This is the third part of our pointing series where feeding actvities are explained in the pointing regime. Reading the earlier parts is as important as this one pls. see Pointing feeds – Series Part 1 where we introduced the components, Pointing procedures – Series Part 2 where we discussed the routines and procedures excluding feeding.

Feeding

Five days before the fight

Feeds and supplements are cut. We cut feeds that will not be needed or insignificant at least on fight day. This will optimize the feed and the system alike .

• Those germinated seeds. We dont need large amount of fiber on this phase.
• Black colored grains and other feedstuff. To avoid miscoloring of droppings.
• Jockey oats.
• Juice. If you are mixing juice in your feedstuff, this is the time where you cut them.
• Safflower seeds. Back in the day we cut mixing this on this phase. it would be just ok if you not remove this if your feedstuff have just a minimal portion of it. But we still preferred to cut this if it contains more that 5% of the diet on this critical phase.

As mentioned this day is the latest that you could introduce feedstuffs to the gamefowls. We avise that earlier is better.

Pointing Feed Components

• Eggwhite – 4 to 5 gamefowls per egg.
• Raisins 2 to 3 raisins per gamefowls perfeeding.
• Milk – 1 tablespoon per 5 gamefowls
• beef – aside from protein, another important amino acid that very important to gamefowls is creatine. red meats such as beef are high on this, specially steak part. The amount of this supplement depends on the time it will be given to, as will be discussed.
• Oat meal – if you plan to use this on fight time, it will be good to introduce this earlier. A pinch of oatmeal per gamecock will do.

From the conditioining feed mentioned with the removed and added components, on five and four days before the fight, give them the usual ammount as with the gamefowl individual needs. See conditioining feeds and feeding.

The Carboloading

To optimally energize gamefowls for the coming fight, as mentioned in energy systems, carbohydrates are important for the glycolytic system particularly glucose. We load as much of such energy we can for the coming fight, this strategy is called carboloading.

Carboloading is done three days before the fight. And take note carboloading comes with rest and the loading and storage of carbohydrates. From your new base feed with the removed and newly added ammendments (mentioned in 5 and 4 days before the fight), you increase the corn by 10% on 3 days before the fight. Making the corn for the said day to be 40%. And making it 60% on 2 days before the fight. And on fight day the corn mus be consisting 70 to 80%.

The final note in carboloading is on 2 days before the fight on morning and afternon feeding. Double the amount of the beef supplement, from 3 peasized medium cooked beef to 6 to 7 pcs of it. This will somehow avoid the body sensing that too much supply of carbohydrates is becoming a trend, and will signal that the energy supply is high on protein or at least in a balance of protein and carbohydrates. In effect the body will make the glycolytic system more readily available. And take note this trick is not common to most handlers, so there you have it one secret unlocked regarding effective carboloading.

Table % corn and amount in grams per day

Day/Mixture	% corn	g Per 40 g feed mix	# of peasized beef	Remarks
Start to 4 days before the fight	30	12	3
3 days before the fight	40	16	3
2 days before the fight	60	24	6-7
Fight day	60-70	24-28	2

Take note that feeding on morning of fight day is usually 15-20 g for fights in 1 to 7PM

Table sample variation of the feed

day/mixture	% corn	# of peasized beef	Remarks
Start to 4 days before the fight	30	3
3 days before the fight	40	3
2 days before the fight	60	6-7
Fight day	60-70	2

Water management

Management of the moisture is included in the pointing activities. Moisture in the body is vital for the best performance of the gamefowl. Too dry the cutting ability is affected that extension of the legs and shanks becomes limited. And too wet the gamefowl moves slower and will bleed profusely when got hit. To sum it all up, a not correct body moisture will give you an almost automatic lose.

Most well experienced handler will know the moisture status of gamecocks of just feeling them. With just holding the gamefowl, feeling the way it feels to the hand, together with some little pulling and stretching the legs and wings, will tell them if the chicken is dry or have too much moisture on them.

The widely used method to assess the moisture of the gamefowl is through their droppings. This is why it is said that “if you want to be good on pointing gamecocks you must be good about chicken shit.” Chicken droppings gives many clues to what the current status of the gamefowl regarding body like body moisture, health, feed acidity and many more. Assessing gamefowl droppings will be tackled more on this link.

Controlling water intake.

It is a fact that right body moisture is critical to the gamefowl on fight time, thus it needs to be controlled and managed.

The practice of controlling water intake of the gamefowls varies from handler to handler. For some handlers water is given ad libitum even on fight day. Because the idea of ad libitum water will make the discussion longer, we will tackle this seperately on this link.

Limiting water intake proves to be effective as seen on actual results by most handlers. The easiest and effective water control is to number the dips a gamefowl make when drinking. The following table shows how numbers are decreased each day up to the fight day. Even for beginning handlers this will save them of this moisture troubles. Take note of the feel of the gamecocks body how it progress as you come closer to fight time, together the extension of the legs and how you stretch the wings. And as you obtain these accumulated experiences you will get to know how a proper moisture feels to your touch.

Water Management table.

The following table is by far the best water management table as per experiences. It is pretty universal that, it is the SOP we mandated to our farmhands and you may adapt it without difficulty.

day	PM		AM		Remarks
	Min	Max	Min	Max
Start to 4 days before the fight	Ad Libitum
3 days before the fight	8	12	12	17	Take note of those who will drink the maximum
2 days before the fight	3	5	5	8	Excess moisture will be started to be discharged.
Fight day			2	3	Droppings moisture result should be right on this day.

With the procedures above, Droppings moisture result should be right on fight day, otherwise the gamecock is in some sort of trouble. Possible reasons are, gamefowl is sick, or if the droppings is still wet you may look at the cloth if the gamefowls are drinking from the excessively wet cloth. Examine their droppings every three hours when letting them stretch in the pit or limber pens.

So there you have it you can now point the gamefowls to it’s peakest potential. It will sustain them until about 7PM.

Most events we compete with takes beyond 7PM. Most will continue to 5AM the next day and some even continues to 10 AM next day. And the feeds are adjusted to respective fight schedules on the derby program. it will be explained scenario by scenario to demonstrate it effectively on our last part of the series Scenario by Scenario Pointing- Pointing Series

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