just a thought??

[jimmy white]

i take it most have seen the ferals,, [rock doves] raking,at great speed  through the air early morning for their feeding, then raking back to their roosting [nesting places],at great speed ,  of an evening ,,,,,[the real ferals ,,not the crossbreeds that walk about the town streets] ,,,,these birds MUST fly , in all weathers ,simply to LIVE and feed .

they fly in torrentual rain ,fog ,,,,,,,,,,when , to be honest , our modern day racer [if trying this] would be saturated ,soaked, and quite unable to fly in this type of weather, and would most certainly" come down" i often wonder, do these birds have superior feathering to our racers ,,,,,,,,or is it because of the survival of the fitest over years of breeding , that produces this "waterproof " effect in these birds ,,,[just passing thoughts ]

[THE FIFER]

I think we haven taken away too much of the racing pigeons natural habits, IE: making them moult when we want, be with their mates when we want, etc etc. also breeding in the month of December, what birds naturally breed then ?

[jimmy white]

I think we haven taken away too much of the racing pigeons natural habits, IE: making them moult when we want, be with their mates when we want, etc etc. also breeding in the month of December, what birds naturally breed then ?

 

agree entirely arch.   nature is a great and wonderfull thing ,,,kick at it ,,and ittl kick back ,in some form or other,,these wild birds [as nature will have it] are well fed in the autumn , with all the grain seeds etc to give them a good and natural moult ,,,,,,,then when the" food dries up" they have to fly for it[with their new jaikets on ;D] [in the few daylight hours ,we have in the winter] nature cuts down their grub in the winter , therefore they wont breed [again not talking about the crossbreeds in the streets] theres no doubt about it , we can learn a lot from nature  

 

[Delboy]

I think we haven taken away too much of the racing pigeons natural habits, IE: making them moult when we want, be with their mates when we want, etc etc. also breeding in the month of December, what birds naturally breed then ?

 

I agree to an extent but putting a pigeon in a basket and taking it 100s of miles away and releasing it for it to find its way home again is not natural either. We are contradicting ourselves by saying everything should be natural when in fact nature did not intend us to race pigeons. I think if you try and keep a balance as much as you can ie give the pigeons as much liberty as possible, let them go through their natural nesting cycle and give them plenty of peace you will have harmony in your loft.

[jimmy white]

 

I agree to an extent but putting a pigeon in a basket and taking it 100s of miles away and releasing it for it to find its way home again is not natural either. We are contradicting ourselves by saying everything should be natural when in fact nature did not intend us to race pigeons. I think if you try and keep a balance as much as you can ie give the pigeons as much liberty as possible, let them go through their natural nesting cycle and give them plenty of peace you will have harmony in your loft.

 

yes i do agree with your post delboy,[especialy the" keep a balance as much as you can",] but im saying were now taking away from nature just too much , and that we can still learn a lot from it

 

[invalidusername]

When my Bluey was out for 2 years, he contended with heat, torrential rain, thick snow, freezing days - well, in this country, freezing weeks and months :-/ and all throughout that time he was flying, flying, flying, very strong and never ill.  It was, of course to his cost eventually, as he got very sick, which brought him into my kitchen and then back to full health again.  But I'm sure that all that time out added to his condition.  It's getting that balance between letting birds being allowed to be natural, whilst at the same time doing what you need to do to train them - which can go against their natural way.

 

I agree with your comments - it's all about a good balance.

[bewted]

i wonder what would happen if you could breed these rock doves back into the modern racing pigeon,,,,,worth thinking about,,,just a passing thought here hmmmmm !!!!

[OLDYELLOW]

rock doves and ferial pigeons are conditioned to the elements hence why there feathers are tougher than that of a racing pigeon , if your birds were open to all the elements all year round in a avairy most would perish the others that would survive are surviours by nature , nature naturaly suppresses disabilty and sick and ill birds and animals , not the all the fastest speed merchants of the sky would survive , but to some extent speed would be a survival asset to keep away from preditors