Breed and Wean

this is the versele laga breed and wean im using, its fed to my breeding pairs, and to the ybs which have been weaned.......I`m not sure its very good, especially for breeders feeding ybs, it seems ok for the weaned birds but for me it looks a very light mix.

any thoughts...?

Yes it looks a bit light for my liking to David.

yes me too steve, used a breed and wean a few years ago, cant remember the brand.....but it wasn't like this, this seems more like a yb no maize mix

David your YBs came on a treat and were very quick to get up on the wing if I'm correct? Did the breeders eat the lot or just pick out certain grains? Seems to suit them so far. I'd be happy enough. Maybe if they were fed a heavier mix they'd still be sitting about on the bottom mate. I know feeding has changed an awful lot in a short time, some of the racing mixes look more like winter resting mixes of 10 years ago

hi colin, yes I do think my ybs were quick to get circling round, today most of them did a few laps round the loft, that's after only being out 5 times......normally they would be lazing around the garden.

the parents did seem to eat all the grain I put in their boxes, and because I thought it was a bit of a light mix I sometimes gave extra.

how long would you leave the ybs on this mix colin...?

Just my thoughts David but I'd leave well alone for the next few weeks, get them batched up and doing 20 mins or so. If you're putting them on dark they get a bit stressed to begin with anyway, so changing their grub might affect them further. Once they're moulting their bodies I'd add 20% something like this mix:



Vanrobaeys no 37.

Then when they're flying well, doing an hour or so way out of sight, up to about  2 weeks before training I'd build them up to 40% vanrobaeys and 60% breed and wean. If you're wanting to get a few races under their belt as education I'd leave them on this ratio till stopping them. If you want to race every week, bash them right through the programme then I'd probably go 70% vanrobaeys and 30% breed and wean, or maybe even 80%/20% with a few peanuts and sunflower on Thurs and Friday.
But just what I'd do if racing, infact your doing ok right now they're off to a good start it seems

right, thanks for the info colin, I`ll keep you posted on the progress......I`m hoping to get them out every day weather permitting, and maybe darkening this weekend ...?

David wrote:

this is the versele laga breed and wean im using, its fed to my breeding pairs, and to the ybs which have been weaned.......I`m not sure its very good, especially for breeders feeding ybs, it seems ok for the weaned birds but for me it looks a very light mix.

any thoughts...?

Interesting thoughts David . Light mine would choke on that mix here etc so I question the protein/carb/fat/fibre factor there to make that assumption as such with your mix . Never really been a big fan of grain that appears to have been polished also & those that add oil at times to make them look impressive I just scratch my head in bewilderment with their thinking.

ah right knackeroo, so would you say this isn't a light mix...? I know there are peas in it but there seems quite a lot of small seeds.

looks a lot like diat , but with peas in.........

does look a bit light on the maples for a breed and wean but their doing fine on it so I would leave alone for now

oldstrain wrote:

does look a bit light on the maples for a breed and wean but their doing fine on it so I would leave alone for now

yes Darren, the weaned ybs seem to be doing nicely on it, but what about the ybs in the nest, is it good enough for them...?

im feeding approx. 1 and 1/4 oz per bird per day, looking at the mix im feeding, is this right, too much, or not enough...?

I would say that's fine david ...the ybs reared are doing well on it so as you were for me

thanks Darren, got a bag of Gerry plus here I was going to put them on, but think ill stay on this breed and wean for a while until they get flying/bunching, then decide where to go from there.

Like kids,no sweets before dinner

fieldwalker wrote:

Like kids,no sweets before dinner

explain..........

David wrote:

ah right knackeroo, so would you say this isn't a light mix...? I know there are peas in it but there seems quite a lot of small seeds.

looks a lot like diat , but with peas in.........

Yes, more to the heavy side David compared to Barnies mix as shown above. One really needs to see the final composition analysis of the different mixes thou to compare I suggest.

Nice pics. As long as it makes one feel good buy the best. Or get the same results with a cheap ugly mix.

How on earth anyone can think that polishing feed has any benefit is beyond me, if I ever saw a wild bird do so I may have given it a little consideration.

The immune system is built up in many ways and picking up bugs whilst feeding is one of them.

I doubt very much if any wild bird eats exactly the same meal any consecative day and certainly not the same amount nor at the same time etc;

When I was young, and irrespective of what anyone says, the birds were far more healthy then than now, the feed was straight from the farm, that years crop, and if you asked the farmer to polish it he would (rightly) send for the white coat brigade.

How fanciers can get persistantly rapped up in all the different feed offered is beyond me, I new one fancier who used mainly bread and he won more than those spending hundreds of pounds for polishing and posh bags neither of which has any benifit to either the pigeon health or racing ability.

But then many accepted that the world was flat amongst other things.

Regards.

I have yet to see anyone explain how polishing corn helps and just how any certain mix is more of an advantage than any other, I used the same mix all year round and I doubt if any pigeon got the same amount of the mix on any day of the week.

The mix contained numerous seeds and pea nuts, one day some pigeons would get more of each than others and that is what makes their system work better than using them like Robots.

If all fanciers in a club are fighting each other to find a magic mix one of them will win and all the others be wasting their time.

The best expert is Mother Nature.

Regards.

some people think too much, analyse too much.......some people make pigeon keeping and racing more complicated than they need to, relax, enjoy the pigeons, enjoy the racing.

its not life or death, its a hobby, enjoy it..

Yep

Regards.