Gentleman I have been playing or experimenting with feed god knows since when, I've recently conducted a mixture I am tempted to race on this season for sprinting only. It is very rich in carbohydrates and fats, however low in protein and very easily digestible. I am a big believer in protein should be used on return from racing, maples 100% will be offered to the birds on return and 3 feeds afterwards for repairing the muscles and recovery and then onto the mixture below, opinions would be accepted good or bad, however I feel it offers a wide range and choice of grains The maples I get come from a farm, in which the odd tic beans are mixed amongst them, so which I stated 100% maples wasn't in fact true now thinking about it probably 90% maples 10% tic beans. But they are very clean and the grain is good quality otherwise it wouldn't be offered to the birds.
When I feed the birds this maples and tic beans mix, they get this as much as they want to they no longer eat any then this feed will be removed, however every time it is offered to them the hooper will be full. Monday evening is when things start to become tweaked, they no longer get what I call a full stomach and the food then becomes measured but all feeding is done in the hopper never in the box. They only thing the birds receive in there box is any treat seeds usually a 3 finger pinch, which is present already in there boxes, before the doors are opened, this has always coated in aniseed oil, the birds crave it, and as we race to open doors encourages the cock or hen to trap straight to her box as they know a reward is waiting for them.
Regarding a build up, a few years ago this was common practice not for us but for many, however we feel there is no need to build the birds up unless the birds are getting up the road abit basically anything over 230 miles. Upto this distance we feed a measure but because we feed it in the hopper we can not assure each pigeon is getting a certain measure. However the reason we do feed on the hopper is for our birds to be communal, I've done feeding cocks in a box, racing cocks boxed and we find them too aggressive in the baskets and we prefere nowadays to send the birds calm. However I thought has been going on my head to feed a section in the boxes and only introduce a hopper feed on a Friday day of basketing to maybe cause a form of motivation but my minds playing with that idea at the moment.
This mix will only be used on one section to compare any differences