# FEEDING DAILEY ( Once or Twice)



## DAYS END LOFT (Jan 3, 2005)

I have been feeding my Racers twice a day but the other day was at a friends house and he feeds once a day and he seemed to have so much more control over his birds. What I mean is when he is flying his birds and blowes a whistle they all hit the landing board and trap in. I have used the whisle each and everytime I feed my birds but they don't seem to respond as his does.Would like some feed back on both sides of this. Also would like opinions on best time of day to feed once or twice. Thanks Jack


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## upcd (Mar 12, 2005)

*Training*

When training your birds they need to be rewarded when they do good. So being a little hungry may helps if you want a quick response. Bring them in quick wins races and can save them from hawk attacks.


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## muskokapigeon (Apr 2, 2005)

*twice daily*

Hello 

I am still quite new at this however I would like to tell you that I do feed my birds twice daily and still have quite alot of control over them. They come to the rattling pepsi can (which i shake alot while they are eating) very quickly when they pass over the house, they land quickly, they especially enjoy the sprinkle of food on the landing board while I get into the loft and put the rest of the food down into their trough.

I give my 13 birds 22 ounces of food daily. I give the bulk of it in the evening after they return from they fly around. i feel it is more natural for a bird to eat more than once daily, Just think of all the birds foraging for food all day long. Eating once daily does not sit as well with me.

My suggestion to you is to divide the food into thirds and give one third in the am and the other two thirds in the evening. Also get something that is louder like my noisy popcan or a whistle like your friend has, and use it when you are feeding them all the time.

Good luck
Dawna.


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

*Feeding*



DAYS END LOFT said:


> I have been feeding my Racers twice a day but the other day was at a friends house and he feeds once a day and he seemed to have so much more control over his birds. What I mean is when he is flying his birds and blowes a whistle they all hit the landing board and trap in. I have used the whisle each and everytime I feed my birds but they don't seem to respond as his does.Would like some feed back on both sides of this. Also would like opinions on best time of day to feed once or twice. Thanks Jack


Hello Jack !  

I have had this same discussion with some real masters in the sport. Opinions will differ of course, but when it comes right down to it, I think it is the amount of feed, not how many meals it is spread out over.

Most will agree, that a racing pigeon needs to be kept lean, just like a long distance runner. The amounts to be fed, will depend on what is being fed, and how much work the birds are doing. Not, a whole lot different for humans.

If your birds are doing a lot of loft flying and some good road work, then they will need more quality and quanity of grain. I have found, that people will often transfer their own eating habits onto their pets. Ever notice an overweight person, with an overweight dog ? Same goes for pigeons. By the way, I am maybe a 100 lbs overweight, so I am not picking on overweight people here. 

Many good racing people, will use barley or wheat with their YB's. It gives the birds a sense of being full, but is difficult to get real fat on stuff like barley. Overweight pigeons, will not race, plain and simple. If your birds are not trapping well, my money says that they are not hungrey, and thus are overweight. If they are not hungrey, they will not obey your signals. They won't know you.

I suggest reducing your feed amounts, and have them eat out of your hand. If they look at you with a dumb look...  instead of jumping onto your hands, arms, shoulders, head...then they are telling you, "We ain't hungrey Jack" just leave the can and get out of here.  

This is your signal to get out of there....but, take the feed can with you. Right now, your birds are the master, not you.  

Measure out a teaspoon of feed per bird, and start from there. Adjust this amount down, untill they start to see you as the master !!


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

I agree with smithfamily it is how much not how often that gives you control over your birds. I started going to work before sun up and guess feed in the morning. I noticed some pees left in the feeder yesterday. When I flew the birds in the evening they came in sat on the loft until it was almost dark. Needless to say all they got was the left over pees. Knowing when they have had enough feed is an art. I do also hand feed most of the time when I can. They should be mugging you come feeding time. When about half go to the water. I drop the little bit in my hand and that is what they get. Otherwise the sit and gorge themselves. Fat birds sit on the loft and laugh at you. Never leave feed in the feeder unless you are weening some difficult birds. 

Van Elsaker of Belgium feeds his young birds breeding mix. This shows you that it is not what you feed either, but how much. I read an article that when he swithed to the high protein breeding mix that he won the whole enchilada in 2001 young birds. The article is on pigeonportal.com
ps. I bet he does not overfeed.


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## Jiggs (Apr 1, 2005)

I was advised by "my mentor" to give breeding mix as I am not racing yet.
He says this is great for racers even when not breeding. 

He also switches between the two even when racing (with his own secret mix  of course.)

He also cut down the amount I feed severly.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

The page with Elsaker's article was pigeonparadise.com not pigeonportal. Sorry if I sent anyone astray.


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## lawman (Jul 19, 2005)

My brother and I both fly in the same club and combine. We have the Same bloodlines of birds in our lofts and we live airline wise within 1 mi of each other. actual distance approx. 5 mi. anyway I'll get to my point. because of my work schedule, my birds get feed and water at approx 1100 hrs everyday. my brother has a different work schedule and feeds twice a day once at approx 0530 and then again at 1800 hrs. we both give approx. 1oz. of feed per day. we just feed slightly different. Come race time it doesnt seen to make any difference sometimes I'm slightly ahead of him, sometimes visa versa. So I dont think its the feeding times, its the total amount of feed per day. Of course the higher the quality of feed the better.


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

Feeding 2 times a day will control the birds weight. And they will waste much less feed. Eating every thing put out. 1 time a day you get some birds the are fatter and waste more feed. Because they get to pick and choose the grain. NOW in the breeding loft its best to feed a little on the heavy side to keep the breeders up on there weight when they have young birds.


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## lawman (Jul 19, 2005)

Bottom line is this the birds dont normally require more than 1oz. of food per day. I personnaly dont beleive it matters if you feed them once a day or if you break it down to twice a day, Or do like some fanciers and give them each individual seed at a time. The example I gave of my brother and I, I believe sums it up perfectly. I don't have the time or the patience to be that methodical about it. I obtain the best pigeon seed mix I can, use a few additional seeds that don't come in the main mix, I then mix this in a large feed storage bin and keep it stored until I use it all up. Then I make another mix, the exact mix will change depending on the season ( racing, breeding) and weather. 

Again the bottom line is use the feeding program that works best for you and the birds will adapt to your schedule.


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