a pigeon,s life

[jack]

how long will you give a pigeon in your loft to prove its self befor he has to go

 

as a breeder or racer

[OLDYELLOW]

too many Varables , a bad racer usualy gets lost but then you end up with some birds that home rather than race a pigeon will show its worth as a yearling  in my view , a stock pigeon till had 3 rounds or 3 different pairing if nothing does any good then gone , a two year old bird is at it's best

[Guest]

Racing birds at 2yo they must achieve 500 miles plus.Stock think you have to give them 3 to 4 years to see if they produce the goods.

[hotrod]

i agree far too many variables , some familys mature quicker than others, (sprint pigeons) you could find these quicker than (distance pigeons ), as some distance birds dont mature/show anything till there maybe 2 or 3 years old, i have birds that have done absolutely nothing till they went to the distance they were bred for, then i had a bird that  won from 60miles 1st club, 1st race then won the last race  from clermont in france 543 miles 1st club 1st fed only two in race time , in same season, so all birds are different , so its trial and error mate  sorry

[Guest The main Mahon]

I personally give my birds a full YB season and a full OB season for racing. If they are not there or thereabouts as yearlings they have to go. I only have one pair of birds that I keep for stock so I can't really comment on the breeding side of your question.

[gangster]

everyone has there own opinion but heres 1 to think about... witte-plek  raced by roland janssen and  now owned by john and alex mellor  was as a youngster lets say not among the best roland flew, but as a yearling onwards he was every bit as good if not better than his more illustrious brotherrs the 11/12  now owned by massarellas....it could have been oh! so different had roland not seen  his future potential as both a racer and latterly a breeder....and just 2 add my own opinion witte-pleks better than his brothers!!!!!

[Beanz]

I personally give my birds a full YB season and a full OB season for racing. If they are not there or thereabouts as yearlings they have to go.

 

 

Same here nothing as youngsters or yearlings in the bin.

 

 

                                          Paul

 

[Guest anto]

ill give a racier 2 to 3 years debending what its bread 4 sprint or water and stock 3 years

[Guest gladdo]

MY PLAN WOULD BE 8 YOUNGSTERS IN TOTAL AND IF THEY DONT DO WELL THEN PARENTS GO IN BIN .... 4 YOUNGSTERS OFF ONE YEAR THEN ILL PUT THEM WITH NEW PARTNERS THE FOLLOWING YEAR ....MIKEY

[joe61]

everyone has there own opinion but heres 1 to think about... witte-plek  raced by roland janssen and  now owned by john and alex mellor  was as a youngster lets say not among the best roland flew, but as a yearling onwards he was every bit as good if not better than his more illustrious brotherrs the 11/12  now owned by massarellas....it could have been oh! so different had roland not seen  his future potential as both a racer and latterly a breeder....and just 2 add my own opinion witte-pleks better than his brothers!!!!!

 

I agree gangster, And people should be able to tell the pigeons potential as soon as its weaned, if not reared right, cull it. then as it matures the potential is in the look of the pigeon.

 

A pigeon should be selected on a number of variable traits, quality of the bird first, then bloodline and type prefered, then performance, if you know your pigeons you should know what ones are gonna be around come racing, too many people have lots of pigeons all different shapes and sizes which is lack of breeding knowledge with livestock, lets be honest most fanciers simply are not hard enough with their pigeons and i mean selecting not racing, select before you race, cull the rubbish , you will have fewer loses. fanciers breed 50 or 100 youngsters a year... how many are top grade ?  2 or 3 ... most lofts have just pigeons in them. if your not  winning get ride of the lot.  its about being first dont kid yourself, you win your happy, your last your weekend is not so good !!

 

how many fanciers can see a pigeons potential ?  not many thats why they let the basket decide.. pick birds out tobreed winners before raced and be pre potent breeders at that.. and i not saying dont race your birds before you decide to jump on me, what i am saying is that 75% of fanciers dont know enough about breeding quality birds and selecting them.

 

we give our pigeons whatever time they need, let me explain, we select the best bloodline and mate each individual to a certain relationship one to the other, which gives us top birds in nearly every youngster, but different temperaments and characters so motivation is a whole different issue for racing them.

 

we have selected top birds and kept them on the loft for 5-6 years without breeding from them, then breed 2 winners in first nest from them at 5-6 years old !!!   thats what i mean by seeing breeding capacity in a bird !! for racing they should win by 2 years old. Our best hen as we only race hens, was never raced as a youngster, we dont race youngsters, then had 3 races as yearling to educate her, then as a 2 year old hen beat every widow cock in the area by a distance, nothing could touch her!  this is again spotting racing capacity within a bird which has been bred from 2 birds with breeding capacity.. so keep less birds and breed less ,but all quality will usually result if you got good bloodline, and you have a breeding plan, not just cross and hope for the best, breed what you want by your own selection and type.  you are the reason wether you win or lose .   if the birds dont win , ask yourself .. who put them in the loft ?  YOU DID.

 

 

 

 

 

oh happy days

 

 

[Guest]

Very sensible reading joe61 (coming on 62) couldn;t have put it better myself, altgough I have been guilty of doing the opposite to your advice in the past and it doesn't work. More good birds are bred through careful selection than by chance pairings

[Merlin]

Got to agree with most of what Joe posted,very good insight,and extremly practical,very good post Joe 61 nearly 2

[gangster]

GOOD POST JOE

[grizzal]

very good post joe 61, ;)

[Guest kev d]

my young birds get trained some times then as yearlings they get

some serious training up to 65 miles then race in the nfc races no messing

about what left at the end of the season i know there worth keeping and breeding from

you have to bear in mind i can have 4 nfc races under 400 miles and one at 560 miles

and i never send no more than 6 , its not every ones cup of tea but i enjoy doing what i do

and the birds realy get sorted out .

[doo]

If you race into the west of Scotland .......you don't need to worry about racers as the crap is lost  in first year Yb's & yearlings ......the rest will be worth keeping as ....the followers will be lost quickly after that ...........the best bird does not always win the race ...the best follower sometimes does thing is finding the best bird to follow......these birds usually are first to the loft by a mile one week & nigh ting out the next ........my thoughts Stevie Barbour

[W.D.]

Think it depends on the family of birds and how you treat them.Remember J.L.Roberts saying his needed 3 seasons before he expected anything of them,and boy was he right!They would just get themselves home as y/bs and yearlings but by 2yr old they just seemed to switch on.

One of the best distance fliers in Europe at moment only breeds latebreds,trains them as yearlings,2 or 3 350mls as 2yr olds,500 at 3 then 600+ then after,and  still he's scoring with them at 8 & 9 yrs old. Not everyone has time room or patience to do this but in his case its paid dividends.

My mate paid a small fortune for distance birds off a top flyer then expected them to tow the line like his as y/bs,they didn't like it,until a few years down the line he stopped bothering about y/b racing and and now they are coming through and scoring as 2yr olds.

[Roland]

Just glad to have some left to race next year lol ;D ;D Of course then they are 'Breeders'! They have to be... aint nothing else left lol ;D ;D ;D