Mick waterhouse a prominent english pigeon fancier sent me his darkness racing system.
The light system for racing pigeons.
From 4 00pm to 8 00am.
The importance of his pre breeding program is to insure optimum fertility and for the reproduction of healthy young birds.
Keep the basket light.
Because it takes about 6 months before ybs complete their moult on the wings you need to breed early youngsters.
For yb races starting in august put your birds together in end of november by january 1st you are ready to band.
The birds will be in lightness for about 15 hours you can buy n automatic switch so it will.
If you are a fancier regularly racing your pigeons you.
The darkening system uses the deprivation of light to also trick the birds into maturing differently.
The birds wake to a natural sunrise but i turn lights on in the coop with a timer and then shut them off at 10 00 p m.
Adjust to suit work but keep daylight hours to eight remove all light sources from the loft by using shutters curtains etc.
Darkening system pre and post race season adding light two weeks before the first race i make another change and put the birds on sixteen hours of light.
Get tips and tricks to help you start out the right way in this rewarding sport.
While you need to train the racing pigeons from a young age do not overwork them.
The light system of racing young birds.
Long hard flights are a strict no if you want them to perform later in life.
Give them time to mature physically before putting a routine strain on them.
A health program prior to breeding is followed.
Give the young ones time.
The lighting system uses artificial light to increase the amount of daylight to trick the birds biological clock into making them mature faster.
This system usually requires pulling the 9th and 10th flight feathers.
When the nights start to draw in around the 2nd or 3rd week in august put a light in the young bird loft and have it on from about 6 30pm until about 10 15pm.
Adding light two weeks before the first race i make another change and put the birds on sixteen hours of light.
Discover the amazing world of pigeon racing and the secret life of racing pigeons.