Widowhood cocks training.
I am going back to widowhood this year. I used to race widowhood in Worthing, West Sussex back in the eighties and early nineties and again when I moved to Bodmin in Cornwall, 1994 to 1999. I then moved near to where I am now but following my divorce in 2005 I gave up with the pigeons. I restarted back in 2015 on natural aiming at the distance. But since all the hassle of flying the channel I am just going to concentrate on club racing and going back to sprint racing. Looking forward to seeing how things go.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
I totally agree with MIL.MIL wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:43 amHi Diesel
For me showing the hens to cocks in training is a must - especially the yearlings
If you don't learn them that getting home = reward of the hen how are they going to learn?
I've had 1st Federation 5,129 birds on the opening day of the season with a yearling widowhood cock (besides other opening race wins)
These yearling cocks new the game going into Race 1 because of the schooling (reward) that they'd had in training.
Yearling cocks especially need to be taught that the hen is waiting when they get home. Apart from the increased desire to return home quickly the cream on the cake is the super fast trapping of the widowers. The couple of seconds that wins a race. They need that education.
When I was racing widowhood i trained the cocks to the hens several times before the season, including the old cocks. That was to switch their heads on again after the winter.
After the first race no more training unless they missed a race when they would get a short toss to the hen to keep them on the program.
That's just my thoughts, there's many ways of doing it in this sport.
Greetings from the land down under.
Hi Diesel
Correct, my own birds were sold in 2007
My father and 2 of my brothers raced a bit from 2010 until Dad died a couple of years ago, but I only saw those birds maybe once every 7 days or so, so I wouldn't categorise those as "my birds". They did well too - couple of highlights being West Midlands Region Sprint Champion in 2013 with "CHAMPION EDDY" and 1st Open NMCC Portland by almost 5 mins with "PITBULL QUEEN" when only sending 4 birds.
I kinda help Phil Bourke in Burton (Derbyshire) for the last 2 years. He sends me his droppings every day and we discuss what needs doing. In the last 2 years he's won 27 x 1st I think it is (flying in 1 club).
In addition to this I also kinda help Gary & Niall Gordon in N.Ireland too. Those lads are frighteningly good. Their passion is reflected in their results.
I'm able to watch birds arrive in real time via tappping into their phones and CCTV
My cocks have been split since Tuesday. They are starting to get the hang of their new system. They are let out in the morning. I clean them before going in for breakfast. They are starting to fly well. The drop board is shut while out. They go out again after work. This afternoon when they saw me come out into the garden they were looking for me to drop the drop board. As soon as I did they were down and in.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
Going well mate, well done hope continues when racing startsAndy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 8:20 pm My cocks have been split since Tuesday. They are starting to get the hang of their new system. They are let out in the morning. I clean them before going in for breakfast. They are starting to fly well. The drop board is shut while out. They go out again after work. This afternoon when they saw me come out into the garden they were looking for me to drop the drop board. As soon as I did they were down and in.