by Kemo Basic
I do not have authority to write on the subject that is rather crucial to the success in the flying competition achievements, as I do not have much experience in this field. I rather let the dark flying experts give us their own view on this important part of Tippler flying sport. However, for the novice in our sport I could write a few lines on the subject and emphasizes that the novice should first fly his birds through the day before he decides to train his birds to fly in the dark. I have flown my birds in competition in dark only four times in my entire Tippler career. Through my observation of the dark flying training, one of the important details is that the birds, intended for training in dark flying, must be established disciplined birds, in order to be trusted and trained as old birds .The birds that made forced mistake in the past could be considered trustworthy and be included in the old bird dark training program.

Another important part of successful dark training is to have control over your birds with measured amount of feed and having an idea as how long your birds should fly on that specific quantity and quality of feed. In the flying Tippler Sport all host of relevant facts should be always considered to be able to determine if the birds should be permitted to fly longer or should the lights be turned on and the birds dropped. Your right judgment in deciding on this issue is crucial to your success.

I feed my birds at nighttime with lights and droppers so they get used to it from beginning. Therefore they are not afraid of the shade and neither from darkness. I start training in the dark by feeding my birds on a half measure of barley once a day and being careful if this amount of feed is justified, according to the bird’s condition, temperature and other relevant factors. About 10 consecutive days on this program are required to get the fliers gradually to fly into dark. Patience plays a big roll and if the birds fly only for a few minutes in dark, the very important step is achieved and the start of a gradual flying longer into dark on regular bases begins. The workouts are every other day or twice a week. The feeding with barley and oil seeds, or depurative is used – flying 4-5 hrs every other day or 7-8 hrs if flown twice a week.

Tippler man’s personal preference of the length of the flying time in training varies in proportion to the quality and quantity of the training feed.

On a good day your birds if in good condition, will fly longer then you would like them to fly, and on the day with unfavorable flying weather conditions will look for droppers earlier. If the birds want to come down before dark, do not risk anything by pushing them to fly little bit longer, turn the lights on, give them the droppers and try to do better next time.

I wish you to have confidence that you can achieve results by doing proper research and then applying it to your own program, and then write me a line letting me know if I was right. Good luck.