Welcome to McLaughlin Lofts. Please check back for updates, champion pigeon additions and articles. Feel free to contact us with any pigeon related questions. Notice 'Our Systems' for all methods, health, racing systems and The Art of Selection. We will also be adding regularly to our 'Secrets' page . We work closely with the South African (Sun City) Million Dollar Pigeon Race. Please check out 'Sun City Million Dollar ' and contact us if you need any assistance.
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Updated 9/15/2011
Please email questions to Frank. I will email the answer as well as post the question and answer here. Everything will be kept anonymous. Frank@McLaughlinLofts.com
Question: Hi McLaughlin Lofts, I had a hen look excellent in the morning and that afternoon when I went into the loft the hen was dead and looked nearly flawless sitting on her eggs. This has happened on two other occasions. Anything I can do to prevent this? Pioter Z
Answer: Hello Pioter, This problem seems to have lessened the last three or four years. Not long ago I heard fanciers talking about nearly losing their entire breeding team to this condition. Very scary especially if you have valuable breeders or major winners.
For starters this problem comes on a day or so before the pigeon shows a little bit of stress. The pigeons reaction time is just a micro second slower than usual the day before death results. Some of the experts say this is Adeno-Virus Type 2 and there is no cure. I am not quite sure what causes the problem.
About ten years ago I did have a pigeon that was a micro-second slower in reaction time than usual. The next day the bird was dead. I noticed this in another pigeon maybe nine years ago. I gave the pigeon an entire 1000mg capsule of Amoxicillan down the throat. The bird did not die and recovered.
Here is my theory. Adeno-Type 2 causes a rapid and massive Ecoli problem. Caught in time a massive does of amoxicillan may save the pigeon. Adeno Type 2 can be caught in time but only a trained eye can see a pigeon in a group that is just barely off the usual preceding death.
We have not had a problem with pigeons looking good one day and dead the next. Maybe all the probiotics and apple cider vinegar helps. Maybe all the minerals and pigeons not lacking anything nutritionally helps, maybe the occasional treatment with Virkon S helps, really not sure.
My advice is to keep the birds as healthy as you can with as little antibiotics as possible. Plus keep a bottle of 1000 mg amoxicillan in case of emergency. You can give the bird 1000 mg a few days in a row if needed. Frank
Question: Dear Frank,
Do you have any trouble raising youngsters through the heat of the summer? My breeders tend to pump a lot of water in the summer and the nests get very wet along with the babies not growing or looking their best. John S
Answer: Hello John,
Every year I let my best breeders raise their own babies right through the long hot humid days of summer. I never have pigeons pumping a lot of water or wet nests. If anything the nests are even dryer due to all the intense heat.
What usually happens during the heat of the summer is the breeders start to break down and the health goes off. This is usually caused by the owner getting less dedicated to providing all kinds of grits and minerals through the summer. Usually for the first couple rounds we are all enthused and giving the breeders everything they need. After our young bird team has been raised many lose interest and just give the breeders feed and water.
Lucky at McLaughlin Lofts I have my brother Dan that I call the 'Mineral King'. Dan is constantly providing the breeders, all summer long, every possible mineral he can buy. Pink Minerals, Jovarti minerals, brown minerals, oyster shells, black minerals, pick pots, magnesium blocks etc etc. Dan even buys the same type of minerals from different companies to make sure the birds have variation. With that said our breeders look and handle the same feeding round six as they do on round one. No break down of the pigeons if they are provided everything their body and their babies need.
Hope I helped, Frank
Question: Hi Frank,
At what age to you prefer to select your future breeders? Some like the look at pigeons once the eye is developed, others want to wait until after the moult? Tim C.
Answer: Hello Tim, I prefer to select my future breeders at about 28 days old. For me it is easiest to see shear class in a pigeon at that age. All pigeons look fairly good after a moult but the true champions, the elite pigeons are elite from birth and everything you will need to know is there at 28 days old. I do like to take the babies out into the bright sunshine and see if the pupil constricts down to a tiny opening in the sun. The great ones always have an eye that can react well to the sun.
Question: Dear Mclofts,
It is great pleasure visiting your website. This is the best website I have ever seen. Highly professional and very good and secretive information that other pigeon sites will keep close to their chest. My name is J B. I saw the foto's of you at the SCMDR 2011 it looked great. What I admire from you is that you are a very serious pigeon man who will go the extra mile for others. I like your Tips and Secrets section on your site the best to help the struggling fancier and others who wants to improve. I am also a huge believer in Virkon S for bathing and disinfecting but never thought it so effective for the young bird ailment and in general for keeping pigeons healthy. There is one question I want to ask you. It is about the whey protein, you state that you are giving this product Tuesday's and Thursday's. What do you give the pigeons on Wednesday? Do you mix the minerals and brewers yeast with the whey protein during the racing season? If you do how much of each do you mix with each other and if just whey protein how much to kg of food. I would appreciate it if you can reply back to me.
Yours in sport
J B
Answer: Hello J,
I am so happy you liked the site and I am pleased it can be helpful to both new and long time fanciers.
You cannot add too much plain whey protein or brewers yeast to the grain. I usually add one spoonful at a time of each until the grain is completely covered and will not hold any more powder. You must experiment with the flaxseed oil because usually a tablespoon will be enough for about 1/2 kilogram of feed. Mix on the Flax oil before you add the powders. After the grain is coated with brewers yeast and whey I usually toss in a little Belgian Pink Minerals. The pink minerals seem to stick after the others are already on the grain. No real measuring for me. After you experiment a few times you will add exactly what is needed with little waste. On Wednesdays I may give apple cider vinegar, an oregano product or a vitamin electrolyte product. No set schedule for these.
Hope this helps, Frank
Question: What does one pin tail mean? What are the advantages for the pigeons that have this type of tail? Thanks, Ken
Answer. If a fancier refers to one pin tail feather they are saying the tail is only one feather wide. This is something judges look for in show pigeons but I see it as flaw in racing pigeons. I do not own a pigeon with one pin tail. The tail should come off the lower back same width as the lower back and taper slightly down to the end. The tail is the rudder for the pigeon and one pin tail is not advantageous for a pigeon that has to fly.
I see this more and more in advertising. I feel fanciers mean the tail tapers off the back like all my pigeons. I think it is used in advertising because fanciers think one pin tail is good. Most likely the advertisers mean that the tail is exactly like I described, coming off the back, same width as the back with a taper to the end.
Question: Hi Frank, Ive got a problem with depluming mite, do you know of an effective treatment I can get in the UK. regards, Keith
Answer: Hello Keith,
Many feel the depluming mite is a myth (including me) and the feathers on the crop are broken off due to the abrasion on the feeders and waterers etc. To be safe let the pigeons bath in a solution of Ivermectin Sheep Drench same solution as if you were to use it for a wormer. Even better would be to let the birds take a bath in Moxidectin wormer mixed the same as you were to worm. This will eliminate all parasites.
You will notice the feathers will be fine when they moult. You will also want to look at your feeders and round off edges. If the pigeons are not competing for feed or grit this feather problem will not happen.
Question: Dear Frank, If you could only use two types of grain for every season what two grains would you choose?
Answer: The answer is simple for me. I would choose a high quality Barley and a high quality Safflour. Would not need anything else.
Question: Hi McLofts, Is it possible to select champion pigeons by looking in their eyes?
Answer: I like rich colored eyes with active pupils that get very small in sunlight. I usually mate opposite eye colors together but not always. Eyes are way down the list when it comes to selection for me. Give me a long line of champions in the family, super rich silky feather, buoyant weightless bodies and loads of character. If these things are all equal I will take the richer eye colored pigeon. Yesterday I saw the most amazing breeding eye I have ever seen in my 45 years of keeping pigeons. This eye was so breath taking I wish I had a picture. They eye experts would pay huge sums of money to add this eye to their breeding loft. The only problem with the eye is it belonged to a green iguana at a Nature Center my son loves to visit.
Question: Frank,
I have a question about YBs. I was wondering if you'd know why my
YBs are taking about the same amount of time to return home from 5-15 mile tosses? At first they would come home and then leave and route again. Now they just take about 45mins to return home from these shorter tosses. Is there something wrong with my team and is there anything I can do or look for? My team from the previous two years have always returned in good time and most of the time beat me back home on shorter tosses. The team looks good and I don't see any signs of sickness. X T
Answer:Sounds like they are just feeling good and just flying. Here is a little secret. If possible let them out to fly at sunrise. Call them in after they fly 30 to 45 minutes, give them a two handfuls of feed. Wait 20 minutes for them to drink. Crate them and take them on a short toss. This will teach them to race home immediately. They will beat you home every time. The flying will be out of their system before they go on the training toss. Once they are out 30 miles or so stop letting them out to fly before the toss.
This systems teaches youngsters to home immediately upon release. It will build a great habit and also lessens the chances of losses due to the fact that they just race right home instead of routing after liberation and getting into trouble.
Question: Hi Frank, Does it harm young hens to breed from them before they are one year old?
TJ, St Paul MN.
Answer: Hi TJ, I am a firm believer that nature will not let a pigeon breed before it is mature enough to breed. Nature knows better than we do. Each year I will try to pair very young hens. If they mate and lay they are old enough to mate and lay. Please remember that it seems more champions come from the very first set of eggs a hen lays. I am always very excited about the first eggs from a young hen.
Question: Frank,do you feed the day of shipping? if so how much?
Hope you are doing well. I have a 200 miler this coming wek end!
Answer: Hi Bob,
I feed heavy the day before shipping. We ship on Saturday so on Thursday evening they get a big meal of nutritious feed. I let them have all they want and pull what is left at dark. On the day of shipping I feed about slightly less then half of the normal amount over two feedings.
Please email questions to Frank. I will email the answer as well as post the question and answer here. Everything will be kept anonymous. Frank@McLaughlinLofts.com
Question: Hi McLaughlin Lofts, I had a hen look excellent in the morning and that afternoon when I went into the loft the hen was dead and looked nearly flawless sitting on her eggs. This has happened on two other occasions. Anything I can do to prevent this? Pioter Z
Answer: Hello Pioter, This problem seems to have lessened the last three or four years. Not long ago I heard fanciers talking about nearly losing their entire breeding team to this condition. Very scary especially if you have valuable breeders or major winners.
For starters this problem comes on a day or so before the pigeon shows a little bit of stress. The pigeons reaction time is just a micro second slower than usual the day before death results. Some of the experts say this is Adeno-Virus Type 2 and there is no cure. I am not quite sure what causes the problem.
About ten years ago I did have a pigeon that was a micro-second slower in reaction time than usual. The next day the bird was dead. I noticed this in another pigeon maybe nine years ago. I gave the pigeon an entire 1000mg capsule of Amoxicillan down the throat. The bird did not die and recovered.
Here is my theory. Adeno-Type 2 causes a rapid and massive Ecoli problem. Caught in time a massive does of amoxicillan may save the pigeon. Adeno Type 2 can be caught in time but only a trained eye can see a pigeon in a group that is just barely off the usual preceding death.
We have not had a problem with pigeons looking good one day and dead the next. Maybe all the probiotics and apple cider vinegar helps. Maybe all the minerals and pigeons not lacking anything nutritionally helps, maybe the occasional treatment with Virkon S helps, really not sure.
My advice is to keep the birds as healthy as you can with as little antibiotics as possible. Plus keep a bottle of 1000 mg amoxicillan in case of emergency. You can give the bird 1000 mg a few days in a row if needed. Frank
Question: Dear Frank,
Do you have any trouble raising youngsters through the heat of the summer? My breeders tend to pump a lot of water in the summer and the nests get very wet along with the babies not growing or looking their best. John S
Answer: Hello John,
Every year I let my best breeders raise their own babies right through the long hot humid days of summer. I never have pigeons pumping a lot of water or wet nests. If anything the nests are even dryer due to all the intense heat.
What usually happens during the heat of the summer is the breeders start to break down and the health goes off. This is usually caused by the owner getting less dedicated to providing all kinds of grits and minerals through the summer. Usually for the first couple rounds we are all enthused and giving the breeders everything they need. After our young bird team has been raised many lose interest and just give the breeders feed and water.
Lucky at McLaughlin Lofts I have my brother Dan that I call the 'Mineral King'. Dan is constantly providing the breeders, all summer long, every possible mineral he can buy. Pink Minerals, Jovarti minerals, brown minerals, oyster shells, black minerals, pick pots, magnesium blocks etc etc. Dan even buys the same type of minerals from different companies to make sure the birds have variation. With that said our breeders look and handle the same feeding round six as they do on round one. No break down of the pigeons if they are provided everything their body and their babies need.
Hope I helped, Frank
Question: Hi Frank,
At what age to you prefer to select your future breeders? Some like the look at pigeons once the eye is developed, others want to wait until after the moult? Tim C.
Answer: Hello Tim, I prefer to select my future breeders at about 28 days old. For me it is easiest to see shear class in a pigeon at that age. All pigeons look fairly good after a moult but the true champions, the elite pigeons are elite from birth and everything you will need to know is there at 28 days old. I do like to take the babies out into the bright sunshine and see if the pupil constricts down to a tiny opening in the sun. The great ones always have an eye that can react well to the sun.
Question: Dear Mclofts,
It is great pleasure visiting your website. This is the best website I have ever seen. Highly professional and very good and secretive information that other pigeon sites will keep close to their chest. My name is J B. I saw the foto's of you at the SCMDR 2011 it looked great. What I admire from you is that you are a very serious pigeon man who will go the extra mile for others. I like your Tips and Secrets section on your site the best to help the struggling fancier and others who wants to improve. I am also a huge believer in Virkon S for bathing and disinfecting but never thought it so effective for the young bird ailment and in general for keeping pigeons healthy. There is one question I want to ask you. It is about the whey protein, you state that you are giving this product Tuesday's and Thursday's. What do you give the pigeons on Wednesday? Do you mix the minerals and brewers yeast with the whey protein during the racing season? If you do how much of each do you mix with each other and if just whey protein how much to kg of food. I would appreciate it if you can reply back to me.
Yours in sport
J B
Answer: Hello J,
I am so happy you liked the site and I am pleased it can be helpful to both new and long time fanciers.
You cannot add too much plain whey protein or brewers yeast to the grain. I usually add one spoonful at a time of each until the grain is completely covered and will not hold any more powder. You must experiment with the flaxseed oil because usually a tablespoon will be enough for about 1/2 kilogram of feed. Mix on the Flax oil before you add the powders. After the grain is coated with brewers yeast and whey I usually toss in a little Belgian Pink Minerals. The pink minerals seem to stick after the others are already on the grain. No real measuring for me. After you experiment a few times you will add exactly what is needed with little waste. On Wednesdays I may give apple cider vinegar, an oregano product or a vitamin electrolyte product. No set schedule for these.
Hope this helps, Frank
Question: What does one pin tail mean? What are the advantages for the pigeons that have this type of tail? Thanks, Ken
Answer. If a fancier refers to one pin tail feather they are saying the tail is only one feather wide. This is something judges look for in show pigeons but I see it as flaw in racing pigeons. I do not own a pigeon with one pin tail. The tail should come off the lower back same width as the lower back and taper slightly down to the end. The tail is the rudder for the pigeon and one pin tail is not advantageous for a pigeon that has to fly.
I see this more and more in advertising. I feel fanciers mean the tail tapers off the back like all my pigeons. I think it is used in advertising because fanciers think one pin tail is good. Most likely the advertisers mean that the tail is exactly like I described, coming off the back, same width as the back with a taper to the end.
Question: Hi Frank, Ive got a problem with depluming mite, do you know of an effective treatment I can get in the UK. regards, Keith
Answer: Hello Keith,
Many feel the depluming mite is a myth (including me) and the feathers on the crop are broken off due to the abrasion on the feeders and waterers etc. To be safe let the pigeons bath in a solution of Ivermectin Sheep Drench same solution as if you were to use it for a wormer. Even better would be to let the birds take a bath in Moxidectin wormer mixed the same as you were to worm. This will eliminate all parasites.
You will notice the feathers will be fine when they moult. You will also want to look at your feeders and round off edges. If the pigeons are not competing for feed or grit this feather problem will not happen.
Question: Dear Frank, If you could only use two types of grain for every season what two grains would you choose?
Answer: The answer is simple for me. I would choose a high quality Barley and a high quality Safflour. Would not need anything else.
Question: Hi McLofts, Is it possible to select champion pigeons by looking in their eyes?
Answer: I like rich colored eyes with active pupils that get very small in sunlight. I usually mate opposite eye colors together but not always. Eyes are way down the list when it comes to selection for me. Give me a long line of champions in the family, super rich silky feather, buoyant weightless bodies and loads of character. If these things are all equal I will take the richer eye colored pigeon. Yesterday I saw the most amazing breeding eye I have ever seen in my 45 years of keeping pigeons. This eye was so breath taking I wish I had a picture. They eye experts would pay huge sums of money to add this eye to their breeding loft. The only problem with the eye is it belonged to a green iguana at a Nature Center my son loves to visit.
Question: Frank,
I have a question about YBs. I was wondering if you'd know why my
YBs are taking about the same amount of time to return home from 5-15 mile tosses? At first they would come home and then leave and route again. Now they just take about 45mins to return home from these shorter tosses. Is there something wrong with my team and is there anything I can do or look for? My team from the previous two years have always returned in good time and most of the time beat me back home on shorter tosses. The team looks good and I don't see any signs of sickness. X T
Answer:Sounds like they are just feeling good and just flying. Here is a little secret. If possible let them out to fly at sunrise. Call them in after they fly 30 to 45 minutes, give them a two handfuls of feed. Wait 20 minutes for them to drink. Crate them and take them on a short toss. This will teach them to race home immediately. They will beat you home every time. The flying will be out of their system before they go on the training toss. Once they are out 30 miles or so stop letting them out to fly before the toss.
This systems teaches youngsters to home immediately upon release. It will build a great habit and also lessens the chances of losses due to the fact that they just race right home instead of routing after liberation and getting into trouble.
Question: Hi Frank, Does it harm young hens to breed from them before they are one year old?
TJ, St Paul MN.
Answer: Hi TJ, I am a firm believer that nature will not let a pigeon breed before it is mature enough to breed. Nature knows better than we do. Each year I will try to pair very young hens. If they mate and lay they are old enough to mate and lay. Please remember that it seems more champions come from the very first set of eggs a hen lays. I am always very excited about the first eggs from a young hen.
Question: Frank,do you feed the day of shipping? if so how much?
Hope you are doing well. I have a 200 miler this coming wek end!
Answer: Hi Bob,
I feed heavy the day before shipping. We ship on Saturday so on Thursday evening they get a big meal of nutritious feed. I let them have all they want and pull what is left at dark. On the day of shipping I feed about slightly less then half of the normal amount over two feedings.
If
they eat one can a day I will divide a little less than a half a can of
a good mix and safflour. I will give about 1/2 of this early morning
and then around 2pm give the other half. You want to feed so
they drink clean fresh water. You do not want too much feed in them or
they will dehydrate.
If it looks like a nice
clear day I put a warm bath in for the race team on Friday. I just make
the water slightly warm to the touch. They bathe in this water and
then relax all afternoon. The form seems to go up also.
Hope I helped,
Frank
