Tim.Farr

I think you should do a little research before you assume everywhere is the same as the area you fly in. How do you explain 4+ different one loft/futurity races here in California(also on the coast) having less than 2% returns from each race? Example: 250 birds were sent to the Late Hatch Classic(www.latehatchclassic.com) here by me and only 5 birds returning on the day with another 15 or so total over the next week. Some of the best breeders around the country sent birds to the race, according to you they all must be junk though....

Pigeonscout you ever had a bird that was just a decent flyer as a YB but in OB's excelled? Some birds take much longer to mature and some people prefer to give them every chance they can until they've proven they won't ever do anything. So by your thinking if you don't have a bird that produces winners within the first round of it being in the stock loft you dispose of it? You must either have no pigeons or all amazing pigeons.

I actually had one baby off him this last year and it was half racer. I flew it all the way out to 40 miles then stopped it and clipped its wings to use as a dropper.

I have 1 West of England and he's one of the toughest pigeons I have in the loft. I actually keep him in with the pumper pairs because I'm afraid he'll go into a box and cause havoc with my breeders.

Ed back when I had a red check cock I would get silver hens when I paired him to a blue bar hen.

Common sense is huge I think, along with the many other things posted here. I don't believe there is 1 key factor to racing well.

You're tricksy Mike

Pretty sure a few years back when I first was getting into the birds some guys told me the square flights indicate inbreeding(which would explain why it's better for breeding) and the round ones indicate some form of an outcross(better for racing).

Oh no, sorry Albear. He's just some guy who has nothing better to do than to pretend he's someone he's not.

Uhh yeah I'm using a higher power pellet gun. Where the lofts are at there's no way I could use a 22 or something similar anyways. I've managed to rid most of them and the ones that do trickle back into the area end up getting caught in the trap and I just take and release them.

"Mr. Staff Van Reet"

I've caught around 12 squirrels in my trap in the past 2 months. I don't even bait it I just have it along the wall of the loft and they're curious and go right in. If I trap them I take them about a mile away and let them go. I can't even count how many I've shot. There's not a single one left on the property. They messed up my breeding season pretty bad so I was going to make sure it didn't happen again. I never had a squirrel take an egg or baby but they would eat all the food and the lofts aren't at my home for me to refill the food 3 times a day.

Oh yeah and I believe I read John Sampson write once on the PML that he pulls the entire tail of the cock which gets more blood flowing to that area to help fertility.

Someone already proved the eyes you posted aren't yours and you stole them off another internet site. Looks like your so-called ammo backfired.

Why would any of you believe a word he says for even a second?

I've heard of people underlaying eggs and letting the cock raise a round sometimes gets them ticking again. Bunch of Vitamin E too!

Ed do you think the commons were following your racers home? Did you train them alone for any of the tosses? I trained a half tumbler/homer and he made it out to about 40 miles but I then stopped him and clipped his wings to be my dropper. I'm almost positive he was just following the flock home and not homing.

I've handled my friends 17 year old cock and he's still full of vitality. He evens lets him out to fly every once in awhile. He stopped filling his eggs about 2 years ago but I wouldn't doubt if he went another couple years. Back when I first started in birds I had another friend who had one that I believe was almost 20 and he'd fill some of his eggs.

I would say between a dark purple and red. It's pretty easy to distinguish from a normal pearl eye.

Well I haven't had the pleasure of having birds that breed winners every year but considering I've only raced one season. I wouldn't split the birds if they were that proven that they were breeding winners every year. If anything only for a round or 2 to try something new and not have my entire loft filled with full brothers/sisters.

Best "breed" of pigeons are racing homers. If you mean strain(don't really believe in such a thing) or family then I really like the Van Loons down from Super 73.

I'm going to say no, if anything it had the "homing instinct" but not a homing pigeon considering it was gathered from the wild. Otherwise we could call any pigeon that returns after being released a homing pigeon.

That wasn't the question you asked. You asked which people prefer and now you're just stating the obvious.

Just depends on the bird. If you come across a prepotent cock or a prepotent hen, whichever is first will most likely be the foundation of your loft. With that said most people tend to have cocks or think the cock is the prepotent pigeon and didn't realize that hen or 2 they were pairing it to was the reason the babies were awesome.

It's mainly due to having very little homing instinct unlike the racers/homers. They sometimes don't have that driving bond with home and just return because they know they are going to get food/water.