M. & M. KRAMER

Passion for pigeons!

Method

One day long distance pigeons: classic widowhood

The last three seasons the classic widowhood with cocks and hens was played. This means that there is always a partner at home for both the widowers and the racing hens. Because the efficiency of the hens was disappointing compared to the available time, as of 2018 only widowers will be raced.

Breeding

The breeding pigeons and one loft of widowers are coupled between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The eggs of the breeders are placed under the widowers. Only the best widowers are allowed to raise their own youngsters. Three weeks later this is repeated and the eggs of the breeders are placed at the second loft with widowers. The breeders may raise the 3rd and possibly the 4th round themselves.

When the widowers begin to drift again, the hens are removed before they start to lay. Half of the youngsters go with the hens, the other half is placed on the floor with the widowers as soon as one youngster jumps out of the breeding box.When the youngsters feeding themseleves they move to the young pigeon loft and the cocks are on widowhood.

Start

Two weeks before the first race, the cocks and their partners come together for a weekend and the cocks are trained a couple of times up to 30 km. Then a training race follows and then the first official race. Up to the first long distance flight, the hens will not be showed to the cocks. After the race the cocks may see their hen but not a breeding dish and the breeding box stays on ‘half’.With the one day long distance race, the couples come together before the race. The widowers fly a one-day long distance race every two weeks and do not race in between, but occassionally we bring them away for a training flight. In 2017 this was not done and it suited us well, because the cocks thus remained calm and continued to train well at home.
Up to the middle distance races, the cocks train only once a day in the evening. Usually between 5 and 6 p.m. They are not forced tot train. From the long distance races they train twice a day in the second week. In the morning from 6:30 am to 7:30 am and in the evening from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

Darkening / light

The widowers will be darkened from 1 March until the first week of May. This depends on the date of the first long distance race. About 12 hours a day. The loft is not completely dark, because there is a roof window in the roof where some light shines through. Nevertheless, most widowers have thrown at most three flights during the last long distance race. The lights are on, starting from 21 June from 5.30 am to 10.30 pm with energy-saving lamps.

By-products / medical

Our faith in by-products is minimal. Of course, pigeons can not do without grit (shelfs) and they get a hand grit / minerals every day. I use the vitamin / mineral mix Multilith from DHP and Ostrea grit. In the racing season they get Backs Protein after a tough flight. These are proteins to recover quickly.

In order to get them moulting some down, we use Backs Balance or TKK in the water. Forte Vita or DHP Darba Complete have the same effect, but I only use it in the moulting / winter period if I have it by chance.
Extra eggfood is given during the breeding. They like to eat it so it must be good. In addition to the above, they do not receive extra vitamins.
We treat with medicins when necessay. That does not mean that every week something is done in the water tank or over the feed. Our vision is that every day that you do not have to give medication, it is a day that you come closer to the top forme. Therefore we do not do a standard medicine in the drinking water when returning home. It does mean that the pigeons are closely watched on a daily basis and if there is a threat, the vet is consulted and his advice will be followed. Our regular veterinarians are Hans van der Sluis and Stephan Göbel. For the sake of completeness, when basketing both young and old pigeons get an eye drop from De Weerd. Also we use smoke blocks sometimes when too many pigeons are sneezing (usually only once a year) and the old pigeons get 2 to 3 times per season the SAS (anti-mucus) drops of Travipharma. Against lice we treat with Beaphar.

Youngsters

From the beginning of March, the youngsters get open loft all day long. Before they are released at 7.30 they get food: Matador Super Breeding. In the afternoon around 16.00 Marit calls the youngsters in and feeds them again with Super Breeding. From 1 April they will be darkened. Around 6 o’clock the blinds go down until the next morning at 7:30 a.m. From the beginning of July they will be lightened from 5:30 am to 22:30 pm.
Around mid-May there must be more discipline and the regime changes. The feed is adjusted: 1/3 part Start, 1/3 part Zoontjes and 1/3 part Fly as much as they like, but nothing should remain. The pigeons are released at 7:30 and must go into the loft after the training hour. They train once a day in the morning.The race training starts at the beginning of June. First from the own garden. Then at 3, 8, 17, 30 and 40 km. Before a training race, they must train in the morning to get rid of most energy.
Around mid-June the youngsters will be messing around with each other and training gets worse. For the first race, they are separated and played on the door.
On Wednesday they get a training flight of 40 km. On Friday, the door between the department of the young cocks and hens will be open and they will be allowed to mess around for about an hour, after which basketing will take place. After returning home, they can stay together until Sunday afternoon.