Breeding Pairs

[andy Burgess]

have read many stories of "good stock men" ,how do you select your pairs . whats the criteria for selecting pairs to breed the best off-spring on both health and performance? .

[andyyy]

Interesting Question! =P

 

I got told of one of top local flyer to always pair best to best, weather it be in the stock loft or race loft worked well for him

[andy Burgess]

Interesting Question! =P

 

I got told of one of top local flyer to always pair best to best, weather it be in the stock loft or race loft worked well for him

i asked the same question on site here about 6 years ago Andy .was told the same ,and the best i had at the time were a cock with a 4th place and hen who,s youngsters were hard to lose .told i was going to put them together , was also told i was wasting my time , it worked well. however i have a 11 pairs of stock , most produce good ones , but its more "luck" than judgement ,and i want to be better at selecting . hoping for some good tips to help me (and maybe others too) ??

[andyyy]

i asked the same question on site here about 6 years ago Andy .was told the same ,and the best i had at the time were a cock with a 4th place and hen who,s youngsters were hard to lose .told i was going to put them together , was also told i was wasting my time , it worked well. however i have a 11 pairs of stock , most produce good ones , but its more "luck" than judgement ,and i want to be better at selecting . hoping for some good tips to help me (and maybe others too) ??

 

I know what you mean this year my race birds have been easy ish to pair up, With 6 out of the 9 2012 hens having a card so i paired them to cocks that had had a card, then just worked round that but with the stock it's hard, Some what have been well raced then retired are easy cos you know what they breed and stuff, But i have 8 unraced 2011 in my stock loft, Pairing them up last year and this year is just a nightmare!

[walterboswell59]

all my stock birds are paired back to the original champion half brother and sister granson grandaughter father daughter mother to son brother to sister cousins i do this as long as they keep winning and show no weakness every now and then use a different champion ive bred over sixty firsts club and section winners in last 12 years since buying the louella jan aardens with advice of michael masserella it works for me

[Wiley]

I use the throat theory, however I like to put my best racing young hens to my stock cocks, but they must have results and the throat to match. I also like to line breed uncle to niece, aunty to nephew, cousin to cousin. I also look to only bring in result pigeons to my family of birds. My aim of breeding in reality is to get 5 generations of winners in the young birds pedigree

[andy Burgess]

good answers .will be trying a grandfather x granddaughter for a 2nd round on one stock pair .have 2 cousins paired in the race loft ,both took a few cards each as youngsters.not tried either of these combinations before tho ?

[peter pandy]

Never had the pleasure of meeting the fancier that could pick a pair to go to-gether and breed winners in every nest. So for the past 55 years I have let my birds pick their own mate. What I have come to the conclusion is that the largest amount of winners come from maiden yearling eggs nor do I have or want stock pigeons..

[sammy]

Never had the pleasure of meeting the fancier that could pick a pair to go to-gether and breed winners in every nest. So for the past 55 years I have let my birds pick their own mate. What I have come to the conclusion is that the largest amount of winners come from maiden yearling eggs nor do I have or want stock pigeons..

peter did you not fly inpartership with your brother a number of years ago and fly delbars ???

[peter pandy]

peter did you not fly inpartership with your brother a number of years ago and fly delbars ???

Sammy,

My brother Wilson and I were in partnership until 1985-86 and he went his own way and retired from the sport in 1990 due to his rheumatoid athritis. He visits twice a week when he is not touring Europe with his camper van giving me grief for not winning more than I do.

Delbars we never had as our winning team were all obtained from Eddie Newcombe, Kirkpatricks from Johnny Robertson down in Jedburgh and German birds from Andy & Harry Whitelaw at Blackridge, Birds from Dennis Dall and Robert Cormack were also in the melting pot winning from 65 to 650 miles for us. But hey ho that was a long time ago..

[andyyy]

I paired a pair up in 2010, Bred me a winner, Kept the together for 2011 and they bred another winner, And again last year, Ofc they're together again this year

[sammy]

Sammy,

My brother Wilson and I were in partnership until 1985-86 and he went his own way and retired from the sport in 1990 due to his rheumatoid athritis. He visits twice a week when he is not touring Europe with his camper van giving me grief for not winning more than I do.

Delbars we never had as our winning team were all obtained from Eddie Newcombe, Kirkpatricks from Johnny Robertson down in Jedburgh and German birds from Andy & Harry Whitelaw at Blackridge, Birds from Dennis Dall and Robert Cormack were also in the melting pot winning from 65 to 650 miles for us. But hey ho that was a long time ago..

thats right peter must have got you mixed up woth someone else who flew delbars ,sorry,the loft you had at the time was it not eddie newcombe that recomend you built it to his design

[Guest IB]

I think it really depends on fancier’s resources – we all have some limit there, so numbers of pigeons kept must have a bearing on your breeding plan, and whether you keep stock birds, and how many. Numbers plays a big part, because there is a need to breed more than one round from a pair to have enough youngsters to put on the road and test. I have 20 nest boxes = 40 birds, so there is no way I’d keep 11 pairs of stock birds. I also want long distance racers that need to be 2 or 3 years old before they’ve been prepared through testing for long distance events. 4 years is a long time to keep a pair together waiting on results 3 years down the line. So each year the stock pigeons are paired to different mates and every year is seen as a conveyer belt with pigeons of different ages coming off it for different work – youngsters, yearlings, two year old and 3 year olds etc at a different testing stage in their career. And unless they have shone while under test, they aren’t bred from until they have scored in SNFC. Because the more birds you breed from in your loft, the less you can take from the best. And weeding during test applies to stock birds too. If they haven’t bred something to get me on SNFC result, they’re removed – I’m down to 4 pairs this year, the 39 birds ( 17 pairs + 5 spare hens) will be paired next week, I’ll breed from around 7 pairs. The rest are there to foster & race.