Whats Wrong With Pigeon Racing Today

[budgie]

On speaking to many fanciers in general they believe it has been taken over by Pigeon Politicians and to many people wanting to make a fast Buck.There are Thousands of pigeons shipped in which are purely bred to sell and not for the better of our sport.There is nothing wrong with the small-time/team fancier who is racing well and there is a demand for his pigeons which in turns  pays for the feeding and racing bill.It comes to light when the Dealers who are not pigeon fanciers are making a good living on the back of honest working fanciers who are intelligent to realise that they only come to this country due to not having a market at home.Will it get any better with commercialisition and the prices being asked time will tell.Lets forget about the market place dictating prices and what is your thoughts on a maximum price for a racing pigeon.

[PATTY BHOY]

price wise, only as much as you`re willing to pay.

[Guest ROCKYandRAMBO]

i dont think you can put a price on a stock bird but for a youngster i wouldnt pay more than 50 to race it

[Guest youngzimmy]

A LOT OF HARDHEADED UNCOMPROMISING TYPES WHO WILL NOT MOVE  TOWARDS THE LIGHT IE COMING TOGETHER  TO KEEP THE SPORT GOING ESPECIALY IN SCOTLAND STILL THE TIME WILL COME IN THE NOT TO DISTANT FUTURE WHEN THEY SEE THE LIGHT AND DECIDE TO DO SOMTHING ABOUT IT ALL BUT BY THEN UNFROTUNATLY IT WILL BE TO LATE AULD SAYING STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT

[DOVEScot]

As long as there are people daft enough to pay there will be the ones that are willing to sell.

 

Years ago I bought bankrupt stock of earrings(not for my private collection I may add) tried but failed to sell a few of them in the plastic wallets they came in for £1 so I bought some nice wee cases @30p and sold them for £5 all day long. Human mentality wants prestige and association with what money brings and not always at the best price

[dwh]

On speaking to many fanciers in general they believe it has been taken over by Pigeon Politicians and to many people wanting to make a fast Buck.There are Thousands of pigeons shipped in which are purely bred to sell and not for the better of our sport.There is nothing wrong with the small-time/team fancier who is racing well and there is a demand for his pigeons which in turns  pays for the feeding and racing bill.It comes to light when the Dealers who are not pigeon fanciers are making a good living on the back of honest working fanciers who are intelligent to realise that they only come to this country due to not having a market at home.Will it get any better with commercialisition and the prices being asked time will tell.Lets forget about the market place dictating prices and what is your thoughts on a maximum price for a racing pigeon.

 

its  mugs like  us everyday fanciers that are willing to pay the huge prices offered we decide the markt if willing to pay the'll certainly take your money from you

[showman]

As regards the price of birds, and their ceiling.....it's as others have stated, it depends on what people are willing to pay. Good luck to those who earn a living selling pigeons, be they fancier or not. Remember, the high prices they ask, are simply based on the fact that someone will be willing to pay it. Having been out of work now for the best part of a year, money is scarce, and with me hoping to make a come-back to racing early next year, it has been difficult to look at birds priced at £X each .  But, you know what......and it aint rocket science....I simply don't buy them, because I can't afford them, but why should someone drop their price for me when the guy standing beside me can and will happily give that sort of money ?  No brainer !!

[swilcox]

If every fancier stopped buying from Non-fanciers (and there are plenty) i believe the sport would be a better place all round!!!! I sell a few birds as i needed new lofts and pigeons when i re-started and now that they are built hopefully i have some extra to send to the bigger races, with more pools and buy better pigeons. Since 2004 everypenny ive earned from pigeons have gone back into the sport in one way or another.

 

I really believe pigeon racing is a great sport, ive played rugby, travelled the world and have a good career however i wouldnt be who i am if it wasnt for pigeon racing and the great men ive met along the way.

 

What we need to do is talk the sport up not down, it has alot to offer.

 

Stuart

[budgie]

As regards the price of birds, and their ceiling.....it's as others have stated, it depends on what people are willing to pay. Good luck to those who earn a living selling pigeons, be they fancier or not. Remember, the high prices they ask, are simply based on the fact that someone will be willing to pay it. Having been out of work now for the best part of a year, money is scarce, and with me hoping to make a come-back to racing early next year, it has been difficult to look at birds priced at £X each .  But, you know what......and it aint rocket science....I simply don't buy them, because I can't afford them, but why should someone drop their price for me when the guy standing beside me can and will happily give that sort of money ?  No brainer !!

Its sad Paul but what you are saying is true.Irrespective of what we read in the advertisments,for some extraordinary reason we the fanciers still believe we are buying Gold and forget the 98% Rule .

Thanks for your response.

 

 

[Guest mick bowler]

Make anyone who sells more than a round of YBs pay tax, insurance etc and have to be a registered trader with inland revenue, either that or a licence to sell from RPRA, £1000 a year or so, I'd say adverts would half overnight. I'd also say 90% of birds sold in weeklies are not worth the corn they fed on.

 

I used to think the internet was a good thing, but my thoughts have changed lately to it moving in the wrong direction, look at all the birds being sold lately and again most would'nt be good enough to put in a pie, but its so easy to buy on internet and of course a picture is worth a 1000 words, but even pretty birds bred nowt!!Its also a tool of the gossip mongers, rumours spreading like wild fire with no actual fact, and most of the time wrong and in 99%of the cases those being talked about cannot defend themselves. How is it these things can be written on a forum and get away with it yet if they were in weeklies there would be hell to play!!

[swilcox]

Hi Showman

 

After seeing your post it made me think that we all forget the realities of life some times and how it can go either way. Hope you have a good christmas and i hope sincerely that you fortunes change for the better in 2010.

 

All the very best

Stuart

[Guest IB]

I think the thread is written from a political perspective on selling pigeons, by a person who himself buys pigeons and is therefore a driving part of 'the problem' he perceives as being wrong with pigeon racing today..

 

If it serves a specific purpose in their own loft, people will pay what they can afford for a bird they think is worth paying that amount of money for.  After all we buy in pigeons in an attempt to improve our gene pool, and up our performances year on year, in our chosen competitive field. If we succeed, its money well spent.  

 

 

 

 

[swilcox]

Mick

 

Its true that the internet is used to sell pigeons without having to place them in some hand. My first few purchases from the internet more very disappointing and now i dont buy unless i handle it or its from someone i trust.

 

In terms of tax, i pay it on every penny i make as an auctioneer, as you say thats trading, same as if i sell a pigeon behalf of someone in a private or open treaty, however as a pigeon fancier if i sell a few of my own birds (i rarely do) then i am funding my hobby.

 

Stuart

[blaz]

seeing some of the prices for pigeons clocks baskets ECT. the lack of young people getting in to racing is at an all time low. so the more we encourage them and help them get started all the better for our racing

[Guest WINGS 04]

for me it is the ppl that try to bring othere down and will not let ppl in to there clubs as they have to give them a bit of over fly and i was told that a pigeon is only worth the ring on its leg but we all try and get better birds so we havce to pay so set your self a price and stick to it but most the time the best birds are the one's you get gifted

[Roland]

Yep, in a nutshell the able are still conning the masses and milking them.

Selfishness must be at an all time high in gleaning every crumb they can.

[showman]

for me it is the ppl that try to bring othere down and will not let ppl in to there clubs as they have to give them a bit of over fly  

 

Agreed. This is another aspect where the various governing bodies should get more involved.

 

[Guest Owen]

Seeing this thread is a joy to my eyes. The penny is dropping at long last. The question was, "What is wrong with pigeon racing".

Well there has been a shift of emphasis since the sixties. In the sixties there was real money in winning races and that was what everybody strived to do. Since then the emphasis has changed to buying and selling.

The next big step is for everybody to realise that it is good pigeons that win races and not pedigrees. Pieces of paper do not fly. And the other big con is this business of a pure this and that. There is no such thing as a pure strain of pigeons. I read recently that a Guy was advertising pure Hoffmans. Gus Hoffman never had a strain and was a renouned cross breeder. So how could you have a pure Hoffman?

Louella must take part of the responsiblity when they offered pure breeds of pigeons and then sold birds that were not bred from birds that had raced. Then of course the penny dropped and the businessmen went to town and have been at it ever since.

Just read the adverts in the papers. People are being asked to buy pigeons that have done nothing. The pedigrees often reflect relations of the birds on sale and not even the sire and dam. What nonsense. Is it any wonder that losses have become a scurge and birds have lost their natural health?

But I think I see light at the end of the tunnel. People are looking at loft design, feeding, genetics and all sorts of things to get there birds to be healthier and more capable. Soon we will see the back of a lot of those potions, we see advertised and, I hope, the overuse use of medications. People are now buying microscopes and want to learn to use them because they have now understood that they need to take charge of their bird's health. And not hand wads of money to Vets who are not really interested in doing the right job.

Things are definately looking up and I think that the changes will come because of the fact that we are talking too each other. We have left the bragging and Fisherman's tales behind and we are swapping knowledge and ideas and learning. And I think that Forums like this are our salvation and will give us the tools to make the changes.

[dwh]

If every fancier stopped buying from Non-fanciers (and there are plenty) i believe the sport would be a better place all round!!!! I sell a few birds as i needed new lofts and pigeons when i re-started and now that they are built hopefully i have some extra to send to the bigger races, with more pools and buy better pigeons. Since 2004 everypenny ive earned from pigeons have gone back into the sport in one way or another.

 

I really believe pigeon racing is a great sport, ive played rugby, travelled the world and have a good career however i wouldnt be who i am if it wasnt for pigeon racing and the great men ive met along the way.

 

What we need to do is talk the sport up not down, it has alot to offer.

 

Stuart

 

i'm not saying men like you are exploitlng anybody because you area decent flyer yourself was at your auction at comrades and the birds you sold were quality but there are some who sell with suspect parentage and inferior quality

[swilcox]

You guys target selling as the problem in pigeon racing but this in its self highlights the real problems that are not being address!!!! We have week leadership, too many races, not enough senders, closed clubs with small boundries, poor pr, a lack of coordinated championship, a dislike to change!!! Thats some of the real problems.

 

I just went upstairs and found a BHW from 1971, its got pages and pages of adverts selling pigeons, Selling has got nowt to do with the real problems in the sport they are just an easier target.

 

Stuart

[swilcox]

dwh, yes there is and the only way to stop them is to walk on bye.

[Fair Play]

It would seem everybody and their brother is out to rip off the fancier whether it be food, medicines,timing systems and not to forget the birds pity, as it will all add up to the demise of the sport then there will be the usual "wailing and gnashing of teeth" when there is no one to buy their products,

[dwh]

if a club closes then surely it down to nearest club to accept any member wishing to carry on flying irrespective  of bounderies.

it not just at the top we all end 2 suffer from tinpot dictators

and can I say that the post by owen was exceptional

[Wizzer]

Pigeon racing is what you make it,

Its either a hobby or you want to make more of it.

If you put the time and money into it then good luck to you.

 

If you are unable to do this,then a hobby it is,

 

Whatever you go into these days, theres always people with more money, and basically buy there own success.

 

I personally prefer to work at it, without money doing all the work.

I buy birds, you need to,however will never pay a fortune for them, and if I was fortunate enough to make something

of myself in this sport, then I agree with stuart that I would sale a few, to keep me in corn and enter a few more in the better races  

Merry Christmas to all.

[Guest Owen]

Nice one Wizzer. I bet you will do well.