Jack Barkel

Hello Paulo Hitler put his best athletes together to form the master race, he produced the biggest lot of rejects ever recorded in Germany. No my friend the basket does not select the top or best stock pigeons. Recorded history as proven this to be a fact. Belgian pigeons deteriorated after being the best in the world, when it became the norm of putting winner to winner. I would say, if one does not know any better, the last alternative is to put winner to winner until you breed your whole stock loft down to inferior producers. I am sorry, I am not saying you mustn't follow what you firmly believe to be true. I must however dissagree with such a statement for you are not speaking from recorded fact, but hearsay. Regards Jack

Hello Albear, I accept what you say for I am of the opinion Bill Carney is the best in his field. However you can't refute that eye sign has taken me to many parts of the world, where my knowledge in the art has brought a great deal of success. Therefore I say, eye sign is a lot of rubbish as practiced by many practitioners who claim to know the art, and do not reallknow why or what they do. I would however say Albear, that I am not the only one who is practicing successfully, and the few of us that make these claims are all working together on the same principals, and acknowledge Bill Carney as the Grand Master. We also claim to know his theory from beginning to end, with a little more added, that he may know but doesn't talk about. It will be very disapointing when Bill passes on, if you find that what you pertain to be Bill's secret, which you claim to have discovered, without him telling you, may not be a secret at all, and have been practiced in other parts of the world. His video in my opinion is just an advertising gimmick to sell pigeons, manufactured by people riding on his reputation, and as for its educational value on the subject, it is also a lot of rubbish. Even his explanation of sexing pigeons by the eye???????? is unclear to most people who have purchased it. Never mind Albear, you and I have a mutual respect for each other I believe. Therefore all is discussable, and I hope that because you believe you have discovered the all important answer to the secrets of the eye, that you will continue extending your researches into the hidden mysteries of nature and science. Very rarely does one fall on the answers by accident, it takes a lot of in depth research if one wishes to move forward. I myself although having proved to be competent with the best in this particular discussion, will never be complacent of the fact that new discoveries will still be made. If one does not to this they become outdated, and that embraces everyone in every field. Regards Jack

Hello Albear, You know you may have a point there, I am trying to recollect how much I put in my first book that I had not spoken about previously, and I certainly know I did not divulge the signs of genetic drift as seen in the eye and physical attributes, until I launched my second book. I am busy with a DVD at the moment that will be a revelation to many once I have it completed. I am sure many will say, "who would have thought that"? Keep well my friend and and may I ask, isn't it time you wrote that book with the things you keep us guessing about? Best Regards. Jack

Hello Timbarra and All, As I mentioned in a previous posting there are various types of pigeons went into the genetic design to make the racing pigeon what it is today. If the iris goes too thin making the correlation too wide we have the observation in the eye of genetic drift towards the fancy pigeon that was used in the design of the modern day racing pigeon. If the Iris goes too thick, causing the correlation sometimes not to be visible at all, this observation points towards the genetic drift to the long distance homer that was used in the beginning. By this kind of drift we mean drifting in or out and favouring the genes of one of these particular traits. If by pairing to a method that we observe and correct this drift, so that the circles in the eye are well balanced with the five circles nearing perfection, the amount of genes in the gene pool are well balanced. Of course I can only prove this with my own and my customers records where the average loft only produces 7 % good all round pigeons, whereas I am increasing this figure to more than 50% with birds I select, where I can find compatible pairings to these parameters. Genetic drift is also used as a scientific biological term for viruses that have a vaccine to combat them, and then mutate into a relative virus that has resistance to such a vaccine. That is another description of Genetic Drift, as used by Virologists. It may be hard to understand if you have not had the experience of seeing me in my job, and may be presumed to be big words. The fact is there is recorded evidence of me doing this with regularity. Any failures are found to be from fanciers who presume they know better than I which of their birds can go together to produce the best. These are the people who pay the fees and still go their own way, and blame me when not following the advice they paid for. The genetic drift is a constant fight in most lofts towards favouring or regressing to one or the other types, I see to it by first correcting the genetic imprint on eye that the eye is of the design that was intended for speed , vitality, stamina and intelligence. If the eye is to my satisfaction I then check the physical attributes to see that these are not drifting towards the tippler or the dragoon/carrier. There are many that have followed me on my tours, that I have been able to talk through these methods of recognition. They are all successful breeders today, and I hope and visualise that someday this art of understanding genetic drift and how to keep it in check will become an accepted fact. Until then the fancier will continue to blame their lack of regular breeding success on Murphy's Law rather than on Mendel's Law. I have the skills to do this with regularity, this is my job, and there will never be any challengers from those that have watched me working. I am able to tell them many things about their good stock birds in a few minutes that have taken them three or four years of guesswork with their stock pigeons to find out. I can develop pigeons to win from the shortest to the longest distance, and if one chooses to use some of them for short blow home races, such selections can be modified by physical modification of certain flights to give them the increased speed necessary. I do not believe in genetically modifying the racing pigeon to create short fast blow home pigeons. I believe this to be the deterioration of the great strains of yesteryear. Many will not agree with me, and it means very little anymore that they do not. There are many of us that can pair to breed for stock purposes, breed for just racing purposes, sports jobs as I call them, and the ultra which I believe is breeding the dual purpose pigeon. All have their place and in my book and all are attainable, some have challenged this ability to their cost, unfortunately the maverick genes are lurking in the gene pool and although with the practice of my theory they do not pop up as often as in the average lofts, I do allow a small percentage failure due to this fact. I do not ask anyone to believe what I claim, my ability to do this has gone before me. I now rather enjoy doing it for people, rather than trying to convince the sceptics that several are sharing my knowledge with great success. Of course others will come in the future that will improve on what I'm doing, I am at the end of an era, but feel I have opened the door for those more advanced in biological science than myself that will take this hidden mystery of nature and science to the credibility where very few doubts will remain to its credibility and certainly none remain in the circles I frequent as to it reliability. I have tried to be quite frank about what I do for a living, it is accepted by many top fanciers in the world, and the ranks are increasing not decreasing. I keep an open mind on the subject, but will not be distracted by the silly hocus pocus of some who profess to know the subject in its entirety. These people do the theory of the eye more harm than good, if I am asked a question I will answer it to the best of my ability, and give the explanations where I can. Unfortunately when confronted publicly, such people who try to catch me fall down miserably, I have some laughable stories of such people I have encountered along the way. I hope you have found my response interesting, and that it will cause some sceptics to take another hard look at signs in the eye. The world is a Pandora's Box for those who wish to pursue the Hidden Mysteries of Nature And Science. Jack Barkel jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

Hello to Friendsloft and Rose, I try to help and pass on the knowledge I have gained over the years to all as you say. There are daily pilgrimages to my lofts where everyone is made most welcome. There have been disappointments from a few, but they pale into insignificance and are soon forgotten like a bad dream. To you Rose, keep trying to understand the theories, not everyone approaches the eye theory the same way and it can cause confusion even amongst the most intelligent, so you are not alone. I say, scrutinise the eyes of your best breeders and best racers, then scrutinise those that seem to be lacking in both these departments. From these and the examples on the internet you can soon found a basis on which to make your own selections and evaluations. I am at 70 years of age, surrounding myself with genuine friends and fanciers interested in what I have to offer. I have had to discard many who seem to be only happy when condemning or criticising others, and have removed myself from many lists because they have become more like dog fights than seats of friendly discussions and learning. Free advice is not often believed or appreciated, and seems to be the regular norm with many people. I can't cope with the stress anymore, and this is the only one remaining forum where I am still a little active. I do have a private list that is by invitation only, where there is no excuse for arguments. A place where one can state their views without criticising or insulting anyone else's. I would like to see all lists eventually run on similar principals, the reason I am loath to let this list go, is because I was bred and born in the North East, and will always have fond memories of where I derived my birth and infant nurture, and the great lads and lasses that I grew up with. When one writes books, makes videos and generally makes a living from pigeons, there is always an element that is ready to try and bring you down. I answer in the region of 350 e-mails a month and many more phone calls, all pigeon related. It is 6-50 am as I write and at 8:00am I will commence with the evaluation of approximately 100 pigeons. This has become a regular routine in my life and I would not have it any other way. I hope to live respected and die regretted, and hope I have not caused any offence by standing up for what I believe to be right and fair. Thanks for the comments and the friendship. Kindest Regards, Jack

Roland I was advised by one of the most famous scribes in England at the time, to end my friendship with Flemming because he would ride on my name as he did on Bill Carney, and that he was sure I would not like my character linked to his. Yes I believe he even stole photo's from Bill. However I wrote him a nice letter suggesting we should sever any contact with each other. That is when he started to blaggard me, for up until then he tried to be my greatest friend. I was then sent transcriptions of the courts events. I never left any forum because of him I just ignored him. So your facts are wrong. You have the story of Flemming and my association all wrong I never ever got into an argument with him on eye sign and he never went against me until I decided I did not want anything to do with him. That is when he started to run me down and insult me, for which I from then totally ignored him as I am intending to do to you.. Roland you have once again judged me and described me wrongly to all on this list, please let these untruths you are spreading stop forthwith. I have no desire to be involved with any friends of his, that would wish to imortalise a wretch like him. He even phoned a professor of genetics at our local University here who was involved in a project with me. He cursed this professor off the face of the earth for being involved with me, that is how demented and unreliable your late friend was. Please let it be, and let the dead rest, before I give you a eulogy you do not wish to here, for there is more , much more, for when he did sneek back into Australia his wife had shacked up with another man. I am sure you would not like me to carry on with that sequil. Leave me alone, I ask you nicely once again, I have nothing more to say to you. As I said to him, I will say to you, I have no desire to be associated with you . I hope you can take my decision in a much better gentlemanly spirit than your friend did. I do not dislike you, I just would not like you as a friend or even an acquaintance and I suppose the feeling is mutual. Goodbye. Jack Barkel.

Hello Timbarra, When I was in my late teens I visited Stan Bishop and also George Slade after a rehearsal in a hotel in London. They both answered a lot of questions about breeding and eye recognition that I was confused about. They both attended the Albert Hall that evening and we corresponded regularly after that. I can't say we became great friends but I still have some of the letters which I saved when emigrating to South Africa. I visited several times when my music took me to London, otherwise I would never have met these wonderful fanciers. I can say that S W Bishop was the first for me, although things have changed greatly since then. I would have given my high teeth to be able to share my discoveries on the genetic drift as it is portrayed in the eye with these two great men. I have also realised that the composite, superimposed on the adaptation, means different things between racers, fancy pigeons, and even humans. I have found that I need to be careful in assessing different characteristics in different creatures because all organs are not placed in the same area of the body. I also find when assessing pigeons that the positioning of the pupil muscle, the adaptation, the correlation, Iris and fifth circle are misplaced and misnamed by fanciers that follow different theorists, also creating vast differences in opinions. It is sad that this can't be agreed upon and become acceptable by all. It is also frustrating to hear fanciers who supposed to know their eye sign story referring to a dominant violet. The violet only occurs in the pearl eye, and as all pearls are recessive surely these experts should have realised by now there is no such thing as a dominant violet, and that there are only two base eye colours i.e. yellow and pearl. There is a catalyst eye that is neither pearl or yellow but a genetic split of both, where the adaptation and fifth circle are usually bluish in colour. Very few eye sign evaluators have open minds, they will stick to their beliefs and if you ask them to explain there reasons for things being as they say they are. They come with the answer, I am not telling, it is my secret. Well Spencer I have spent many years explaining why I do and say certain things. I have never replied by saying I am not telling, it is my secret. I am sure new discoveries will be made, but I doubt if any of them will come from a pigeon man, unless he is also a scientist or a biologist. We, the eye sign people are very amateur and limited in our presentations, so causing many doubts amongst those who would otherwise have open minds. Regards Jack

Hello Spencer, There is no reason why you and I can't be friends, although we did not get off to a very good start. I visited your web site yesterday and will do so again. Congratulations it is well laid out. Kindest Regards Jack

Hello Roland, You are talking about the most horrific, not prolific, eye sign man who even had to leave Australia for his swindels. Of course I will mention him as you did, which was not necessary. I have no grouse with you neither do I wish to discuss Flemming or eye sign with you. I really should have ignored you altogether as I did your strange bedfellow. However be it noted he was one of the biggest crooks in Australian pigeon history, and I have documented court proceedings to prove it. Strange people you profess to admire. Please leave me alone, I can do without you or your ugly comments in my life. Jack Barkel

Hey Spencer, You are still thrashing about in anger, I suggest you leave this list as quickly as you have arrived, unless you are prepared to curbe your attitude. It does not matter who wrote the book or who said what, its of little consequence to me and it should not be to you, now you are being childish. As far as putting my trumpet in the box, I have played it in the Royal Albert Hall to 6000 people, you can check that one out also. Forgive the pun but you are not even in the band. Either call a truce, or I will request your removal pretty quickly. With your attitude you will soon be removed in any case, I can assure you. Jack Barkel

Dear Spencer, You offended me more with your remarks about religion on a pigeon forum. I really do not care what you think of me or my achievments in the pigeon world. I only ask that in future you chose your words more carefully. There is a vast difference between Education and Intelligence. I would like to think that in most cases one embraces the other. To me it didn't in your first letter, hence the final response from myself. I am also qualified to answer you on your religious/genetic comments, but this is not the place, and I ceased a long time ago to try and convince none believers about any beliefs I share with my friends. Suffice it to say you do not use the meaning of immaculate in this sense, and science has been made to look foolish by many intelligent people like "Hovind" when one challenges evolution. Sorry Spencer, you have had your say and I have had mine, at least the forum now realises there are others on the list that are not out to cast doubts or beliefs in any theory. We should all be on here to learn, and not to condem, it used to be a very friendly and informative list. Remarks like yours has turned many intelligent fanciers away, and this makes me sad, for I have very close connections and love for British fanciers, especially those from the North East. If you want to see Meulemans genetically bred to reproductive standards, then visit my site, every picture tells a story. I hope this is the last time that you or I, or anybody else clashes on this list because of may be lack of thought. I do not see why we can still not be friends, as we have a lot in common with the Meulemans. Although our scientific background is obviously poles apart. Regards, Jack

Dear Pigeon Fanciers, Now the arguments have died down once again for the merits and demerits of eye-sign, whether one believes in it or disbelieves in it but still looks in the eye, which I believe separates the educated from the unintelligent. I will say my piece for the last time on this forum. Every one has the right to believe or disbelieve, but when you insult or condemn those who make a living from it you a grossly out of order, and looking for retaliation. The make up of the racing pigeon as we know it today was derived first from the Carrier, the Dragoon, the Bagdad strains, these were all long deep keeled homing pigeons, no step in the wing, big boned, with the humerus bone close to the body, and all were yellow eyed and large wattled. These pigeons were great homers but lacked balance, buoyancy, speed and vitality. Introduced to these were the Smerle and Owl with the frill, the Cumulet and many other fancy types of pigeons. These invariably all had pearl eyes and were much more delicate and apple bodied, and gave the needed buoyancy to these long distance homers. All these types are now combined to make up the modern day racing pigeon, and because of the lack of intelligence of the majority of breeders, we get what I call the genetic drift. That is to say the humerous bone far from the body which limits extreme distance, the step in the wing which increases speed but limits increased stamina. The short apple bodied configuration which you get from a short keel bone and short fat breast muscles which will not give you the reserves of glycogen needed to be drawn on by the liver. All these pointers need to be observed as well as the eye, for the genetic imprint or drift to either the yellow types or pearl types can be seen in the eye, and we must counteract it accordingly. Now if anyone has doubts for I have been earning my income for over 16 years just evaluating racing pigeons on these characteristics. Instead of condemning those who believe in it as well as the immaculate conception which you "Timbarra" should never have mentioned on a pigeon list. I ask you to challenge me to a contest, winner takes all. I am prepared to fly to England and have you put me to the test. It will cost the price of two air fares from South Africa at least, to be paid to the winner. I will have the rules of the game drawn up by my lawyer if you have the courage of your convictions. For you see I have done this in the past. I do not attack eye-sign men for they all have some things in common as do all people, that is why some go to another doctor for a second opinion??? I refer to the Timbarras of this world who insult eye sign believers and Christian believers on a list like this. I have stopped contributing because of un-intelligent utterances as those of Timbarra. I do not question his education, but his manners and intelligence and his self proclaimed knowledge of genetics, are certainly not without question. Especially to you Timbarra, if you have read the book "Karel Meulemans" you will see he mentions only one eye sign person in the whole book, and that is myself. Not only that, I have developed a strain of my own which is the only strain to be recognised to have its own unique genetic reference in the last 100 years, and they win races. There are many educated people on this list who battle to write intelligently, and you Timbarra are one of them Sir. I am not a fake!! and it were better you do not imply by your writings that I or any other eye expert is. I am prepared to fly to England and prove it to a packed audience, if you are prepared to put your money where your mouth is. I am not fighting with you, I am defending what I stand for, and showing my digust at your insulting implications to the Virgin Mary in your first letter to this list. It will be my pleasure to dismantle ignorant people like you with my knowledge and practical skills in your own back yard. Please do not insult any religion on this list, your references should be kept to pigeons alone. If you were intelligent, I would not need to mention this. jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

Baytril is " DNA SENSATIVE " give this muck to your pigeons and they will become infertile before their time. It is banned in some countries that know better. Jack Barkel

Hello All, A Lemon pigeon has a band in the tail and is and extreme dilute of Blue. The Yellow which is common in the Kirkpatrik strain has no band in the tail and is a dilute of Red. The Lemon pigeon was a new mutation discovered and named by myself, and is geneticaly on record as such, since 1997. Hope this helps to halt any confusion between a Yellow and a Lemon. Regards Jack

Hello Tic eye, We have had good reports from the U.A.E. and in the USA, club, fed, and combine wins. Although the size of these organisation are not comparable with the UK. The latest report from Natal-South Africa, a Lemon Cock won by 50 metres per minute ahead of the second bird. I have managed to get him back and have put him to stock. Regards Jack

Extreeme Dilute blue - this colour sometimes called Ecru. this colour is supposed to be almost white and under certain light a bright yellow. it is not a well spread gene so i have not personally seen one Dear Sir, Let me point out that there is no such recognised colour legally as ECRU. The colour is "Lemon" it was discovered by me, propagated by me and named by me. The self professed geneticists who tried to steal it and change the name will never receive recognition by decent people. They have never discovered or propagated anything new in their lives. I cannot let you get away with this, and must point out they are all recognisable by having a band in the tail. Therefore you are wrong classing it with the yellows, although you are correct in explaining it as Extreme Dilute Blue. I enclose a picture of there appearance. Regards Jack Barkel jackbarkel@mweb.co.za http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

Hello All, I consider myself a professional eye and pigeon evaluater, if that means an expert, then so be it, and I herewith give my background in defence. It is obvious that this thread is used by some people just to prove eye sign to be only applied by idiots and fakes, however I feel that some challenges cannot be allowed to go uncontested although some are not even worth a reply. First let me say races are even won by people who know next to nothing about pigeons, and it is not only my belief, but that I also know that short to middle distance races are won by those who put in the most work i.e. 75% fancier 25% pigeon. Long distance classics are won by 75% pigeon 25% fancier. Having said this I have won the fastest race over the shortest distance in our union since its inception. I have also bred a South African Middle Distance National Champion on the coefficient system with 886,008 birds competing in this coefficient pool. This was off a long distance Busschaert family of Dr Jeff Horn origin Up North Combine. Our club of 30 plus members have closed the clocks on several occasions, when the Union have still flown the next day for points. They have done this because when most other fanciers have clocked only one or two or maybe none in hard long races with a ten bird limit, I have clocked anything from 7 to 10 of my entries all on the race sheet. So although club points were all taken up the union was still open for points. Now I have never been club champion but I have been Long Distance Champion, I also had a good record with my brother as Barkel Brothers in Club, Federation and Combine in the North East of England before coming to South Africa. I have concentrated mainly on selection and breeding, only using the racing aspect of the sport lightly to test my theories. Any fair minded person who knows me can vouch for this. In my first book I filled a full chapter on results of people who were winning out of turn with either my ratings and pairings, or my methods or my birds. I will match my records to be either better or comparable with anyone here who's desire it is to prove eye sign fake. There are people on pigeon basics who have won Thousands with my selections. I will be prepared to travel anywhere in the world to prove my point but we will select a loft of pigeons unknown to both of us, we will view the pigeons and correlate our findings on our computers, in a hall where scrutinizers will watch to see there is no cheating. I have never lost a wager yet of this kind. If I have to travel to England or where ever, I will expect the loser to pay all air fares and expenses for two. If he and a companion are willing to fly to South Africa I will do the same if I lose here, I warn you it is hardly likely. The competitor will not be allowed to look in the eye as he is out to condemn this tool, where I will use everything at my disposal, condemning nothing. Remember most eye sign people are ordinary fanciers not equipped with the extra knowledge or experience to contest the aggravation they get on a forum like this. Most of them I would like to think are here to try and pass on some of their experience and knowledge, I know that was my reason for being here in the first place, and not to polish my marble, I leave that to others to do for me. Now, it is not a pleasant sight to see a probably well thought of fancier dismantled on the stage because of his dogged disbelief in something that is even being proved by science, biology and genetics. If you wish to challenge me to use this tool against you instead of for you it is your choice, but I ask you for the last time do not condemn eye sign people just because you do not comprehend, or because some write and yet may know very little about the subject. It is everyone's perfect right to question any theory or method, but by condemning it without understanding it is shear ignorance. There are several of us in the world today, a small band of Pigeon Iridologists, that share this common interest and support, combining our knowledge and experience which we believe is for the betterment of the sport. We try to avoid disbelievers, sceptics, or braggarts who do believe, and we are ever watchful that none of these infiltrate our society, and if it was not for the total condemnation of eye sign on this forum I would not have decided to write this letter. I have no axe to grind with anyone, I know myself and my colleagues have something to offer, but have decided I will only offer it to fertile minds. I do not need to prove anything to anyone, my records in this field speak for themselves and at 70 years of age I have had all the rewards I expect. Eye sign is not a game with me, it is part of my business and my living. I evaluate in the region of 1000 birds per month, and it is all recorded on CD if anyone doubts my bona fides. One of my New Year Resolutions is to try and steal myself from contributing on here anymore. We tend to argue, condemn, insult, and show very little respect for anything or anybody. Maybe such people will evolve in the future, but I am very pessimistic there can be any improvement while some fanciers attitudes remain as they are here at the moment. I wish you all a very pleasant and peaceful Christmas and may you breed many good pigeons in the New Year, no matter which methods you apply. Jack Barkel

Hello Albear, I sympathise with your frustrations when dealing with some people while trying to put your beliefs across. You can even create miracles in your attempt to get your point across and you will never win against people with tunnel vision. These people who are not interested in what you do have not got an open mind. As for your wager, I advise you not to take this person on, if he deprives his birds of water intake for a couple of hours, or gives certain medication or anti- biotic before you are put to the test, I can guarantee you will lose. You must soon realise that your efforts on this list is a complete waste of time, very few if any are gaining any knowledge from these people who oppose you and your beliefs and obviously your opposition is not on here to gain any. I suggest you give it up as a futile exercise. I myself ceased trying to plant any seeds here when I found most of the ground unfertile. You will find that those on this list with fertile minds that feel they can learn something from you, will write to you privately, and those that don't it is their loss. If you are going to go ahead with this wager, for 4000 it must be on your terms. I have many such wagers and years of experience of this under my belt, and can help you to set the stage, to allow you to give a fair critique, I must add you need his whole breeding loft and authenticated records. Already I believe by offering only eight pigeons he thinks you a fool and is already starting to set you up. Once after giving a seminar in the North East, some people started to pull Bill Carney to pieces about his visit there, I subsequently went to these lofts and subsequently gave a critique on the same pigeons with much better results. Did this make me better than him, I can honestly say no it didn't, I know what the man can do. One thing it did prove however is that I was better prepared than him to take people on who were hell bent to prove him or me wrong. Now Albear do not scrap what I say, see if there is something to be learned from this letter. You can be made to look a fool in these tests if you are not prepared for the little tricks that you will come up against. My father warned me as a teenager, be wary of pigeon men and dog men, although he and I were both of these, the warning has stood me in good stead over the years. To be forewarned is to be forearmed as they say. As a friend from the past, I hope you handle this the right way. Regards Jack

Hello Ben, Your remarks about me were uncalled for and not befitting a person who can claim any respect to say the least. I visited SWE Bishop 52 years ago at the age of 18 years of age. Where would you have sought advice to start at that time in history? I have however progressed since then in eye evaluation and intelligence.Gaining recognition world wide if you care to check further than this forum. I have nothing against Alan, in fact we corresponded regularly at one time. I would suggest that remarks like yours are what is giving this list a very bad name at the moment. I came on this list by invitation to try and impart my knowledge on pigeons to others. Not to be blagarded by people who cannot control their behaviorable pattern. Please try and moderate your behaviour, others like myself may not regard your comments as either wise or funny at all. Jack Barkel

Hello Albear, I think I must set the record straight, I referred to myself as a Pigeon Iridologist, long before I heard of you or Dorothy Ward, and there is documented proof of this, so your statement that as a result of you sending me that book I now refer to myself by that title is only wishful thinking on your part. It is not fact and if you are still a gentleman you will withdraw that statement. Albear I do not know how good you are, or how others regard you as the eye sign expert second only to Bill Carney. For he like myself and some others earned his reputation by deeds not words. It were better in my opinion that you do not talk about having the secret to the eye sign, for in my opinion there is no secret, just plain experience and facts. As soon as the so called experts talk about their secrets, I know they are not experts but people only desperately trying to get gain some recognition. I withdrew from the thread because you have changed and have adopted the attitude that only you together with Bill knows everything and because of this attitude you attack every doubting Thomas as if they were a threat to you. Because of that same attitude you seem to have adopted as you already well know I have withdrawn my support on several lists. This is why I withdrew on the thread of this list, so that no holier than thou messages from me will ever be a threat to you in the future. Such comments are not the words of a well balanced and controlled debater, but of someone ready to brow beat anyone who dares to give a different view. Continue to tell Pigeon Basics how good you are to the detriment of others, continue to criticise everyone who keeps your thread going, and you will find they will all let you run out of steam in your frantic efforts to convince them how good and better you are than anyone else other than Bill Carney. I do not care what your opinion is of yourself and clearly state I have never based my eye sign experience on Dorothy Hall although I have noted some relationship between eye sign and her writings. Albear I will not contribute on this site anymore while they have an expert as perfect as you, maybe the world will recognise you thrashing around for recognition. I myself would like to see some recorded feats of yours throughout the world, for different areas need to be looked at in a different light, and if you do not know these variable differences you will fail. These are not secrets, but common knowledge to those who have been put to the test in various parts of the world. I was requested to join Pigeon Basics because there was no authority on the list with eye sign experience, it seems that those who requested my presence were wrong, they had the second best eye sign expert in the world?????? Eye sign can only be used as a tool when one understands the genetic drift as portrayed in the eye of a pigeon, this was the secret,and thanks to biologists, scientists, geneticists, it is no secret anymore. This is what iridology taught me long before I read the D Hall book. I am sadly disappointed with your new found attitude, temperament or efforts to prove who or what you are, and do not wish to involve myself any further, I will not compete to prove where I stand on this in the eyes of the world, in comparison to yourself, I Don't Need To!!!!! Sadly this will be my last comment on anything eye sign related while this kind of forceful attitude remains. Regards Jack Barkel

Hello Carol, The other book just released a couple of months ago is titled. THE MODERN GUIDE TO EYE-SIGN AND BREEDING. Regards Jack

Hello Ed, All books for the United States must be ordered from myself in South Africa. I no longer am part of the Barkel Breeding Station USA. e-mail me at:- jackbarkel@mweb.co.za

Hello Albear and All, Although I can give a fairly accurate guess how a bird will perform in the races by evaluating the eye, it has never been my intention to try and improve on what the basket will tell us. However I use the eye to evaluate and pair compatible birds together to produce at least seven times more good birds than the general statistical average throughout the world, this being at the moment 7%. If I could not improve this alarming statistic for myself and others by seven times more I would cease to select and evaluate birds. I have no doubt that 05/85 will be able to get 350 miles in a tail wind, but never when the going is less than 1000 yards per minute, and as for breeding, I would never let it loose in the stock loft. Only time will tell if it does not get lost before then. I can understand breeding short distance sprinters where there is little extreme distance competition, but I honestly would like to see the practice stop in many parts of the world where it is not necessary. Sprint champions are forgotten in very quick time while the classic winners are remembered for decades. I evaluate pigeons as to their breeding potential and that is why these particular eyes persuaded me to give a generic opinion rather than a personal opinion on each. I must also add that I have never ever stated that I could not sex pigeons by their eyes. In fact it is on record on several sites on the internet for many many years where I have described this clearly with photos. I even wrote about it in my book, showing where the eye cere on most cocks are rounded whilst the eye cere of a hen is mostly dished. This is not 100% accurate as thirsty cocks can look as if their eyes are dished, and many other reasons for this not always being accurate. I evaluate in the region of 1000 birds per month, any less than that and I cannot earn a decent living, for this is my avocation and not my vocation. Just to say as long as they have two eyes is good enough, is not by any means good enough with those who take selection and breeding seriously in the sport. It takes two very good pigeons to produce a champion and therefore four very good eyes to make such a champion. Anyone may have a haphazard guess at selecting for the sport, this I do not mind as long as one enjoys what they are doing. However I will always strive to change the outlook of those who show a generic regression in the classic pigeon by producing the birds that I feel are not worthy of an evaluation and who make a concerted effort to convince others that there is merit in breeding such specimens. Once again this is my honest opinion and feelings on the matter, and although I can live with those that differ from my opinions, I will never concede from my beliefs just to keep the peace, only hoping that others will look at my writings as closely and open minded as I have looked at theirs. Eye sign people unlike scientists, inventors and biologists can very rarely, agree and so do not pool their recourses. They are continually fighting for the top perch and trying to prove themselves superior to one another. This as gotten eye-sign into disrepute and disbelief on countless occasions and will prove detrimental to improvement in the sport for years to come. They never pool their recourses and never will in my opinion, but some of us will continue to try and dismantle the incorrect aspects of eye sign or iridology and make it a more acceptable and believable subject. Once again I hope this letter will be perceived in the manner it was written and that is to take the sport on this subject one step further. I wish no accolades for what I write or do, these were recorded in the days when I was competitive. I now live my life under the trees in the shade from the bright sunshine watching my pigeons and looking forward to the many fanciers who visit me from local areas and many parts of the world. It is this later life of repose and delightful visits that I feel I have earned, and which is ample reward for my efforts. Regards to All, Jack

Hello Anthony, Apart from 02-3835, the irisis are very weak, I have no doubt that that particular pigeon paired onto a yellow eye of similar quality will breed very acceptable pigeons, but to pair such eyes back together they will certainly regress even further. I still feel that the Busschaerts of England are the best all rounders in the world today, although even they have been injected with a lot of sprint bloodlines in the last ten years or so. Stick to what I have stated in the past Anthony and you will not be dissapointed. With every respect, although not in agreement, with those who wish to breed short distance fast pigeons. Regards Regards Jack

Hello All, I cannot believe that the English fancier of which I used to be a part of would on the whole go for this type of eye or pigeon. It is the signal or death knell for the quality of pigeon that made Britain famous. These eyes are the eyes of fast short distance blow home pigeons that would not fly out of sight on a dark night, unless assisted by being in a pack. The correlation between the adaptation and iris is far too wide, the iris has gaps in it where the correlation runs through all over the place. These are not the type of Up North Combine Pigeons that I knew, that could win from Selby to Bourges without any difficulty. We are creating a situation where overseas fanciers will not come to England to buy good classic pigeons, this has already happened in Belgium, and will I foresee, become the case in England. In my opinion we need to get away from breeding pearl to pearl and maintain the evenly balanced strong yellow eyes in our selected pairings. I myself find these eyes all weak in construction with the exception of one. We would never find these eyes in the old Barkers, Logan's, Kirkpatrick's, or the Belgium Andre van Bruaenes, Cattryse, etc. I am not trying to be otherwise or difficult, but feel I must point out that these eyes are not the Best Of British by any means. I would like to see Britain return to the days when classic performers are the desire of everyone and not the sprinters. When I was a youngster in the North of England we flew milers, they flew very low at a mile a minute and were clocked for individual speeds with a stop watch. We managed to breed them out after the second world war, but I am afraid we will soon be back to breeding milers, except for the one or two purists that will continue to try and breed all distance, any weather, all round pigeons. I hope no one will take offence at me expressing my opinion on these eyes and how I perceive the breeding techniques to be regressing in certain parts of the world. Regards to all. Jack