I do not get involved in pigeon disputes in America or anywhere else for that matter. We have enough of that in Canada. On the subject of the dark and light system, I would like to tell your readers what happened in our club in 1993.

A new member joined our club. He was not new to the sport but new to our club. At first we did not pay special attention to him till about the middle of the young bird season. He started to win more and more races. I asked this fancier what do you do to have those birds in such good condition. His reply was the darkening system. I got this idea from Mike Ganus. That summer this same person won championship with the young birds and took a lot of trophies in our club. In the winter of that same year, this person offered to hold a seminar on the darkening system in our club house. As a matter of fact, he held two seminars at no charge to the members. Speaking of the members, the two clubs consists of about 32 members, age ranging from 30 years to 82. All of them are active flyers. Most of them are still working people and then there is some that are retired. At those seminars we had to spend more time with the older fanciers, as you know they do not like changes , and after we explained it several times step by step, now three years later they are right on top winning just like the 30 year old fanciers. Our club has put down step by step instructions on the darkening system from day one to the end of the darkening, and we asked them to follow this as close as possible. Now we all fly on the dark system, and were very successful. This year there was sixteen trophies going to many different fanciers for young bird racing season. We flew eleven races in total. Two of those races were 465 km. races. We hardly had any losses this year. Please don�t think I am writing this to brag with our club, as I don�t want to leave you with the wrong impression. We are saying that you can teach all your members like we did, and here�s proof that it does work. We have a gentleman�s agreement that we normally shake the hand of the winner of a race, and we keep in mind the 2nd place bird in the race is the first loser, so there are lots of losers every week if you look at it that way, and we have a saying if you cannot accept that, you should leave the sport.

We are like any other club, we squabble over certain issues, but one thing is for sure on the dark system,

UNITED WE STAND.

First when we say darkening your loft - You can use anything to cover your loft windows with whatever is convenient and at your disposal: curtain material, wood, or a piece of tin.

I personally cut up a thin sheet of plywood. I run it in a grove so I can slide it in front of my windows inside my loft to darken the room. It also comes in handy later to darken the loft to catch your birds for training, as they are more calm when being caught.

How dark should it be - Like a night with no moonlight. Try not to have light coming through little peek holes in your loft. I would say just try and keep it as dark as you can.

Ventilation for darkening a loft is very important - Any ventilation is fine as long as daylight does not come through it. You can also use power vents if desired. Power vents may be a better choice in warmer climates.

When do I darken the loft - I would say to your convenience. Keep in mind your birds can only have eight hours of daylight per day. For example: from 8 AM to 4 PM; maybe 9 AM to 5 PM; or 10 AM to 6 PM. Whatever is convenient for you.

How old should my young birds be for the darkening system - At the age of thirty five days. However, some people start them on twenty eight days old, while others wait until they are fifty days old. We found they will start to drop their primary flights if you decide to go beyond the 35 days, but as soon as you put them in the dark, they will stop dropping their primary flights.

Dropping body feathers - You will notice body feathers in your loft after two weeks of beginning the darkening system. The birds will go through their body moult which will take about nine to ten weeks. They should not drop their primary flights.

When do I feed birds that are in the dark - That will be up to you. I always try and feed them a little before I let them out for their morning exercise, and one hour before I darken the loft. It�s amazing how they find their way around in the dark in the loft, even to go for a drink.

How long should they be in the dark - Twelve weeks, but longer if you like.

Exercise for your birds - Exercise your birds as you like.

Caution in training your young birds that just come out of the dark, or still in the dark - It didn�t seem to make a difference in training. We all found extreme care must be taken here. Where dealing here with young birds that have feathers like old birds, but in their mind they are still young birds. They panic very easily and are capable of flying great distances before realising they are lost. In our club we found to have fewer loses if we trained in the morning only. Take extreme care, start slowly, don�t push them up the road too fast. They seem to lack confidence. Sometimes later in training I have taken a couple of yearlings along to help build up their self-esteem until they become sure of themselves. I train three times a week right up to the end of the racing season .

The first week in August - The daylight hours are getting shorter, now we start to increase daylight hours in the loft by turning on the electricity which is set on a timer to create fourteen hours of daylight in the loft. This is to delay the body moult .

Now, the lights are turned off halfway through September. Within ten days after shutting off the lights they will start their complete body moult. They sometimes drop their last flights in the winter months but that is not a concern. I have found out that my young birds moult out faster in their own original young bird loft better than trying to move them too soon to a yearling loft.

Feeding after the race season when they have started their moult - It is very important to feed them good quality grains two times a day till they are through their moult. Give them lots of rest, and limit the amount of exercise during this period.