darkness help please

hi guys me again lol, i know i asked this before but how long do you keep the ybs on darkness, i been told only till they finnish the moult,others say all season untill the nights start drawing in,if i keep them on untill the nights start drawing in , what happens with my mid week where the birds dont get home untill 5.30 to 6pm and they g on darkness at 4pm,or if a yb gets home late well after they all gone on darkness.some help here please guys.

mark

hi mark, this is my first season on darkness, as far as i know they come off on the longest day......regarding the midweek flying, i dont think the couple of hours would make that much difference once a week, altho if it was me and i was racing mid week i would try darken down later than 4 clock.....i open at 9 am and close at 5 pm but theres nothing t stop you doing it at any time as long as they get there 8 hurs or so......

just worked it out the longest day of the year is 21st june so will be ok as yb racing dont start untill july

2 guys in our club are starting end of this month to take birds off darkness gradually, by extending daylight from 8hrs a day by 1 hr

hi steve, ive heard of fanciers taking the cocks ff it befre the longest day, and leaving the hens until the longest day.......i suppse everyone has their own ideas dont they, im just experrimenting this year with it being the first time ive done it.

darken to what hours suit you mark,as long as they get 8 - 9 hours light they will be ok. dont worry if you are 10/25 mins difference when opening or closing,it wont make any difference.

Will agree with you Little Hen

DAVID wrote:

hi steve, ive heard of fanciers taking the cocks ff it befre the longest day, and leaving the hens until the longest day.......i suppse everyone has their own ideas dont they, im just experrimenting this year with it being the first time ive done it.

havent heard of anybody doing that but will be taking mine off together

yes me too, longest day......... dont know why mind you, just because im following someones system which works for them....

leave them all on until the longest day mark,cocks and hens.

mick.

thanks lads im takeing them of darkness on the 21st june as advised on here you all been a grate help again cheers

hope they do well for you mark........... keep us informed wont you.

took mine off dark last week was losing a y/b nearly everyday 26 left from 42 in darkness, lost none since, lost none of natural y/bs

steve, so are you saying that having ybs on darkness is a reason for flyaways......? if so why do you think this. personnally by my experience i do think dark ybs are reluctant to fly compared with naturals but thats just from judging my own birds.......with my darks not wanting to fly i havnt lost any ybs this year compared to other years when i couldnt keep them at one stage, p.s. when i say they wont fly, they do flutter about and some do fly in a group but as of yet no ranging..........so if they dont get going soon im stuffed.

natural younger y/bs doing better than darkness y/bs

mine are bunching not flying long except 2 hens, so training before i should only 2 going off for over an hour out of 26

DAVID wrote:

steve, so are you saying that having ybs on darkness is a reason for flyaways......? if so why do you think this. personnally by my experience i do think dark ybs are reluctant to fly compared with naturals but thats just from judging my own birds.......with my darks not wanting to fly i havnt lost any ybs this year compared to other years when i couldnt keep them at one stage, p.s. when i say they wont fly, they do flutter about and some do fly in a group but as of yet no ranging..........so if they dont get going soon im stuffed.

i normaly lose lots by flyaways every year when i have had them on natural,this year on darkness i only lost one and i got that back it was reported 10 miles from me and went and got it,so darkness to me so far is better.

and yes david i will let you all know how they do smiles and sadness im sure lol

think thats the story of pigeon racing/keeping mark, smiles and sadness looking forward to seeing how some of our new flyers (me include ) do in their first season.....and also some of our more experienced ones too.

seems like 21st of this month is the longest day, so my darks will be coming off it......the older ybs are looking nice and like yearlings but the younger ones are in bits at the moment, doesnt look like these will be right for racing.....????

any thoughts anyone ?

I took mine off darkness on the 1st of june and I have been letting them out at 7 in the morning and again at 7 at night to get them to no where the sun is at that time of the day its just a thing Iv got I think shadows are different and tend to make them a bit jumpy

Some good points being made

My youngbirds go out with the old ones I find they pick up laerning from them, they also pick up bad abets but that is what I am there for, they learn to come in they learn to aproach the loft against the wind its suprising what they pick up from the old I must point out they are in there own l compartment I am 1 of the lucky ones I
am home allday with the birds I have flown this way for a long time it suets me as well I get ups and downs with the birds but I tnink everybody does in some way or
another the best thing for me is observation.

Will agree there Ginger