There are many
systems of racing pigeons but I
believe
Widowhood is the only way to achieve
continued success
week after week. I am going to
try and explain
my own system of flying
Widowhood that
works with great success for us with our own family of Staf van Reets. Some
families
adapt to different methods but the basics
are the same and
you must always try to keep it
simple.
At the end of the old bird season all birds go on
open hole. The cocks will stay
on open hole to come in
and out of the loft at their own liberty all
winter. At the last race all
cocks will be paired, and
will rear a round of
youngsters whether it is one or
two youngsters is immaterial
but they must rear to
give them that love of home. They will go back down on eggs, these will be
changed for dummy eggs
and when they leave these eggs all hens will be taken away, the nest box closed
all nest bowls taken
out. The cock now sits in the open part of
the box, but still has his
liberty, on open hole. At
this time the complete loft
must be disinfected,
myself I use household bleach. From now until the
end of November they should be
fed a good breeding type mix with approximately 40% maize
once a day as much as
they will eat. I feed my
cocks communally on the floor
by hand, in this way I
feel I have good control over the cocks.
Around the end of November or when the cocks
are three-quarters up on their
last flight I change
the feed mix to 50% depurative, 50% breeding mix
fed once a day the same time
every day. I always pair the Widowhood cocks on February 1, all birds
must stay in the loft until
the hens have laid. Then
they will go back on open
hole, they are fed the
same 50% depurative, 50%
breeding mix until the youngsters are about six days old, then they are
fed a full breeding mix. When
the youngsters are about
12 days old or just before the hens re-lay all
hens will be taken away and
placed in their
Widowhood hen boxes so they will not pair
together. The cocks must now
finish rearing their
youngsters on their own. On every fine days from
now on the cocks are trained
from 12 miles, but they
are still on open hole. I take the youngsters
away at about 24 to 28 days old
and all youngsters
are taken away at
the same time. On the same day
the loft will be completely
disinfected, the shutters
closed down behind the Sputnik;
the cocks are now
on Widowhood. I will now treat
the cocks for whatever
disease we feel they may have, with
today's technology you should
take your droppings to a
veterinary surgeon to be analysed. He will tell you if you have any problems and
prescribe a treatment
accordingly. It is always best to treat the
whole team if there is a
problem.
The cocks are now on a strict routine. They are let
out in the morning at 8.30am
and locked out, but
are allowed to land
on top of the loft at their own
will. They will clap up and
down for five to ten
minutes at a time, at 9.30am they are let in and fed by hand communally
on the floor 50% depurative, 50% race mix, until they start to leave the barley,
then no more. The
shutters are then closed and on
no account must you go to the
loft during the day. At
this time the cocks must learn to rest. At 4pm I
basket the cocks and give them
a training toss from 12 miles back to their evening
feed, that is the same as in the morning.
It is very important to go to the
loft at the same time every day, this is the only way
you will get your cocks to rest. Also it is
as important to feed at the same
time every day. This will help bring
on a lasting condition of the cocks.
This system will be carried on every day with the cocks just coming home
to their evening feed until
the night before the first
race. Usually it is a
Saturday morning basketing Open race so I train
the cocks on Friday as normal,
but on their return to
the loft their hens will be waiting for them in the
closed side of the nest box.
This will be the first
time the cocks have seen their hens since their
youngsters were twelve days
old, approximately five
or six weeks ago, and as you can imagine the
cocks get very excited but
must not be allowed to
make contact with their hens. After about three to
five minutes take the hens
away and place back in
their own separate boxes, then feed the cocks as
normal on full race mix as
much as they will eat. Or
this Open race day I place a
nest bowl in the closed
side of the cock's box and
open the door of the box to allow the cock to his nest bowl, then come
out of the loft and leave him
with his bowl for about
30 minutes, then go and basket all the cocks
for the race. The cocks will
have remembered the
night before when the hen was waiting for them,
on the return from the race
they will find their hen waiting for them. You must now let them go together for
about two hours, then take all hens
away at the same time. The
Widowhoods have now had
their first race and a strict routine must be
obtained.
Always feed as much as they want by hand until
they start to leave the barley, on the Friday evening
feed bring feed forward so they
will have two clear hours before basketing.
As you can see the cocks
receive clear water at
least once a day, this is because they will not
always take enough water when
other products have
been added. The salt tonic we use is a
combination of salts mixed
together that I mix
myself, but the nearest commercial product I have
found is a product called Antec
extra high potency
soluble powder, this product is used in the poultry
industry, especially for
rearing day old chicks and also for times of stress.
On
night of basketing for the race there is no need
to
show the Widowhood cocks their hens, give
them their nest bowl for
approximately 30 minutes
and basket them, they will
soon learn that their hen
will be waiting for them on
their return from the
race. Once you have established the right team of
pigeons, the most important
factor in winning pigeon
races is the condition of the pigeons, you will only learn this from experience.