Time spent at loft, how long?

How long do you lads spend each day at the loft? , and what's the minimum do you think you need to do to be in with a chance of success, ie flag for an hour and train hard or open door method for hours?

when i raced i spent as much time with the birds as i could watching them and getting to know them and i would even take a chair in the loft and sit with them. i like hand feeding them and getting them as tame as i could.i never flaged them or give them open door if they flew for 30 or 5 mins i would all ways let them in.but i would train them twice a week but thats was old birds.this was some thing that worked for me.

i never force my birds to fly either as they just land on a neighbours roof or somewhere nearby and i would rather they were on the loft roof than any other anyway never believed in the flag healthy birds should fly naturaly surely and if they dont then somethings wrong.i spend alot of time at the lofts probably about 4 hours a day i am always observing the birds whether it pays off or not dont realy bother me as i enjoy being around the birds anyway, although everyone likes to win me included but enjoyment in the sport within yourself is far more important

i all so should of said i only flew natural and if i race again i would still race natural.

i would say paul it all depends on your circumstances and finances with me i have
2 tenage boys (twins) and a wife who don,t take any intrest in the birds what so ever
plus i have a full time job and a part time job but the full time job keeps putting me on short time working
so money is tight , but we get by so the hours i spend with my birds is about 2 hrs aday mostly on
a night i don,t race in a saturday club just pick my races in the NFC when it suites me as i have to work every saturday morn till 12 ,but at this moment in time it suites my lfe style who knows in the future i will be more serious in my racing but at the moment i enjoy what i do .

i usually spend approx 2 - 3 hours in the morning and approx 30 mins evening..........but ive come to the conclusion it doesnt matter how long you spend at the loft if the time isnt correctly spent.

2 hours in the morning 2 hours at night this is a must they need there exercise to win races

I agree with you David, I was told not to spend to much time in the loft. But I could feed and water in 15 minutes, I dont think I would be doing enough care taking even at 15 minutes per day.

its all down to the time people have to spare and what works for them.

its not so much the amount of time you spend in your loft but what you do with that time a regular routine is better than a willy nilly one but try to fit it in around the time you have spare and enjoy it when it becomes a chore its no longer a hobby try not to keep to many

i agree graham, someone could spend all day at the loft....but if they dont know what they are doing it wont make the slightest bit of difference, plus the birds need a regular routine.

birdy2011 wrote:

its not so much the amount of time you spend in your loft but what you do with that time a regular routine is better than a willy nilly one but try to fit it in around the time you have spare and enjoy it when it becomes a chore its no longer a hobby try not to keep to many

Agree with Graham try to strike the happy medium family and birds

About the birds most the day but try not to keep going in disturbing them too much