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NOVICES SOCIAL CIRCLE

(Otherwise known as - CLIMBING EVEREST WITH SPINKSY)

Welcome back lads and lassies and I hope you all had a good moult over the winter period. Now that spring is rapidly approaching all attentions will be turned towards leaving the interim camp and beginning our assault upon the peak.There are routes that have been previously accomplished with success but all have common factors - dedication of the climber, fortitude of character, the single minded will to succeed and the right equipment to complete the task without undue wear! If you have been following the outline plan of the previous climbs from base camp to our present position on the mountain, several things should have become apparent - (1) there is no such thing as natural racing (2) he who knows most tricks survives the avalanche and takes most prizes (3) a small team of quality climbers can easily beat a mob of Sunday fell walkers (4) you now have belief in both your teams ability and that of yourself! If you have not discovered this by now, then once again - clear off and don't pester me because the only mountain that you are likely to conquer will be a molehill or my name isn't Louby Lou!

The best amongst you will already by now be mentally tuned for the coming season, you have heard your pigeons talk, you have learned to read the signs of fitness and you now only have the cream of the previous seasons racing or breeding within your loft. Ideally the 1997 team should consist of at least 60%yearlings, 30% two years old and the remaining 10 % being only proven older winners or breeders of winners. Unfortunately the face of Everest is unrelenting in its toll of unsuited candidates - only the young, strong or previously proven may remain to make this climb. Remember Sunshine, I am leading a small team from a 18' x 6', two compartment bivouac so absolutely no room for passengers or part-timers! For the small team youth is given priority over age and varying experience is included to cover eventualities! A small team fancier cannot afford to carry any old age pensioners, so always select from the top downwards without fear nor favour. It is a hard thing to do I know but, it is the only way if one wishes to succeed upon a regular basis. Last season several of you found success with the two section semi widowhood system, others continued naturally but using some of the motivational tricks, others found success for the very firs ttime racing young birds and I congratulate each of you.However; one swallow doth not a summer make - your success has now to be repeated and don't think for one moment that it gets easier from here on in, because it most certainly doesn't!

Tom, Dick & Harry have been watching you and now they want some of the action. Being astute fanciers they also are making preparations and have no intentions of letting you beat them this year. I promised to gently ease you over to the Widowhood System and those of you who followed the "Two section Meat Safe System"should find the transition easy. This need not necessarily exclude those of you who stuck to natural ways but, you have missed the opportunity of being able to assess the best widowhood candidates. The two section system would have placed them before your very eyes and the transition would have been easy. Widowhood can be simple or it can be extremely frustrating as any top exponent will tell you - not all pigeons will take to the system. Several strange things occur, pigeons may come rapidly into form and just as rapidly go off form. Some pigeons will be over excitable, over active, fretful or just will not eat sufficient to maintain racing weight. Some may arrive at break neck speed in early races and yet be lost, never to return from less than 200 miles and these could be previously good performers and a loss of strength to the loft. It takes a little time for the new system to suit both birds and fanciers until the system evolves into a suitable regular routine. Once this occurs then widowhood is the easiest and best method known to man and may be used right through the programme until the penultimate or final race.

There are several decisions that the small team fancier has to make (1) the distances at which one wishes to compete (2) the number of young one wishes to breed (3) what to do with the hen pigeons (4) when to exercise (5) when to train (6) how often to race (7) when to adjust the feeding (very important if one wishes to compete from the farthest points) Those of you who were brave enough and intelligent enough to have followed the two section system will have realised the point of it by now. Feeding is important - the heavy feeding allowed you to race birds upon natural, round about and semi widowhood simultaneously within the confines of a small loft housing twenty old pigeons whilst learning their best characteristics. The transition to young bird feeding gave you the base for widowhood, whilst the pairing of young to old and motivational tricks provided the basis of the widowhood system where both cocks and hens may be raced without wasting half of your team! The old man of the mountain isn't quite as senile as some would have you think and yes we are going to conquer Everest by racing all of our birds, both sexes! The only difference in the system this year will be in the treatment of the cock pigeons, some of the cute amongst you will have figured it out for yourselves and done these things without being told. You are my kind of mountaineer and able to survey the horizon at a glance then act accordingly, but others have to be told just when to tick and when to tock, however they too will get there in the end.

All widowhood systems are based around crucial pairing times ie.90 days prior to the first race mid April.This system is not much different in that fact, but, it is geared towards full competition from beginning to end of season.Our 90days is calculated from pairing until competition in races that suit our loft location. There is absolutely no point in trying to win sprint races if ones loft location is not favoured in these; never mind what anybody else tells you; loft position plays a major roll in normal racing weather and may only be altered by the wind. So if you are in a favourable position for sprinting then pair your birds 90 days before the first race, don't read on any further, buy yourself a video and good luck!

Now then lads and lassies we will assume that the main reason for your previous lackof success was because you were attempting to compete in races against the odds and these need to be equalised! We are going to forget about 90 days and pair our birds between the last week in January and mid February, whichever date chosen all birds must be nesting together.The actual timing isn't crucial if one wishes to race the longer distances, it is what we do in between that matters. Each pair may rear a nest of one or two young, if any eggs are clear then allow the birds to rear a surrogate youngster from those pairs with two in the pan. Rearing is necessary, it bonds the birds to the boxes, particularly the yearlings. At 18-20 days of age the nestlings will all be weaned along with their mothers into the other section; the cocks are now on widowhood and will not see the hens again until 2 weeks before racing.We will not be re pairing them and they will be exercised upon the roundabout system - out from one section - in at the other. The hens and young as they grow will exercise in exactly the same manner up until racing and all pigeons young or old will be fed communally whilst being excluded totally from the boxes. The cock pigeons will be fed individually in their boxes with the nesting section closed off and they should line up like soldiers awaiting your attention and displaying domination of personal territory.

The feeding for all birds at this time will consist of depurative after morning exercise; top quality mixture each evening. This could be Bamfords Arrow Mix consisting of popcorn maize, maple, dun, yellow & blue peas, tares, milo, dari, safflower, mung beans, wheat & peanuts, or any similar quality mixture Don't get your fet bogged down into the 'designer name' mixture bull crap - nice looking mixtures are made to catch the fancier - not the pigeon! Don't forget your seed mixture, tonics, etc. from previous articles, Cytacon B12 vit Thursday, Croston Bottle Sunday. Winners are raced on every mixture under the sun and just as many are raced upon nothing but beans! So forget the crap that Tom, Dick and Hary talk! The cock pigeons should be fed as much as they will eat at every meal and when fed in this manner will exercise freely with zest. The hens and young must be under control half - oz depurative mornings, slightly less than 1oz each evening; enough for young to thrive but maintain your control. Fourteen days before racing commences the cocks must be conditioned mentally into racing to the box. Training begins at this time for ten days, 10, 20, 30 miles in exactly the same manner as described in previous articles for youngsters.Upon arrival home they must find the hen inside their box and quickly learn to trap directly into their boxes. This is all of the training that they should need and are exercised around home for the final four days, seeing their mates upon basket night if required or race arrival only - different motivation keeps them alert and too much sight of hen can make them clap around at home on race day, so play it by ear and observation. Now there are reasons for exercising the hens (1) it keeps them fit and amorous (2) they will also make up the race team.The cocks cannot be kept continually at a high peak week in, week out and benefit from a three weekly rest. This allows the hens to be raced from 100 miles, 160miles and 240miles then prepared for the longer races.Three races is usually sufficient to have hen pigeons fit for big jumps into the distance and may be kept in short training along with the young birds. It also helps to prevent them from pairing with each other, all attention must be centred upon the cock bird and the nestbox.

This is where the boxes used in the two section system come in useful - once the hens show any sign of pairing with each other or young, then they can be confined and watered in their boxes after daily exercise. The young can occupy the additional perches in that section (remember these from last year?) Now I will deal with exercise because I know that you all panic over this - the cocks are given their freedom for one hour at each session with all doors, windows, traps etc closed. Once these are opened the cocks will dive out of the sky to get inside and this becomes their conditioned signal to trap immediately. It is simplicity itself - doors closed for exercise - open signal to trap! Early season the cock birds will fly for the hour with relish, as it progresses this becomes half of an hour, don't worry, keep the doors closed and they will continue to strike up at every passing sparrow or shadow, it will not affect their fitness in anyway as they gradually tighten up with racing activity. Saturday and Sunday post racing feed depurative only as much as they will eat and then as normal until Friday morning. As the distance increases cut out Sunday morning exercise the rest does them good and don't forget to allow them a bath after race return. Many fanciers remove the hen after a couple of minutes post racing, personally I have never found this to be crucial and often leave them longer. Find what best suits you and your individual birds, a communal bath often perks up both sexes! The hens are slightly different, their feeding must be controlled during the shorter races. Hen pigeons soon put on far too much weight and although feeding shouldn't be skimped it can be a problem. This is why I recommend that the hen birds be kept in regular training along with the youngsters because they tend to be keener than cocks in getting to their boxes and do not strike up so often so may require some flag training. However the young birds will encourage them to fly for a certain amount of time. Rather than have the hens bring the youngsters down it is better to let them trap once any inclination to fly has ceased. This is one problem that large loft fanciers do not have to face, but with a little sense the small team owner can overcome it and there are definite benefits from racing hens as well as cocks.

On this system they do equally as well and very often better than their male counterpart, particularly from the longer races when they a re- paired for the second time. Now most widowhood systems advise that the pigeons should be re-paired and trained two weeks prior to racing. This is to induce the moult and racing form. By not re-pairing the moult and form comes slightly later (make no mistake, nature dictates that the birds will cast flights, re-paired or not) this later arrival of form is advantageous to those who wish to fly the longer races. The second pairing late season increases motivation in both sexes that have benefited from the relief of any stress and will be in the same or better feather and condition than March paired natural system birds. By racing both sexes it gives a team of twenty pigeons and halves the cost of the equivalent all male widowhood team. All birds will be suitable candidates for the entire programme; by working the cocks 3weeks on with 1 weeks rest rota they don't go stale.The hen pigeons have three weeks off and one week on rota, remaining super fit and will safely do all of the distance required. It sounds simple - it is simple, some fanciers over complicate matters or my name isn't Andy Pandy! Good racing in 2001, lets see a few small team fanciers up amongst the winners. One final word - don't be treating for this or the other your birds will rarely need it!

The Novices SocialCircle