Widowhood cocks training.

[Andy]

I used to just use the normal form of widowhood for about 5 weeks. Put the bowl in, show the hen, etc.
Just my opinion, but if the cocks are in blazing form and giving you 100%, after about 6 weeks it starts to show. That's why after six weeks the races were getting longer and some of the yearling cocks were starting to look like they had 6 races in a row.
So I would start looking at the older cocks. They were more awake to the game, and that's why I used to "mess with their heads" a bit more..

As I said before, widowhood just isn't for me so I can't give any constructive comments on it. However talking to one of our top sprint fanciers after last weeks race, Alan Akemenkalns, and he just shows a few hens to his yearling cocks on basketing day, he doesn't put them in their boxes as he thinks it blows their minds and causes them too much stress.

I don't race widowhood for sprinting but when I did we tested n birds given no bowls and no hens Friday won more firsts over 3 seasons than showing and motivating em.

I’m showing the hens for the first few races as they haven’t been on widowhood before. I don’t think you need to once the cocks have got to know the system. The basket should become enough for them to know the hen will be there on return. They are flying back to the box as much as the hen.

[Anthony webster]

As I said before, widowhood just isn't for me so I can't give any constructive comments on it. However talking to one of our top sprint fanciers after last weeks race, Alan Akemenkalns, and he just shows a few hens to his yearling cocks on basketing day, he doesn't put them in their boxes as he thinks it blows their minds and causes them too much stress.

I don't race widowhood for sprinting but when I did we tested n birds given no bowls and no hens Friday won more firsts over 3 seasons than showing and motivating em.

I’m showing the hens for the first few races as they haven’t been on widowhood before. I don’t think you need to once the cocks have got to know the system. The basket should become enough for them to know the hen will be there on return. They are flying back to the box as much as the hen.

Personally think ya ruined ya race before you sent em, they fight like mad get to excited and all the nervous energy used up before they leave the lorry.

[MIL]

This is the thing with w'hood there's some many different things - and at the end of the day the most important thing is you've gotta have em bang on in terms of fitness, condition and form. Without those 3 you're snookered. No amount of motivation will help a pigeon not in form and not in full fitness

In the past, before marking on a Saturday became an option, we'd sometimes have to holdover. When I basketed on a Friday night and I felt we weren't racing until Sunday then I'd often just take the cocks off the boxes (no bowl or hen) No point in them getting agitated.

By same token I've won a big open race (47 members only allowed to send 1 pigeon each) with a cock who saw 2 hens in his box for the first time ever.

I've won the Fed from Nantes (380 miles) against 3,035 birds with a widowhood cock who was basketed on Thursday night and was allowed to tread his hen before he went.

Dad was a dab hand at 500 miles and the birds would go on a Weds.. He'd hand-bath them on the Weds and they'd go into the hamper at the club damp still. When i asked him "why" he said "I just want them to go to a corner and lie down". His record at 500 miles was second to none in the West Mids at that time.

So, alll different roads lead to Rome. But without health, condition, fitness and form you're buggered.

[Anthony webster]

As I said before, widowhood just isn't for me so I can't give any constructive comments on it. However talking to one of our top sprint fanciers after last weeks race, Alan Akemenkalns, and he just shows a few hens to his yearling cocks on basketing day, he doesn't put them in their boxes as he thinks it blows their minds and causes them too much stress.

I don't race widowhood for sprinting but when I did we tested n birds given no bowls and no hens Friday won more firsts over 3 seasons than showing and motivating em.

I’m showing the hens for the first few races as they haven’t been on widowhood before. I don’t think you need to once the cocks have got to know the system. The basket should become enough for them to know the hen will be there on return. They are flying back to the box as much as the hen.

The only thing I think a pigeon should ever know is a night or 2 in basket equals a brilliant time at home,
I see lads turn up birds in basket running around fighting they never seem to win it's the man who turns up birds resting in basket when they go in race crate they go in a corner rest n there tips of wings twitching these are birds that will be up front Saturday in my opinion

[MIL]

I'd agree with that

[NeilA]

I don’t show my hens on Friday very often and if I do I leave them 30-40 mins to the cocks down in the bowl
Maybe 3 tines a year I do that normally remove the wood off my bowl let him in wait 15 min basket then into the van dark them down a little

[Anthony webster]

I don’t show my hens on Friday very often and if I do I leave them 30-40 mins to the cocks down in the bowl
Maybe 3 tines a year I do that normally remove the wood off my bowl let him in wait 15 min basket then into the van dark them down a little

[Andy]

I don't race widowhood for sprinting but when I did we tested n birds given no bowls and no hens Friday won more firsts over 3 seasons than showing and motivating em.

I’m showing the hens for the first few races as they haven’t been on widowhood before. I don’t think you need to once the cocks have got to know the system. The basket should become enough for them to know the hen will be there on return. They are flying back to the box as much as the hen.

Personally think ya ruined ya race before you sent em, they fight like mad get to excited and all the nervous energy used up before they leave the lorry.

I can’t say I’ve ever really had a problem with that. My cocks always seem settled in the basket. Rarely a sound from them when going to marking, which is 45 minutes for me.

[Andy]

I don’t show my hens on Friday very often and if I do I leave them 30-40 mins to the cocks down in the bowl
Maybe 3 tines a year I do that normally remove the wood off my bowl let him in wait 15 min basket then into the van dark them down a little

I’ve found that the best cocks and those most in form are cooing low in the bowl with the hen standing over them within a minute of putting the hen in. It’s when they’re cooing low in the bowl that I would remove them and put them in the basket. A cock that is constantly cooing after his hen around the box rarely gets in the result.

[NeilA]

I don’t show my hens on Friday very often and if I do I leave them 30-40 mins to the cocks down in the bowl
Maybe 3 tines a year I do that normally remove the wood off my bowl let him in wait 15 min basket then into the van dark them down a little

I’ve found that the best cocks and those most in form are cooing low in the bowl with the hen standing over them within a minute of putting the hen in. It’s when they’re cooing low in the bowl that I would remove them and put them in the basket. A cock that is constantly cooing after his hen around the box rarely gets in the result.

To be honest a old cock shouldn’t need a hen just going in the basket he should know
Then it’s just getting them right the best you can and the wind / break on the day