Training
The regularity is very important during the training, and also it should always be trained at the same time of day. The pigeons should react well to the Droppers (get a look at the Dropper link).
When I start the training for young Tipplers they have already returned to the pigeonry two times on their own. The first times Iīm always seeing to it that siblings donīt fly together. It happened to me several times before, that during the first flights siblings were flying together and didnīt return. Are there no siblings in the team this happens a lot less frequently.
During the first flights, flying time should not matter yet. Important is, that they start landing when the Droppers appear and also that they land on the right spot. After that they should go directly into the pigeonry and not sit around. What the young tippler learned in its youth it will always remember, the positive as well as the negative experiences, because the Tippler is a very intelligent pigeon. With me, a young pigeon is allowed to make three mistakes before I pull it out of the team. There are breeders that pull them out at the first mistake; but since I always have major losses due to the unnaturally large population of pigeon enemies I cannot make such a strict selection. Otherwise my pigeonry would be empty.
Every second or third day I let my young pigeons fly at evening. As said before, it is important for me that they land perfectly and go swiftly into the pigeonry. As soon as they master this, I train them for performance.
Training food: per animal and day 20-25g of barley. After a training flight: 10g barley, 20g grain mix (as small as possible), as well as some cat cubes and grated cheese. This is given about one hour after the landing and another hour later I also give them water. I practice this feeding with the young and the older pigeon. Training of older pigeons is easier of course because they already know the procedure.
Night flights: In Autumn when they days get shorter and the pigeons automatically land during twilight I turn on the light at the pigeonry. Because the Tipplers are as said intelligent pigeons they learn swiftly to land on the flying board when the light is turned on. In the following Spring it is no problem for them anymore to land with the lights on.
