Obviously, the use of glucose in the drinking water prior to shipping adds very much to this entire process. Another important point to re-iterate in this discussion is that fat production by the liver of birds is greatly increased when levels of carbohydrate in the ration are high.

So, if you feed high-fat grains in any amount -- grains such as peanuts or sunflower seeds, etc. -- especially toward shipping day, be sure that you also feed lots of cereal grains, eg, maize, wheat, rice, etc.. Now what is the role of protein in the racing bird? This is an important point because a number of fanciers continue to feed high levels of peas and beans as fuel for racing.

Protein is highly important in the maintenance and repair of damaged muscle and other tissues. It is not an energy food and would not be used as such by the bird for flight except when all reserves of fat and carbohydrate are completely depleted. The bird that returns home days or weeks late with wasted breast muscles has likely had to resort to using the protein of muscle as a source of energy -- hence the wasting.

So much of the muscle has been used as a desperately needed source of energy that it may never return to normal. On the subject of using protein for the maintenance and repair of muscle, an interesting study done by Dr George in migrating Canada geese showed that at the end of Spring migration, there was considerable damage and degeneration of the major breast muscles, likely as the result of the stresses of wear and tear that can occur during prolonged flight.

These findings in migrating geese might just be applicable to racing pigeons after they have flown a race of any distance, but might be most important when races are tough. Perhaps any tough short or long race might result in similar degenerative changes in our racing birds. Thus, it would seem logical to me that the sooner these potentially damaged muscles are repaired and restored to normal, the sooner is the bird likely to return to good racing condition.

If high-protein grains are to be fed during the racing season for the repair and maintenance of muscles and other tissues for example, it seems logical then that they should be fed earlier rather than later in the week -- to allow for rapid repairs to possibly damaged muscle. Logically, repairs should come first, followed a bit later by a buildup of fuel for racing.

This doesn't mean that fanciers can't use the traditional light to heavy feeding schedule to prepare birds for the next race, but it seems reasonable that any repair of damaged muscle should occur before that muscle is refuelled. Recall also that feeding high levels of protein will decrease the amount of fat the liver is capable of producing -- another good reason not to feed high levels of protein at the end of the week toward shipping day. Because a number of the high- fat grains such as peanuts, sunflower seeds, etc., fed toward shipping day, are also high in protein, I would suggest that they be fed in moderation, not as a cropful.

At the same time, we should be certain that the amount of carbohydrate in the diet is at a high level, ie, by the use of a high proportion of cereal grains, especially grains like maize, wheat, oats and rice, for example. Glucose or honey could be added to the drinking water to help supply the extra carbohydrate needed in the production of fat. (Note: Don't put glucose or other sugars in the water day after day. Use these sugars for only a day or two at a time, to prevent the growth of yeasts and mould in the crops of your birds, since these yeasts,

etc. use the sugar as nutrients for their own growth, and can invade the wall of the crop at this time.)
These measures would take advantage of the fact that when the level of carbohydrate in the ration is at a reasonably high level, increased dietary fat does not seem to interfere with fat production by the liver of birds.

One other intriguing but practical method to improve fat production in racing pigeons could be the use of the sugar fructose. Fructose is available as a powder and can be found in health food stores as well as grocery stores. Compared with table sugar, fructose may be expensive. Another practical source of fructose is honey which contains about 40% fructose and 30% glucose.

Why use fructose, when glucose seems to be the major sugar in the body of birds, the liver of which has a significant ability to convert glucose to fatty acids in a very short period of time? First, some background. Most grains, especially the cereal grains, contain a high per centage of starch, that, as we have seen, is a complex chemical structure composed of many individual units of the sugar, glucose. When the starch in grains is digested by pigeons, it is fractionated by digestive juices in the intestines into glucose, which is then absorbed through the intestinal wall into the blood stream and transported to the liver. It is known that in birds, the absorption of glucose from the intestine into the bloodstream far outstrips the absorption of fructose.

Part 4