LOOKING AT IT
DIFFERENTLY ........
Co Verbree.
Total widowhood, in other words widowhood with both cocks and hens,
consists of racing with the two sexes
at the same time. Some fanciers find
this difficult, but for others it is child’s
play, although they do have to think
about it. It is notable that many “top
lofts” achieve tremendous success
with this method by racing their hens.
In fact it is often these hens which call
the tune under this system. In spite of
the many advantages, for there are
many, a large number of fanciers still
find it difficult to race hens. So after
a year, or often even less, these fanciers give up this method. It is a pity, it
is unfortunate, because you can really
find out how well it can work by learning from the mistakes made during
the first year. The problem lies mainly
in the fact that hens have a tendency
to pair with each other and are then
no longer willing to train. This situation is mainly found in adult hens.
For this reason it is important for
you to renew your team every year
by bringing in yearling hens. If these
birds will not train, you have to look
for the reason, either in insufficient
food or too lean a diet. Poor training, inadequate diet and mutual pairing go together and form a vicious
circle. I am of the opinion that many
fanciers over-estimate the process of
pairing; hens which are in form tend
to pair, especially during the last few
days before basketing. This behaviour can mainly be seen during the
second half of the racing season. On
the other hand, those hens which attempt to pair from the start of the
season should be removed from the
team at the earliest opportunity. In
reality, in our loft, we take no notice
Total widowhood
For hens which are raced, the Verbree duo has a section consisting of special nest boxes for hens (see photo) and a
section with wires stretched across.
of this because we have the option
of moving the recalcitrant hens into
another loft and shutting them into
boxes which have been specially designed for them. We have one section
with wires stretched across the floor
and another with boxes for the hens.
As far as performance is concerned,
there is no difference. If the hens are
allowed to go into the widowers’ loft
after training, this gives them a greater tendency to pair. It is when the nest
boxes are open that you have to take
great care. We have solved this as follows: in front of each nest box there
is a narrow board. As soon as the
hens return to the loft with the nest
boxes, the boxes are closed, but they
can perch on the board. This arrangement may also be used as an extra
trick in order to motivate the cocks
during the second half of the racing
season. When we look back we see
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that we have been following this system for two decades now and we can
see no difference between cocks and
hens where high level performances
are concerned. Of our four best pigeons over the last twenty years, two
were cocks and two were hens. However, taking an overall view I believe
that the hens are better. This is also
why some fanciers only race the “ladies”. In addition, it is easier to look
after them.
Hens have still more advantages
compared with cocks. They are less
sensitive to stress, they recover more
quickly after severe effort, and they
return more easily to a normal training programme. All things considered,
this is why we have sought to race
more hens, but in the same space and
keeping the same number of racing
birds.
After spending the whole of the winter seven years ago in beating our
brains out, we worked out a system
under which two hens are raced with
one cock which is not raced. To accommodate this we have also modified the nest boxes in such a way that
three pigeons can be shut in separately. These are the dimensions and
an explanation: the nest box measures 80 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm and its
length is divided into three compartments measuring 30 cm (A), 30 cm
(B) and 20 cm (C). Part C is a space
which can be shut off from the rest of
the nest box with a grating, or even
with a board, in order to darken the
space completely. We use this system
as additional motivation for the cocks
before basketing. It is incredible how
willingly they go into it. We leave the
partition open for half an hour before basketing. Ten minutes before
placing the pigeons in the baskets we
close it, thus putting the cocks in the
dark to settle them down, and then
we take them out. As far as the hens
are concerned we had, or have, different possibilities for accommodating
them. For example, we put a cock in
the middle and a hen on either side.
Or a cock and a hen on the left, nothing in the middle, and a hen on the
right ..... Most of the time we place a
hen in the right-hand compartment
with a nest bowl and we show her the
other hen (jealousy). We race 24 hens
with twelve cocks, the latter staying
at home. The first twelve hens are
paired on the 1st December and rear
a couple of squabs without laying
again. The second group is paired in
the middle of February with the same
cocks. After ten days incubation the
hens are separated and the widowhood can begin. The 24 hens are then
subjected to obscurity for twelve
hours each day until the end of April
in order to delay the moult. When you
reach this stage there are numerous
possible ways of motivating them prior to basketing.
We have put in place two systems for
their return. The first system consists
of changing the hens every half hour.
Half of them can stay with their cocks
for a half an hour, then they can eat
and rest for thirty minutes in their
loft. At this time the other group can
rejoin the cocks. Then the first half re-
Co Verbree is able to shut three pigeons separately into each nest box. The nest boxes used by the duo can be
described as follows: the nest box measures 80 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm and its length is divided into three compartments
of 30 cm (A), 30 cm (B) and 20 cm (C). Part C is a space which can be shut off from the rest of the nest box with a
grating, or even with a board, in order to darken the space completely.
turns in the cocks’ loft. With the second system the cock is presented to
the first hen to come back, and stays
until the second hen returns. The first
one back is then removed to the compartment reserved for the hens and
only sees the cock for a few hours the
next morning. The two systems are of
equal value.
So we use two methods for racing:
one with two hens for a single cock,
which does not itself participate in
the races, and another where both
cocks and hens are raced. At the end
of the season it appears that there is
no difference in their performances,
neither one is better or worse than
the other. To tell the truth, it is a bit
disappointing because we were convinced that two hens for one single
cock would produce better results
than the normal system.
There is still another aspect to consider. The widowers which do not
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take part in the races and do not train
are too violent, particularly when the
hens come home tired and have had
enough. When we leave the door
leading to the hens’ section open, we
have been astonished to note that
without exception all the hens are
sleeping on the little board. Clearly,
after half an hour, “the ladies have
had enough of the men”.
Our final conclusion is as follows: if
a fancier wishes to race only hens, a
good system is to race two hens with
one cock. In this way the specialists
can certainly reap benefits. In addition, the cock is always there when
they return. The disadvantage is that
in view of the violence shown by the
cocks it takes extra time after the
races to leave the hens alternately
with the cocks. All things considered,
it is worth trying.
Good flying!
Co Verbree