New feeding thread

[Murray]

Wayne has given me food for thought.

We recycle the topic, 'What are we feeding the pigeons.' every couple of years.

The answer is usually pretty simple. What they were taught at the start.......

We feed beans because we have always fed beans.
We feed depuritive mix because we always do.
You don't feed maize to young birds. Maize is old bird food.

We can do better than this

[Buster121]

My young always have maize

[Wayne Jones]

Could be a nugget of a thread this.

I’ve been forced to change my old bird feeding as not importing what I’ve used last 2 years. This is a worry as I’ve had some decent results.

But this has being an interesting search and asking people.

My aim is now up to 150 miles and I never realised how much peas aren’t used in this type of racing and how light feeds are. But I recall same feeling when my eyes were opening on feeding for 500 miles with use of fats especially sunflower hearts.

On yb racing I think barley is of great importance, get it right and it’s a corn that gets them ranging for fun.

I’m thinking of using the vanrobaeys corns this year

[Murray]

Yes, like the look of Vanrobaeys Premium Power Sport.

[Andy]

I must say that I am governed a bit by what my wholesalers sell. Only really because I buy it at trade price and not retail. I feed my old birds and youngsters the same. Because I am mainly interested in long distance racing I don’t break them down at all. I feed an all round mix for most of the year but feed Bucktons irish Ruby mix for the longer races which contains both red and yellow maize. I don’t mind feeding a lot of peas or beans in the mix. Although some perceive this to be a heavy grain it isn’t. It is high in protein but excess protein can’t be stored in the body and is excreted in the droppings. If the droppings are dry they are being fed to little protein. Protein is good for muscle development. When I was farming cows fed low on protein would have solid poo but they didn’t milk that well. Cows fed high on protein had sloppy poo but milked like trains. I think pigeons fed high levels of carbohydrates in cereals haven’t got the stamina. I do feed peanuts and sunflower hearts for added energy. These have shot up in price but fortunately again I can get them trade. I must say I don’t like feeding barley. But generally I think provided you feed a mix of good quality seeds it doesn’t actually matter too much. Mine have food down most of the time to eat at will. They rarely over eat like this. The hens in particular are a bit on the fat side at present but they have been shut up for 3 months. I am hoping to get them back on open loft soon.

[Murray]

You and I do agree on this to a large degree, Andy. What you are feeding is less important than what you are feeding it to.

The champion racer is the bloke who is constantly looking for the top pigeon to add to his family. Without top quality pigeons, you cant get top quality results, regardless of what you are feeding them.

I think the 4 requirements are:

1/ The fancier. Without a good manager and a good system, the rest is pointless.
2/ The loft. The best pigeons in the world won't reach their potential in a poor loft. It is hard to get good form and good health in an unhealthy shed.
3/ The pigeons. A good flyer and a great loft will still only have results as good as the pigeons are capable of. Moderate pigeons give moderate results.
4/ If the rest is correct, the feeding can impact the performance of the birds. I think the biggest mistake we make is overfeeding them and feeding too heavy a mixture.
If I start with 6 bags of grain, and mix up a bin of feed, you can bet it will look like a widowhood mixture! I cant help myself. I have to deliberately make a feed that is light enough that the young birds are athletic and energetic, while not being hungry all the time.

Feeding one mixture all year round is becoming more common. Belgian champion Jos Thone' has released his 'Thone' Olympic" which he feeds all year round, and I read that great flyers like Jos Van Limpt 'De Klak' fed the same feed 365 day a year. I try to keep the feed pretty much the same year round, with the addition of some more legumes for the growing youngsters.

[Andy]

Yes Murray I agree. To get top performances from a pigeon you have to know the pigeon. Know how to motivate it and notice signs of it being right or not. The pigeon has to be a good pigeon otherwise the rest is pointless. I have seen a few times over the years where a fancier nearly always down the bottom of the sheet get a pigeon near the top. I think on these occasions it is because of a good pigeon that probably despite the fancier has hit top form. The big difference is that this pigeon with the fancier puts up a good performance once or twice a year. With a good fancier in the right loft the same pigeon would put up several good performances.
I do think far to much is thought that feeding plays a big part in performances. I also think that in general birds that have feed available most of the time are in better condition than those that are only fed twice a day. You handle any of mine and you will only find a few grains in the crop even just after putting fresh feed down. You handle a pigeon that is fed twice a day, especially if fed tightly, just after feeding, their crops will be full of grains as they gorge as much as they can as quick as they can.

[Trev]

This whole feeding malarky is a mine field these days and for the new young fancier coming into the sport also makes it very expensive I know times have changed and things have moved on but the champion birds of years gone by that all the modern birds are based upon achieved their results on simple mixes of just beans, wheat and maize with a bit of barley thrown in to get them through the moult and winter months.
As with Andy when I look back at my farming days Protien was always the first thing added if we wanted to improve the yield from our cows but too much of this could cause other problems so the balance had to be just right. On the whole nature will look after itself and most creatures will eat what they need to survive each day the difference is with us as fanciers/stockmen we have to prepare our charges for what is ahead, that cow doesn't know we want it to produce over 30litrs of milk a day and our pigeons don't know they are going to be asked to fly over 500miles in a day or 100 miles at speeds in excess of 60 mph so this is where our skills as stock persons are called upon to ensure we give our birds the tools they need to cope with the task at hand. There are so many different feeds available we just need to find the one that works for what we want our birds to achieve.

[Murray]

I know what Trev is saying, and when I look at what race horses are fed these days, compared to what they got 50 years ago when i was an apprentice jockey, it's mind boggling.
Another piece of advice which was once 'set in stone' was that you fed your pigeons until one left the feed and went to the drinker. Then all the feed was taken away.
So the big, hungry pigeon ate all it wanted, and the smaller, less bold pigeon went to bed hungry.

Some of the very best fanciers these days, those who are willing to share their methods, agree that you cannot feed your pigeons too much.

I feed all mine morning and night, about 1/3 in the morning, and 2/3 at night, more or less.
In the afternoon I put a certain amount in the trays, and when it is nearly gone, I put more in, so the smaller, younger or more timid ones are still getting a good feed, and not just getting the bit of wheat and milo that's left.

On a good day, when the pigeons have been flying hard and have a good appetite, and I gauge it right, there is not much left. On other days there's some feed left. I take it away and give it to the wild birds.
But I never have a bird go to bed hungry, if I can help it.

[Andy]

There are certainly things that I agree with. I think the best way to “overfeed” is actually to keep them tight. That might sound silly but when keeping them tight they gorge and fill themselves up not knowing when their next feed is coming. I would normally, bird flu restrictions aside, let the birds out first thing before cleaning out and feeding them. I put food down in the trough. The birds would trap for a bit of food. They wouldn’t eat much though as I would then leave food down all day. I then leave to loft open for them to come and go. After work I would clean them out again and put a little bit of fresh food down. Just before dark I will then remove any uneaten food and put it back in the feed bin. The birds never have much food in their crops. I think with them on open loft they are in and out, up and down all day and just take the odd grains from time to time. Also being in natural they will be in different nesting positions and have different levels of food requirements. Some maybe sitting and not need so much while some maybe feeding youngsters and require more. Others could be driving or calling to nest while some may not even be paired up so all needing different amounts of food.