Moulting in the shed.

[Murray]

The birds have been locked up in the shed for nearly two months, and other than getting bored they are in great order.
A couple of months after mid summers day they are getting into the moult, and here's an interesting thing.
There's about 40 out there. They get a carefully researched measure called the "Pineapple tin" full of feed in the morning and at night. It has been ample, I have been throwing the scraps out to the wild birds. Now I find them falling on the feed like they are starving.
Back in Bendigo they all flew out every day and had plenty of food. I never noticed any change due to them moulting. Here they are on a set amount and it shows, they need more feed. The moult obviously puts a load on them.
Mine are getting a good mixture for pigeons which are locked up. Not too much maize or peas. They get their veggies and garlic and cider vinegar, and some fish oil a couple of times a week, and their grit replaced daily.
I don't believe there is any such thing as a "Moulting mixture". Pigeons moult perfectly well on any decent feed. What I have discovered, belatedly, is that it places demands on them and they need plenty.

[Devo1956]

The birds have been locked up in the shed for nearly two months, and other than getting bored they are in great order.
A couple of months after mid summers day they are getting into the moult, and here's an interesting thing.
There's about 40 out there. They get a carefully researched measure called the "Pineapple tin" full of feed in the morning and at night. It has been ample, I have been throwing the scraps out to the wild birds. Now I find them falling on the feed like they are starving.
Back in Bendigo they all flew out every day and had plenty of food. I never noticed any change due to them moulting. Here they are on a set amount and it shows, they need more feed. The moult obviously puts a load on them.
Mine are getting a good mixture for pigeons which are locked up. Not too much maize or peas. They get their veggies and garlic and cider vinegar, and some fish oil a couple of times a week, and their grit replaced daily.
I don't believe there is any such thing as a "Moulting mixture". Pigeons moult perfectly well on any decent feed. What I have discovered, belatedly, is that it places demands on them and they need plenty.

There are so many different breakdowns in foods, to be honest i feed this mix to the railway birds. They seem very good in health, and enjoy turning up daily for their feed.. So you are right Murray, simple feed does the trick.

[Trev]

The birds have been locked up in the shed for nearly two months, and other than getting bored they are in great order.
A couple of months after mid summers day they are getting into the moult, and here's an interesting thing.
There's about 40 out there. They get a carefully researched measure called the "Pineapple tin" full of feed in the morning and at night. It has been ample, I have been throwing the scraps out to the wild birds. Now I find them falling on the feed like they are starving.
Back in Bendigo they all flew out every day and had plenty of food. I never noticed any change due to them moulting. Here they are on a set amount and it shows, they need more feed. The moult obviously puts a load on them.
Mine are getting a good mixture for pigeons which are locked up. Not too much maize or peas. They get their veggies and garlic and cider vinegar, and some fish oil a couple of times a week, and their grit replaced daily.
I don't believe there is any such thing as a "Moulting mixture". Pigeons moult perfectly well on any decent feed. What I have discovered, belatedly, is that it places demands on them and they need plenty.

There are so many different breakdowns in foods, to be honest i feed this mix to the railway birds. They seem very good in health, and enjoy turning up daily for their feed.. So you are right Murray, simple feed does the trick.

They are definitely spoilt Dev lol
I agree though, the feral birds that I get only have a bit of wild bird and chicken corn plus the odd seeds I chuck out from the loft, there is certainly nothing wrong with them !!! I'm not sure they'd fly 500 miles on it though

[Trev]

The birds have been locked up in the shed for nearly two months, and other than getting bored they are in great order.
A couple of months after mid summers day they are getting into the moult, and here's an interesting thing.
There's about 40 out there. They get a carefully researched measure called the "Pineapple tin" full of feed in the morning and at night. It has been ample, I have been throwing the scraps out to the wild birds. Now I find them falling on the feed like they are starving.
Back in Bendigo they all flew out every day and had plenty of food. I never noticed any change due to them moulting. Here they are on a set amount and it shows, they need more feed. The moult obviously puts a load on them.
Mine are getting a good mixture for pigeons which are locked up. Not too much maize or peas. They get their veggies and garlic and cider vinegar, and some fish oil a couple of times a week, and their grit replaced daily.
I don't believe there is any such thing as a "Moulting mixture". Pigeons moult perfectly well on any decent feed. What I have discovered, belatedly, is that it places demands on them and they need plenty.

They definitely do use up a lot of energy during the moult, being shut up during the moult certainly won't hurt them. Back in the day most fanciers would keep the birds shut in once the racing was over so that they could finish the moult in peace and quiet with no stress.

[Murray]

It has been an education for me, I must say. The last time I had pigeons locked up was probably 35 years ago, when I first started with pigeons. I had 6 pairs in a 4'x4' shed. 6 nest boxes. I was told that you only needed to clean out the shed at the end of the year and it was filthy. I am ashamed to think of it.

Some years latter, I started again with one stray youngster. I just followed my instinct and kept her in a clean box. When I got a mate for her they lived in a clean stock box. Then they had babies.....
Bit by bit I got to where I am. I keep my pigeons in a clean environment and don't keep prisoners.

The shed the birds are in at present is ample for 40 odd pigeons. I have a welcoming committee every time I go into the shed.
It is a team work thing. The pigeons are a 'colony' as they call it. They are mostly grandparents, parents, children and partners. I am the boss.
When we move out to the cottage and get the lofts back up, I have no doubt that the pigeons will be in nest bowls, on eggs and flying out in no time.

[Trev]

Mine are on deep litter and I clean them out once a week at the moment, I do have too many birds at the moment, Ideally I want to halve my stock but that could take a few years of breeding fewer youngsters and pushing the birds harder.
I do have a 4 prisoners at the moment in my small shed but hope to try and break them once I've had some youngsters from them.

[Andy]

I don’t keep prisoners. Everything flys out.