winwardrollers
239 posts
May 29, 2009
2:30 PM
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Has anyone found that it is better to feed at night verses morning? Does it matter? I have found that cocks and hens seem more settled in the kit box..as far a mating,causing disturbances.. when you feed at night..their full during the dark hours rather that the light of the day.
What you opinion if you have one..lol
bwinward
Last Edited by on May 29, 2009 2:31 PM
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fhtfire
1925 posts
May 29, 2009
3:57 PM
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I have tried the feeding at night...Mort actually told me to try it....I did notice a little difference with the hanky panky...but not to much. I felt because of the weather in California with the heat etc...the birds are a little bit more frisky.
I do keep my birds in pretty good shape year around so I rarely get an egg in the kit box. I do know when it is REAl hot during the summer...that the birds do not move off the perches to often.
I think the climate has a lot to do with it....I do have lots of days that I am off...so I get to fly more then most...but I could see how it would work better with certain climates as well as how much you fly your birds and there condition.
Just my thoughts...but I have not noticed a huge difference in the performance and the hanky panky in the kit box.....My birds do fly better being fed in the morning and being TOTALLY empty the next morning....
This is just me...but I rarely try and screw with what is natural with the birds...It is natural to eat during the day and and roost at night....I think happy pigeons are better performing pigeons...LOL
rock and ROLL
Paul
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Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
998 posts
May 29, 2009
4:44 PM
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Hey All, I'm on a slightly different track. To explain what and how, first a short story. My wife is a triathlete, swim, run, and bike. I provide the fuel for her sport, meals and prepared snacks consumed on the course. On race day, the participants eat almost constantly but small timed intakes of nutrition, never large meals or heavy snacks.
O.K. now as for my feeding experiment. This applies to my old kit birds only and I consider this years birds that are kitting and starting to flip or roll short the same. I feed established kit birds 1 1/2 Tbs. of 50% wheat and 50% milo. The difference is in how. I feed first thing in the morning (6 to 7 A.M. depending on my expected fly times) 1/2 tbs. per bird. About now Paul is having a good laugh! Then I started staggering how long before the fly by 1/2 hour increments until I hit the optimum for my birds, the point were digestion is complete but the energy is not depleted. I have not been on this regime long enough to state with certainty that the kit will hold indefinitely on this schedule but my results have been good. The kit is more active overall and individuals are preforming better. I feed the second half of their ration ( 1 tbs.)12 hours after the first feeding.
I'm fully prepared to be poo hooed, laughed at and just in generally scoffed at. I think there is very little that has not been tried before so I'm not claiming originality but if this has been tried, no one told me! ;-))
Thom
Last Edited by on May 29, 2009 5:45 PM
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winwardrollers
241 posts
May 29, 2009
4:54 PM
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Paul
I like to fly in the morning which make it hard to feed at night/afternoon. If I plan on flying in the morning I feed in the morning... If I want to fly at night I feed at night.
The hot days seem to take any extra energy out of the birds so you should get differant results morning verses night flying as well as feed.
Bwinward
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donnie james
473 posts
May 29, 2009
6:41 PM
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i been feeding my birds in the evens about 6:00pm and flying the birds mid morning between 10:00 and 11:00am and it really works for me i done this back in ohio and utah ...............donny james
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winwardrollers
242 posts
May 29, 2009
8:34 PM
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Thom
The life of the retired...I can't wait..lol
Bwinward
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winwardrollers
243 posts
May 29, 2009
8:38 PM
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Donnie
Drove past your home a couple of weeks ago..going from Starvation Resevoir to Richfield.
bwinward
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Bill C
362 posts
May 29, 2009
9:28 PM
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Brad, I am glad you said if you fly in the morning you feed in the morning and vise versa because I had an overfly five years ago with a young kit of 3 or 4 months when they are very active and I had flown them about in the evening and fed them then next morning I let them out to fly and they were so active, flying in circles and drifted off and by the time I had let out another kit to merge with them and bring them back, it was too late. The other kit flew right over head and those active young birds were gone. I had 7 back by the next day out of 23 birds. I have never flown my birds since unless they have been in the loft for the right amount of time since fed.
I also have two or three young hens in with squeaker kits that are young once they kit good. Bill
Last Edited by on May 29, 2009 9:29 PM
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Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
999 posts
May 30, 2009
7:02 AM
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Bwinward, retired is a good time of life but I do tend to get into trouble! LOL There is way to much time to think and insomnia! Trust me, those two don't mix! I have rethought my post on the feeding schedule and would like to add some. I think I will hold off on feeding my young birds by that plan. I am however going to continue with the experiment with the old or holdover birds but amended slightly.
I have researched several articles on how pigeons assimilate their food and the length of time it takes for the entire process. From beginning (the intake of food) to completion (when the bird rids it's self of waste) takes 12 hours if hard grains are fed, meaning wheat and milo. At this point they have expended a large amount of the energy that was furnished by the food intake 12 hours before. My thought process is that if we then ask the bird to fly and preform at it's maximum capability, we are asking more then it can give. However if we refuel the bird with enough nutrition it will have the energy to expend. Now the trick is in determining how long to balance the partial feeding with the food moving through the crop, into the gizzard for processing and the release of energy.
My point is simple. If we just accept and carry on with traditional ways of doing things we will never make any progress. Am I taking risks? Of course. Will the risk pay off? I din't know.
Thom
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donnie james
478 posts
May 30, 2009
2:18 PM
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hay bwinward why didn't stop by be glad to have you stop by would gave you the once around maybe left with a bird or 2 .................donny james
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winwardrollers
248 posts
May 30, 2009
10:11 PM
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Oldfart
You have gone beyond my realm of thinking on feeding.
bwinward
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0221
305 posts
May 31, 2009
12:49 AM
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Pigeon's by nature eat twice a day, so I feed twice a day. This time of year I fly at 5:15-5:30AM. after they'er in, I wait about 45 minutes to an hour and feed half ration, at 5pm, I feed the other have ration. Like said above, the night ration has passed, they,er ready to meet a new day.
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