Haven Lofts

FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

QUALITY CORN
Good quality grain is a clean grain that has been stored well with low moisture content. Grains with high moisture that are dirty, dusty and unclean are more likely to carry fungus and bacterial germs and poisons more so than dry clean grain. The truth is that germs on the grains will affect the performance of your birds during breeding, moulting, and racing. The food used for racing pigeons must be fresh, clean and the highest quality or at least the best you can afford, cheap food is never going to be the best just like in humans most cheap processed food is full of unhealthy saturated fats and other additives so why buy food for your bird that you wouldn’t buy for yourself?
A farmer receives more for the Good clean dry feed than for the weather affected grain sold primarily as stock food for other animals. Some fanciers buy this food for the pigeons to keep prices down, but fail to understand that Moulds are a major health hazard in our birds; the poor quality grain simply fails to provide the required energy or nutrition needed for the competing birds. The result is poor performance and ongoing illness in the race and stock teams.
Most fanciers now understand that the quality of the feed does have a significant effect on performance and they purchase high quality feed from major pigeon corn dealers who have the knowhow and expertise to blend well balanced feed guaranteed free of dust, moulds and other major problems not seen by the naked eye.

THE MOULT

We as pigeon fanciers should never forget that good results depend on a successful moult. Indeed, pigeons that moult completely do enjoy better health. The form will develop early in the year and will remain longer thought the season. These pigeons will exert a maximum of effort and with a minimum of wear on their bodies. This can be helped by us the fancier but don’t be under any illusion we cannot make silk purses out of sow’s eras if your birds have bad feathering before the seasonal moult it’s never going to become smooth and silky over night and no matter how much oil rich seeds we feed this is never going to go away but may improve.    

During the month of September and October the moult reaches its high point. During this the pigeons must get a new feather suit, a plumage which must be silky, smooth and glossy. It allows them to fly smoothly through the air and offers more opposition to rain and other elements. Whoever has handled a heavily feathered pigeon, silky-soft, knows what I mean. It is this rich quality which set’s these birds apart from our other winged racing athletes’, what I am talking about are pigeons that have all these qualities in abundance, feathering can be improved by breeding in feather quality but this can be a long and argues process not to be under taken by the faint hearted.    

In lofts where the feed is in balance, hygiene is of a high standard, and were the moult happens normally, regularly and without any problems these fanciers stand a good chance to successes In the coming year. Fanciers who neglect the moult will never get far in our sport. We should never forget that excellent health is the base of a regular moult. Everything hinges on health. Avoid excessive breeding and flying. Be sure obtain good feed and you will not run into any major problems. The moult is a natural occurrence and in normal situations, does not need anything special, lots of rest, no racing and no breeding. Too much flying during the moult will lead to problems, I do like to let the birds  use a regular bath helping to remove old bloom, feathers & skin another important fact left to chance is lice and at this delicate time of year our birds are growing a new feather suit and to allow lice to destroy this would be madness a regular program of eradication should be followed if its spray under the wing or something in the bath water on a fortnightly or monthly basis to stop or reduce the breeding pattern of these pests we must also be aware that are lofts are full of mites that we just don’t see and a good spray on a regular basis is a very good idea ,they impact of red mite on young squabs in the nest can be massive and just because we don’t see these doesn’t mean there not there a lot of these thing only emerge at night!            

PRIOR TO PAIRING

 Prior to Pairing  in December and January, as this is the norm it’s a good time to have your droppings tested by a lab or vet to check the health of your birds and if all is well you don’t have to waste money on needless treatments or guess work this can be done by a number of sources and is well worth while for a little as £20, as most people pair in these months for  darkness in the young birds ,it can be a good time to have a close look at our birds most are locked in there box’s for a few day for pairing and we should use this opportunity to make notes on feather quality general  body condition which should be good at this time of year as the birds have been under no stress, if the birds look unwell or don’t feel right at this time of year it could be a sign of things to come we are asking nothing unnatural of them, birds flagging now should be watched.  It can be seen that in lofts were the moult hasn’t gone so well the last three or four flights will be heavily marked, some will have old tail-feathers, even worse there was too much old down. The marked flights occurred after the season, they are evidence that something was very wrong. The birds’ health and physical strength had been undermined. Leaving the fancier with an unsuccessful season, this can and will only be changed by better management over the long term by us the keepers of these beautiful birds…

Lewis Milne

The Haven Lofts Blog