What to Feed a Racing Pigeon After a Race

The instinct when a bird drops onto the loft after a hard race is to fill the feeder. Hold back. A pigeon that has flown for hours needs water and rest first, and its first meal should be small. Getting this right brings birds back into condition faster for the next race.

Why a full feeder is a mistake

During a long flight, the body sends blood to where it is needed most: the flight muscles, heart, lungs and brain, and the skin of the legs, which helps the bird lose heat. The gut gets very little, and its blood supply stays low for some time after landing. A tired bird that eats all it wants is filling a gut that cannot yet digest well, and pigeons will gorge if you let them. The result is slower recovery, not faster.

Race day, step by step

After a long race the bird has lost salts as well as water, so electrolytes are better than plain water alone. Use sugars for a day or two at most: yeasts and bacteria feed on them too, and too much sugar blunts appetite and can upset the gut and the moult.

The days after

Hard flying causes small tears in the breast muscle, and protein repairs them. Give a mix with more protein for a day or two after the race, more after a long race than a short one, and start any amino acid supplement on the day the birds come home rather than waiting. Then move back to your normal racing mix over the following days. Our guide to adjusting the feed mix by race distance covers the rest of the week.

Stiff after a hard race

One to three days after a hard race, especially into a headwind, some birds turn stiff and wobbly, struggle to reach a low perch, and have a breast that feels hard and swollen. Fanciers sometimes mistake that hard breast for top condition. Vets call it tying up.

Fighting a headwind or racing hard calls on the muscle fibres used for bursts of effort, which build up lactic acid that damages the muscle. The usual trigger is what happens next: tired birds shut in for several days to rest.

• Prevention: let every bird out for a few minutes of free, not forced, flying later on race day and on the following days.
• Treatment: rest, time and light feeding. Avoid home remedies such as baking soda, which are easy to overdo.
• Muscle protection: vitamin E and selenium protect muscle. A good loose mineral mix provides selenium at safe levels; do not add extra, as it is easy to overdose.

What not to do

• Fill the feeder the moment the birds land.
• Give sugar or glucose all week.
• Give salt, tonics or vitamins the day before basketing; they make birds hold water and weigh more.
• Shut tired birds in for days without exercise.