Thinking of changing Systems

I'm thinking of trying roundabout in 2016 and changing my loft about, anybody else race it that could give me a tip or 2,
I hope to try darkness this year too so all change

will your ybs be weaned in time for darkness steve ? the method I tried last year was the best in my opinion, rick was using a different system to the one I`d done before and altho I had heard of it I had never done it until rick gave me the full details of it....im not racing this season but hope to do next year when I`ll be using this same system again.

Should all be away by end of March so should be plenty time to do darkness although as you know I normally keep ybs on natural but you struggle to compete

ah right, I did the system where you darken at 4 o clock then take the covers off when its dark later in the evening, so the natural daybreak comes into the loft the next morning........

hi steve I am doing roundabout this year got hens on v-perches and cocks have the nest boxes I let hens out first from their section and then drive cocks into the hens section through the sliding partition door ...when the hens come down they are trapped into the cocks section when their all in I then let the cocks out ...when the hens have finished their treat or feed in the cocks section they are driven back into their own section so the cocks section is empty in readiness to trap the cocks ...now what guys do on basket night  varies I myself will just let them see eachother on race return their are a few other variations but this one suits me ,you can vary things a little by giving the hens the box section the odd night atb and good luck for 2015

David wrote:

ah right, I did the system where you darken at 4 o clock then take the covers off when its dark later in the evening, so the natural daybreak comes into the loft the next morning........

That's the same system which Patrick Phillips flys in Belguim

That's a similar system as i fly o/s but have found it much easier to loose the cocks out of their section and the hens from their section and feed them in those sections then on Friday open the door in the middle and let the hens in to the cocks in the boxes tryed the traditional round about with no advantage

darkness.
that's the first eggs just laid march 10.
and all the young will be on darkness.
and by the time the young bird racing starts thy will be through there moult ,
and ready to go.
john.
and roundabout the same as oldstrain.
let the hens out first and push the cocks though to the hen section.
take hens into cock section. let the cocks out.
open hatch to the hen section and put down some condition seed. and see the hens bolt through to there section. there not long in learning.

stormqueen wrote:

darkness.
that's the first eggs just laid march 10.
and all the young will be on darkness.
and by the time the young bird racing starts thy will be through there moult ,
and ready to go.
john.
and roundabout the same as oldstrain.
let the hens out first and push the cocks though to the hen section.
take hens into cock section. let the cocks out.
open hatch to the hen section and put down some condition seed. and see the hens bolt through to there section. there not long in learning.

do you let cocks see hens on Friday m8 or just on race return

yes cocks see hens on Friday. and when I see cocks cooing in the nest. I start to basket them.
but one of our members went on to just racing his cocks and just let the cocks see there hens when thy come home. and he had a great year that year.

stormqueen wrote:

yes cocks see hens on Friday. and when I see cocks cooing in the nest. I start to basket them.

thanks for the reply

ive seen a chap who dose well on round about most weeks and in nationals
he only has 6 cocks 6 hens the reason for this is room the loft he keeps them in is 12 foot split into 2 sections the middle is where he has 6 boxs and where they rear one  round of young birds then both cocks and hens  are put in the 2 outer sections on poles they train and loft fly to the sections all week the only time they see the middle section is on there return from a race he dosent show them to each other at all as i say it dose take up a lot of room but  it has its effect come race days

birdy2011 wrote:

ive seen a chap who dose well on round about most weeks and in nationals
he only has 6 cocks 6 hens the reason for this is room the loft he keeps them in is 12 foot split into 2 sections the middle is where he has 6 boxs and where they rear one  round of young birds then both cocks and hens  are put in the 2 outer sections on poles they train and loft fly to the sections all week the only time they see the middle section is on there return from a race he dosent show them to each other at all as i say it dose take up a lot of room but  it has its effect come race days

I was advised that this is probably the best way graham but as you say its the room that's an issue but a very good way of getting maximum motivation from both cocks and hens

oldstrain wrote:

birdy2011 wrote:

ive seen a chap who dose well on round about most weeks and in nationals
he only has 6 cocks 6 hens the reason for this is room the loft he keeps them in is 12 foot split into 2 sections the middle is where he has 6 boxs and where they rear one  round of young birds then both cocks and hens  are put in the 2 outer sections on poles they train and loft fly to the sections all week the only time they see the middle section is on there return from a race he dosent show them to each other at all as i say it dose take up a lot of room but  it has its effect come race days

I was advised that this is probably the best way graham but as you say its the room that's an issue but a very good way of getting maximum motivation from both cocks and hens

Spot on that's the system I would also use as I have a small garden also

But the only change I would do is allow the birds to stay one night in the section were the boxes are but would only train them once a day

Some great info in this post thanks lads

Don Webb wrote:

oldstrain wrote:

birdy2011 wrote:

ive seen a chap who dose well on round about most weeks and in nationals
he only has 6 cocks 6 hens the reason for this is room the loft he keeps them in is 12 foot split into 2 sections the middle is where he has 6 boxs and where they rear one  round of young birds then both cocks and hens  are put in the 2 outer sections on poles they train and loft fly to the sections all week the only time they see the middle section is on there return from a race he dosent show them to each other at all as i say it dose take up a lot of room but  it has its effect come race days

I was advised that this is probably the best way graham but as you say its the room that's an issue but a very good way of getting maximum motivation from both cocks and hens

Spot on that's the system I would also use as I have a small garden also

But the only change I would do is allow the birds to stay one night in the section were the boxes are but would only train them once a day  

What mean by letting them stay a night in the section is one hight the cocks stay then the next night the hen and so on

JMO I think it may help keep the fire alight in both pigeons

The jealous system is a good one to try if you have more cocks than hens

markevans wrote:

The jealous system is a good one to try if you have more cocks than hens

Pairing 2 cocks to 1 hen ???

Don Webb wrote:

Don Webb wrote:

oldstrain wrote:

birdy2011 wrote:

ive seen a chap who dose well on round about most weeks and in nationals
he only has 6 cocks 6 hens the reason for this is room the loft he keeps them in is 12 foot split into 2 sections the middle is where he has 6 boxs and where they rear one  round of young birds then both cocks and hens  are put in the 2 outer sections on poles they train and loft fly to the sections all week the only time they see the middle section is on there return from a race he dosent show them to each other at all as i say it dose take up a lot of room but  it has its effect come race days

I was advised that this is probably the best way graham but as you say its the room that's an issue but a very good way of getting maximum motivation from both cocks and hens

Spot on that's the system I would also use as I have a small garden also

But the only change I would do is allow the birds to stay one night in the section were the boxes are but would only train them once a day  

What mean by letting them stay a night in the section is one hight the cocks stay then the next night the hen and so on

JMO I think it may help keep the fire alight in both pigeons

that's my plan this year don to let the hens have the nest boxes a few nights ...was thinking Thursday night may prove the best time to do it

oldstrain wrote:

Don Webb wrote:

Don Webb wrote:

oldstrain wrote:

birdy2011 wrote:

ive seen a chap who dose well on round about most weeks and in nationals
he only has 6 cocks 6 hens the reason for this is room the loft he keeps them in is 12 foot split into 2 sections the middle is where he has 6 boxs and where they rear one  round of young birds then both cocks and hens  are put in the 2 outer sections on poles they train and loft fly to the sections all week the only time they see the middle section is on there return from a race he dosent show them to each other at all as i say it dose take up a lot of room but  it has its effect come race days

I was advised that this is probably the best way graham but as you say its the room that's an issue but a very good way of getting maximum motivation from both cocks and hens

Spot on that's the system I would also use as I have a small garden also

But the only change I would do is allow the birds to stay one night in the section were the boxes are but would only train them once a day  

What mean by letting them stay a night in the section is one hight the cocks stay then the next night the hen and so on

JMO I think it may help keep the fire alight in both pigeons

that's my plan this year don to let the hens have the nest boxes a few nights ...was thinking Thursday night may prove the best time to do it

For me that's the reason for having one round of the pair to add the mother instinct of the hen plus giving the cock bird the chance to look after the hen and youngster plus bond to the box

But allowing both sexes to spend time in the box JMO
I think it helps keep there mind on the bonding to the box plus also keep there mind on the cock

Doing something different I think keeps them interested JMO
I KNOW NOTHING

I still have you loft plan on the beer mat Don.

all the best laid plans are over a pint or in this case under it atb with whatever you decide anyway steve

Thanks Daz, plenty work for after the season, but for now I need to get the babies away and see how these do on widowhood

don he did give me one reason as to why he dosent allow the birds into the middle section in the week and what he dose fridays before basketing
on fridays the birds both cocks and hens are fed as much as they want then thw the 2 sections are semie darkend so the birds rest all day and he dosent
go to the loft again till around 5pm about an hour before basketing
then he will put 2 pairs of birds in the middle section soon as they start flapping and cooing to each other he then lets full light back into the cocks and hens section they soon come alive knowing something is in that middle section is going on and this motivates them to want to return thinking somethings taking over that section after 15 mins he puts them in the baskets and off they go to the club
he also after 3 weeks swaps the cocks and hens to the opposit sections this also keeps them thinking

Interesting reading G cheers