WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR?

[sammy]

ballance , feathering , type , fresh blood , something that will compliment what i have

LIKE IT   but it must better it as well  

 

 

[whiteknight]

For breeding no 1 is the throat .

[Guest gladdo]

white night id 2 nd that and definetly agree with it mate .... my mate teached me that and he has a great knack for breeding birds. ...mikey....

[Guest Owen]

At the risk of having half the Pigeon Fanciers in Britain on my collar, this is what I would do.

The best pigeons are birds that have won things bred from birds that have won things. You can also do well with birds that are the Sons and Daughters of birds that have won things out of birds that have won things. But this is less reliable because Venders do not always tell the truth and even the best breeders do not give you quality youngsters all the time. Some will give you quality youngsters some of the time but some never do.

Another good indication is the quality of the youngsters from the mother when bred with a differant cock. Some hens have a way of producing really good youngsters whereas others never do. Just look at the Thoroughbred horses. All foals are sired by top sires, without exception. Poor quality males are castrated and only the best performers are allowed to breed. So the best way to pick a race horse is to look at the sort of foals that the mare has previously produced. Some mares are very good at producing strong foals.

I think that all selections of stock for breeding purposes have to have some reference to performance. What else is there? I also like birds to have very soft feathers and they must not be wild. I also like pigeons with a nice balance in the hand. In regard to eyes, I like the bird to have clear shinny eyes that look alive. Eyesign, forget it. It is nonsense and will take you away from the things that really matter. Finally, take your time making your decision because mistakes are costly. You will need a bit of luck but it is surprising how gut instinct will help, providing you give yourself time to allow it to kick in.

 

[Guest]

some good pointers there for novices and new starters Owen .          andy.

[chrissy]

ballance , feathering , type , fresh blood , something that will compliment what i have

 

The above basically covers it,look at what you think your birds are short of,ie what you don't have,there is no point in buying birds exactly like your own,you are looking for something to improve your birds,not duplicate your birds,also look for health and always isolate any new birds for a minimum of 2 weeks just to be safe

[Taylorsloft]

Only one thing for me if its to be a stock pigeon the eye,and before it starts off a major debate,It works for me and thats all I,m worried about.

 

;)

[Guest devonred]

Any body fancy sharing the throat theroey

[Taylorsloft]

:

Any body fancy sharing the throat theroey

 

yes i will share the throat theory with everybody if there no good they get the two fingers round there throat   ;D

[Guest devonred]

That's what i reckon but thought i'd ask lol ;D  ;D

[just ask me]

i go by where the fancier is living i like to buy off a fancier in a bad position getting results i like to see a fancier getting up in the result when no one else in his area is in the result also must be racing a small to medium size team    

[Guest mick bowler]

Bloodlines first, they have to have upto date winning lines, i don't care what family, if its what i fancy and think it improve my loft i will give it a go. Prefer sons and dtrs of the winners or their parents. If i can get proven breeders i will.

 

Then its is the type of bird, handling wise. Now i hear fanciers say that birds come in all shapes and sizes and not all are a perfect specimen, but having been in some of the top lofts around you rarely see a champion that looks or handles like a bag of spuds!

 

IMO, the dutch and Belguims are years ahead on their breeding principles as a whole, most tend to approach breeding and new introductions the same way, the way i now try to do it!

[Guest cloudview]

obviosly birds bred for the job you want them for , after that , to me they should be medium to long cast , sit in hand nicely , not to deep in the keel , eye very high in the head ,

small pupils , and the wing has got to be right for sustained flight , also dont like them to leggy ,

and bred of national winning birds not corridor birds.

[dudley]

results results results,winners come in all shapes and sizes,ken.

[budgie]

Winning Lines To Winning Lines keep clear aged stock birds and dont be fooled by what is being offloaded this weekend.

[Guest Owen]

When it comes to breeding the Dutch and Belgiums think we are crazy. They pair best to best on the basis of winning pigeons. And they crossbreed all the way. The only time they may change to closer breeding is when they have top winners of both sexes.

I can'nt help laughing when I hear people talking about pure this and that. Even the named lofts do not have pure bred birds. As a little exercise read the rings of Belgium Pigeons. The first number indicates the region. So you will see that a lot of the birds do not come from the area of the loft that you are buying from.  

[Guest stb-]

Only one thing for me if its to be a stock pigeon the eye,and before it starts off a major debate,It works for me and thats all I,m worried about.

 

go on you tell em  m8  

[Guest Owen]

I was not going to say this but it may help someone. The way I buy a bird is as follows. I look for a bird that has done a lot of winning. Usually a cock that has flown on widowhood, because that is how I fly. I then telephone the owner to get the lowdown on the bird and it's performances and also it's parents' performances.

I then break off the conversation and ring the Union to get the telephone number of the Club Sec where the Fancier Flies. I ring the Sec and ask about the Fancier and the sort of competition in that Club and Fed.

If I am happy I ring the Owner and come to an agreement on the deal and on the understanding that I am buying the bird and all the prize cards it has won. At a push I will accept copies.

This year I bought a bird using just this technique and the Guy told me to check the MNFC. And sure enough there was the ring number.

OK it cost me a bit more but I will now use this bird on the Bull System and he should sire anything up to 12 youngsters, all at roughly the same age. By the end of this year I should know what he is made of. And for the record I will do a similar thing again this year. And if it is pedigrees you like, can you imagine what the youngsters in the second generation would look like on paper?

[Mealy Cock]

I am going to Blackpool Sunday just to look around, one thing for sure I am taking my eye glass.

[Novice]

i normally look at wins first

Absolutely spot on.

I had a mate who would buy pigeons at clearance saled and only looked at it's prize cards. He never even handled the birds.

 

 

[just ask me]

Absolutely spot on.

I had a mate who would buy pigeons at clearance saled and only looked at it's prize cards. He never even handled the birds.

 

 

would agree with the above but please remember where the fancier is living location plays a big part where the winner is sometimes in my opinion the best bird may be down the list due to the fancier living in the wrong location  jmo

[Guest ROCKYandRAMBO]

its not just the location its also the velocity of the wins as some people might only win with the same vel eg same wind to help them but if a bird has 12 firsts from vels of 900 to 1600 that bird has struck out in front and won even if the wind isint in his favour and thats the sort of bird i want one that strikes out in front im not bothered what he handles like if he has frets im not bothered i dont care what eye he has as long as he has two , and the pedigree all i like to see is if his farther won and grandfarther ect you carnt beat a long line of winners ,you carnt tell any thing about a pigeon by handleing it apart from that it is healthy i dont need to handle it to see that

[Guest gladdo]

just as owen has said but try get to the apple tree as fair high as you can....mikey...

[holmsidelofts]

For me it has to as close to the winners as possible. Pedigrees are important to a degree as long as they are accurate as they give you an ideas of how far away from winning genes you are. theres no point in buying birds where the last winners were there great, great grand parents. you see that regularly, the further away you are the lest chance you have of your bird carrying the required genes. there is no real way to tell a winner or breeder other than breeding or racing from it.

When i handle a bird what i look for is balance, the bird has to sit in the hand well. its tail should be a natural extension of its body, it shouldnt stick up in the air or point to the floor. that the only thing i could say. every winner i have ever handled has been well balanced ive never handled a winner that wasnt well balanced.

 

I dont believe in theories like eye theory etc, in my opinion its a load rubbish the basket is the only indicator.

I would also be more inclined to buy from someone who races in a similar area to me, remember birds are bred to race in certain conditions and are selected on this. So just because a fancier in holland is successful there is no guarantee that his birds will win over here. remember holland for instance very flat, us very mountainous it all plays a part.

 

I would always buy from an entire clearance sale and by the winners or breeders of winners. that way you have more chance of reproducing winners.

 

[Novice]

 

would agree with the above but please remember where the fancier is living location plays a big part where the winner is sometimes in my opinion the best bird may be down the list due to the fancier living in the wrong location  jmo

 

When I saw him do this it was mainly local clearance sales.

He also bought 36 youngsters from Louella and only looked at the pedigrees after they had either completed or failed in the final young bird race.