what feed!

dont know what they would race like, but when weve fed it they seem to fly better when exercising round home...

cant see them racing very good just on barley

That i will found out soon enough, most things im certain of, were experements i've made, to come to a conclusion.

"Try everything, and stick to the best" nice little motto

Barley you can feed loads and you will not win but someone else can feed loads and win out of turn

Staf van Reet would always have barley in front of the birds at all times
but he would give them there required feed and if the birds wanted more food them they had the barley

Barley will not put weight on your birds but will help remove that hunger they may have

For me the best corn i would use would be the Natural Grains

The reason for this was many years ago i was as steward for the racing pigeon showthe old commrades and this one year the Natural Grains provided the corn to feed the show pigeons with

When the show was over there was a few bags of corn over and was given to me by the head steward and it was Natural Concord when got home showed my dad pit it away till the racing season and fed the widowhood cock and they fleed well that year and for me that corn will be the first and only corn i would use

Hi David

You say that they fly better when they are on barley, would say this iis due to the birds feeling liter and they do not put weight on with it

That is why people use it a lot in the winter months due to the birds not doing much exercise so they are able to keep the weight of the birds

yes don, i agree...ive heard that if they dont exercise as much during winter and therefor put more weight on some times the hen is too fat to lay.....is this true?

Yes that is spot on you need the hen in good condition to lay to fat and you can for get it

David in the winter months you never see wild birds dead they always find some food somewere and it is the same for the birds feed them 70% barley some peas and beans and a little maize they will look o.k not fat and like show pigeons round and full of bloom

If pigeons am fat them i will take you a lot more time to get them fit than it will if you keep the weight right

My conclusion of this discusion, " The barley still their hunger, and keep their weight down" ?

So feed them barley all week, till friday, then switch to big corn, and let them race saturday? Am i right?

nearly niel, feed barley until maybe tue , then give half and half so that by the end of the week they are on full corn so they peak on saturday for the race....(something like that niel, i havent raced for a long time so i may be a bit out ....someone will tell if im wrong...lol)

if they excercise well and you give them plenty of short training tosses i wouldnt break them down keep them on full corn

Full corn, is that like whole mealies ?

a good quality corn dont know what you can get in south africa

Same stuff as pop corn, only larger

you mean maize dont you get beans peas maples

niel, im looking forward to seeing how you do when you start racing soon...and im sure with the help and info our members have given and will give, you will beat your club mates and show them how to race pigeons...

im also looking forward to being able to race next year and im trying to learn as much as i can from our members so i can do my birds justice...when i raced in the 80s it was a lot different to what it is now with the darkness system and i dont remember hearing about roundabout either. the top three flyers in the local club were there when i raced before so i know what im up against and need to do my best with the birds, thats why i think our site is great for us to learn from experianced flyers who are always willing to help and give good advise..... needless to say i will be picking their brains for the next few months....

how long to go now niel, before your racing starts?

Niel if you can just get the balance right barley at the start of the week reducing it as the days go increasing the corn amount till it is full corn from thursday evening then that shold get you started mate al the best

i usually feed beyers niel,its not too expensive and its not bad corn also.

If the cost is right and the corn looks good buy it

dont know what this ive got at the moment, its just in a white bag and is pretty crap compared to what i had before...altho ive seen worse. ill be taking a trip over to crowthers in wakefield soon to buy some better stuff in a week or so...ive had beyers in the past littlehen and it wasnt bad and my birds seemed to fly well on it.

I feed seeds from agricol , south africas leading corn suppliers, there are a lot of mixes available.
Breeding plus ----maize -grean peas- beans- sorgum-sunfower- barley
Racing mix----- Maize- grean peas
High protein mix, ---some fine seeds
Maize
Barley
sunflower

sounds ok seems like a nice mix