My Exercise and Training Program

My Exercise and Training Program

All my Pigeons in the race loft are unseparated all year long. In the beginning of the RaceProgram there must be no nest pans in the loft. Break or throw all eggs away.

Six weeks before the first race I chase my pigeons up, but before I do that plus minus 7 weeks before the first Race, I dicestal and clean them all, according to the following:

No food or water at night. Also no food or water the following morning. Keep them in
the loft all the time. At more or less 10 am, I give each Pigeon a quarter dicestal pill pushed down the throat. I put them all in a Loft with no food and treated water accordingly:

Take half a litre of water add two dessertspoons of epson salts, two teaspoons of table salts, a knifepoint of aloes. Cook that for 20 minutes, add two cups of brown sugar to it. Cook for another five minutes. Add that to 5 litres of clean water. That is your Cleaning Remedy.This treatment frees the pigeons of all Tapeworms and breaks down all unnecessary internal fat. Five to ten days later they will be training as if there is nothing nicer. I repeat it in the same year, (but never the dicestal), as soon as the pigeons appear to become lazy to exercise. This process sounds common and too good to be true, but I can assure you, it is effective and proven.

FOOD: - Ordinary racing mixture they only get the second day, after the day of treatment. The next day your loft will be painted green. Now give them an open loft for an hour.
Give them water with any multi-vitamin in it.

When I chase my pigeons up the first time, it is only for 10 minutes in the morning and afternoon for about three days. I increase it gradually until half an hour over 2 weeks. Those that fall back to the loft and refuse to exercise, get there and then a quarter dicestal, and two days grace. If such a pigeon still does not want to fly, remove it from your team because it only keeps your team back and it will never fly properly. After about 10 days, you will find that the team will fly a distance away and will even disappear sometimes only to come back later with a speed. That is a sign that they are ready for roadwork, that means plus minus 4 weeks before the first race.

My first training toss is from 25 kilos. Those that do not return are in any case worth nothing. I let the law of nature play its roll here, survival of the strongest (basket test).
I give them a rest period of 2 days to recuperate from the shock. Give them vita stress in the water and 2 hours open loft every day plus exercise of half and hour in the morning and night. Take them twice to the same distance once again then 40 kilos twice and every Alternative day. Now 50 kilos twice. Then in groups of 10 to 15 from 50 kilos.
Jump them now to 80 kilos. If your returns are well, one day rest and then 100 kilos.
If the returns are well 140 kilos, back to 50 kilos. Then 160 kilos, back to 50 kilos the following day. Now they are ready for the 1st Race. The days when they are not on the road, they get their exercise half hour in the morning and half and hour in the afternoon. Roadwork days: I only open them for 2 hrs long in the afternoon, no chasing.

During the Racing Season my pigeons get 50-kilo training tosses on Mondays and Wednesdays, Thursday 80 kilos. Friday, the basket day: 50 kilos with a nice bath on return, (I add glucose and iodine and vinegar to their bath water), If I can replace one of the midweek training tosses with a combine toss with other Pigeons I do it. Saturdays, a 120-kilo training toss. I always try to find out which are the first 10 pigeon’s home, that plus my first 5 from the race, is a must for the next race: Short distances, long distances, I pick my candidates myself. After 500 kilos put nest pans in the loft and allow them to breed.
I always make sure a hen is not eggy. Never let them rear more than one youngster to save energy. My Health Program is a necessity right through the program.

This is my story which has brought me a lot of success and enjoyment. It is essential to have good and healthy pigeons especially where the parents are out of Union, Federation and National Winning families.