06/11/2024
**Exhibition Time**
It won’t be long before we're once again in the middle of exhibition season. The first fair is just around the corner, and yes, Kassel is always a great fair to visit. There, we meet not only our pigeon friends but also many international guests from near and far. A question I often hear is: "Is there anything new?" We like to stay informed and, of course, don’t want to miss out. But we also need to stay vigilant, as not everything that is new is an improvement.
**New Products in Kassel**
True innovations should also contribute to healthier pigeons that can perform better. When I’m at the supermarket and look at certain packaging, I sometimes wonder how it can be allowed. Take yogurt and drinking yogurt, for example. The packaging often shows plenty of fruit, but when you check the label, you see it sometimes contains only 1% fruit, followed by fruit flavoring. You would think that this wouldn’t be allowed, yet food inspection services in the Netherlands appear lenient toward the food industry.
When we look at pigeon products, we see strange things there, too. Omega-3 oils often contain fish oil or cod liver oil. The big question is: where does this fish oil come from? What is the percentage of fish oil? With which other oils is it blended, and does it still say fish oil on the label? Does it come from farmed fish or wild fish? Why is that important? Farmed fish are fed pellet food, which is largely made up of soy and corn, helping the fish grow quickly and letting sellers earn money faster.
**The Best Fish Oil Comes from Wild Fish**
EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) are the most important Omega-3 fatty acids, and they are only found in wild, fatty fish. Wild fish feed on algae, where DHA is found, and fish convert some of it to EPA. This substance is missing in algae, which makes algae oil inferior in quality to fatty fish oil. What do these Omega-3 fatty acids do? They provide: 1. Maximum oxygen uptake, which improves performance in endurance sports like pigeon racing; 2. Better transport of nutrients, minerals, and vitamins; 3. Less inflammation; 4. Improved mental focus; 5. Flexible cell membranes; 6. Enhanced muscle function; 7. Better recovery after flights or training; 8. Increased insulin sensitivity, which helps build muscle mass. This is all provided by a quality wild fish oil. Such a pure product can be used for both animals and humans. It is, however, important to store the oil in a cool place. Of course, this is good news for pigeon sports, and you can imagine where you should stop by for further explanation during your visit to the fair in Kassel.
**Lectures**
The time for lectures is also approaching, and I recently gave one—not on pigeons, though. This time, it was about health and the many metabolic diseases affecting us. Not only people with obesity, but also those who look healthy often have issues with their health.
Yes, we are eating ourselves sick, and I’m realizing this more and more through my studies to become a natural nutrition advisor. Much of it is due to ignorance; other parts, simply conformity. At a party, we gladly accept the cake offered and drink along with the other partygoers, rarely realizing the amount of sugar we’re consuming. That in itself isn’t so bad, but next week there's a pigeon show, the following week a village celebration… and the week after…
**The Last Flight Day of the Year**
We had a flight of around 480 km for the young pigeons. Many fanciers chose not to participate, opting instead for the follow-up flights released from much shorter distances with just one night in the basket. Once again, we sat waiting with a group, whom we call “the grandstand.” The neighbor had celebrated his birthday. He wasn’t there himself, but he treated us with some deliciously thick cookies. I’d guess they were around 75 grams. We looked at the packaging: one-third flour, two-thirds sugar. So, that’s about 50 grams of sugar, or 16 sugar cubes. It’s easy to overlook that. I declined. No more sugar for me, at least as little as possible. At the beginning of the last century, people consumed around 4 grams of sugar per day. Now, in the Netherlands, it’s between 110 and 118 grams per day—at least 25 times as much. And that can’t be without consequences.
**Molting and Winter Mixtures**
Recently, I visited a pet store, and my eye caught a beautiful bag of pigeon food labeled Molting-Winter. I later looked it up on the company's website and was quite surprised. It contained a significant percentage of peas, lots of corn, barley, and wheat, but hardly any fat-rich seeds. I wondered what this had to do with molting food and, even more, with winter food.
Molting is a major effort for pigeons. All feathers have to be replaced, requiring a lot of protein and energy (fatty acids). A molting-winter feed with only 4% fat is insufficient for this. Protein must also be transported to the cells for absorption. With this low percentage, that’s quite a task. Omega-3 fatty acids are also needed, and legume-based protein is single-sourced, heavy to digest, and poorly absorbed (only 25–30%).
A high-fat content would be much better since fat-rich seeds also contain a lot of protein, which is much better absorbed.
**And in Winter?**
After molting, no new feathers need to be formed, so all that protein isn’t required. Instead, winter is the time to thoroughly cleanse the pigeons’ insides, removing all the excess from the intestine that was built up during the flight and molting seasons—a kind of fasting period.
For optimal feather shine, a mixture like this would better be labeled base feed. It would be clearer to fanciers, allowing them to add fat-rich seeds during the molting period and supplement with barley, whole oats, and paddy rice in winter.
**Good Winter Mixture**
A winter feed should be high in fiber to clear waste from the intestine. This may cause soft or dirty droppings in the first few days, but that’s normal. Once the intestine is clean, this quickly improves, and the pigeon starts looking good again. Even better is to do a detox after molting for 5 to 7 days. This mixture has a high percentage of milk thistle seeds, and the active ingredient silymarin detoxifies the liver, cleans the intestine, and improves blood values.
**Cod Liver Oil**
I’m often asked what to give pigeons in winter. Many of us are used to adding a lot of supplements to the feed. However, I would suggest holding back in winter. Allow the pigeons to be natural animals again; they should keep themselves healthy without all these additions. Pigeons that only stay healthy with numerous supplements are not kept in our loft.
What should you give? Grit with gastric gravel should be available to aid digestion; this is standard for pigeons. Additionally, it’s a good idea to give a bit of cod liver oil over the feed 1 to 2 times a week in winter.
**Vitamin D**
Cod liver oil is rich in vitamins A and D in a balanced 10:1 ratio, which enables optimal cooperation. In winter, there’s often too little sun, so both we and our pigeons don’t get enough vitamin D3. Vitamin A is essential for the thyroid gland, liver, eyes, and skin, and it strengthens the mucous membranes against harmful pathogens.
**Usage**
I suggest giving 5 ml over the feed for 20 pigeons. In winter, this can be done once or twice a week. In pigeon racing, we usually see small bottles of cod liver oil, which is important as cod liver oil can oxidize quickly. High-quality cod liver oils are produced according to the Pharmacopoeia and strict regulations and contain around 1 to 1.2 million International Units (I.U.) of vitamin A and 95,000 to 100,000 I.U. of vitamin D3.
**Best of Luck**
**Willem Mulder**
Tel.: +31-648 71 74 75
Email: [email protected]
