How can we cut costs in pigeon racing?
As you may know pigeon racing costs seem to keep rising and according to a poll I did here with Pigeon Insider members rising costs is one of the main reasons for declining memberships, participation and in the future will be a huge factor for the death of the sport and hobby all together. I think with all of our minds combined we can figure out a way to help lower costs and help make pigeon racing and pigeon keeping in general more enjoyable for everyone, and in the long term help this sport and hobby thrive for the next generation.
So my question for you is…
What are your ideas for cutting costs and lowering expenses in our sport?
Click here to post your thoughts, comments and ideas and together I think we can make a difference. Look forward to reading your comments!
Limit young bird racing to a distance of 100 miles and maybe only 5 races. Would cut down on losses and save money with trucking expenses.
if you only fly young birds to 100 mile races.yes it would save money but it is not going to tell you if that bird is worth keeping and feeding all winter long. just to loss it in the spring and are you going to limit old birds to 200 miles it is not a good thing to even start this. pigeon flying can be expensive but compared to many other sports it is cheap
Race young bird and old bird at the same time in October as long as there is room on the truck.
Have lower shipping limits on birds to facilitate old and young birds space on truck.
That is currently practiced in the Philippines. Races for both old and young bird are held simultaneously.
Race young bird and old bird at the same time in October as long as there is room on the truck.
Have lower shipping limits on birds to facilitate old and young birds space on truck.
The cost of Fuel is a big problem, It pushes every thing up & it’s not going to go down!
Keep your number’s down, it will help, But we need sponsership!
My experience is :
Buy the best food available ,and feed regulary , the birds eat less of it and be healthier,less money on medication
When medicating ,mix smaller portions ,and make sure they drink it all
Try not to stress the birds , again less sick birds less medication ,and of course overcrouding , less feed ,less medication and still can enjoy the hobby like people who have hundreds of pigeons
Do not keep more pigeons than what you can afford.Try to select only the best breeding pairs in your loft and try building a family around them.Quality is what you are looking for and not quantity.You only need one bird to win a race.If you have a family that can win races you do not need alot of pigeons.
My comments on the hierachy of costs are: (in order)
1. The highest cost item in our sport is the cost of shipping.
2. The costs of feed and other nutrients (including medications) for our birds.
3. The costs of construction of the lofts and then the costs of loft supplies.
4. The costs of our timers.
5. The costs of the pigeons.
In response I think:
The shipping costs can be minimized by a collective effort. Share the burden by hauling others birds along with your own. The club can cut costs by haling with the appropriate equipment. In our area we ship by using a common carrier that is more often than not properly sized for the number of birds they carry. In the past we hauled the birds in a truck designed to haul 1000 approx. birds and many times we had races with less than 200. Now we have a trailer designed to haul 2000 but we are still hauling 200 birds on it. We have a hired and commited driver hauling the birds. Our club tried an experiment this year by hauling the birds via a proper-sized vehicle for the amount of birds with diversified haulers (club members) and we cut our shipping costs by one-half in comparison to shipping with the bigger group. The bigger group (the concourse) could follow our example to cut shipping costs.
The cost of feed is an easy fix. Most of us are buying premixed feeds at a cost almost ten times what you could buy those same individual grains in bulk for. Our organizations could form collectives for the purchase and distribution of wholesale grains Go directly to the farmers to buy.
I have no solution for cutting costs of loft construction, except for beginners. Prefab Kit lofts could be constructed by the clubs and sold at cost to new flyers. This would help our sport grow and cut some costs.
The costs of the timers is a matter of personal choice, however, it does not have to be that way. Many of the timers sold retail today are made up using such old technology we shouldn’t be using them. A timer with the brand name starting with a “U” comes to mind. We should be focusing on timers with newer technology whose manufacturers usually sell in bulk at a cheaper price. Clubs should collectivey buy the timers to sell at cost to their members. In many cases the club members can sell their existing timers at equal or less cost than the price of a new timer, if bought in bulk.
The cost of the birds is an easy fix. Our clubs should develop programs to help the members become better breeders. We can promote the exchange of high quality birds locally to enhance the local quality. We can keep fewer birds. I do not believe that I have ever been beaten in a race because someone paid more money for their stock than I did. Good birds come from good breeding lofts and the local flyer who never spends money can have a higher quality breeding loft than the one spending excessive amounts buying new stock all the time.
Gene i think you have it right our club members haul all the races here and we fly for several hundred dollars less than the other club in our area we only take as many crates as we need for the birds that we are shipping each weekend. we have a small trailer that holds up to 800 birds for the short races and early season races. we also train in groups to help with cost most all of our fliers work together to buy feed in bulk our club always try to buy electronic bands together to cut shipping cost and lower the cost of bands alot of our members trade birds with each other we have built lofts for members using the red rose loft plans they are great loft design and easy to modify to any ones needs and cost less than a full framed loft buy about half if more clubs would work together with there members and other clubs. we all can cut our cost buy raising funds for our club to help with cost by bird auctions,raffles and yard sales
Keep only the best….quality not quantity !!! This way you give them plenty of room and the most imported they needed ” OXYGEN” !!! This way you don’t waste your $ on feed medication. Healthy birds = Winners !!!
cull all worthless birds.
feed them once a day (flyers only). it will not affect their performance.
also, use apple cider vinegar. it will prevent many kind of sickness.