how wrong that statement is! I take notes and spend ages of time in my loft and take individual notes on each young bird, sounds like alot of work but i enjoy it. Even i was pleasantly suprised, as like you i believed that statement. It was the year of 2002, a chequer pied cock was born, last one to pick up, still dunking his head after 10 days till he got the idea, and would you believe how well that pigeon raced, this pigeon in that year kept my loft in the frame, lost him as a 2 yr old but he had 4 x1st to his name, and 2x2nds and 4x3rds. I like you sure was pleasantly surprised, but then again maybe an exception to the rule. :-/