Dear John,
This was my first ever old bird season and my second young bird season. My same old birds who generally held the last place positions in the club and 200th+ in my combine in '04, won 4 club races with the worst place being 9th all season in '05 while flying to their nests. My second season for young bird racing in '05 saw my birds win one club and one combine race, being many times in the top 50 in the club and combine. We ended the season 4th club and 5th combine in the young bird average. In the special races, my birds won $550.00 and in the two division, La Sarre race, we would have won the EOC division had we struck our clock at the same station where we shipped the birds from. But it was a closer drive to the OVC division for strike off and so we lost because of the choice we had made, not the birds. Thank you for making your products.
Here is how I used your products and I saw excellent improvements in my bird's performances. I filled a 10 liter pail 3/4 full of mixed grains to which I added on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday 12 teaspoons of Jed's wheat germ oil. On Wednesday and Thursday I used 12 teaspoons of Natural's garlic oil instead of the wheat germ oil. After stirring the oil in to dampen the feed, I added 12 teaspoons of your CTL Health Blend #3 brown powder. Then I sprinkled on 1 tablespoon of Natural's brewers yeast. I mixed the feed well and let it dry approximately 15 minutes, while getting the water ready. On Friday (or on basketing day) I used plain grains with no additives. The birds got 1 to 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of feed twice a day until the longer races.
I bought a Brita filter for the kitchen water tap and I filled a 10 liter pail with WARM water. Saturday to Thursday I added 1 1/2 teaspoon of the Acid Pack/Electrolytes/Pro-Bio white powder and 3/4 teaspoon of the Mineral and Trace Mineral liquid. I stirred it well and let it sit for the balance of the 15 minutes feed drying time. Friday (or on basketing day) they had plain warm water with 2 tablespoons of pure honey stirred in to 10 liters. I never used water that is not at least room temperature warm because the bird's system can make immediate use of warm water, whereas they can't with cold water. I no longer use a garden hose. They even have their bath in warmed water.
The birds were fed and watered twice daily. From Saturday to Thursday, they had a dish of Iodized table salt, red grit, shell grit and Kilpatrick's black grits. They had Natural's pick vitamins, Pickstone and alfalfa (the bags in pet stores made for small animals). Raw spanish peanuts 2-3 each for treats and for the longer hot weather races, I soaked the peanuts in water and gave all they could eat, after their meal.
Training - old and young birds were done the same in the five weeks before the races started. They loft flew twice a day except Thursday afternoon and Friday (the rest times all season) and Sunday (bath day all season). I gave 2 car tosses at 5 miles, 2 at 10 miles, 2 at 25 miles, 3 at 50 miles on the supposed line of flight. Then I made a 45% angle shift and gave 2 tosses at 25 miles. I had to darken the loft for the first while they were used to resting Thursday PM and Friday AM.
After the races started they were road trained at the 50 mile mark, twice a week. If Monday they went East, then on Wednesday they went West.
When the young birds started ranging well, I loft flew them and let them trap into a little bit of safflower. Then basketed them up and took them for their car toss, twice a week. When they returned they had all they could eat while I was still calling them in. They soon got use to the fact that if they did not trap immediately and before I quit calling, the ones who had trapped in had ate all the food except for about a tablespoon of barley. The others may not have eaten it all but I made sure that the barley was the only thing there to eat when I quit calling for when they did go in. I waited for one hour and then gave them 1 cup of mixed grains. The days I could not wait for them to go in before needing to leave home, I left one full cup of barley for when they went in. I removed the salt and grit dishes from Thursday until the evening of race days. I adjusted this as the basketing day moved forward in the week. On race day from the time I see the birds coming home, I start calling. They have no idea how long I have been calling and they seem to give that little extra to get home and in before the good feed is all gone. I think that is part of how I beat two the O & L DeVries electronic clocked birds, by 2 minutes and 24 seconds, in the pouring rain and using a manual clock here.
My 2005 young birds that were bred and raised on your CTL Health Blend #3 would loft fly twice a day for up to 3 hours and sometimes longer. The days I could not be home to let them out before 5 o'clock, at the latest, I did not let them out at all on those nights. If I let them out at 6 pm they would fly so long that they did not make it back before dark and would get home about half an hour after dawn the next day. They were always in the loft or in the air and it worked very well with your products.
The only medicine they have had has been for worming.
Best Regards,
Connie SteacySteacy Family LoftsHouse 1305 Cnty RD 2, RR 2Mallorytown, ONKOE 1R0