Old birds season is upon us and many are racing or are about to. Power building is a part of the goal for the long season ahead. Do not forget that creatine, carnitine and ATP muscle builder products take time to work on the animal, so start your system three weeks before the desired time for the 300 mile races to begin. I have used Gem Flight Fuel and Vydex Jet Stream, both excellent products with a proven track record. After a three week program of four times a week, you’ll notice the body reserve while handling your birds to improve greatly. You should continue to administer this twice a week in your maintenance racing program. Your feeding program should also be considered, especially when the longer distance races are upon you; added corn and raw Spanish peanuts are another method to help with the body reserves. Amino acids toward the end of the week are also recommended, and I use A-Lyte or Amino Stress.
Ivomec the birds for the dreaded air sac mite that inhibits their form. Air Sac mites and worms are a sure sign when the birds remain skeletal when handling, so be sure to treat them. One treatment you could use is the Medpet worm-out tablets (code med034). I follow up with a two day treatment of baking soda; I use two teaspoons per gallon of water. Your droppings will firm up and the down feathers should appear on the droppings.
Canker treatments every three weeks are a normal cycle unless you have a microscope to check for this ailment. I have seen the Tri-Coli tablets (VP003) work outstandingly well. Also, if you administer them on the following night of the race, you may want to use flock treatment products, such as Med015 or Med037. Both of these treatments are in the Zole product's family and work very well.
Respiratory treatments are used before and during the season if again, you do not have a microscope to do a throat swab. Then a normal routine would be every three weeks during the season. If you have a come back race this would be a good time to do this with a full five day treatment. Some signs to look for are a wide rounded breath hole, an actively breathing/laboring hard, color of throat, color of the lower rim of the beak, color of the tip of the tongue and the slime. Also take notice of potential air bubbles in the outer perimeter of the eye. As well as, the body skeletal with no ballooning effect, mouths open when returning from exercise. Lastly, be sure to check for lack of down feathers on droppings, after checking in the morning from a good night's rest. When handling the birds, put their beak into your ear and listen for crackling sounds. Sometimes you can do this by holding the bird's nostril with your thumb and index finger for about thirty seconds; listening to the sounds is beneficial in determining respiratory ailments. All of these are methods to use without a microscope to verify certain ailments.
Pseudo Malaria is wide spread in the western and southern areas, so I would treat this with a ten day (or more) treatment of Medpet Primaquin (Med044). I have found that this enhances my bird's overall performance and have experienced no negative issues with it. I follow up with Formula 72 or Red Cell, both are full of Iron and benefit the bird greatly after treatment.
My recommendation with training is to have the birds on a seven day cycle. If the birds are not coming home from the race, then a hundred mile trainer for the rest of them is beneficial for the longer races ahead. This will prepare the birds physically and mentally. The birds will expect this treatment after awhile. You will be pleasantly surprised with the results seen in their performance.
Breeders and young ones need special attention during this time of the year, so review them, as I know your focus may be on the old bird team. Most of the breeders are on multiple rounds at this time of the year so viewing the nest box for any concerns, like excess water around the nest bowl or just stressed out parents is important. Rejuvenation with vitamins and supplements during this time is necessary. Checking the weight of each bird with a quick handling will give you a read if things are not right. I would administer each one with a Fabry Ideal pill while going through the breeders. In some cases you can give them a Spartrix or Tri-Coli pill. Also, sometimes separation is a good idea for a week and then you can make decisions to change mates or re-mate the same pair; this will help the stressed out pair. I use a product from Jedd’s called Breeder Protein Pack, a high power protein grain mixture (20.5%), when breeders are feeding the youngsters. The cost is $19.95 plus a shipping rate of $15.50 in a large flat rate priority box anywhere in America. I mix 30% of this to my standard mix during the feeding time, which helps with the feather growing process. I use a product from GEM called The-Pax about three days a week on my second round of youngsters and was very delighted with the results. Another product I use from GEM is Impact, which I always administer on Fridays. I do this on Friday only because this is the day I am programmed to administer the product.
This is a personal story from over 40 years ago regarding B-12 vitamin and when hired by Mr. Will Waterhouse of Bekaert fame: one day I was noticing the breeders with what seemed to be a crust on the side of the beak and was concerned what it was. Knowing it wasn’t a respiratory problem and all else on the bird looked well, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bird eating droppings and annoyingly said, “You got to be kidding me! What’s up with that?!” I thought it had to be a deficiency of some kind, so I viewed our personal library of pigeon books and read in one written by Old Hand about this issue and the result was B-12 deficiency, so I added pellets to the mix after making sure it had the added B-12 on them, and the problem then was cured. My understanding is that B-12 is a needed supplement by all birds and it doesn’t come in feed or water. The birds digest and simulate it and then excrete in their droppings, which is the main reason they were eating them. Now, to this day I give the birds a B-12 supplement one day a week throughout the year. My advice to you is having this in your program of management!
Your environment is special and it doesn’t have to look like a castle, but when entering the smell and sounds are of joy to the birds and you. You can hear their contentment from their cooing and activity in the loft. They just glow and when handling, the bloom flies all over your shirt like a round flour bomb went off on it. The smell is clean with no sourness in the loft. The birds like dark little corner areas to relax and to feel secure with no intruders bothering them. Some fanciers put a shade or cover half of the nest box for keeping the birds in the dark, if flying a natural system. Some double widowhood fliers even use a curtain that they pull down to keep the birds calm during the season. Air movement is very important with turbulent air with no drafts over the perches or nest boxes. Creating the proper loft is essential; validation is when you fly well the entire season in any weather conditions and the change of season doesn’t affect your performance. One trick is when changing your grit container. If it comes out in clumps, it means your loft is too damp. Take a cigarette into the loft and watch the smoke pass through the air which will give you a pattern to adjust for airflow.
Giving your birds the best chance to win is your part, then it’s up to the birds to perform to the best of there ability. At the end of the season ask yourself if you did everything possible to achieve victory. Consider this when your culling the team.
Yours in the sport,
Greg McKnight
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