Life in Bendigo.

[Murray]

We appear to be in for a long, cold winter. Only 10 days into winter and already there is a lot of snow in the high country. Every day has been cloudy with rain or drizzle, and cold winds.

Where's the global warming we were promised?

While a lot of the blokes around here are tossing their pigeons in preparation for winter racing, I have gone the other way. After training mine while the weather was good and the days were long, I have stopped them for six weeks or so. I am turning the lights off as early as I can after they have eaten, so they can have 14 or 15 hours of dark.
When the weather is good enough I let them out at about 4.15 or 4.20 pm, they have a bit of a fly, and are back in looking for the feed by 5.
Because they are wanting carbs to keep warm they were scoffing the maize and grains and leaving the legumes. I got sick of throwing peas and beans in the rubbish, so I mixed half a bin of my normal mix with half a bin of equal parts of maize, wheat, milo and safflower. Bought the peas down from about 20% to about 10%. There's not many beans or vetch anyway, but there's very little now.
That seems to have worked. They are cleaning it up better.

The pigeons are in fantastic condition. They are so silky they slide out of my hands.

The other day I was at the grain store buying a sack of the red pigeon grit.

One of the local flyers was at the counter and didn't see me. The assistant gave him a bag of copper sulphate (bluestone). Then he turned around and saw me. He was not pleased. Already, training the youngsters in the cold and wet is causing problems. Bluestone is an old cure for canker.

I wish them the best of luck. I am going to wait till it warms up a bit then set them for the sprint series in September. Four qualifying races and a Final. There will be some very good prizes on offer.

Winter racing is good further north in Australia, the heat is too much in the summer, but down the south east corner we get proper winters.

[Buster121]

Never knew copper sulphate was a canker treatment, but I suppose having some does not mean your birds have it as some folks use things as preventative rather than a treatment, I know folks who use Turbosole every 3 weeks over here god knows how they get it though!
good luck with your plans mate are your birds moulted through now as you have them on 15 hours dark

[Murray]

Yes, Buster they are pretty much all through the moult.
I am just trying to slow them down so they aren't in peak form 2 months before I need them. They are like a flashlight. You can only turn them off and on so many times before they go flat.
I want them healthy and ready to train in August.

[Buster121]

Yes, Buster they are pretty much all through the moult.
I am just trying to slow them down so they aren't in peak form 2 months before I need them. They are like a flashlight. You can only turn them off and on so many times before they go flat.
I want them healthy and ready to train in August.

Man with a plan will be good to see the results when they race

[George and Morgan]

good read Murray

[Andy]

Sounds like you’ve got the right idea.

[Murray]

We shall see.
When I said I was in it, all I knew it was a sprint series.
It certainly is. 105 kilometres to me. About 65 miles.

They are trapping very well now, they like the sputnik trap and dive in.
In the spring I am going to have to toss them many times from a short point to ingrain the drop and trap thing in them. Over and over until they arrive and drop on the call. From those races, doing a couple of laps will lose a race.

Also, they need to learn to come out of the box and go home. The winners of any race, be it 100 kms or 700 kms, are the ones that leave immediately.
While the other thousand pigeons are swirling round 'getting oriented', the winners have hit the track.
It isn't an instinctive behavior, it is taught.

In the mean time, I am using every thing I know to keep these things happy and healthy.

[Trev]

Never knew copper sulphate was a canker treatment, but I suppose having some does not mean your birds have it as some folks use things as preventative rather than a treatment, I know folks who use Turbosole every 3 weeks over here god knows how they get it though!
good luck with your plans mate are your birds moulted through now as you have them on 15 hours dark

Poultry farmers (especially pheasant rearers) use copper sulphate as a prevention/remedy for several different health issues, we used to use use on the dairy farm as a footbath for the Cattle during the winter months while the cows were inside as it hardened the hooves.

[Trev]

We shall see.
When I said I was in it, all I knew it was a sprint series.
It certainly is. 105 kilometres to me. About 65 miles.

They are trapping very well now, they like the sputnik trap and dive in.
In the spring I am going to have to toss them many times from a short point to ingrain the drop and trap thing in them. Over and over until they arrive and drop on the call. From those races, doing a couple of laps will lose a race.

Also, they need to learn to come out of the box and go home. The winners of any race, be it 100 kms or 700 kms, are the ones that leave immediately.
While the other thousand pigeons are swirling round 'getting oriented', the winners have hit the track.
It isn't an instinctive behavior, it is taught.

In the mean time, I am using every thing I know to keep these things happy and healthy.

It sounds like you've covered all the bases mate, the season can be over before it starts if the preparation isn't right.
Good luck Muzza, I look forward to seeing how your season goes mate

[Murray]

Quite agree, Trev.
I have told the story before about the time I was on the beach one morning in New Zealand.
There was a liberation a few miles south of me, and I saw them heading along the plantation behind the sand dunes.
After just a few miles, there was a small bunch heading north at high speed. They had obviously cleared straight from the liberation. The winners would have been among them. A quarter of a mile behind was the main drag, several hundred pigeons in a bunch.
Then there were ones and twos dropping off for another half a mile. Those pigeons were obviously unwell or totally unprepared. The chances of them flying across the water between the two islands would have been nil. The chance of them flying 150 miles to the strait were nil.
That was an image that has stuck with me.
Within a couple of minutes the race had taken shape. The leaders were leading, the followers were following, the ones that would be lost, were already lost.
Interesting.