Jack Barkel

The Best Eye. We can see from this illustration that the eyes are getting more clearly defined, so that we can now start to recognise the five circle distinctly in the genetic make up of the eye. The only fault with this eye is that the iris is broader than the correlation, and although this is a sign of distance capabilities in this type of pigeon, it also reduces the amount of progeny you can expect to produce that will help improve the breeding standards of the stock loft where it is housed. I would say a bird of this calibre will produce fifty percent good honest pigeons, that is to say birds that can win from one hundred and fifty kilometres up to a thousand kilometres. In my opinion this is what the discerning fancier should be trying to achieve, for in many countries where the money is on short fast races, blow home birds are the sort of pigeons that these countries are now producing. I call them short, fast, blow home pigeons and I place very little value on such birds, and can no longer respect the breeding prowess of such nations as those that are producing mainly that sort of degenerated racing pigeon.

Hello Rose, The answer to this is the same as putting a large bird with a small bird, you will not breed medium sized birds. The same with a bird with a full iris to a bird with a weak iris. You will breed full iris birds and weak iris birds. Sorry, genetics does not work the way we would like it to. Regards, Jack

The Brilliant Eye. This is the first of those eyes we can consider trying at stock, there again we must realise that this eye has the bare minimum requirements of those for stock purposes, and will only produce about twenty five percent good honest pigeons. It will be observed from the illustration that this eye has a lot of character, but unfortunately the iris has dominated the eye. This happens when putting winner to winner or pigeons with very wide irises, certainly my last choice when selecting for the stock loft.

Hello Lennut, You do not need to say poor Uncle Jack, I am neither poor mentaly or materialy. I did not shoot myself in the foot, I only tried to explain to those who's travels, and social standing in the pigeon sport are obviously limited, that there are many top Belgium fanciers who use eye sign and have done so for 100 years or more, and I am sure that I made my point. They are reticent to get involved with disbelievers who will try and attack them to get recognition, so they in the most keep quiet. I have not seen one of my attackers who have put anything on a website of their own that is of any value, but they will continue to criticise others. I have a good reputation throughout the world for my efforts to help in the pigeon sport, nobody will or can take that away from me. Some of my attackers are just plain amateur comics, the trash I do not even bother to reply to anymore, and we all know who they are. I will continue to help those who are interested in what I have to offer, until age beats me. The others I will lose no sleep over them, for they are like ships that pass in the night. I enjoy your comical replies, although sometimes it is difficult to ascertain what you are trying to say. Jack Barkel

Roland, If what you say is true then what was Josef Huyskens doing with his eye sign chapter on eye sign over 100 years ago. His books title if you may recollect was; " The Four Seasons " When Hubert de Hummel, who was the long distance champion of all Belgium at the time he visited my lofts. He went through many pigeons with an eye sign glass. I find your statement contradictory to that of many top class Belgium fanciers. I have had several Belgium visitors that looked at the eyes of my pigeons and showed their delight with what they saw there. I have rated and mated one of todays top outstanding fanciers birds in Belgium. For professional reasons I cannot divulge the name, but I have computerised data to prove my statement.

The Acceptable Eye. This is the eye of a bird that although it is the first of the five circle eyes, they are not clearly defined. Again illustration 15 shows a good composite racing sign but the fifth circle is very thin and weak, which means this bird may produce only one in ten good pigeons. Ten percent is not acceptable to me so I exclude such eyes from the stock loft. Remember the world statistics are ascertained to be in the region of seven percent good pigeons that we breed. That says to me that 93% are not worth much, and yet many of them are kept and allowed to produce because the owner likes the look of them. From now the eyes will start to get better.

A Racer- Not for Stock Eye. This is the second of the eyes I eliminate as not suitable of those we need to keep, although judging by the strong composite super imposed on the adaptation it shows a strong tendency to be a good racer, I am afraid that is as far as its limitations go. Its inability to reproduce its like will be a very disappointing factor of a bird with this eye, for you will note that it is very difficult to ascertain where the iris ends and the correlation begins, certainly not recommended for stock purposes.

Evaluation Ratings I have over the years gradually evolved a method of grading that will be understood by all, the number system was never satisfactory or explanatory as far as I could see so I evolved the following ratings which have become pretty well used as standard in many parts of the world today. The Average Eye. We will start with the lowest racing which is average, see illustration 13 below. This eye if we look closely has very little adaptation and no fifth circle, the correlation is spread right out into the iris which is not of strong quality or uniformity at all. This bird could not be expected to produce anything worthwhile for racing or breeding, just a mediocre eye that holds no expectations for improving ones standard of birds. The only thing in its favour is a strong circle of recognition which means it has got homing ability, but there again we are looking for racer breeders not just homers.

Hello Castleview, I am about to put a series of articles on eye rating with descriptive photo's on the thread:- Jack Barkels Eye sign. You obviously need help on the subject of eye sign, and I do not see any immediate help coming on this thread. Please note that I spent some time with Stan Bishop some 50 plus years ago when eye sign was in it's infancy. It has progressed a great deal since then, and although his book will give you some of the basics, eye sign has since those days, progressed a great deal towards Iridology. Which is a far better word than eye sign, because of the knockers to the subject over the years. I am well known on the subject all over the world and my website has had the numer 1 rating in Canada and Australia for many years. I have gradually over the years evolved a method of rating and grading that can be understood by all, for the number system was never satisfactory or explanitory. The ratings I evolved have become pretty well used as standard in many parts of the world today. Those who do not believe in the subject, need not even bother to visit. Those who do believe or have an open mind will be most welcome on this thread. Regards Jack Barkel

Hello Slugmonkey, I did handle many of the birds at the World of Wings, although I was there to evaluate birds for the fanciers in that area, and to give a seminar. I will look through the records, and see if I met Bill Bonwell although I can't recollect off hand. Yes I did do Randy Goodpastures pigeons, and I did visit his home and lofts, he had some very good birds in my opinion. Although I visited him, I stayed at the World of Wings above the Library. My wife and I had a very enjoyable stay before heading on to California and Oregon. Regards Jack

Getting Started. I should have started with this article, but I was not aware that some forum members were not aware of my teachings in the beginning. So to those who may find this to be repetition, have patience until we have covered the start again. To start correctly we need to purchase a 15x Loupe maximum, any larger magnification than this will distort the pigeon’s eye and give an incorrect reading. We also need to set up an artificial light that does not give off a strong heat and burn the pigeon’s eye. I have found that a 12v- 50 watt light serves our needs perfectly. See picture of myself with the lighting set up (see illustration 2.) Illustration 2. This photo was taken at the World Of Wings in Oklahoma. It will be noted that I have my loupe glued into my spectacle frame, leaving both my hands free to examine the bird. If one is going to do several hundred birds per day, then we must consider a comfortable workable posture to make the job as pleasurable as one can. I strongly warn against using the natural sunlight for examining the eyes. Direct sunlight is dangerous and gives an incorrect reading or variable reading depending on whether it is a brilliant or dull day. The position of the sun as it arches across the sky, also gives variations on the colour spectrum and the amount of movement of the sphincter muscles within the eye. It must also be noted that types of medication and even thirst, can cause dilation of the pupils and give you an incorrect reading of the genetic imprint on the eye. Many fanciers, who have been medicating their birds or have not seen to giving them water before bringing them to me, are very disappointed with the results. We must all understand that even a good doctor will look in the eye before proceeding with his examination and analysis. If the pupils are dilated, he will ask you, ”are you on any kind of medication”? if the answer is no, he will give you a glass of water and examine again in ten to fifteen minutes time. If we are going to take eye evaluation seriously, we need to see that all things are correctly in place for it is imperative that the eye gives a constant reading. Good pigeons will also tend to pull their heads away from you when holding their beak and pulling the head forward. Good nerve sensitivity must always be noted around the eye and head of your selections, for eye and head reaction go together. When evaluating pigeons, unless I am evaluating for a new starter, I only evaluate by the eye. I feel all experienced fanciers should have a grasp of the wing, humerous bone and length of keel bone they desire. We do not all think the same way and I do not wish to change anyones ideas that are already set in their ways, although it is good to have a working knowledge of all thnings regarding pigeons jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

Hello Ted, I am happy with any shade of yellow as long as it is bright and vibrant. Regards Jack

Hello Ted, I believe that what you are refering to, is the floating star cluster. Parts of the excess correlation move about in the pupil of the eye, before taking up permanent residence either in the pupil or attached to the side of the correlation, in the latter case it becomes lost to the human eye forever. Such a pigeon with all five circles intact should be a dual purpose racer / breeder and definitely deserves a try in the stock loft. Regards Jack

Hello Ted, It all depends on the distances you wish to excel at, and prevailing velocities in ones area. I prefer the stock cocks to have yellow eyes and the hens to have pearl eyes. Using a yellow eyed cock enhances the chances of breeding pigeons that will fly all distances and velocities. Pearl eyes are limited in distance at which they can home on their own, and sometimes their stamina is in question. Yellow eyes are sometimes limited in their vitality and speed. So if my area was mainly short to medium fast races, I would use a Pearl Eyed Cock. If my area had a good mix of races, often dropping below 1150 metres per minute, I would prefer a Yellow eyed stock cock. I hope I have made it clear why I would use different preferences for different areas and conditions. Regards Jack

Hello Ted & Merlin, It is obvious I did not start at the beginning on this thread, as one person was asking on another thread about ratings and you Ted directed him to this thread. Merlin to you, I say as soon as the bird gets colour in it's eye you can rate it, however the grading can change up to a period of 18 months. I will start from the beginning shortly and then give examples with photo's of ratings. As you all know I dispenced with rating by numbers over 50 years ago. I found it to leave a huge variation of type, and that a more precise type of grading was needed. All will be revealed shortly, and thanks for the questions. Regards Jack

Questions & Answers 3. Q. Is it possible for a birds eye to change from pearl to yellow. ( It was a youngster last year when you evaluated it.) A. Yes, in the first few months of their life one or the other colour can be predominant, and then change as the bird starts to mature. This usually occurs from a pearl to a yellow, recessive to a dominant colour and not the other way around. Maybe the bird was young when you brought it to me, and eye changes can be expected up to the age of eighteen months. From then on, eye changes are usually caused by an illness or trauma. ****************************** Q. Is it possible to see vitality, or lack thereof, in the eye of a bird? If so is it possible for you to publish an eye full of vitality and (vigour) and an eye lacking vitality? Is it that simple? A. Yes it is possible to see the lack of and the abundance of vitality in the eye. Unfortunately I do not have any eyes in my collection with heavy lack lustre, neither have I eyes that show very little vitality. Eye 1 & 2 below do not show that gleam of vitality that I look for in a stock pigeon, that I hope it will carry over to its offspring. After looking at eye 1.&2. then moving on to eye 3 & 4. I believe that even a novice will be able to see the vitality screaming out in eyes 3 & 4. I believe that 3&4 are the eyes most fanciers look for, and very few realize the attraction is vitality, that will attract even the newest lay person to the sport.

Hello Slugmonkey, I have been to Tampa, I have taken a bus tour around all the lofts there. I gave two seminars to packed audiences there at the AU Convention. The hospitality and interest was such that I will never forget it. A beautiful place, where you are competing against some of the best retired fanciers in America. It is well named Little Belgium. Best Regards Jack

Hello Slugmonkey, It is true what you say, Piet de Weerd was the fist man I knew to pull the beak, he called it MORDENT. I do not know why he gave it that word because in the English language it means something quite different. Maybe it is a Flemish word.He definitely was the first to introduce the habit to America. Regards Jack

Questions & Answers 2. Q. You mention the yellow eyes for cock birds, are yellow eyes better for breeding than pearl eyes. A. This depends on what type of pigeon you need for you particular area. If you line breed to a yellow eyed cock, you will breed for middle to long distance 1200 velocity and below. If you line breed to a pearl eyed cock you will breed for short to middle distance 1200 velocity and upwards.You must try and put a yellow eye with a pearl eye, the reason being, two yellows together will give increased stamina and intelligence ( homing ability ) but a reduction in speed and vitality. Two pearls together will give increased speed and vitality, but a reduction in intelligence; i.e. Homing Ability. A yellow to a pearl will assist in producing birds with a balance of Stamina, Intelligence ( homing ability) speed and vitality. Q. When you say the step in the wing creates a faster wing speed because it forces a faster wing beat which is all well and good for short fast races, but not for prolonged flight. My question is how long are the short fast races and how do you define the long races. A. Short Races I define as up to 200 miles or 350 kilometres. Fast Races I define as over 1200 metres per minute. Q. Do you place any importance on the tail of the pigeon? Do you believe in the theory that you should only be able to see one tail feather when looking at the bird from the top? I have birds where you can see three and sometimes four tail feathers and they have performed pretty well. A. The Belgium theory of a wedge tail is in my experience utter rubbish, all genuine Busschaerts have wide tails and broad flights in general, and are recognised in the UK as the best strain on a whole in the previous century. Andre van Bruaene, the same story and characteristics. The Indigo Janssen's developed by Bob Pickering of Yorkshire bred down through the Scalie Bange and Cleopatra also had these broad tails and were fantastic. None of these strains are short in the Great Champions department, so my advice is ignore it in its entirety. Try to get anyone of these advocates of the wedge tail to give the reason why, or what they believe happens to the tail in flight,and quickly you will expose these advocates for what they are. I also would like to state that I do not condemn the wedge tail either. I just do not think it matters which you have in the characteristic of flight, other than when braking and manoeuvring. Regards jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

Some of the Questions I have been asked. Q. If you pair a pearl to a yellow eye, and you get a youngster with a yellow and another youngster with a pearl. would you expect to see a difference in homing and vitality between the youngsters. A. I have found that yellows to pearls off the same pearl to yellow pairing are more often equal in homing ability and vitality, it is when we start pairing the pearl eye ( recessive ) to another pearl eye that we can expect degeneration of stamina and homing ability. Two yellows together when this practice is continued over three or four generations, will often give you slow plodders and degenerate into a long distance homer, like the Carrier and the Dragoon, from whence this all originated ****************************** Q. Is it true that all Chocolate Meulemans have bull eyes? I have similar looking pigeons but with yellow eyes with gold clusters, and was told they are Meulemans. However a club member told me that if they do not have bull eyes they are definitely not Meulemans. They do excellent on very fast short distance races ( plus minus 1700mpm and up to 450 kilometres ). A. I went through I think most Chocolate Meulemans stock at Louella World in England, and never found a bull eye unless it had too much white in its feathering. I have a vast knowledge of how to breed with this strain, having bred a five times in a row winner in 2006, many others winning club and fed averages in 2007 in South Africa. All my Chocolate Meulemans, and most of what I have seen over the years in properly controlled lofts have been beautiful Yellow, Green, Gold, Pearl and Violet eyes. Go onto my website, click on pigeons at the bottom of the opening page and then click on Meaulemans. You will view one of the best examples of this breed anywhere in the world. I myself am now breeding out the tell tale white feathering in the strain, which if not checked will breed nearly white birds just as it does in families of Grizzles. In fact Karel Meulemans will tell you himself they are recessive Jansen's and by introducing Blue Cheques ( Dominant) and I say with also a dominant eye, your chocolates can double the distance without losing much if any vitality. Karel Meulemans certainly knows what I have achieved in South Africa with his Meulemans family. I am open for all genuine questions about my methods etc.I can place more questions and answers on here if you deem them interesting. Regards jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

My Breeding Methods Final. Many will now be saying; well we have learned something here about line breeding and inbreeding, but what about racing and vitality. I have made it a practice to retire to the stock loft of the same strain three or four top cocks. These are usually from different families, where I practice the type of line breeding as I have explained in the previous article. It is well known that continuous breeding to this perfect line of descent can cause a reduction in vitality, and yet it is a risk of incurring vast amounts of genetic drift if one does not adhere to these principals. I therefore devised a method of taking a cock with all the characteristics we require from the one line and pairing it to a hen of one of the other lines, this ensured a family outcross without going outside the strain. This method of breeding for racing puts back any vigour that may have been reduced, and also insures that you have not deviated from the strain. I must insist that one must never contemplate using a cock that has excelled from this family outcross to put to stock unless you are prepared to start a new line of this strain. It is however a great source for finding new hens to introduce as stock for this can also revitalise the stock loft as well as the racing loft. I believe that if I had attempted to draw a plan where we start with Cock A and Hen B, and ended up with progeny c&d that we paired together with the pretext that this would breed us progeny e,f,g and so on, that this would gather all the good genes and eliminate the bad genes. Not only would you lose interest in my algebraic equations, but the reader would soon realise that it was a lot of mumbo jumbo and if put into practice, would have little if any better results than you had before you attempted such an erratic and risky venture. I regard the gene pool in a similar vein to that of a spot we make for fresh water fishing for carp and such fish. We must create a pool and feed it with food to attract the catch we want. If we are going to stick our line in haphazardly we will catch a lot of variables that we do not want. As it is with a fishing spot, so it is with the gene pool, we must stock the gene pool with the right genes and hope by doing so in a calculated manner we will hook the big one and produce a champion. In closing I may ask, how many fanciers have produced a true champion that on the coefficient system can be said to have beaten all comers throughout the country in which it resides over one particular season. I have had such a pigeon and I am very proud of the fact, there have been others also, but not that have beaten every bird that competed in all clubs throughout the land in one particular year. It has been my good fortune to breed a strain of pedigreed birds with their own genetic listing, a first in the world for over one hundred years I believe. They have won from 150 kilometres to a thousand kilometres and cannot be copied unless their bloodlines originate from my lofts. We have achieved many things for ourselves and others, and I am convinced that all things we have achieved can be achieved by others if the advice is followed that I have given here. Eye sign will reveal to you any genetic drift from the originals you are trying to produce. Perfect line of descent when applied using the selection methods we have described on this thread, will bring you success like one could never imagine. Of course other methods than those I have laid out here will bring some measure of success, but none with the regularity or with the high percentages we are sure these methods will give you. To the people who have enjoyed the articles on this thread, and those who are prepared to acknowledge it, I wish you every success in the future. To those who did not, it makes no difference, it is just one mans learning off some of the best pigeon fanciers there ever was in my day. I pass this knowledge on for the price I paid for it! NOTHING. I will still be here to answer genuine questions for those who wish to learn more. As one book taught me, the meek shall inherit the earth. Thanks to all who have read my transcriptions with patience and understanding. jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

Hello Spencer, 1.You are confusing a sex gene with the sex chromosome. 2.Pigeons with a step in the wing will not be good all round racers, that is to say from 150 Kilometres to a thousand kilometres, under 1150 metres per minute velocity. 3.The reason for eventually pairing brother to sister and the same coloured eye together is to reproduce the top stock cock. I stated, "THEN and only THEN do you do this". 4.I have always referred to it as a pearl and never a white eye, read my books or watch my video and DVD and you will see I strongly refute such an expression as a white eye. 5.I do not regard the continentals on a whole to be top breeders, they outcross all the time, and I do not say this is wrong, their method is to outcross with good pigeons, hoping to find the odd good one from such a pairing, wherever they can swap or buy throughout the continent. I have answered your line of questioning for the last time. I solemnly declare that I will never answer a question from you again, you keep coming back with a kindly manner, and after I accept your change of heart as it seems, you once again try and destroy that which is far beyond your knowledge and understanding. This thread is for those who wish to learn from my 68 years experience in pigeon keeping. jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

My Breeding Methods Contd -3 From the daughters produced from the pair we matched together in Part 2 of breeding methods, we must select the hens with the opposite coloured eye to their father, that is to say, the same coloured eye as their mother. The eyes although a different colour should possess the outstanding characteristics of their father. They must also conform to the physical attributes we are looking for, which the father possesses. As yearlings these selected daughters must be paired back to their father, and similarly the following year the daughters from this union of father and daughter must be paired back to the original sire again. We will find that after three or four generations of breeding to perfect line of descent in this manner, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to produce hens with the opposite colour eye to the original sire. Also that the progeny from these line bred pairings are becoming more like the original sire with each generation we produce in this manner. By this time if we have selected and planned everything correctly as I have described here, we will find a certain male and female with all the characteristics of this original sire. These are your original line bred family and it will be noticeable to all discerning fanciers that visit your pigeon domain. From then the step to producing this original sire and top stock cock is simple. Only now do you pair this line bred brother and sister together, for now you are inbreeding in the true sense of the word, and only now do you put the same coloured eyes together, which is the eye of the original sire. The cocks you produce from this pairing will be exact replicas of the sire, from which you meticulously bred down to this perfect line of descent. Any deviation from this method as I have described it will prove disappointing, so make sure you do not attempt to introduce an idea or two of your own, for you will most certainly have wasted three or four years of hard work and selective breeding. Defining which is line breeding and inbreeding has always been a contentious issue. Many practice and even write about close breeding as being line breeding or in breeding when it can be proved in practice it is nothing of the kind, Cousins, half brother and sister and sons to mothers are still outcrosses. I cannot accept where anything but perfect line of descent, that is to say using one sire and breeding down the line to his daughters, grand daughters, and great grand daughters, which should all be his daughters also can be categorised as line breeding. Then after four generations of this practice to put brother to sister can then be determined in breeding. Let me finish this part by saying that any variation from this strict practice, only involves outcrosses, close breeding, and what I perceive to be guesswork of equations. If one is lucky such guesswork may produce one in ten or less of the genes we a seeking to fuse together. We have covered how to breed for stock, next issue will explain how from this to breed for racing and vitality. jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

My Breeding Methods Contd-2. Armed with all the previous knowledge I have placed on this thread, I then select a cock which in our case is known to have the predominant bloodlines of a particular strain. This cock must have passed the scrutiny of having a near perfect eye, preferably a My Choice *****. He will be rejected if in conjunction with this attribute he does not possess a humerus bone close to the body, and a wing that shows no tendency to have a step through a shortening of the secondary flights. The wing preferred is shown here attached to this article, it shows plenty of cover over the back of the bird, highlighted with a black vertical line extending down the back of the bird. It also shows a highlighted black horizontal line along the secondary's accenting no shortening of these flights in relation to the first primary flight. Last but not least I prefer a long deep keel to suit what I believe to be other criteria in the conformity I intend to keep in my breeding lofts. I then select a hen with the opposite colour eye to this cock that I have selected for stud. That is to say, if the cocks eye is dominant ( yellow base ) then the hens eye must be recessive ( pearl base ), and once again it must have the best rating we can find. Please remember, a pearl eye is not as commonly referred to by some a White Eye, a pearl eye is a pale pink, this I can prove in anyone's presence without any shadow of doubt, and there is a reason for me insisting on this. Again all the physical attributes of this selected hen, must be as close to conforming as possible to those of the new stud sire. Now we are ready with our first pair of stock birds to start a breeding program. Next step will explain line breeding and inbreeding as I control it in my lofts. jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/ P.S. I will be away from home all day Saturday evaluating and pairing pigeons, and will be unable to answer any questions before sometime Sunday.

I would just like to add that eye sign, wing, body confirmation, are all genetic. So without the knowledge of how to recognise and select these most necessary attributes, and then, how to blend them, we can never hope to use our understanding of genetics to reproduce with regularity the genes we are seeking. The fanciers that have visited my lofts, can confirm, that you will rarely find familys of birds like these, that look as if they have all been cloned. Although most lofts have a 93% rejection rate when working to these parameters, I can fortunately say that my rejection rate is down to 10%. Many fanciers are champions using my methods, two more reported this week in South Africa, although I claim great success in many parts of the world on a regular basis. Regards Jack