition to fly 300-400km right now despite it beeing this late into the year. It is very important that both light and darkness system are done properly and i know 90% of the forum are not a fan of supplements but for us its very important that during the darkness system the pigeons get enough vitamins due to the lack of sun etc. Now i understand other peoples views but thats just what we do and what works for us. If you got more questions about the darkness and light system youre more then welcome to ask since this is the only way we race our youngsters with very good success

Andy wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 10:08 pm Very interesting Leon. I agree that you should constantly continue to develop a system that suits you and your birds. Many years ago as soon as the season was over I would take a week off work and I would pull the loft down and rebuild with what I hoped would be improvements. Be it the sections, nest boxes, traps etc. wouldn’t go to that extreme now though.
It’s all about improving or at least maintaining your performances.
I don’t treat for anything or use supplements of any kind but that’s just my way.
As I’ve said I’m not fussed about young bird racing so don’t do darkness. Just left natural. My youngsters have 3 flights left and are bald around the head and neck but still being raced and holding up against the darkness youngsters.

You would get a heart attack if youd see my supplement plan week in week out

Spieker-Loft wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 10:12 pm

Andy wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 10:08 pm Very interesting Leon. I agree that you should constantly continue to develop a system that suits you and your birds. Many years ago as soon as the season was over I would take a week off work and I would pull the loft down and rebuild with what I hoped would be improvements. Be it the sections, nest boxes, traps etc. wouldn’t go to that extreme now though.
It’s all about improving or at least maintaining your performances.
I don’t treat for anything or use supplements of any kind but that’s just my way.
As I’ve said I’m not fussed about young bird racing so don’t do darkness. Just left natural. My youngsters have 3 flights left and are bald around the head and neck but still being raced and holding up against the darkness youngsters.

You would get a heart attack if youd see my supplement plan week in week out

I've seen some believe me!!

I happy to listen to your darkness methods, feel free to send a message if you prefer?

Definitely need to find a system that works for me!

I don't feel the majority of East winds we had this year helped too much either! My best result came when the wind switched to a West wind! But obviously that's a little hard to control!

I somewhat change my plan every year to some extend. Its a hard sport because you really dont get to many tries in your life to do it right. Always tell my dad you really only get 1 crack at the whip each year and with that you have to stick through that year because to many big changes within the season are not good. I do make very small adjustments usually through out the season but in general yeah my results may be good but i still change alot every year when it comes to supplyments, training, Rest time, Loft setup etc. But i think even if id be amongst the top in the whole world i would still change things yearly that probaly has to do with me as a person tho very curious and always down to try something new. It can backfire it has backfired 1 year so far on me but thats the lesson you learn from it you go back an analyze and avoide what you would say went wrong that year. In my opinion only with alot of trial and error you can get things right so to just stick with the same each year i just couldnt.

With the darkness system. For alot of fanciers its a no go same goes for light but me i do both and darkness is only worth if you do both. We have almost the middle of september and my youngbirds all still have their feathers. Moulting Barely set in for some more for some less but overall they all still have the condition to fly 300-400km right now despite it beeing this late into the year. It is very important that both light and darkness system are done properly and i know 90% of the forum are not a fan of supplements but for us its very important that during the darkness system the pigeons get enough vitamins due to the lack of sun etc. Now i understand other peoples views but thats just what we do and what works for us. If you got more questions about the darkness and light system youre more then welcome to ask since this is the only way we race our youngsters with very good success
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Very interesting Leon I tried the light system a few years back and followed an American version. ( cant remember the name of the guy).
I found that our climate in the UK isnt suitable for it without having to pull flights and I didnt want to do that.
TBH I tried it for about 3 years but I couldnt seem to get the timing right. Now Im very much like Andy, I prefer to keep everything natural and just use YB racing as an education. I can see how it would be a very useful tool and would think about using the light to control the moult of the msin flights on natural youngsters to get them to hold the primaries a bit longer if I was bothered about the young birds winning.
Nonetheless, I would have a good few questions to ask you regarding how you get the light system to work but that sounds like it could be another Topic.
ATB

Diamond Dave wrote: Tue Sep 09, 2025 11:58 am I somewhat change my plan every year to some extend. Its a hard sport because you really dont get to many tries in your life to do it right. Always tell my dad you really only get 1 crack at the whip each year and with that you have to stick through that year because to many big changes within the season are not good. I do make very small adjustments usually through out the season but in general yeah my results may be good but i still change alot every year when it comes to supplyments, training, Rest time, Loft setup etc. But i think even if id be amongst the top in the whole world i would still change things yearly that probaly has to do with me as a person tho very curious and always down to try something new. It can backfire it has backfired 1 year so far on me but thats the lesson you learn from it you go back an analyze and avoide what you would say went wrong that year. In my opinion only with alot of trial and error you can get things right so to just stick with the same each year i just couldnt.

With the darkness system. For alot of fanciers its a no go same goes for light but me i do both and darkness is only worth if you do both. We have almost the middle of september and my youngbirds all still have their feathers. Moulting Barely set in for some more for some less but overall they all still have the condition to fly 300-400km right now despite it beeing this late into the year. It is very important that both light and darkness system are done properly and i know 90% of the forum are not a fan of supplements but for us its very important that during the darkness system the pigeons get enough vitamins due to the lack of sun etc. Now i understand other peoples views but thats just what we do and what works for us. If you got more questions about the darkness and light system youre more then welcome to ask since this is the only way we race our youngsters with very good success

Very interesting Leon I tried the light system a few years back and followed an American version. ( cant remember the name of the guy).
I found that our climate in the UK isnt suitable for it without having to pull flights and I didnt want to do that.
TBH I tried it for about 3 years but I couldnt seem to get the timing right. Now Im very much like Andy, I prefer to keep everything natural and just use YB racing as an education. I can see how it would be a very useful tool and would think about using the light to control the moult of the msin flights on natural youngsters to get them to hold the primaries a bit longer if I was bothered about the young birds winning.
Nonetheless, I would have a good few questions to ask you regarding how you get the light system to work but that sounds like it could be another Topic.
ATB
[/quote]

Would the American version have been by Alex Bieche? I was watching something about it the other year!

Dont remember mate, that name doesnt ring any bells but just remember it was back in the day of the old video player.

Well, here's a comparison I have heard this year ( I dont think it was on here but if it was I apologies now for re-posting it)
I think it was from an observation that someone said in our fed....... "with all the young birds getting lost, it is the darkness birds that never get back but those on natural eventually find their way back."
I have had 6 natural babies that worked back but still lost around 14.
Is this food for thought or just rubbish.?
What are others experiences with losses?.

When I first started hardly anybody flew their YBs on darkness basically because nobody knew about it, there were a lot less YB races in those days and no channel races, racing used to finish at the coast and usually by mid August it must be remembered that most didn’t pair up until Valentine’s Day
Moving on the YB season was extended and included channel races, pairing now happens in Nov/Sec in the main altering the body Rythms of the YBs, if people want to seriously compete in the end of season events then darkness became a must.
When we adopted it, after racing was finished we used to lock them up and forget they were there not even cleaning out just feed and water, within days they exploded into the moult we very rarely had any if any carry flights into the next year