The following article submitted by Bill Hatcher of Galaxy Lofts. Bill is a very successful breeder and flyer
of racing homers and owner of the Winners Cup USA One Loft Futurity Race. Bill believes that the most
important time of a pigeons development is prior to the first egg being laid and the first thirty days after
hatching.
of racing homers and owner of the Winners Cup USA One Loft Futurity Race. Bill believes that the most
important time of a pigeons development is prior to the first egg being laid and the first thirty days after
hatching.
Nest Nutrition Quality In . . . Quality Out
Through a lot of experimentation, we have found the very best babies were produced giving
optimum performance when fed a super high protein pellet in conjunction with their grain diet.
We feel that champions are made before the egg is even laid and equally as important during
the first 10 days after hatching. All birds raised by us are fed the best possible diet containing
this specialized pellet. Its "Purina Aquamax 500" trout pellet....with a protein content that's nearly
40%.
The round dark brown, nearly black pellet is the size of a small maple pea and easily eaten by
the birds.....the "500" is the size, anything else may be too big. We free feed it in a separate
container to the breeders during the egg cycle and prior to breeding for 30 days. We feed it in
with their grains at the rate of 10%.....you will then take note that there will be no ' fret ' marks on
the babies at weaning time.
It costs money and time to provide our breeders with supplements. What I don't understand is
how anyone could possibly think that grain alone can be good enough to develope our future
racers in the nest. I like to look at the entire breeding process as an investment. The time and
effort plus the money spent divided by the end results.
The breeders in our loft have laid and now the eggs are starting to pip. We not only have the
Aquamax 500 pellet mixed into our grain feed but liquid vitamins in the water as well. I like to
use the VanVitam product by VanHee, a personal preference. At this time we also like to once
again add calcium to the water with the product "Fertibol". The breeders had it prior to egg
laying and now once again as the babies pip and hatch.
Here is what we have up to the hatching stage :
Liquid vitamins
Fertibol in the water
Aquamax 500 pellets mixed with grain
Now we add another supplement to the grain mix. Its called "Emerald Greens" powder.
Its a complete mix of vegetable matter but primarily is spirulina. We either put some fine oil on
the bucket of grain mix and sprinkle it on, coating all grains nicely. Other times we have just
used a little water to moisturize the grain so the powder will stick. We mix enough so that we
have two feedings, am and pm. Recently I have found another source at a great price in generic
form for Emerald Greens.
You can read about it by going to their website...emeraldgreens.com...... if you go to
www.vitacost.com and then type in spirulina scroll down and find it in the 1lb. Container
(powder) and at that price you will reap a super deal....... This is a whole food within itself. I also
use it and give it in tablet form to my children daily.
Check the "links" and you will see "vitacost.com'". I have recently ordered the Lecithin in large
bottles for dirt cheap price. The beauty of this online vitamin store is that the prices are super
and the shipping is capped at 4.99! We will be using the Lecithin as our adhesion source for all
the health related powdered additives that we use. If there is something in particular you need,
just type it in the search box and it will come up for you. You cant go wrong with their
prices..............Oh yes, we ordered brewers yeast as well because with that $4.99 max shipping
cap we may as well order all the "heavy" items that normally drive the cost of shipping up on
regular orders.
We will keep this regiment of feeding noting how much Aquamax the breeders are leaving in the
cups. We increase it at hatching and start decreasing the percentage at about 10 days of age
but watch and be alert as the breeders themselves will tell you when they start feeding less of it
to the babies.
Make sure the spirulina is given to the babies on grain for the first 10 days . After that you can
switch to twice a week until weaning time. We never stop the liquid vitamins until they are out of
the nest and then we can back off somewhat.
Remember : Quality In . . . Quality Out.
www.galaxyloft.com
www.winnerscupusa.com
Through a lot of experimentation, we have found the very best babies were produced giving
optimum performance when fed a super high protein pellet in conjunction with their grain diet.
We feel that champions are made before the egg is even laid and equally as important during
the first 10 days after hatching. All birds raised by us are fed the best possible diet containing
this specialized pellet. Its "Purina Aquamax 500" trout pellet....with a protein content that's nearly
40%.
The round dark brown, nearly black pellet is the size of a small maple pea and easily eaten by
the birds.....the "500" is the size, anything else may be too big. We free feed it in a separate
container to the breeders during the egg cycle and prior to breeding for 30 days. We feed it in
with their grains at the rate of 10%.....you will then take note that there will be no ' fret ' marks on
the babies at weaning time.
It costs money and time to provide our breeders with supplements. What I don't understand is
how anyone could possibly think that grain alone can be good enough to develope our future
racers in the nest. I like to look at the entire breeding process as an investment. The time and
effort plus the money spent divided by the end results.
The breeders in our loft have laid and now the eggs are starting to pip. We not only have the
Aquamax 500 pellet mixed into our grain feed but liquid vitamins in the water as well. I like to
use the VanVitam product by VanHee, a personal preference. At this time we also like to once
again add calcium to the water with the product "Fertibol". The breeders had it prior to egg
laying and now once again as the babies pip and hatch.
Here is what we have up to the hatching stage :
Liquid vitamins
Fertibol in the water
Aquamax 500 pellets mixed with grain
Now we add another supplement to the grain mix. Its called "Emerald Greens" powder.
Its a complete mix of vegetable matter but primarily is spirulina. We either put some fine oil on
the bucket of grain mix and sprinkle it on, coating all grains nicely. Other times we have just
used a little water to moisturize the grain so the powder will stick. We mix enough so that we
have two feedings, am and pm. Recently I have found another source at a great price in generic
form for Emerald Greens.
You can read about it by going to their website...emeraldgreens.com...... if you go to
www.vitacost.com and then type in spirulina scroll down and find it in the 1lb. Container
(powder) and at that price you will reap a super deal....... This is a whole food within itself. I also
use it and give it in tablet form to my children daily.
Check the "links" and you will see "vitacost.com'". I have recently ordered the Lecithin in large
bottles for dirt cheap price. The beauty of this online vitamin store is that the prices are super
and the shipping is capped at 4.99! We will be using the Lecithin as our adhesion source for all
the health related powdered additives that we use. If there is something in particular you need,
just type it in the search box and it will come up for you. You cant go wrong with their
prices..............Oh yes, we ordered brewers yeast as well because with that $4.99 max shipping
cap we may as well order all the "heavy" items that normally drive the cost of shipping up on
regular orders.
We will keep this regiment of feeding noting how much Aquamax the breeders are leaving in the
cups. We increase it at hatching and start decreasing the percentage at about 10 days of age
but watch and be alert as the breeders themselves will tell you when they start feeding less of it
to the babies.
Make sure the spirulina is given to the babies on grain for the first 10 days . After that you can
switch to twice a week until weaning time. We never stop the liquid vitamins until they are out of
the nest and then we can back off somewhat.
Remember : Quality In . . . Quality Out.
www.galaxyloft.com
www.winnerscupusa.com
| Nest Nutrition |
| If you would like to submit an article for publication to our club site . . . Email to: admin@saddlehomersusa.org |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |