# honey, ginger, garlic and apple cider vinegar mixture?



## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

Hello Everyone - I'm a new flyer, second year in and looking for help and advice with a feeding and watering system for my young bird team -

I'm sure it is, But is it safe to give your young bird team during the races honey, ginger, garlic and apple cider vinegar mixture in the water two days a week as a energy boost leading up the race - 

Last year i was giving them beet juice the night before shipping and would like to combine the two mixture into a system somehow - 

I also feed them a oil and brewers yeast mixture on the feed two days a week, Monday and Wednesday and was wondering if i could give them the HGGAV in the water same two days, Any help or advice is very much appreciate -

I like to keep everything natural as possible vs as having to waste money on useless poison products that don't work -

Thanks - 

[email protected]


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## chayi (May 1, 2010)

Well I have fed honey in there water when they come back from a long toss to boost there sugar level but that's all and I have fed them apple cider vinegar in there water about twice a week for a month or so and then stoped.. I also have put some oil in there seeds let it dry and feed them also I've added cinnamon in there feed. Me too I do most my mixing natural I feed them and add to them about 90% natural stuff and my birds do real good


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## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

chayi said:


> Well I have fed honey in there water when they come back from a long toss to boost there sugar level but that's all and I have fed them apple cider vinegar in there water about twice a week for a month or so and then stoped.. I also have put some oil in there seeds let it dry and feed them also I've added cinnamon in there feed. Me too I do most my mixing natural I feed them and add to them about 90% natural stuff and my birds do real good


 How long you been flying,. I have a about 45 young birds this year and can't wait to start my training them next month.


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## chayi (May 1, 2010)

Wow ve had homers about 33 yrs or so, now working with tipplers (highflyers) but still love my homers still belong to a local club but don't race anymore just toss them for fun and try to have and keep the finest and healthiest birds I can.


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## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

chayi said:


> Wow ve had homers about 33 yrs or so, now working with tipplers (highflyers) but still love my homers still belong to a local club but don't race anymore just toss them for fun and try to have and keep the finest and healthiest birds I can.


It's a lot of work, and fun. I only fly young birds, and I'm still trying to figure out a solid feeding system. I will share some photos of my coop and birds tomorrow after the Loft fly


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## White Homers (Sep 22, 2016)

I give mine apple cider vinegar 2 tbl spoons per gallon of water 2 times a week and also Red Cell (sold for horses) on their feed just enough to coat it. Also a probiotic with brewers yeast on their feed when I add the Red Cell.


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## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

White Homers said:


> I give mine apple cider vinegar 2 tbl spoons per gallon of water 2 times a week and also Red Cell (sold for horses) on their feed just enough to coat it. Also a probiotic with brewers yeast on their feed when I add the Red Cell.


 Thanks for the info, what's are the correct portion of feed should i give my team, I have about 40 / 45 on my team of young ones and feed twice a day once 9am - 5pm


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

Here's some things to consider.....just my opinion. I think honey is a good thing to add to the water when birds come home from a long or tough race. Problem with honey is you have to warm it up enough that you don't just wind up with lumps of honey floating around in the water. Lots of guys add garlic in various forms, personally, I don't like the smell and if I were a pigeon, I'd have to be pretty thirsty to drink much (too many guys do it though, so it must be okay). I do however add granulated garlic to the feed at times, I've also tried cinnamon, Brewers yeast, Cayenne pepper, ginger and the list goes on. I use various oils or Red Cell to act as a binder for these dry ingredients. Apple Cider Vinegar, Lemon Juice etc. are used to make your water more acidic....the more you use or combining some things will increase this perhaps too high. You can get test strips to test this at the pet store to test the water in your aquarium.
I think the two most important things, are Apple Cider Vinegar or something to make the water you offer accordingly acidic. The second is a Probiotic....lots of them on the market and they probably all work just fine.
Lots of flyers have their secrets....Grape Juice, Beet Juice, V8 Juice, a little Beer, Instant Coffee.....find something that you think works and it can be your secret.
The best secret to winning races is really good birds! They'll win in spite of the things you feed them!!


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## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

raftree3 said:


> Here's some things to consider.....just my opinion. I think honey is a good thing to add to the water when birds come home from a long or tough race. Problem with honey is you have to warm it up enough that you don't just wind up with lumps of honey floating around in the water. Lots of guys add garlic in various forms, personally, I don't like the smell and if I were a pigeon, I'd have to be pretty thirsty to drink much (too many guys do it though, so it must be okay). I do however add granulated garlic to the feed at times, I've also tried cinnamon, Brewers yeast, Cayenne pepper, ginger and the list goes on. I use various oils or Red Cell to act as a binder for these dry ingredients. Apple Cider Vinegar, Lemon Juice etc. are used to make your water more acidic....the more you use or combining some things will increase this perhaps too high. You can get test strips to test this at the pet store to test the water in your aquarium.
> I think the two most important things, are Apple Cider Vinegar or something to make the water you offer accordingly acidic. The second is a Probiotic....lots of them on the market and they probably all work just fine.
> Lots of flyers have their secrets....Grape Juice, Beet Juice, V8 Juice, a little Beer, Instant Coffee.....find something that you think works and it can be your secret.
> The best secret to winning races is really good birds! They'll win in spite of the things you feed them!!


 thanks for the input, 100% warm water to break down the lumps - there are tons of secrets out there but i figure i have to find what works best for me and stick to one system


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## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

chayi said:


> Wow ve had homers about 33 yrs or so, now working with tipplers (highflyers) but still love my homers still belong to a local club but don't race anymore just toss them for fun and try to have and keep the finest and healthiest birds I can.


 here is my coop and young ones up and flying


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

Looks really nice. How'd you do last year?


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## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

raftree3 said:


> Looks really nice. How'd you do last year?


 Not so good, won one race - 100 mile, my head wasn't in the game it is this year looking back on mistakes i made. I'm ready this year..


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## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

raftree3 said:


> Looks really nice. How'd you do last year?


I was checking out your site, nice loft.. I'm a huge fan of grizzles and see you have some nice ones. 

Here are two of my baby Grizzles out Rich Ross / Ganus / Janssen bloodlines. The mother of these babies, 'Devil Girl 1" is the one who came up first with 5 on the drop in that 100 mile. 

She also came up on a 300 mile race, would have walked away with first place it but two hawks chased her and she came back hours later.

I'm in a area with a lot of trees, these hawks are fearless.


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## chayi (May 1, 2010)

Wow very nice looking loft, love to watch when homers fly in a tight group very high.


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## Granny Smith (Jul 16, 2011)

Nice looking loft. How's the ventilation? I don't see any vents on the left side. I do put vinegar in the water to make it acidic. However, I think that a well ventilated, dry loft is much more important that drinking water additives. As Raftree said above, good birds are the most important.


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## GrizzleTeam (Apr 23, 2017)

Granny Smith said:


> Nice looking loft. How's the ventilation? I don't see any vents on the left side. I do put vinegar in the water to make it acidic. However, I think that a well ventilated, dry loft is much more important that drinking water additives. As Raftree said above, good birds are the most important.


 Ventilation is fine, I have a stack on the roof that pulls air up and out and have a two doors on each side and front cages where they drink is wide open, I have the door covered up due to the wind and rain we had here today.


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

GrizzleTeam said:


> I was checking out your site, nice loft.. I'm a huge fan of grizzles and see you have some nice ones.
> 
> Here are two of my baby Grizzles out Rich Ross / Ganus / Janssen bloodlines. The mother of these babies, 'Devil Girl 1" is the one who came up first with 5 on the drop in that 100 mile.
> 
> ...


I used to be on Pigeon Talk a lot more.....haven't put anything on that little web site thing for some time either. I do like grizzles, I've got some now that have been doing real well. We just started OBs last week and I've sent birds off to several One Loft Races and Futurities.this spring. I fly a YB team about the same size as yours. Where do you live?


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## White Homers (Sep 22, 2016)

Nice loft love when the birds are out flying.


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