Definition ?

grdkeith · September 10, 2013

now that the season is almost over for most fanciers we will soon be in the time when lots of birds go up for sale and therefore before long the usual accusations will be made about so called FEATHER MERCHANTS selling birds and conning fellow fanciers :cry-blow: so what is the definition of a feather merchant ? i have never sold birds in my time but have wasted plenty buying so i cant be one :emoticon-0140-rofl:

geordie1234 · September 10, 2013

now that the season is almost over for most fanciers we will soon be in the time when lots of birds go up for sale and therefore before long the usual accusations will be made about so called FEATHER MERCHANTS selling birds and conning fellow fanciers so what is the definition of a feather merchant ? i have never sold birds in my time but have wasted plenty buying so i cant be one :emoticon-0140-rofl:

For me a feather merchant is someone who seems to be cutting back stock every single season and always selling them off, I remember one fancier on here claimed having to sell a lot off as his health was bad but he has been selling more ever since plus going to show's and selling them??? Then we wonder about loses people are selling there crap off instead of binning them..

September 10, 2013

now that the season is almost over for most fanciers we will soon be in the time when lots of birds go up for sale and therefore before long the usual accusations will be made about so called FEATHER MERCHANTS selling birds and conning fellow fanciers so what is the definition of a feather merchant ? i have never sold birds in my time but have wasted plenty buying so i cant be one :emoticon-0140-rofl:

there just the same as you kermit , out to make a few bob for christmas

only difference is your TOY MERCHANT some toys are good some toys r s heite but you sell them all anyway :emoticon-0136-giggle:

September 10, 2013

In all walks of life there are people who will want to make a fast buck where ever they can. Pigeon Fanciers are no different. The real problem is not with the Sellers but with the fools who fall for the BS that is churned out with regularity every year. Good racing pigeons are difficult to find but if you read the adverts you would think that they grow on trees. The thing that both annoys and amuses me is that people still believe there are families or strains based on people who died years ago. Most of the so called families never existed in the first place because their Owners called them by the loft names as soon as they acquired them regardless of where they came from. I used to love to visit Taffy (Bill) Bowen and listen to what he said about these things because he knew most of the original Belgium Fanciers personally. I remember that he said that most Belgium's spent a lot of their time searching for good pigeons and would have them from anywhere.

Bill himself made no bones about the fact that his Kamikazes where made up of birds that he had brought in from where ever he could locate good birds. There is no doubt that there are Feather Merchants and some are fair while others will tell you anything to get a sale. I don't think you can blame them because people are prepared to hand their money over to complete strangers without a thought as to what they are getting. I know of one stud that often sends sick birds out and has many complaints. I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole but there are plenty who do in spite of the fact that they must know that birds from that source rarely do any good. I have come to the conclusion that people are lazy because instead of working towards building a good team they want to take short cuts and try to buy success. I doubt very much if that can be done unless of course you have a very big budget and are prepared to spend a great deal of money.

September 10, 2013

once you get a name about yourself be it pigeons, canaries, budgies, you can sell any s.h i t e you want,

HOMER49 · September 10, 2013

once you get a name about yourself be it pigeons, canaries, budgies, you can sell any s.h i t e you want,

Hi

True very true :emoticon-0127-lipssealed:

Cheers

Homer 49

ForestForever74 · September 10, 2013

In all walks of life there are people who will want to make a fast buck where ever they can. Pigeon Fanciers are no different. The real problem is not with the Sellers but with the fools who fall for the BS that is churned out with regularity every year. Good racing pigeons are difficult to find but if you read the adverts you would think that they grow on trees. The thing that both annoys and amuses me is that people still believe there are families or strains based on people who died years ago. Most of the so called families never existed in the first place because their Owners called them by the loft names as soon as they acquired them regardless of where they came from. I used to love to visit Taffy (Bill) Bowen and listen to what he said about these things because he knew most of the original Belgium Fanciers personally. I remember that he said that most Belgium's spent a lot of their time searching for good pigeons and would have them from anywhere.
Bill himself made no bones about the fact that his Kamikazes where made up of birds that he had brought in from where ever he could locate good birds. There is no doubt that there are Feather Merchants and some are fair while others will tell you anything to get a sale. I don't think you can blame them because people are prepared to hand their money over to complete strangers without a thought as to what they are getting. I know of one stud that often sends sick birds out and has many complaints. I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole but there are plenty who do in spite of the fact that they must know that birds from that source rarely do any good. I have come to the conclusion that people are lazy because instead of working towards building a good team they want to take short cuts and try to buy success. I doubt very much if that can be done unless of course you have a very big budget and are prepared to spend a great deal of money.

I agree with what you are saying. I have to say that members on here are more than generous with offers and paying them a visit usually leads to gifted birds that you just cant buy anywhere. We have been very lucky in that respect and you learn and see things from a different angle. One member on here gifted yb from a doo that he paid Â£4000 for and another had me pull out a notepad and pen when he was talking, I wanted to learn from him and he took us to pigeon heaven after that aka Bob McDonald's place up north and I left with a basket of doo's! and it didn't cost a penny other than petrol money. Results don't lie but prices do!

robbiedoo. · September 10, 2013

I agree with what you are saying. I have to say that members on here are more than generous with offers and paying them a visit usually leads to gifted birds that you just cant buy anywhere. We have been very lucky in that respect and you learn and see things from a different angle. One member on here gifted yb from a doo that he paid Â£4000 for and another had me pull out a notepad and pen when he was talking, I wanted to learn from him and he took us to pigeon heaven after that aka Bob McDonald's place up north and I left with a basket of doo's! and it didn't cost a penny other than petrol money. Results don't lie but prices do!

Well said rab :emoticon-0127-lipssealed:

ForestForever74 · September 10, 2013

Well said rab :emoticon-0127-lipssealed:

Its Andy lol the auld yin is in his bed dreaming of national races next year :-)

and two of those doo's have bred us a couple of section prizes and an open prize in our very early career at national flying cant ask for more than that. ever!

grdkeith · September 11, 2013

there just the same as you kermit , out to make a few bob for christmas

only difference is your TOY MERCHANT some toys are good some toys r s heite but you sell them all anyway :emoticon-0136-giggle:

always thought of you as more of a b*lls*t merchant :emoticon-0140-rofl:

September 11, 2013

Many years ago I was quite good at breeding and showing Canaries. I was very keen to try to help and encourage others to be able to compete in the sport so I gave people birds to help them on their way. My Uncle who was one of the top Budgie people in Britain told me that I was wasting good birds because people who had them either for nothing or cheaply probably would not look after them. I thought my Uncle was a mean old git and ignored what he said. A few years later I realised he was right because very few benefited from having the good birds and some times these birds were neglected.

In regard to the pigeons, I will not give birds away any more. Again I have done it and had to hear about the fact they have often been wasted on the people who have had them. One chap fell out with his girl friend and gave the birds to the ferrets. Another guy won several long races but the greedy idiot sent the bird to a long race with a serious injury to the crop. Yet another guy claimed that he could not win races because the house was too close to the loft and I used to get stories of the races he nearly won regularly. He refused to sort his problem out so again the birds he had from here were wasted. I found out later that this fellow sold the birds. Another incident was when I gave 10 birds to a new starter who changed his mind and gave the birds to his mate who in turn gave them to some person miles from here. The third owner won the young bird averages with my birds and the first guy had the cheek to ask me for some more the next year. He was lucky he didn't get a thick ear for his trouble.

I applaud the generosity of many of the nice people out there who will try to help others to get going but I think you have to choose the people who are to receive these gifts very carefully. I have had to work really hard to learn to win pigeon races and I can't help wondering why others are not prepared to work in the same way. I recently went to a lot of trouble to write to one chap who would ask me to give him a blow by blow account of what to do to win races. Things seemed to be going well when over two weeks he lost all his birds. He wrote to me after this and told me that he wanted me to go over my system again because he had not been working with it and he wanted to prepare for next year. He had not even brought in the basic dietary materials I had advised him to get. Well I am not known for my patience and the second word I spoke ended in "off".