Breeding and training of homing pigeons ⅰ. Characteristics and habits of homing pigeons
Carrier pigeons are divided into pigeon species, birds, pigeon families, pigeon orders, hatching classes and vertebrates.
Carrier pigeons and other kinds of pigeons belong to birds. There are some similar characteristics. At first glance, the appearance is similar to the coat color. Feathers are usually gray, black, white and crimson, but most of them are mixed colors.
Most pigeons have similar mouths and claws and purple legs. Adult pigeons all have nasal tumors, and the nasal tumors of pigeons over ten years old are darker and slightly rough. Pigeons are strictly monogamous
The optimum environmental temperature for homing pigeons is 13℃~25℃ and the relative humidity is 60%. Of course, homing pigeons are relatively strong animals, which are relatively frost-resistant, but they are afraid of heat, so attention should be paid to the design and construction of pigeon houses. Carrier pigeons have strong homing ability and strong ability to distinguish directions; This is different from ornamental pigeons and meat pigeons, and has some similar characteristics with migratory birds. Their flight endurance and flight distance are very long. No matter how they fly over Qian Shan, they will eventually fly back to their homes. In the big family of pigeons, there is also an ornamental pigeon, which is mainly for people to watch and has good flying ability, but its homing is far less than that of homing pigeons.
They have beautiful feathers, many varieties and strange shapes. Breeding in China has a longer history than carrier pigeon breeding. Another kind of pigeon is a meat pigeon, which is for human consumption. Its taste is delicious and its nutritional value is high, so it is the top grade in food. After introducing the general characteristics of homing pigeons, let's take a look at how to identify excellent homing pigeons. The main purpose of raising homing pigeons is to get good results in Jingxiang competition.
Raising homing pigeons pays more attention to individual quality. Therefore, it is particularly important to learn to identify a good homing pigeon.
Although excellent homing pigeons can not be separated from excellent pedigree, it is also very important to grasp their external characteristics. Let's first look at the external characteristics that a good homing pigeon should have.
Second, the appearance characteristics of excellent homing pigeons
An excellent homing pigeon weighs about 500 grams on average in adulthood. Let's take the famous homing pigeon of Belgian Zhan Sen origin as an example.
Its parts are well proportioned, the length of the mouth is moderate, the nose tumor is close to the bridge of the nose, the eyes are bright, the legs and feet are strong, and there is no leg hair. When standing, it is vigorous and stretched, and the tail feather is parallel to the ground, which is similar to an isosceles triangle. This is a general observation of homing pigeons.
In order to identify from the details, let's first understand his body structure, which is divided into head, chest, arm feathers, tail feathers and leg feathers. The head includes:
Head shape
The head of homing pigeon is the command center of homing pigeon action. A homing pigeon should have a round and big head, thin feathers and a short neck. Thereby reducing resistance and increasing endurance.
head
A good carrier pigeon should have a compact, long and flat nose. The white material covered on the nose is a nasal tumor, preferably a large one.
eye
Speaking of carrier pigeon eyes, this is what carrier pigeon lovers say the most. The relationship between pigeon eye structure and flying ability is really different. Years of pigeon breeding experience shows that pigeon eyes are the concentrated expression of carrier pigeons' health.
Briefly introduce the characteristics of pigeon eyes: this is pigeon eye sand. The main color of eye sand is yellow, which is chicken yellow eye, also called yellow eye. The main color is pink, which is called trachoma, and the eye mark is a circle of shadows outside the pupil. Some can completely surround the pupil, and some can surround half a circle. Its colors are green, black and yellow. Might as well do a whole circle. The wider the width, the better.
When selecting excellent racing pigeons, no matter what color, its eyes must be bright, dense, three-dimensional and shiny.
Bangyu
Carrier pigeons have main feathers and auxiliary feathers, and excellent carrier pigeons have powerful wings. When the carrier feathers are pulled away, you will feel that they contract strongly and are elastic. The main feather should be symmetrical, with the eighth, ninth and tenth feathers slightly longer and the tip slightly narrower. In this way, the gap between the feather tips is large, the airflow is easy to pass, and the flight resistance is small. The wig of the auxiliary feather should be large, soft and shiny.
Body feather
A good homing pigeon's feathers should be tight and shiny. In this way, the resistance in flight is small, especially in bad weather, and a feather with high height and good quality is more important.
prothorax
The chest must be plump and flat. Generally speaking, homing pigeons with wide chests are more aggressive and more suitable for short-distance flights around 500 kilometers, while homing pigeons with narrow chests have strong endurance and are more suitable for long-distance flights over 800 kilometers. Of course, width and narrowness are relative.
tail feather
The tail feathers of homing pigeons are like the rudder of a ship, which is used to grasp the direction. This is similar to the tail feathers of other birds. Whether taking off, gliding in the air, landing, etc. It is the tail feather that plays a role. It's best to tilt the tail slightly downward, and don't choose pigeons with upturned tails. The ideal tail feather is about 2 cm longer than the main feather and 3 cm wider than the tail feather strip.
leg
Carrier pigeons fly with their legs clamped in the tail, which is similar to other birds' flying posture. Generally speaking, the legs of homing pigeons should not be too long, and they should be strong. Here we know the habits of homing pigeons and the characteristics of identifying excellent homing pigeons. So, what preparations do you need to make to raise homing pigeons?
Third, the preparation work before feeding
(1) Select the location of the pigeon house.
The environment of the pigeon house must be quiet. You see, this environment is suitable for homing pigeons to breed and live. If the environment is too noisy, the disturbed homing pigeons will not return to their nests. He would rather live under the eaves. The pigsty should be ventilated to the sun, warm in winter and cool in summer.
(2) Pigeonhouses and Bird's Nest
The structure of the pigeon house is generally a sun shed in front and a nest room in the back, that is, the front end of the pigeon house is a grid structure, which is used for the flight activities of pigeons, convenient for ventilation, eating, bathing and sunbathing, and also takes into account the characteristics that homing pigeons are afraid of heat. Behind the pigeon house is the nest room, and there is generally a veranda for homing pigeons to rest and breed. The form of its nest room changes with different growth stages. There is a pair, usually in the form of a nest door, with a partition in the middle and a small door on it; There are pigeons to brood, and there are nests and pots for them to lay eggs and hatch them; There is a perch for young pigeons to rest on high. Arranging different nests for homing pigeons at different growth stages has an important influence on improving the breeding quality of homing pigeons.
The pre-competition management of homing pigeons participates in short-distance races, regardless of pedigree. The most important thing is how to keep homing pigeons in a state suitable for flying and have strong flying ability (including flying desire). Many professional pigeon racing athletes rely on high-intensity private training and drugs (tonics, hormones, etc. ) to achieve this goal. We can't do it, and we certainly don't advocate it. As an ordinary pigeon breeder (working class), sometimes it is not bad to change a method that suits you. Let's talk about my practice.
Pigeons participating in short-distance races must not be fed, which is the key. Pigeons that are full all day can't fly well. In normal feeding, I usually feed a pigeon with about 30-35 grams of feed every day, which is about 7 points of the total daily demand of a pigeon. it is quite easy to do so. Count how many racing pigeons you have, find a weighing tool, weigh your total feed demand every day, find a container with the right size, weigh it, put it in, remember the position, and adjust it slightly with the increase or decrease of pigeon number in the future.
Because the working hours of the working class are sometimes not fixed, the frequency of breastfeeding can be adjusted personally. If you feed in the morning and evening, don't feed too much in the morning meal, and generally keep it at 1/3- 1/5. Let the pigeons starve for a day. You can feed it directly. But in any case, the total amount of feeding should not exceed, and the time must be kept relatively fixed. Before feeding, send a fixed signal to eat according to personal preference.
Pigeons live on food. Through proper starvation, the metabolism of pigeons is accelerated, and the working ability of internal organs is also exercised, and the physical quality is improved. It can also indirectly stimulate the secretion of adrenaline and improve the flying desire of racing pigeons.
Eating control is the key to participating in short distance races. It is necessary to ensure that after the pigeons flying at home come down, if more than 5 pigeons can be entered at the same time, the time to enter the shed should not exceed 30 seconds at the latest, taking 50 pigeons as a reference. Some pigeons are playing on the top of the shed and slowly enter the shed, unable to eat. Do not add any more. Hungry a few times, bad habits will change. Once you get into this habit, you won't lose time because pigeons enter the shed slowly when ringing the bell.
Pigeons don't need to be fed well for normal reproduction. Feed is mainly corn, rice, sorghum and barley, and protein and fat feed can be used as auxiliary additives, not too much. This not only reduces the cost of pigeon breeding, but also paves the way for further adjustment before the game.
Before the race, homing pigeons will be nursed back to normal seasons. About a week before the official competition, the pigeon's feed should not change much, because the working class has no conditions to carry out private intensive training and follow the pigeon club step by step, so the pigeon's physical fitness will not be greatly affected.
Under normal circumstances, there is usually an interval of about a week from the end of the last training of the pigeon club to the official collection of pigeons. In the first three days, the pigeon's feed can be slightly changed. In the morning, you should still feed with daily light feed, and you can add some energy components to the feed at night. Working pigeon lovers don't have to make it too complicated. Mix corn, pea, safflower seed and hemp seed according to the ratio of 3:2: 1 to form energy feed, and add it properly at dinner. However, the feeding amount of the whole feed is still subject to 7 minutes full. While feeding energy feed, we should extend the flight time of racing pigeons home as much as possible, promote the energy conversion of racing pigeons, and gradually increase their physical strength and emotional peak.
Other drugs are not needed, and the respiratory tract of racing pigeons must be cleaned 2 ~ 3 days after the last training. Don't buy expensive pigeon medicine. Pigeon racing drugs produced by regular manufacturers in the market are generally acceptable. At this stage, it is recommended not to use human medicine and poultry medicine. It's not that I can't, mainly because the dose is not easy to master. Once the dosage is too large, it will produce toxic and side effects, which can not be eliminated and recovered in a short time, which has a great impact on the homing pigeons in the competition. It is suggested that liver essence or electrolyte should be given for 1 ~ 2 days after respiratory medication to eliminate drug toxicity and reduce stress reaction of racing pigeons. The working class can also use vegetables (celery, green vegetables, etc. , but not spinach) juice, and then mix it with water to feed them. The effect of expelling poison is not bad, and the cost can be reduced.