Thavorn Lorungrochana, M.D.

Do you race imports ?
No. I do not race imports.

How big is your old bird team ? Young bird team ?
I have two old bird teams, the Natural team and the Widowhood team. The Natural team consists of 60 birds, mostly the yearling cocks & the good long distant hens. The Widowhood team consists of 16 cocks. The young bird team consists of 90 birds, mostly from the breeding loft and a few from the widowhood loft.

Do you use a system ? Young birds ? Old birds ?
I shipped most of my long distant hens sitting on 10-12 days old eggs in the Natural team with good result from 500 & 600 mls. I select the good yearling cocks from the Natural team when they were 2 y/o to replace the retired widowhood cocks. I used the light system in YB. I give them 16 hrs of light from 7 am to 11 pm and go on to natural light at the end of June. I exercise & train my birds in the morning, and allow them to observe the natural sunrise. I never have any problem with the molting as old birds on the light system. However I do have a few birds that go through the double molting as YB. I think both the Darkening System and the Light System are equally good if you do it right and both systems have the advantage over the natural or no system at all. Choose the system that fit your schedule. Both system are drug free and should be permitted to compete.

Do you cut flights ? Pull tail feathers ?
I pull the 9th flight (without cutting) and half of the tail feather (alternate one) in early June, after the birds have been trained to 50 mls and pull the 10th flight together with the other half of the tail feathers when the 9th flight have grown 3/4 of the length. No more training during this period, only loft flying. Care has to be taken when pulling the primary flight. in order to avoid injury to the feather sockets. Get a good grip on the flight and pull it straight out toward the direction of tail without any twisting motion. If you train the bird or force flying too hard at this time, the flights might came up short or have fretch mark on them. The birds will also go through the body molt during this period of resting. The birds should have full 9th & 10th flight and finishing the body moult by the mid or end of July and the training can be resumed.

Do you fly to perch ? Do you fly widowhood ? Explain your young and old bird methods
Old Birds:I use two systems; Natural & Widowhood

Young Birds: - I separate the sexes 3 weeks before the 1st race. Before that, I allow them to mate up but do not allow them to raise any youngsters. They were allowed to see each other for a few hours only when they were back from training tosses or races. They were let out to exercise around the loft separately.

Please describe your loft.
The main loft measured 12 x 16 ft. and has 4 sections: 2 for the breeders, 1 for the old bird on Natural system and 1 for the young birds. Ther are two 6 x 6 ft. avery attached to one end of the main loft for the breeders and there are two 6 x6 ft. enclosed sections on the other end, one for the widowhood cocks and another one for the widowhood hens. I have 4 more separated individual pens for the special breeding pairs.

When and what type of feeding methods do you use ?
I feed my birds (young & old) once a day on the floor in the morning after exercising around the loft or upon returned from training tosses with no set times. I use the commercial conditioning mix (17 % protiens) with no corn and mix in my own corn, adjusting the ratio according to the disstant of the races. I give them all they can eat within 10 minutes.

How do you train your birds; single toss, flock or training truck ?
I have try both single toss and flock release and have found no difference. I do believe in letting the birds go one crate (approx. 15-20 birds) at a time and wait for 5 mins before let another one out. There is less changes for the birds to hit the wire when they are a smaller group and if they ran into something, it is not going to be a total loss. I have never use the training truck because my loft is away from the main line of flight and I do not want the birds to pick up a bad habit.

Is there any kind of health program you regularly follow ?
I give all the youngsters the PMV vaccines and Pox immunization once when they were weaned and never give them again as old birds. I do medicate all my birds :

Sat & Sunday :	Treatment for Coccidiosis (SulfaKnox or Corid) and other antibiotics (Tetracycline, Doxycycline or Amoxil) give one at a time on alternate week. I mix in the Canker medication (Flagyl) on the week that I give the Antibiotics.
Monday :	Vitamin with electrolytes
Tuesday :	Friendly gut bacteria
Wednesday :	Vitamin with electrolytes
Thursday :	Garlic in drinking water
Friday :	Plain water

The main reason for giving the medications is to prevent the birds from getting the disease after they been in the truck with other birds and to control the outbreak of Coccidiosis & Canker when the birds are under stress. I use Ivomec for worming once in every 3 mos.

Do you have a regular training schedule ?
Due to my work schedule, I could not train my birds more than twice a week. I take them 80 mls on Monday and Wednesday and loft fly them on Tuesday and Thursday. I do not let my birds out on Friday (the shipping day) and on the weekends when the neighbors are around. I considered myself an old birds flyer because they do not need much training and I can motivated them better. I can not train the young birds as often as I wanted to due to the above reasons.

How often do you race your champion birds?
I treat all my birds equally. I rarely ship any bird to the races back to back especially if they have been on the wing for longer than 6 hrs the week before. Most of the birds have only flown 4-6 races per season (young & old). I do not believe in ruin the young birds in one season when you can enjoy them for 4-5 yrs.

Do you believe in bird entry limits?
I do believe in bird entry limit because it somewhat equalized the rich from the poor and the big loft from the small. I also believe in clocking limit for the sake of the new flyers. If a new flyer has been flying for 2-3 years and never get a single diploma, chances is he or she might quit the sport for good. The good flyers may have clocked 8-10 birds in the diplomas range per race in order to accumulate the championship points and pushing the new flyers off the diplomas. The AU & IF should look into this matter.

How do you select your breeding pairs?
I examine both the pedigrees & the birds themself in selecting the breeding pairs. I do mate half brother & sister togather for flying and inbred the old champion breeders ( mate sire to his daughter & dam to her son etc.) for stock. I do not mate two birds that have weak or recessive color together. I do mate two of the same color, red check to red check or blue bar to blue bar, together and the same is also true for the eye colors. I do look at the eye signs but do not take it too seriously. I prefer birds with bright and lively eyes with good coloration.

Any advice for new or advanced flyers ?
My advice to the new flyers are to be a good listener and to read a lot. Pick up all the good points and try them. Making notes on everything you do and keeping the things that work for you. Acquiring birds from the good flyers, preferably kits of young birds. My only advice for the advanced flyers is to help the new flyers in every ways you can.

Is there a flyer or breeder that has helped you to become a better flyer ? Do you have any goals ?
It take more than a flyer, breeder or books to make one a better flyer. Hard works, consistancy and the will to improve oneself are very important. Most flyers bramed on something else beside themself for the mistakes. I do not set any goal. I consider pigeon racing as a hobby. If I am doing good, that is my reward. If not, I am still having fun racing pigeons. My greatest moments were when I was selected as one of the flyers to represent AU in the international race in Holland a few years back and when two of my birds were honored in the 97 IF Hall of Fame.