Pigeon Racing for Beginners

Mike Tyson has taken this hobby to new heights by entering his beloved birds into pigeon racing.  This avian event has a wide following around the world and is taken very seriously by hobbyists.  Homing pigeons have played a great role in history, especially when it was used as message carriers during wars.   Pigeons are loyal which make them teachable creatures.  With a bit of devotion, pigeons can be trained for racing in just a short time.  But before racing pigeons, a fancier must be confident about his homing skills.  Here are some tips that could take you to Tyson level.

1. Start with a small number of birds.  As a beginner, the pigeons will be training you as their carer.  Learn about their feeding schedule, health signs, bird calls, breeding, identifying genders, and most especially, social behavior.  Figure out what scares them, what motivates pigeons, they’re favorite food, among other vital information.
2. Have a good wide cage where the birds can move about and stay healthy.  Birds that can’t fly in their cage can weaken the birds or make them lazy fliers.  A crowded cage can stress the aviators and make them unfit for racing.
3. Start out as a hobbyist, or a simple bird lover.  Jumping into the competition without much experience and bonding with the pigeons will just lead to losing disappointment.
4. Get birds of good origin.  You can buy young birds from experienced fanciers.  Most homing pigeon raisers have trained generations of birds that have loyally stayed with their human care taker.  The expert pigeon care taker can tell which birds are healthy just by the shine on their feathers, their response to food, among other signs.  Do not pick the mature trained pigeons because they will just leave you and go back to the previous master.
5. Pigeons stay healthy if they can stay aloft with plenty of fresh air. This is why rooftops are ideal places to keep and train them.
6. High quality food is utterly important to keep the fliers in shape.   Their mixed feed must be at least 13% protein but it should be higher during mating season.  Pellets are also ideal food for mating homing pigeons.  Grits are highly recommended as these contain the essential mineral salts and calcium the birds require.  Provide food enough for only ten minutes of feeding.
7. Release the 30-40 day-old pigeons on a landing board and let them experience being out of the nest.  They will test their flying skills for a few days and you should not assist them at this stage.