"This is the time of the year to re-think or evaluate your past year's results and take action"
While fresh on your mind please write
down what worked for you and which items you need to change. The good and
bad need to be noted so you may not make the same mistake
again; the fancier who makes the least mistakes usually wins. The
other issue to remember is most of the time, the best young birds are
your best old birds, but did you give them a proper chance to
perform? Many flyers are beaten before the season begins because of
the preparations not given to the team. It’s very easy to blame
the birds, but please look within yourself to see if you gave them a
proper chance to perform. If you need to hold some over for old
birds, do so.
Lofts need to be reviewed. Check the
ventilation. It may be you started out the season well with the
temperatures normal to high and then the cold dampness began and your
performances diminished. Weather conditions will change the form in
your birds. Key to a winning loft is air spinning and moving out,
but not a draft over the perches or nest boxes. Go into your loft
with a lit cigarette or cigar and check the air flow to see the
directions the smoke leaves the loft. Changes may need to be done to
the loft.
Breeder birds need to be reviewed and
scrutinized to judge the past performances. Check to see how many
birds raised out of pair and how many are left and did any do well in
the races or show pen.
In racing, give the breeders two seasons
to prove them and if nothing has resulted get rid of them, but first
check and see if you ever mated them to a proven good one. Sometimes
this will give you the answer for why they didn’t do well. Many
times one of the parent birds is worthy and the other is marginal, so
before the culling begins please check this out. Many fanciers mate
a good one to a fair one and breed more mediocre. If by nothing else
take the best 6 males and the best 6 hens and mate them together,
with this your odds are much better.
Let me get back on track now. Handle
your birds and feel the muscle and vitality in each bird. You can
feel the electricity in the bird, like the blood is flowing like a
river through them. Check the spirit of the bird like Piet DeWeerd
would do by pulling the beak, although there are tricks to that also.
Some birds may let you pull the beak and others don’t. It could be
they will let you do it at there own will. Like an arm wrestler, if
he wants you to pull his arm down he will let you but if not, then good luck.
I found some of birds need to be held loosely to give them the feeling of being able to get away. Let one foot loose then try pulling the beak,
some will give you more fight this way. Some fanciers can do the
same test by pulling upward on the wing butts when holding the bird
in hand and the resistance felt gives them the same spirit test.
Some veteran fanciers can look at the head of the bird and read the
same characteristics as given above. I’ve witnessed some fanciers
with a squeeze of the wing butt joint muscle with there thumb and
index finger to see the reaction of the head in pain moving back and
forth to test them for a reaction, thinking this another good way. I
haven’t felt this method has any merit for picking the good birds.
Go in your loft and handle the
performance birds for the last year and compare them to the losers
and see what the difference is. Sometimes its so glaring you can’t
miss it. Check the muscle development, vent attachment, outer wing
lengths, throat color and quietness of breathing, size of each, wing
butt thickness, forearm length, vitality, keel bone thickness,
feather, head shape, sharpness of eye and overall alertness. You
will gain much needed knowledge that will help you in the near
future. Your best bird for the series will be aerodynamic and
balanced for sure. This gives you the standard to look for.
When paring, your goal is to get the
best balanced bird for its easier for them to perform in the air when
the distance races are upon us. Think of compensation to achieve
this goal; always mate with this in mind when paring up the birds. A
mid size bird with balance and soft muscle with loads of vitality is
the goal.
I mate up on paper first, trying to
remember the way they handle and paring them the way I remember them.
Then I go out again and again and decide which pair to couple. Many
times I’ve changed my mind after handling the birds. Remember, this
is great way to imprint on your mind the breeder birds you have in
your loft.
If unhappy with your breeding birds
then begin searching out some better ones. I can only suggest when
buying a breeder from a known seller ask him if the parents have bred
winners or are they winners. If you can review the pedigree then
check on all generations to see if parents, G-parents and G-G-
Parents are winners or have bred winners. If all have proven
themselves then the percentage has risen on said bird. If the seller
is a responsible breeder he will give you a guarantee of satisfaction
on arrival. He cannot guarantee you the bird will breed a winner,
but the bird should have all the necessary tools to be a good
breeding bird. There are just too many variables in pigeon flying to
make a statement as such.
It all starts in the breeding loft and
many are defeated right from the beginning without changing anything.
You must learn and adjust or you will stagnate and forever be in the
bottom third of your race sheet.
This is the month to treat the breeders
even if all is healthy to the naked eye. I like to treat for canker
before breeding time for 5 consecutive days with one of the many
canker medications. I also give the breeding hens a 10 day treatment
of Oxytetracyline (Terramycin) with a follow up of some type of
probiotics. If all else is looking well then I’m ready in early
part of December to mate up the birds.
Yours in the sport,
Greg McKnight
