Getting the right nutrition fed.

[Trev]

I got home this afternoon, let 'de duiven' out, and opened the door, to be met by feathers and down everywhere!

The days are drawing in, the birds are starting to moult. I am pleased that they are not "falling into the moult". They are just going into a nice steady change of the feathers, without the vulture head and bare wings.

A very successful and clever fancier explained it. If the pigeons, especially the young birds, go into a sudden dramatic moult, you can bet your last Euro that those pigeons are just recovering from an illness.

Also, after a time without it, I am putting a small amount of fish oil on the feed 3 or 4 times a week. A grain mix will be rich in Omega 6, and poorer in Omega 3. A fish oil capsule on the feed for 50 pigeons, et voila!, as the french never say, the pigeons look like they have been spray varnished

I have to say that generally the birds don't seem to fall apart quite like they used to years ago, maybe the more modern feeds help too
I've used linseed oil or olive oil on feed before but never tried fish oil, interesting

[Trev]

Mine are on an all round mix at present. It is a nice mix but they do tend to leave some of the peas. The maize is eaten first. They do have food down all day. They are fed just once a day in the morning. I take away any left in the afternoon. They do get a handful of peanuts in the morning which they love. Most days Roxanna gives them some sunflower hearts during they day when she fills up the wild bird feeders as she reckons they are all watching her when she fills the feeders up and she feels sorry for them lol.

Mine are just on a homemade mix of, mixed poultry corn, beans, wild bird seed, layers pellets and hemp seed. They also get sunflower hearts and peanuts at the weekends. Those who already have a round of youngsters also get extra beans.
I will probably start introducing a Gem mix into the diet too when I start breeding properly and as racing approaches really do want to try and persevere with getting them to eat more vegetables again.

[Murray]

I got home this afternoon, let 'de duiven' out, and opened the door, to be met by feathers and down everywhere!

The days are drawing in, the birds are starting to moult. I am pleased that they are not "falling into the moult". They are just going into a nice steady change of the feathers, without the vulture head and bare wings.

A very successful and clever fancier explained it. If the pigeons, especially the young birds, go into a sudden dramatic moult, you can bet your last Euro that those pigeons are just recovering from an illness.

Also, after a time without it, I am putting a small amount of fish oil on the feed 3 or 4 times a week. A grain mix will be rich in Omega 6, and poorer in Omega 3. A fish oil capsule on the feed for 50 pigeons, et voila!, as the french never say, the pigeons look like they have been spray varnished

I have to say that generally the birds don't seem to fall apart quite like they used to years ago, maybe the more modern feeds help too
I've used linseed oil or olive oil on feed before but never tried fish oil, interesting

That might be something to do with it. I know years ago when they ate peas and maize and wheat they used to crash into the moult and be half naked! I imagine many people these days feed a more balanced diet.
Also, we probably have better lofts these days, and the pigeons are in better health.
Even though there's plenty of feathers in the loft, mine don't look bad at all. Some of them you would hardly know they were moulting, without a close look.

[Trev]

I got home this afternoon, let 'de duiven' out, and opened the door, to be met by feathers and down everywhere!

The days are drawing in, the birds are starting to moult. I am pleased that they are not "falling into the moult". They are just going into a nice steady change of the feathers, without the vulture head and bare wings.

A very successful and clever fancier explained it. If the pigeons, especially the young birds, go into a sudden dramatic moult, you can bet your last Euro that those pigeons are just recovering from an illness.

Also, after a time without it, I am putting a small amount of fish oil on the feed 3 or 4 times a week. A grain mix will be rich in Omega 6, and poorer in Omega 3. A fish oil capsule on the feed for 50 pigeons, et voila!, as the french never say, the pigeons look like they have been spray varnished

I have to say that generally the birds don't seem to fall apart quite like they used to years ago, maybe the more modern feeds help too
I've used linseed oil or olive oil on feed before but never tried fish oil, interesting

That might be something to do with it. I know years ago when they ate peas and maize and wheat they used to crash into the moult and be half naked! I imagine many people these days feed a more balanced diet.
Also, we probably have better lofts these days, and the pigeons are in better health.
Even though there's plenty of feathers in the loft, mine don't look bad at all. Some of them you would hardly know they were moulting, without a close look.

I have to agree mate, even with all the issues I had with my birds last year they went through the moult pretty well. As with you the loft was full of feathers but the birds generally looked good, I've also noticed over the past couple of seasons that I've not had to stop many if any youngsters due to being bald around the Ears and Neck.

[Murray]

I am always reading and looking for ideas about the care and training of the pigeons. A trend seems to be feeding the same mixture to all the pigeons, all year round.
I was interested to red the feed used by one top flyer on the continent.

Maize 50%
Peas, 2 sorts, 19%
The other 31% made up of wheat, milo, safflower, rice etc.

50% maize, for all birds, all the time! I will have to think about that. Mine would be the size of houses

[Trev]

I am always reading and looking for ideas about the care and training of the pigeons. A trend seems to be feeding the same mixture to all the pigeons, all year round.
I was interested to red the feed used by one top flyer on the continent.

Maize 50%
Peas, 2 sorts, 19%
The other 31% made up of wheat, milo, safflower, rice etc.

50% maize, for all birds, all the time! I will have to think about that. Mine would be the size of houses

I think as we've said many times before it's not necessarily what you feed but how you feed it !!! I also think that other than the odd tweek here and there depending on the job in hand the main think is to find what works and stick to it rather than constantly chopping and changieng !!! What works for one fancier won't necessarily work for another.

[Andy]

I am always reading and looking for ideas about the care and training of the pigeons. A trend seems to be feeding the same mixture to all the pigeons, all year round.
I was interested to red the feed used by one top flyer on the continent.

Maize 50%
Peas, 2 sorts, 19%
The other 31% made up of wheat, milo, safflower, rice etc.

50% maize, for all birds, all the time! I will have to think about that. Mine would be the size of houses

I like maize and would be quite happy feeding a high ratio of maize. For the big international races over distances of upwards of 700 miles the birds are fed a high amount of maize on the transporters which can be for up to a week before liberation.
Your birds wouldn’t get fat on it Murray. It is a high energy feed low in fat.
Going back to my years in farming we fed maize silage instead of grass silage. The mix was 80% maize. The cows performed fantastically on this and weren’t in any way fat. To fatten cattle feed them barley. Barley fed beef are the quickest maturing cattle.

[Murray]

I like maize too, and feed a fair bit of it, but I am cautious about feeding too much to young birds. I find they get lethargic and lazy and fat. And they start getting disobedient.
I am probably feeding about one third maize at present, about 20% peas and the rest is safflower, which I feed quite a lot of, wheat, milo, sunflower, a little vetch and a little bit of small seed and a very few beans.
I used to feed a lot more maize in New Zealand to the widowhood cocks, but the climate is so warm here I have found that they tend to turn the extra energy into fat if you aren't careful. I am always looking to see how energetic they are. If they are casual about going out for a fly, or not really showing much enthusiasm, I am ready to lighten up the feed a bit and get them on their toes again.

[Murray]

This is the “Breeder mix” I now base my regular feed on. It isn’t a ‘feeder mix’ in that it has peas, other peas and beans.

[Murray]

It has a lot of other grains in it