Widowhood or Natural

[swilcox]

If you were looking to compete every year from 500-550 miles North or South would you adopt Widowhood or Natural or a combination remembering that there are often day birds from this distance.

 

It seems to me more and more fanciers are returning to Natural flying for long distance which i know suits 2 day races but you have to think that 50% of long distance winners are timed on the day! So do you go for the system that "MIGHT" get you one home on the night (widowhood) or the system that will give 10 home the next day (natural) and a great team performance. Ofcourse you time natural pigeon on the day as well!!!

 

Stuart

[midnight_son]

Hi Stuart,

 

I think the ideal is probably to have a combination of two, more to get the best out of both sexes. I'm certain that Widowhood is the best method to consistently fly well with cocks but I'm equally certain that hens are best on natural. We only fly natural and have 8 positions in the top 5 of the open result in national races from 500 miles - 612 miles but only one was achieved by a cock - evidence that natural suits hens better. I do feel that our cocks are slightly being wasted by this system but i couldnt stand to not fly the hens so we make our choice and get on with it. Perhaps with umlimited time and space I would try to work both methods concurrently.

 

I would suggest the more important thing is to have good distance pigeons first and worry about the system second.