Advice on natural cocks please

Hi all im after some advice please. i have my last channel race this saturday from 360 miles. The birds will be going tonight, My problem is my best 2 channel birds are feeding small youngsters 1 of them is feeding 5 day old baby and the other 3 day old baby. The cock are in fantastic condition winning 1st and 3rd club 2 weeks ago from le mans. Do you think its a risk sending them while they are feeding milk to the youngsters or do you think they will be ok. Look forward to your advice. Cheers Mass

as i have not started to race yet i carnt reali help but i carnt see why it would hurt both parents feed young so i carnt see the problem

hi mass, im only a novice but in my opinion feeding a yb at this age shouldnt effect the bird if it is sent racing..........it would motivate it in my opinion.

Hi Mate I wouldnt personally worry it comes down to knowing your birds inside out for natural flying, If the cocks dont show any problems normally when feeding and fly ok around the place then no problem sending them, birds are all different and fly better to certain conditions, some of my cocks fly better with a large youngster, others sitting eggs, but as for crop milk its a natural process which the bird can contend with naturally.

i agree altough never been much of a natural flyer i to found that cocks racing to big young and chasing the hen did well
as for crop milk it may come in handy for a hard race its all formed inside the bird

I would agree with Martyn and Graham, there should be no worries the only thing i would say is to add a little motivation is remove the hen for 3 days so the cocks are looking after the youngsters just gives them something to think about when in the race basket

The same can be done with the hens also it just makes the birds think when they are in the basket there is no one home to feed the youngsters

But when the partners are in the race basket just allow the other cock or hen back in to feed the youngster and remove just as the race birds return