GRIST MILL FOR THE NOVICE

 

                                                SYLVAN LOFTS

 

                                                   JOHN MARLES

 

   

 

     Over the years I have listened to or participated in many, many  "pigeon" conversations. The gist or basis of these conversations I feel could provide for some meaningful dialogue for novice fanciers to ponder. I receive many calls throughout the year from novices who in '95 still encounter concrete walls when asking for information from fellow club mates. Why? We definitely are our own worst enemy when it comes to the sharing of information. We seem to guard it at all costs- even when it comes to novices trying to get a foothold in the sport. Why? I have heard many excuses, none of which makes any sense to me on any level. 

 

 

The following anecdote should address one of the major pitfalls  that fanciers tend to fall into-- that of overcrowding. This is a fairly accurate account of our conversation. A local fancier dropped over to my house about the middle of June. His name, Mario Scala.

 

 

Mario-  Well this ends my young bird season!

 

John-   I don't quite understand. We have not even started racing yet. Explain what you mean?

 

Mario-  I let my young birds out the other morning and they just disappeared. I got only eight back last night. This is the worst fly away I have ever had.

 

John-  Well, can you give me some more information? How many young birds did you have? Do you still have the same loft or have you altered it in any way?

 

Mario- I had about 90 youngsters in the loft, but they have a big aviary and there's lots of room in the loft. They looked really healthy. I just don't understand it.

 

John- If I remember correctly your loft is approximately five feet by twelve. You must have added some perches in the loft since I was last there. Also, I remember you having about 30 young birds in the loft when I visited a couple of years ago.

 

Mario- Well, I added some perches and since I'm also trying some new imports I decided to take some more youngsters from them to see if they are any good. I also added a big aviary so they have lots of room and I'm sure the air is good. I also added a couple of feet to the loft.

 

John-  You will probably have one of your BEST seasons ever if you decide to race with the eight or nine young birds you have left.

 

Mario- How can you say this? You're crazy!!! I don't have enough pigeons to race!

One bad race and I will be out. Harry has sixty left, Frank has about seventy, Cliff about sixty  and you want me to race against them with about ten young birds. You are mad!! I don't want to go down the road training only a few birds. You need a lot of birds to compete in our club. You know how stiff the competition is in young birds. With so very few birds I will be last every week.

 

 

 

 

Well.... Mario eventually got back a total of twelve youngsters to race. He then decided that he would partake in the first few races just to see how he would do.......Well, you've probably already guessed that he did extremely well. He actually finished the year with his best results ever. I can recall visiting him during the season and the condition and overall health of those youngsters was a joy to behold. They were in excellent physical shape. They actually glowed with health. All the colours on the birds seemed darker and richer. The bars and checker patterns on the birds were bold and deep, almost like they had been oil painted. In the hand, they were buoyant and yet gave the impression of being inflated. The breast muscles were swollen, pink, clean and almost seemed wet to the touch. The skin on the breast was very translucent and extremely thin. The wattles were chalk like and when they dipped their beak in to take a drink there was a little powder that came off into the water.An inspection of the mouth revealed a beautiful shade of pink.( no strings, mucous etc) The palate was also clean and pink. After their bath there was a nice layer of powder floating on the top suggesting top health.  Yes, it was very difficult to beat these twelve birds that year. So, you ask was there a lesson to be learned from all of this???   Well , the next year in June, I had the occasion of dropping over to see Mario and look at his new crop of youngsters.

 

............Dear reader you were right again, he had eighty-five  youngsters in the same loft, the same as last year. Were they healthy? In a word NO! A quick glance at the inmates in the overcrowded aviary revealed wattles that were definitely not right.

 

The following is a brief summation of our conversation.

 

Mario-  Well.... how do you like this year's new crop? I'm going to do better this year than I did last year. Just look at those youngsters...... Well?   What do you think?

 

John- Would you let me handle a few youngsters?

 

Mario- Certainly!

 

Upon inspection I could quickly tell that the feathering was definitely poor. It was dry and there was very little evidence in the loft of any down feathers. The droppings in the loft were matted and the feet of the birds were not super clean. Droppings could be seen sticking to some of the birds' feet. The body on the birds that I inspected was also poor. All birds that I handled were scaly underneath and the skin was a blue colour. Then I took a close look at the wattles. The wattles were ever so slightly off in colour and directly under the nostrils the beak had a rather moist look to it. Normally, the beak should be covered with white powder( bloom) especially right under the nose opening. I observed a few birds taking a drink and not one of them shed any white powder into

the water. When a healthy bird takes a drink it will always disperse into the water a little white powder that will float on the water. You must look very closely to see it. I am sure that if these birds took a bath there would not be any bloom on top of the water. He allowed me to check the birds' mouths  and I found that the colour was off    ( variations from slightly red to very red) and that there were strings of mucous extending from the top of the mouth to the bottom on some of the birds suggesting trichomoniasis.

 

John- I believe that the birds have a respiratory problem.

 

Mario- That's nothing . I have something from Holland that will cure that in a hurry. My brother-in-law picked it up when he was there and said it would cure respiratory.

 

 

John- What antibiotic is this?

 

He was very reluctant to tell me , but after awhile he showed me a bottle of Baytril. I explained that Baytril has been used for many years, but it would not turn these birds around. I explained that the source of the problem was the same as last years, that of over crowding. He didn't think so. He used the Baytril on the pigeons and after the first few races he was back paying me another visit. He could not understand why he was doing so poorly in the races. That year was one of his worst.

 

I tried to explain that the antibiotic would never correct the problem and that he had to get to the source of the problem which was too many birds in too small of a loft. He had a terrible year racing and since he was still on a high from the last year's results he really didn't seem to mind his recent poor performance.  

 

During the winter I get asked to judge at different shows around the Toronto area. It was at one of these shows that I saw Mario again. I asked him how his birds were doing and he told me that he was looking forward to next year. I asked him how many youngsters he was going to breed. I was astonished when he told me eighty. He quickly added that he was going to increase the ventilation in his young bird loft and that everything would be all right....... .....What do you think?  

 

This series of conversations is meant to merely raise some issues and concerns that I see in the sport and hopefully novice fanciers will give some thought to one of the largest problems that I see in this sport. OVERCROWDING

 

 

As further support the following anecdotes might be of interest:

 

'94-V & W Vahle ( Up North Combine) father and son partnership lost a large percentage of their young birds before the first race and went on to finish a fantastic young bird season.     

 

 

 

'95- K & L Foster started the young bird season with 45 young birds in a loft about 28 feet long. They lost more than half at the first race. With the remaining 16 they won FIRST AVERAGE SPEED UP NORTH COMBINE  with 130 members.

 

'94- C. Jones ( North Wings R.P.C. 35 members) shipped about 60 young birds to the first double race of the season. Both turned out to be very hard. He lost about half of the birds. He flew the remaining 30 birds and had the best season I can ever remember him having.

 

'95 - O.Roth ( North Wings R.P.C. 35 members) due to the poisoning of most of his young birds obtained a few from Sylvan lofts and flew approximately 20 young birds. He ended up second overall in Toronto Federation in young birds.

 

How Does Overcrowding Affect Your Birds?

 

Every loft depending on size, design, roof structure, ventilation system, windows, direct or indirect sunlight, vegetation in close proximity to the loft  etc. has an ideal maximum number of birds that it will hold. Due to the number of variables I have just listed I do not believe in sweeping statements as to the ideal number of birds a loft will hold based solely on cubic feet. Once the number of birds surpasses the ideal number then the entire balance is upset. The bird's body chemistry seems to be setback and therefore becomes vulnerable to disease. Crowded plants fight for survival on the forest floor and give off certain toxins into the soil which are harmful to the other plants and in this way they compete for their survival. All animals are similar. How do you find the optimal number for your own loft? Observation!! For example, I have a section in my loft which is 4 feet by 6 feet with two aviaries extending from it. There are two large windows on two sides ( one faces south and the other west -- both windows are operable) and a long skylight. The loft faces south and there is ventilation via the roof which slopes to the back. If I place more than 12 birds in this section then I know from experience that I will not get the kind of health and form needed to win in our combine. ( 145 members). I have tried to place 14 to eighteen birds in this space, but on each occasion they did not perform as well as with 10 to 12 birds. This is not to say that they are not healthy, they look good, but they never reach Super Form. When the young birds through overcrowding become stressed they are then open to a primary infection. If left undetected then a secondary infection may get a foot hold. Quite often the primary infection is trichomoniasis ( canker). You will not be able to see it  ( without the use of a microscope ) but it will be there. Then with tricho firmly embedded a secondary infection such as E. Coli, Coccidiosis or Paratyphoid etc will enter. If you had treated for tricho with Emtryl it may have brought it in line for awhile, but if your problem is overcrowding then you really have not addressed the source of the problem. This is why the results of a loft sky rocket when half of the team is eliminated. Fanciers should always be on the look out for those birds who demonstrate stress and they should be culled immediately. How many Registered Champions , Combine Ace birds or multiple winners have you had that ever showed any signs of stress. For myself I have never owned a top racer that was ever sick or that showed signs of stress. How do you know that you are keeping the optimum number of birds for your loft? Your results will be on a level which makes you highly competitive in your area. Will this number remain constant throughout the years? I do not believe it will. For instance the weather can drastically change from one spring or summer to another. ( Very dry, rainy, humid, cold etc.) Also there are other variables such as vegetation growth that is in close proximity to the loft that will greatly affect the loft's performance. The late Bill Gault mentioned that his results seemed to be in a decline and that he wondered what this was due to. He came to the conclusion that a row of trees that were close to the loft had reached a height where they were cutting off sunlight to the loft. Valuable sun's rays were being blocked and therefore the birds could not reach optimum form. He addressed the problem and his results improved greatly.

     I realise that in some ways I have perhaps raised more questions than answers. Such is the nature of this topic and our sport. I strongly feel that our innate competitive nature will always struggle with this topic in our effort to achieve the best results possible. As always if I can ever be of any assistance please feel free to call.

                  Ciao.............John   416 - 267-0895