The Racing Pigeon Enthusiast
~ Newsletter ~
Table of Contents:

About this newsletter   by John Vance, editor

Welcome to the fourteenth issue of the Racing Pigeon Enthusiast, This newsletter is sponsored by RacingPigeonMall.com and it is hoped that many more issues will follow.

Again we are hearing of fanciers stuggling with some form of YB sickness. Just today I recieved a call from one of my customers informing me that nearly every member of his club (except himself) was fighting YB sickness since the training truck started hauling birds. He said that he was the only fancier not affected and wanted to know if he should use antibiotics to ward off infection before it reached his loft. I informed him to continue to use Max Immune Plus on his birds and to not use any medications as that would compromise the positive effect he was experiencing from using the Max Immune Plus product.

In this newsletter, you will find part one of an article on how temperature, humdity and dewpoint all tell us something about the effort our birds will need to exert on the way home from a race. There is an update on results from testing the New Anti-Viral ingredient, that I introduced in our last issue. I can say that prospects are looking good!

If you have articles that you would like published in the newsletter please feel free to e-mail them to me. This newsletter goes out to about 950+ subscribers. The number of subscribers changes with every issue as some new subscribers sign up and others are dropped because they have changed their e-mail address and have not updated their new information in our database.

Before each newletter, we purge about 30 email addresses that have returned to us undeliverable for one reason or another. If you stop receiving our newletter, it could be your address was down at some time and was removed. We cannot in good conscience continue to send to suspect email addresses as this bogs down the internet.


Temperature, Humdity and Dewpoint   by John Vance

Some fanciers say that pigeons do not sweat, but have you ever held a pigeon on a hot day and felt dampness? Pigeons do not have sweat glands like humans, none the less cooling does take place at the skin's surface through a process called cutaneous evaporation.

Cutaneous means "relating to the skin" and cutaneous evaporation is a process by which our pigeons cool themselves by evaporating water vapor off of their skin. Like I said, pigeons do not have sweat glands that produce drops of sweat, rather, they have capillary sized channels which move moisture to the skin's surface where water vapor is released.

Not only are our birds able to cool themselves by way of cutaneous evaporation, but they are able to rapidly change the rate of evaporation at the skin's surface in response to changes in air temperature and humidity.

The primary method by which our birds cool themselves is by respiratory evaporation which takes place in the air sacs and airways. The respiratory system is a "heat pipe", with cooler dryer air being inhaled and warmer moister air being exhaled. Under ideal situations, a pigeon would be breathing in air that contains 1% - 2% moisture and exhales air that contains 5% - 6% moisture.

If a pigeon has to race in weather where the moisture content of the air is reaching the saturation point, then it will be less able to use evaporative cooling at the surfaces of the air sacs and airways (respiratory evaporation) in order to cool itself. This is because, the air being breathed in, has little capacity to hold additional moisture and therefore, the air sacs are unable to utilize respiratory evaporation in order to cool the blood, which in turn, cools the body.

To read the complete article go to:
http://www.racingpigeonmall.com/loft/articles/dewpoint.html


Racing Pigeons: The Importance of the Intestinal Lining   By: John Vance

A little respected fact, but one well understood by perennial OB & YB champions, is that race seasons are often won or lost before the first race is ever flown. Sickness in the breeders, disease transferred to the embryo and egg sac, setbacks to youngsters while in the nest, damage to the intestinal lining from strong medications and antibiotics, etc., all diminish the future potential of a racing pigeon and the resultant physical handicaps cannot be reversed , either through feeding methods nor road training, but will remain with the bird throughout it racing life.

There are two kinds of fanciers whom handicap their bird's physical capabilities; Those that medicate and those that let pathogens run their course unopposed, hoping to weed out the weakest birds. Having read that last sentence, you might think that I am some kind of nut, but what I am trying to point out is that there is a third course of action available, one which will breed you healthy youngsters possessing superior physiological capabilities; birds which will possess greater natural immunity, birds that will have the capability to digest, store and utilize carbohydrates, fats and proteins more efficiently, birds able to flush out race related toxins quicker and to recover from races faster, birds better able to compete at their full potential across the whole race schedule!

One unseen culprit that permanently handicaps our bird's ability, to compete successfully throughout the race season, is damage to the intestinal lining. As fanciers, we damage the intestinal lining when we use chemicals to medicate our birds and we damage the intestinal lining when we allow pathogenic infections to remain unopposed; in the hope of weeding out birds with weak immune systems, by allowing disease to run its course, thereby leaving only those birds with “super” natural immunity.

So what is a fancier to do, medicate or not medicate? Lets answer that by examining what happens to the intestinal lining of our birds when we medicate or when we allow disease to run its course.

If we were to cut out a section of the intestinal lining from one of our birds and lay it flat under a microscope, we would find that it is not a smooth surface. Rather, the intestinal lining would appear to be covered with mountains and valley and the whole surface would appear to be heavily forested. The folds (mountains) increase the surface area of the intestinal lining by about 100% and the trees (forest canopy) increase the surface area by 1000% percent. Yes, that is right 1000%.

The trees of the forest, are called “villi” which are long columns of specialized tissues, extending up from the mountains and valleys of the intestinal lining, much like bristles on a hair brush. These specialized tissues serve many functions in the health and well being of our birds, but the three functions I will address are: nutrient absorption, pathogen identification and repulsion of pathogenic invasions (see photo below).

To read the complete article and see the photo go to:
http://www.racingpigeonmall.com/loft/articles/villi-goblets.html


Update on the New All Natural Anti-Viral Ingredient   By: John Vance

A couple of months ago, I mentioned a New "All Natural" Anti-Viral Ingredient, that I was testing out. Here is an update on the progress of the ingredient

The new "all natural" anti-viral ingredient was tested in three different lofts which met the criteria for testing (suspected gastro-intestinal viral infections). The three lofts were somewhat representative of different environments.

~ A loft in which only a single YB section showed signs of infection.

~ A loft where all sections in the loft were affected but the worse symptoms were in the breeding section, where YB's developed properly and then died when about two weeks old.

~ A "one loft race" with 300+ YB's

In all cases, prior to contacting me, the loft owners had tried several rounds of medications and antibiotics recommended by the pigeon supply houses yet they had little success in stopping their specific problem. Symptoms were generally; chronic diarrhea, birds going light, increased water consumption, and a high mortality rate.

Though what I am reporting is not scientific, I can say that all three loft reported improvement in health upon starting on the new anti-viral ingredient. They all said that the diarrhea and wasting away subsided and that birds stopped dying.

To read the complete article go to:
http://www.racingpigeonmall.com/loft/articles/antiviral-update.html


New Product Annoucements By: John Vance

In the past month, we have introduced two new products for the racing pigeon sport. Below, you can read a summary about each product and the link at the bottom of the summaries will take you to our products index where you can read the full description of each product.

Muscle Max

Muscle Max, speeds muscle recovery after long or hard races by quickly super-hydrating the muscle fibers with needed enzymes, hormones, specialized proteins and cell nutrients to rebuild "torn down" muscle fibers. Adding Muscle Max to the drinking water for birds returning from a hard race, will speed up recovery by as much as 24 hours. Over the course of a race season, Muscle Max will allow your birds to compete at a "higher level" week after week, extending their ability to race throughout the season without burning out from muscle fatigue as the end of the race season draws nearer.

ViraMax

ViraMax, is an all natural product possessing uniquely prepared molecular chains which have been specialized to attract viruses and remove the viruses from the gastro-intestinal tract, there are no medications or antibiotics present in this product, so there is no damage to the natural defense system (friendly bacteria, intestinal mucosial barrier, liver, kidneys, etc.) nor any of the toxicity problems usually associated with medications and antibiotics.

To read more about Muscle Max and ViraMax, go to:
http://www.racingpigeonmall.com/loft/products/index.html


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