Jack Barkel

jack,you say there are as many good points as bad points in the eye,can you explain the bad points to watch out for please? ted Hello Ted, Yes there are many bad points to be recognised through the eye, some are caused by ourselves from the way we supposedly medicate our birds, this will leave one eye faded which if not caused by physical damage, signifies diseased liver and such a bird will neither breed or race well anymore. As stock pigeons, I attach two photo's of eyes of birds I would never consider for the stock loft, 549 has gaps running through the iris like holes in a bucket. We can do nothing with this eye for like the water bucket no matter how much we put in, it will all run out. 2266 has a full eye, this is similar to a bucket that is full of water, for no matter what we try to put in it will overflow for such an eye is on it's limit. It would take three to four years to rectify the progeny off these birds, so by the time one may get it nearly right they will be old and grey like myself. It is not worth the time and trouble. These are the most prominent mistakes the breeder sometimes overlooks, there are many others too numerous to list with hundreds of variables. The more birds one handles the more proficient one becomes at selecting which will produce with an abundance of quality, and which have a few good quality genes that may sadly only pop up on very rare occasions. The subject is many faceted and I can't to it full justice on a forum. These are the main points to watch for without making the subject too long or boring. Regards Jack

Hello Ted, Yes they can, but two pearl eyed birds cannot produce a yellow eyed bird. Two recessives ( pearl ) can only produce recessives, two yellows being dominant can produce a recessive ( pearl ) if they carry that recessive gene.

Hello Shadow, It is a very dangerous product, often making your pigeons unfertile. It is DNA sensitive and banned in some countries. Jack

Hello Ted and All, We stopped exporting pigeons more than two years ago, too much red tape here in South Africa, and some other receiving countries. We opened the Barkel breeding station in St Louis-America, because most of our exports went to that country. However there was more than 160 Lemons exported to the Arab countries before we decided it was no longer worth the trouble. I only put them up for people to view them on this forum because they are different to any other strain or colour in the world. People insisted that I should be able to create a strain that could be recognised as exclusive to myself that no one else could produce unless they purchased from myself the originator. This was the greatest challenge I ever faced from fanciers that tried to criticise or pick holes in the limits of my capabilities, fortunately these unique birds are winning and producing winners in South Africa, America, and The United Arab Emirates. I am content that my two Breeding stations are now only breeding for ourselves and the SA & USA market. I myself have never raced pigeons since 1997, as too much of my time is taken up breeding, evaluating and pairing compatible pigeons for others. I still miss the competition when each racing season comes around, but receive a lot of joy in what I am achieving, for I feel it carries a lot more skill and less luck, with no winds and rain to interfere with my success or failure. I am now busy producing another distinguishable strain that will do the distance, using the Chocolate Meulemans for colour, which I selected personally at the Louella Lofts, and light blue van Bruaenes that have no modifiers in their colour, to increase the intelligence and stamina. One can receive a lot of joy and fulfilment in designing ones own type of pigeon from the material we have available to us. These results will remain for all to see for generations, whereas our race records no matter how exciting at the time soon fade into obscurity. Regards Jack

Hello Ted & Craig, Here is a collage of some of the "Barkel's Lemons", they can be seen to be nearly white, only they have faded bars or cheques, and all have a band in the tail. They are unique in having this band in the tail for it proves them to be dilute of Blue and not of ash red. They are all distance pigeons, small to medium in build, and the only strain from South Africa to have it's own genetic reference. Being recessive, two paired together will only breed Lemons, I have blue cheques in the strain that also breed Lemons and blue cheques. You will notice that the Lemon positioned bottom right has the Catalyst eye, while most are a normal mix of yellow and pearl eyes, with a few Violets and greens thrown in. I hope this is of interest to some viewers. Regards Jack

HelloTed, If he can tell that his bull eyed whites are pearl underneath without crossing them with yellow eyed birds, I think he is a better eye sign person than any of us. An amazing statement?????? If they were all pearl underneath they would recess to their original state and would end up more to fancy pigeons than racing pigeons. Do not be puzzled by such statements, for long distance pigeons no matter the eye colour must carry the gene of a yellow eye in it's ancestry. Eye sign theory says they must carry the yellow gene not to deteriorate to a short distance pigeon. Just look at the percentages of yellows to pearls that have achieved the long distance classics. Most of your losses at the extreme distance invariably turn up to be the pearl eyes. An example of this are the rapido white Busschaerts developed in England. Regards Jack

Thanks for the compliment. Jack

jack,if no 2 circle was full circle black,what would this mean? Hello Ted, The black is the composite and is the racing sign, most triple fed winners have 100% composite superimposed although I believe the happy medium to be 30 to 40% composite. When pairing birds together it is best to keep the addition of the sire & dams composite below 100%. That means that you would have to pair it with a clear of opposite colour. The yellow eye that I put up with the Catalyst eye is a yellow clear, that is to say no composite whatever on the adaptation. If the addition of the composite of both parents exceeds 100% you will produce pigeons that will race but be little or no good for the stock loft. If you have very little composite the parents will breed mainly stock birds with little flying prowess. It is more involved than this, but this is the basics in finding compatibility between a sire and dam, along with having two opposite coloured eyes. Two yellow eyes are often permissible, but two pearl eyes will soon degenerate your stock to fast blow home pigeons with little homing ability. People because of a lack of understanding of these revelations pair birds to breed purely stock pigeons or purely racers. When through more good luck than good management they produce a racer / breeder, they try to impress the world that they are in control, and can do this regularly. Without the knowledge, of which this is only a portion that I have space and time to impart to you on this forum, you can not expect to repeat the process with regularity. Remember there is now a book full of this knowledge that cannot be laid down in short paragraphs in a couple of weeks. I have not come across anyone that has a full grasp or full working knowledge of what I have tried and tested over the last 50 years or so. Although some of my followers are getting more capable of doing it themselves. I certainly have not seen or heard of my revelations in all my travels as being regular practice with anyone, other than these protégés of mine. As I am going on seventy and having lectured for several years evaluating and pairing many top lofts, which shall remain nameless unless they volunteer the information as Hyacinth has done on this forum, I have decided to publish all my knowledge on the subject in book form, revealing a complete working knowledge of my evaluation, pairing and breeding methods. I firmly believe that whoever possesses this book, and take the time to practice what I have to say, will greatly improve their selection and breeding capabilities. Regards Jack

Ted, Without me seeing it it would be difficult to say, but if the No 2 and No 5 are the same colour and thickness, without me being able to scrutinise for faults, I would say it should be good for the stock loft. This matching of the second and fifth circle is only about 15% of the qualities we are looking for, but is an essential part. There are many bad faults in the eye as well as good criteria, the genetic imprint on the eye will reveal both good and bad qualities, and we must have the skill to match it with a bird carrying a compatable eye.. Jack

Hello Ted, The pupil which is the black in the middle is Circle No 1 The circle just outside this is the Adaptation Circle No 2. This circle if you look closely from 8:00 to 3:00 0-clock has a bluish hue and from 3:00 to 8:00 0 clock is covered over by a black composite this shows the % super imposed. The circle just outside this is the correlation and has a pale yellowish hue. Circle No 3. This is the base circle that extends from the outer edge of the pupil to the outer perimeter of the eye. The adaptation and Iris are man made according to our pairings and are placed on top of the correlation, leaving it only viewable as a third circle. The next circle is the Iris and is a deep reddish hue. Circle No 4. In this case it tends more to the colour of the pearl than the bright orange of the yellow eye. Finally the outer circle is called the fifth or breeding circle No 5. This to be a good example should be the same colour and thickness as the circle of adaptation, and in this case has got that same bluish hue. I hope this helps, as it is how I would explain the catalyst eye I placed on the forum. Some computers bring out the colours better than others. Regards Jack

Hello Ted, I have tried to post an example of the three different types of base colour eyes, I hope they attach correctly, as I don't seem to be able to preview them. I would purchase my loupe from a jeweller otherwise you might get a cheap plastic type lenze from a pigeon outlet. Regards Jack

Hello Ted, I use a loupe with a 15X magnification, anything larger than this distorts the eye and one cannot see all sphincter muscles at the same time, therefore a 10X mag is better to use for examining a pigeons eye than a 20X mag. The 15X loupe is the largest magnification one can use to give a true reading. I have mine glued into my spectacle frame so as to have both hands free when looking at each bird. Jack

jack,re pearl eye;;;;; i have from memory of pearl eyes,some look nearly white,some look silver,all differant types of white through to grey/silver,,,,,which in your opinion is the most valuable? ************* Ted, All of them, if the sphincter muscles are evenly balanced can be as good as each other, however the brighter or shall we say depth of hue will be a good indication of the birds vitality. Of course the greatest of these, or shall we say the most highly regarded is the violet. We also have many colour enhancements in the yellow, the rarest of which and most highly regarded is the green. There are only two base colours, and they are Yellow and Pearl, any variation on these are colour enhancements of these two base colours. We also have an eye that is neither Yellow or Pearl. This eye, my followers and I refer to as "The Catalyst Eye, for it is a split gene showing a yellow correlation and a Pearl Iris. It's adaptation and fifth circle is neither violet or green but an unmistakable blue. I named it the Catalyst eye because when one pairs this eye to a pearl it breeds violets and when we pair it to a yellow it produces greens. Chapter 6 in my latest book is titled "The Catalyst Eye" and is devoted to my discovery and and the work I have done on it, reproducing it and testing it. Ted, I sent you a private e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word of how I photograph the eye, please let me know if you have received it. Regards Jack

Hello Ted, Yes in the pearl eye we have many colour enhancements, one of these appears very grey with a dull pinkish cast, this is known as the gravel eye. Once I get used how to post a picture on here I will be able to submit an example. Suffice it to say it is a pearl eye and is recessive. May be some one will send me a PM on here how to post a picture attachment. It is obvious I am going to have to do this in the near future. Regards Jack

Hello Hyacinth, Thanks for your recognition of the bird bred from my selection and suggested pairing. However I am sorry to say that Clocky does not appear as if he will make it at all. I think all his weight is in his head and will dip into the ground if faced with a head wind. I also do not think there is a race ring either electronic or otherwise that will not get lost in the race basket. He certainly seems to have a lot of things going against him, and the green eye I suspect is only a reflection of his feathers. Any youngsters from him may be trained to ask the way home as his eye shows no homing ability. Sorry Hyacinth, I hope you were not contemplating putting him to stock. Best Regards, Jack

Hello Ted, In my new book Chapter 9 is titled "How to photograph the eye" If you write to me privately I will e-mail you a preview of Chapter nine including photographs explaining how I do it. Regards Jack

Hello All, I have read the replies with great interest, and feel I must reply in defence of my two books. In these books will be found over two hundred photographs of eyes taken by myself. Not one, and I state categorically not one has lines of any kind drawn on them, I can assure all that those photographs like myself are the genuine article, no fake here either, although the printer may not have got the depth of colour exact in transferring some photo's from CD to the printed page. Remember the printer may never have seen a pigeons eye, and can be excused from perceiving one to be as much the same as any other. It bothers me not what other photographers or pigeon evaluators think of true or unfair criticism, but my reputation will remain untarnished if I am in a position to defend it. I refuse to be lumped together with the fakes and cheats, not every one in this world can be slotted into such a category, although I do not deny that such practices do occur. Part of my profession is pigeon and eye photography, and I refuse to enhance any photograph other than to take out flash marks etc for any customer or myself. I have thousands of photographs of pigeons and their eyes taken for customers that wish to have photo's of their favourites recorded. Never will I put in what is not genuinely perceived by the owner and myself. I am sorry that some of us seem to have lived our lives exposed to fakes and impostors, but wish to state that all work done by myself either as a pigeon evaluator or photographer, will stand up to the closest scrutiny. No offence taken, just clarifying my position in defence of such loose statements. I would also like to mention that the late great Jim Biss was visited by Bill Carney some years ago, Jim had just purchased a Cock for 15000 pounds. Bill said it was a beautiful racing cock but would never produce anything near like itself. Jim swore him out of the place and that was the end of what could have been a good friendship. Needless to say from that day onwards Jim condemned eye sign but never admitted that Bill Carney's forecast was a true one, the pigeon never did produce anything of merit. Regards to All, Jack

Hello Gerard, There are not many strains that have been kept intact in their purity throughout the years. I refer to this as genetic drift. However in most strains you will find a profusion of good eyes when the breeding is practiced to maintain that strain to perfect line of descent. Certain Busschaert families have phenomenal eye sign in England, much better than the Belgium Busschaerts, and this can be accredited to how some British fanciers really put Busschaerts on the map. The Irishmen, and the Brits have shown a remarkable ability breeding horses, greyhounds and pigeons. I have found their flair for practical genetics to be outstanding. However the most consistent eyes I have found in all my travels are those of the Jan Aarden strain. Gerard if I sell my book on disc, it will be copied by the majority of fanciers giving me a lot of work for very little return. Unfortunately in this day and age there is very little ethics when it comes to copying other peoples work. I produced a video on eye sign several years ago, and I found whole pigeon clubs buying one and re taping it for all their members. I have found illegal copies all over the world among fanciers who would regard themselves as honest people. Therefore to go to the trouble of putting my life's work on CD or video is no longer an alternative. I do have it on disc for referencing and I am busy with a CD that will explain all the questions I have received and may receive regarding my two books. This will not be placed on the market until I have recovered all my outlay on my last book. It has cost me thousands as I have published it myself, so excerpts can be used on CD etc without infringing any copyright claim of any publisher that I might have engaged. My video is no longer available and my books other than in America where I have a breeding station, are only available from myself, although a pigeon magazine in Australia has shown interest to market my books. Regards Jack

Hello Ted, Yes I believe it will always be a hit and miss affair with two bull eyes, although if you pair your pearl eyed cock to a hen with lots of white such as a gay pied or grizzle and line breed down to the cock only selecting his daughters with yellow eyes, in three to four generations there is no trace of that first yellow eyed hen you introduced. This is referred to as perfect line of descent. Another good guess is to see which are producing Long distance plodders and you will know that invariably they are yellow underneath. Likewise those pairs that are breeding fast short distance pigeons are invariably pearl eyed pigeons. These facts are only when constantly pairing pearls together for generation to generation or yellows together for generation to generation. No one can guarantee however that you have got this right although strict selection with concise records of each birds performance history will make your guess a calculated one. I hope I have not confused the issue of what you are trying to achieve. It is a pity we did not live closer I am sure I could have helped you try and achieve your aspirations. Regards Jack

Hello Ted, Please refer to me as Jack, I am not used to getting my full title. It is not possible to judge the eye accurately when it is bull, however if you hold the pigeons beak with thumb and forefinger and turn it so you are looking at it face to face, it is possible to read all the sphincter muscles. This will give you a good indication of the quality of the eye, but unfortunately you can never be sure which colour it is, if it is fully bull eyed. Considering this fact I would always pair it to a yellow eyed pigeon, this way I am sure that I will not degenerate the eye by pairing two pearl eyes together. It may be two yellows together from such a pairing which will increase the stamina but decrease the speed of the bird, this would be the worst scenario, while still you have a 50/50 chance it could be a pearl and a yellow together which will give speed and vitality of the pearl and intelligence and stamina of the yellow. This is the method I use and the reason for doing so. I hope this helps. Regards Jack

Hello Hyacinth, I do believe that a bird blind in one eye may not be alert enough to take evasive action if attacked from above on it's blind side. So I agree with you and the members, best retire her to stock. I would just like to mention that birds from the same loft when in a communal basket will fight and peck each others eyes, whereas once they are in the race pannier they seem to settle down without much fighting. People that have brought their birds to me for eye evaluations, when not transported in a widow hood box, often those pigeons portray pecked and damaged corneas through fighting. A bird liberated at race point with pecked corneas is near blind for several days, such a bird no matter how good a record it has will surely be flying that day under a severe handicap. May I suggest that whenever possible transport your birds to the marking station in separate compartment baskets. The damaged cornea is easily seen with a magnifying glass and looks like a flat piece of plastic on the eye. Please be careful it can cost you the race. Best Regards Jack

Hello Ted, There is a fancier coming to see me from the midlands in or about October, he has the first book and is coming to collect the latest one. To send payment from England costs as much in bank charges as it does to purchase the book. Many take the risk and send me English currency through the post, however if you can wait until later this year, I am sure I can persuade this English visitor to take a couple of books back with him. You can e-mail me privately about book purchases. Yes Dr Riggs reputation with the Barker and Gits was phenomenal, and his knowledge both practical and theoretical breeding pigeons and cattle was amazing. Brother Sid and myself had many great wins and UNC positions, with the Barker Gits crosses. The Dr Rigg Barkers also bred Silver Dunn or dilute check cocks that flew extraordinary well, I hope to have one of these sent over from my brother soon. Bill Carney came much later, but I honestly believe he had a lot more to offer to the fancy than he ever gave, another man on par with him was the Belgium Pete de Weird. These two men could have changed the whole concept of reading the eye, if the fanciers on a whole had been more willing to allow them to convey their methods without being pulled to pieces by abrasive attacks. Bill Carney had a Blue Pied Cock with a beautiful violet eye, it's ring number was, NU 63 R 10493, he never raced him but put him straight to stock. He was in 63 eye sign shows and won 63 first prizes. He also sired 51 x 1st prize winners through to Angouleme. I had a deep respect for the man and his birds in those days. In my opinion these were two of the later genuine eye sign people, although old today,and I must say I lost touch with them a decade ago, I feel they had something to offer to the fancy on the subject. I still have to learn how to post photo's on this forum before I attempt to post articles, you see I am not as comfortable with a computer as I am with pigeons. Shall we say, I am an old dog learning new tricks. Best Regards, Jack jackbarkel@mweb.co.za

Hello Slugmonkey and All, I thank you for your letter of support showing the open mindedness that should be forthcoming from all of us. As for your reference to friends from Kansas City MO, I had forgotten Kansas and Kansas City were two vastly different territories. I remember now that the place in Kansas City was called Benton, my host and organiser was a man named Jim Ruffini, he organised a couple of seminars while I was there. I did visit there two years in succession, the second time Jim drove me on to Oklahoma City for more seminars, and I then took a plane to Sacramento and lectured all up the West Coast to the Canadian Border. We then flew on to England where my seminars were advertised in "The Racing Pigeon". The Geordies and the Mackems are a tough and discerning bunch where pigeons are concerned, and if you do not have a complete grasp of your subject they may choose to wipe you out. It is a testing ground that will prove whether a person is any good or not. Needless to say I survived successfully showing my capabilities to survive all that was thrown at me. I found my reception to be an enjoyable one wherever I went, but you will always get the guy who stands up to try and show the audience he is more knowledgeable than the speaker. I am not bothered anymore about those who chose to be uncomplimentary towards me, I have met some obnoxious characters both in my travels and on the internet, but these are outweighed by the many thousands that would rather dissect what one has to convey and select from it that which they feel might be of use to them. Having said this I will answer all questions on pigeons to the best of my ability and not only on eye-sign. Personal questions of a friendly nature I will also answer, and those seemingly issued as a challenge I may choose to ignore. I certainly will not get involved with people who may think or try to start world war three because of any subject on pigeons as one fancier wrote to me in his welcome message, however I will not let this silence me on the eye sign subject. Those who have read my book know that eye-sign is not the limits of my knowledge on racing pigeons. May be I can also learn on this forum, and make some new friends, and in return give a little back out of my experiences over the years. My father Sid Barkel senior ( I also have a brother Sid and a nephew Sid still flying there,) was also a member of the Up North Combine, and he gave me my first pigeons in 1940. I also learned a lot from visits to George Slade of Penn who developed the Swing Clear Strain and Dr Tom Rigg of Parbold Lancashire who line bred Barker and Gits and crossed them over for racing, he tutored me on these skills by the way. I have a wealth of advice to share from such great fanciers as these including S.W.E. Bishop, advice that may be known to many on the list, but which may not be known by other members of this forum. I am here to help and not to polish my own marble. Please do not be afraid to ask, I can handle very politely those who try to make it uncomfortable. Kind Regards to All, Jack

Hello Ben, Some of my pigeon basics-YES. Jack

Hello Robert & Slugmonkey, I seemed to have missed a thread about Brian, I can't find your previous reference to him, but may I state categorically it is possible to give a character reading and physical/ health reading on humans from looking into the eyes. Years ago when English men were pure bred it was possible to find many eyes which iridologists call The Silk which we refer to in pigeons as "My Choice *****". Today it is very rare in humans but gaining ground in racing pigeons. There is a reason for this, just as there is a reason today that one can often tell if the father of the child is the true progenitor. It was always very difficult to tell when the majority of English people were recessive, but today there are as many dominant as recessive in the English race. I mention the English race only because of my studies of them through history, and being one myself, plus I am a recessive by the way. It is a well known fact that biologists and scientists, together with medical people are altering some parts of the DNA in young couples about to be married, to eliminate their offspring of producing diabetes, epilepsy, and other unwanted hereditary diseases. This is all being done by studies and understanding of the eye. No longer will a scientist stick their neck out and call it fake. Only in the pigeon world where I admit we do have many fakes professing to understand the eye, will you have intelligent people questioning the authenticity of being able to read the eye. May I suggest to all budding eye sign enthusiasts to purchase Dorothy Halls book " IRIDOLOGY" first published in Great Britain in 1994 by Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Ltd of 5 Windmill Street, London. WIP 1HF To anyone taking the trouble to read this book together with it's eye charts, it will increase your knowledge of eye sign one thousand fold. Leave the doubting Thomas's out of it, and extend your researches into the hidden mysteries of nature and science. I have written two books the first of which has a full chapter with pictures devoted to eye sign, it is called, "The Hidden Mysteries Of Nature And Science". The second book is going to print today and is called, " The Modern Guide To Eye-Sign And Breeding". This book leaves one in no doubt how to progress in the science. I hope this will help everyone on this forum that is interested in the subject. Kind Regards, Jack jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel