Feeding Young Birds

I read with interest David's posting re Cowoods v Versele Laga pigeon foods.

I was talking to a fiend of mine who lives in Belg' last night and he was telling me that quite a lot of the modern, up-to-date thinking racing people in The Netherlands are using "Growers Pellets" for Poultry. It is the kind that you would give to little chicks.

It has at least 8% Protein and is a properly balanced feed. The kind he has started using has NO additives or rubbish in it and he says that his young birds are doing REALLY well on it.

However, my friend said that the 'Way' you feed it, is very important. What he does, is the following:-

Give around 80% - 85% of your normal daily ration to the Y/B's in a trough (as you would normally do), when they have finished ALL that up, give them the 'Growers Pellets'. You can replace up to 20% of the diet with the growers pellets if you wish. But start them off with a low % at first.

Has anyone else heard of using growers pellets of chickens, for young pigeons? My fiend says that quite a lot of Belgium fanciers are using it now because they have seen the great results that the Dutch guys and girls have been getting.

As far as I can tell, the Dutch are leading the way as far as keeping and racing pigeons goes. I got some of my stock birds from a Dutch guy I know, and his methods seem to be far in advance of the Belgium's or us in the UK.

Interesting - what do you peeps think?

Phil (blueskylofts)

morning phil, yes ive given pellets when breeding.....ive used turkey pellets many years ago and the ybs were very big and healthy, ive also used chicken pellets a few years ago and the ybs were also nice and healthy, but I think I over did it with the amount because the loft stunk like an old chicken shed, and the droppings were a horrible brown colour.

for the last 2 to 3 years ive used the gem breeding mix, which contains g10 pellets already mixed so all I have to do is feed as normal and they get the right amount of pellets.....I do know some fanciers who feed a % of pellets all year round, mixed in with their normal feed.

the problem in the uk is the turkey and chicken grower pellets contain antibiotics saying that i have used 20% in my mixes without any obvious problems

we give the ybs 25% of their feed in the morning and that feed is 100% pellets g10 made by gem but the evening feed does not contain any ...the pellets are easily digested and feeding this way the
ybs never have a crop full of food and allways trap well ,you have to have control with ybs from the word go

shippy wrote:

the problem in the uk is the turkey and chicken grower pellets contain antibiotics saying that i have used 20% in my mixes without any obvious problems

I'm like you Shippy I don't have any problems using chicken layer/grower pellets when breeding etc at around 20%. I do tend to cut them back when racing thou to around 5%. Certain people use them at !00% for what I have read but one always should keep in mind what the birds are fed when away racing & thats always some thing that should be taking into consideration from my perspective.

yeah been using layers pellets since I started, cheap bag £6.95 contains no antibiotics and it doesn't seem to fill them up, comes in handy when first getting em out, soon as they up and going feed subliem and 25% pellets

For growing I would have thought a higher protein than 8% would be needed.

Where would the nutrients to build muscle/flesh/body come from ?

caramel wrote:

For growing I would have thought a higher protein than 8% would be needed.

Where would the nutrients to build muscle/flesh/body come from ?

peas, beans...?

David wrote:

caramel wrote:

For growing I would have thought a higher protein than 8% would be needed.

Where would the nutrients to build muscle/flesh/body come from ?

peas, beans...?

yep whilst I feed pellets peas & beans in there main diet till they get flying, there is still a lot of goodness in the pellets for them tho if you believe what is on side of tin

redrog wrote:

David wrote:

caramel wrote:

For growing I would have thought a higher protein than 8% would be needed.

Where would the nutrients to build muscle/flesh/body come from ?

peas, beans...?

 yep whilst I feed pellets peas & beans in there main diet till they get flying, there is still a lot of goodness in the pellets for them tho if you believe what is on side of tin

All comes down to what one fancy's etc I suspect. Pigeon, chicken or turkey type pellets are a complete feed going on the experts as such in that field. Which at the end of the day can be a cheap way of feeding ones birds, especially if one finds one self in the non racing caterory & it just comes back to the mindset trick which at times can be an issue.

caramel wrote:

For growing I would have thought a higher protein than 8% would be needed.

Where would the nutrients to build muscle/flesh/body come from ?

Not exactly sure Caramel      where the the 8% comes into the equation
etc here, but the pellets I use come in at around 15% & if thats good enough for a chicken  it's good enough for me .

when you think about it the chicken pellet was made for a bird in a cage where everything the bird needs for a balanced diet must be contained in the pellet and obviously must have cost thousands of pounds in its making and a pigeons stomach works the same as a chicken so i think 20% of a pigeons diet would take no harm on pellets especially prisoner birds

the pellets are very good to use if you get ybs holding corn get them on pellets for a few days easy to digest and a lot of nutrients

oldstrain wrote:

the pellets are very good to use if you get ybs holding corn get them on pellets for a few days easy to digest and a lot of nutrients

Also O/S pellets can be made into a porridge etc if a bird is on death's door type of thing & then fed with a syringe down the throat, which can be a plus at times I've found.

We use the pellets also for breeding.used to use g10 but turkey ones just as good in my eyes

peel bros wrote:

We use the pellets also for breeding.used to use g10 but turkey ones just as good in my eyes

Interesting Ray your thoughts on the turkey pellets etc. A mate of mine not Dr Spock      wrote an article about one of his clients there that fed turkey pellets at 100%, thinking he was onto a good thing for his birds & sadly they all started to die. Maybe to much of a good thing in theory but not advisable in the long run.

We only use small amounts for breeding

use 50% super breeding 20% chicken layers pellets 10%fat seeds 20% super depurative sean