# Pigeon stamina



## sb0088 (Jun 5, 2016)

This is my first year flying Pigeons and i'm hoping to race next year,
I currently have 30 birds flying for a good 40 minutes to an hour every morning. I originally thought that this was great and that I might be a little competitive next year when it comes to racing.

About 1km down the road there is a flyer who's birds are flying about the same time as mine, recently I have watch his birds fly and there is no comparison to mine they go from left to right north to south east west like crazy, watched his birds fly over the top of my house and these birds are supercharged;ranging and routing like crazy, my birds rout also but nothing like the birds down the road. His birds fly cause they want to fly where as mine seem to be having a casual Sunday fly with not a lot of stamina.

I was watching both my birds and my neighbour's birds flying the other morning and noticed how my birds don't have the energy that the neighbour's birds have and some of my birds kind of glide in the air rather than fly full steam ahead from left to right.

I believe I am feeding my birds correctly 
30% peas
25% corn
(25% race mix wheat/milo/millet/peas/sunflower) 
10% trapping mix (Canary type seeds)
5% barley
5% rabbit pallets

Any idea what this flyer is doing that I might not be doing?
How do I get my birds pumped like the guys down the road cause if i'm up against this guy I have no hope in hell come race season.


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

I think it all comes down to feed and health, the peas are protein and that's good for babies but not so much for racing. You should go to the guy down the road and see what he feeds or just give them a high energy race mix for a couple weeks and see if they fly harder. 
Dave


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## rpalmer (Mar 10, 2011)

He may be flying sprint or short distance birds. For long distance you want the birds to do what yours are doing. They can stroll 600 miles. His will burn out at about 1/3 that.


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## Whytpigeon (Sep 14, 2015)

sb0088 said:


> This is my first year flying Pigeons and i'm hoping to race next year,
> I currently have 30 birds flying for a good 40 minutes to an hour every morning. I originally thought that this was great and that I might be a little competitive next year when it comes to racing.
> 
> About 1km down the road there is a flyer who's birds are flying about the same time as mine, recently I have watch his birds fly and there is no comparison to mine they go from left to right north to south east west like crazy, watched his birds fly over the top of my house and these birds are supercharged;ranging and routing like crazy, my birds rout also but nothing like the birds down the road. His birds fly cause they want to fly where as mine seem to be having a casual Sunday fly with not a lot of stamina.
> ...


I think this comes down to breeding. Ask which lines he has and how he breeds his pairs every year. Perhaps he can lone you a breeder or sell you some young to improve you re flock... I do know what you mean on even a more disproportionate scale. I have white homers, I had to introduce some racing stock to get birds that would at least range out a bit.


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## sb0088 (Jun 5, 2016)

Thanks for all your replies guys,


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

sb0088 said:


> This is my first year flying Pigeons and i'm hoping to race next year,
> I currently have 30 birds flying for a good 40 minutes to an hour every morning. I originally thought that this was great and that I might be a little competitive next year when it comes to racing.
> 
> About 1km down the road there is a flyer who's birds are flying about the same time as mine, recently I have watch his birds fly and there is no comparison to mine they go from left to right north to south east west like crazy, watched his birds fly over the top of my house and these birds are supercharged;ranging and routing like crazy, my birds rout also but nothing like the birds down the road. His birds fly cause they want to fly where as mine seem to be having a casual Sunday fly with not a lot of stamina.
> ...


*I think it all comes down to health, (their stress levels) and breeding. How much percentage of fat containing seed are they getting? Where did you acquire your birds from?

Why don't you have a talk with your neighbor? Find out what he is feeding them, the breeding, etc....he shouldn't mind helping you as you are a newcomer to the sport. *


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## Whytpigeon (Sep 14, 2015)

With my whites being fit and eating a healthy diet, and seeing different racing stock fly "with" them, there was a pronounced difference. Everyone was getting the same feed and health monitoring. It was a learning experience I have not forgot. The racing lines As a group they were allot more hyper and active and ranged. If one or a few of the raceing stock were unhealthy it would of been very noticeable. Just because my white birds do not range or fly as fast as the racing stock does not mean they are sick or not fed well. I've had only two lost ( homers) in the last four years, and those were hawk related. My birds are not stressed either.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

It is the diet. Way too many peas. My thoughts are the pellets are a bunch of protein also. If you look at any good racing mix out there you are looking at a 14%is protein mix. I would take that mix at 50% and add corn and light grains (millet, milo, wheat, etc. ) I would do a search in here for race feed. If you can get a hand on secrets of champions DVD they have a good section on feed. 

A simple method that I use is to have two mixes, a breeding mixture and a race/rest of the year mix.

Breeding mix 18%
Rest of the year 50% breeding mix with 50% (corn, millet, milo, wheat etc mix)

Currently I am using Wheatland feeds out of UT. I use their breeder x performance during breeding and their maintenance mix x performance during the off season. It would be a good race mix. If I were racing I would use the same two bags and then mix them with a half a bag of each: corn, millet, milo, and a bit of wheat. Carbs for energy as long as you fly the crud out of them. 

My bet is if you buy a bag of whole corn, a bag of millet, and a bag of milo and mix a half a bag of each in your mix. They will be flying like crazy in a week.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

http://www.pipa.be/en/newsandarticles/pigeonandloft/pigeon-food-barley-corn-millet-wheat

Short article


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

http://www.beyersbelgium.be/en/prod...premium-mixtures/beyers-premium-vandenabeele/

Here is a beyers race mix. You will see that corn is the most abundant. They add rice to their mix to cut down protein and add carbs. 11% protein. Yours is around 16% with all those peas. Dari is same as milo. I used to mix my breeder mix 1/4 breeding mix x 1/4 mixed wild bird seed no corn and 1/4 Corn and 1/4 milo x millet mix. It was cheap and kept them thin and full of energy. Anything around 12% protein is a good race mix. I would add some safflower and a few peanuts for your longer races for fat.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

If you are mixing your own with the race mix. I would cut 20% of the peas and I think you would see good results. Also the birds are smart. I would look at what they are eating first and when. My bet is that they are leaving the peas and the barley, they hate barley, for last. They will hit the safflower and then go for the corn and light grains next. 
You may be overfeeding also. I would put them on a high carb diet all they can eat in 5 minutes after every flight.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

I would wean the babies to high protein food and then a few weeks later wean them to the race mix as they start flying and need the energy.


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## sb0088 (Jun 5, 2016)

Cheers Hillfamilyloft I will adjust there feed and see how they go in the next couple weeks.


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