The Non-Exact Science Of Pigeon Racing

[retired]

There are pigeoners who have the ambition to create a strain and there are others who are limited to the ambition to winning races. An opinion which lays the basis for the contention that it is one thing to race a good pigeon and another thing to breed a good pigeon. Which supports the opinion that the breeder is owed as much credit as the racer of a winning bird. Of course, if the racer and the breeder are one and the same we have a happy combination.

 

What is being implied is that those who set out to breed a good racer must lay the best of foundations. Thus to the interested pigeoners may I suggest that they select their foundations with extreme thought and care. For if the foundations are unsound your racers or strain will be unsound. Therefore what is of paramount importance is the right stock plus the need for patience and gradual testing. Also the development of a happy and friendly atmosphere in the loft or lofts. That is the creation or the evolution of a good rapport between the fancier and his or her airborne athletes.

 

As pigeoners we are committed to the production of athleticism of a high order. Our task is of the highest magnitude and is not, as some believe, the mating of a hen with a cock and a drop of luck. Yes, luck may or may not be an ingredient but it is of vital importance that we possess as much knowledge as possible of the bloodlines involving the racing plus breeding results of the ancestry of the couple to be. Yes, contrary to the opinion of many, pedigree knowledge is an important aspect prior to mating. And even more so in this modern competitive era of breeding winners. Which implies selecting stock that is likely to transmit characteristics essential to the racing and breeding properties. Which includes a rational statistical approach by all marathon flyers but especially those from Britain and Ireland who desire to conquer the internationals inspite of the near invincibility of the large contintental convoys or drags.

 

Thus it is time that the haphazard approach to the breeding of our thoroughbreds is terminated. Let us be consistent for consistency in racing initially must be the result of consistency in breeding. For whether we like it or not, like does beget like. If you want birds to fly the marathons then breed from the birds containing the marathon bloodlines. The bloodlines of middle distance and short distance pigeons are not what is required if you want to fly and win from 600 miles plus, or even 500 miles plus.Yes, birds have won from 250 to 350 plus but ask them to fly 500 and there are long lists of failures.Of course history records exceptions but they are few and far between.

 

It is also important that when we approach the sport in a scientific manner we must realise that our approach is not an 'exact science' and never will be because of the influence of mother nature.However to progress the sport must have a plan, a system to work with. The latter implies breeding from only the best pigeons and their progeny. Using the combination of line-breeding and rational out-breeding with the good old basket sorting out the best. But being careful that our thoroughbred athletes are not flogged especially the long distance and marathon variety for (1) if you exploit a pigeon from an early age its career will not last long; (2) for long distance racing such exploitation is the height of folly for a pigeon requires in practice 3 years to become ready to face its long endurance tasks; (3) always treat your pigeons with the aforegoing thoughts in mind and eventually one will create a type worthwhile, if the blood is right.

 

And as part of our non-exact scientific approach we must be as attentive to the knowledge accumulated over the decades and much of which is recorded in fine books and magazines by thinking pigeoners who sought to share their acquired knowledge of our flying thoroughbreds. They have gone the road so to speak and our journeys can be shortened if we savour the fruits of their experience and research. For example, for long distance and marathon races how many fanciers consider the wing properties when they select their candidates. How many are aware that for this type of endurance racing that experience confirms that the secondaries must be slightly shorter than the first primary. Yes (aside from the above mentioned exceptions to the rule), in the main shorter secondaries lays the basis of a slower but energy efficient flight. If larger than the first primary the secondaries lays the basis of fast and energy wasting flight that won't last long. Thus the acquisation of such knowledge could be of help to the serious pigeoner when selecting for the ultimate distances. At any rate, if adhered to, many pigeons would not have been deposited to the highways and the byeways of racing routes never to be seen again. Yes, there is a phenomenon called intelligence (the 'noosphere' as coined by the remarkable French Jesuit Priest/Scientist-Teilhard de Chardin) which, if coupled with sound knowledge arising from the experience and research of others, if not our own experience, will bear fruit in abundance for the modern pigeon racer as it has done for many in the past.

 

In conclusion, the latter principles of management and the truth contained therein has been confirmed by masters of the sport down through the decades since the sport's origins. It is a truth that is ever new and we should adhere to it with due respect and committment, that is, if we want to reach for the stars, to climb the heights of pigeondom. For that is the most reliable road available for achieving success in pigeon breeding and racing. And indeed signposted with the words, 'If you want to produce pigeon breeding and racing equivalents of the great Nijinsky or Master MacGrath then travel this way...'

[THE FIFER]

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