# lightening and darkening system



## THE GENERAL'S LOFT (May 11, 2011)

Hi I keep hearing about the lighting and the darkening systems and I think it has something to do with the moulting but I'm not sure. Can someone explain the difference between the two and how they work. The advantage and disadvantages of one another


----------



## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

THE GENERAL'S LOFT said:


> Hi I keep hearing about the lighting and the darkening systems and I think it has something to do with the moulting but I'm not sure. Can someone explain the difference between the two and how they work. The advantage and disadvantages of one another


 Perhaps some authority on the subject will step forward and explain the differences. From my perspective, one man's darkening system is another man's lighting system. I have had a number of very experienced fanciers explain their systems and I have come to the conclusion that the semantics of what a person says he uses is not necessarily universal. 

Terms aside, the stated goals of these various systems, regardless of the name applied to it, is to manipulate the timing of the molt. The value in doing so, is to have a YB fully molted by race time and to have the birds fully feathered. I have always advised new folks to fly their pigeons "Natural" at first, and thereby learn to fly pigeons in their natural state before attempting to manipulate mother nature. 

One of the things you must keep in mind, when attempting to achieve certain results by regulating the amount of light or darkness. Is that there are a number of variables and issues that must be considered. You can get the system down say 95% right, and IMHO you can still screw up your whole race season because of the 5% you did wrong. 

If you do manage to get it "right", then you will be entering your YB's on shipping night throughout the season, which look and feel like yearlings, which have been fully and completely molted, and which have all ten flights on both wings. The difference in appearance of birds under let's just say the "darkening" system and YB's on "natural" can be dramatically striking. 

Like many other issues facing today's racing fancier, I don't know what the idea system is, and I am fairly certain the "perfect" system has yet to be developed. But, I can tell you that when the "darkening" (whatever one calls their system) was first deployed in our combine back in the 1980's, the results for those who used it, was so devastating to the competition, that some called it "cheating".


----------



## FrillbackLover (Mar 18, 2011)

Sorry smith family but u kinda lost me... So lightning/darkening is just the timing u put ur Yb in a race depending on their moult? Is that correct?


----------



## West (Mar 29, 2009)

No the darkening system is where you decrease the hours of light the birds have to speed the body moult and delay the flight moult. Light system is the exact opposite where you increase the light the birds have to speed the entire moult. Alex Bieche has a system that takes advantage of both systems.


----------



## FrillbackLover (Mar 18, 2011)

Ha okay thx for explaining that west!


----------



## lgfout (Feb 8, 2011)

THE GENERAL'S LOFT said:


> Hi I keep hearing about the lighting and the darkening systems and I think it has something to do with the moulting but I'm not sure. Can someone explain the difference between the two and how they work. The advantage and disadvantages of one another


do a search here they have both been discussed


----------



## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

FrillbackLover said:


> Sorry smith family but u kinda lost me... So lightning/darkening is just the timing u put ur Yb in a race depending on their moult? Is that correct?


What I meant is and I don't know how to articulate it, but when someone says they use a darkening system, they may in fact be using lights at some point. And Mr. Smith and Mr. Burns may both say they use a darkening system, and just because they use the term "darkening" does not mean they are doing the same thing.


----------

