Building consistency part 1 of 6

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I have written many articles over the years about my experiences with pigeons. I spent most of my life building a top notch strain of rollers. I painstakingly built a family of pigeons that consistently scored higher quality multipliers by the judges in World and National competitions. One of the most important aspects of putting together a family of pigeons that will perform to the strictest standards is starting with good stock. You can’t expect to build a great family of birds using inferior stock.
You would spend years trying to compensate for flaws in the gene pool by mating birds in a manner to compensate for weakness. You are fooling yourself to believe that this would come quickly. It is only wishful thinking at best.
So, to start we must find top quality stock. It is worth the price if the birds are truly top quality. The quality may be found through paying a lot or it just as easily may be found from a gift of a friend in the sport. Some of the best pigeons I have ever owned came from a gift and were the basis for my strain.
It is rare you will find someone that truly knows his line of pigeons and is willing to give up a great prospect to a stranger, even for a price unless he has plenty to spare. You will more likely get his second best. The only time it goes the other way is if the breeder has plenty of great birds and can spare one. I have seen some that got through because the owner didn’t really know what he had also.
Most guys that get started in racers will begin with substandard pigeons and spend several years learning the difference. All is not lost since much can be learned from such experiences.
You will be extremely lucky to find two truly top pigeons but this is the basis for a foundation. The best pigeons will be bred by you in your own loft providing you stick to the plan, pay attention to details and have the tenacity of a wood pecker. I was once asked which animal was my favorite in the animal kingdom. I answered it would have to be the wood pecker. When asked why I would choose a woodpecker from such a wide variety of animals I said because a wood pecker can peck a hole in a tree with his nose.
This takes great determination and steady pecking. I now use this in my business to motivate and focus, steady pecking will win the day.
To identify which pigeons are the ones to surround your program around you must breed many youngsters from them and fly them out. I have never been one to coddle my young up and coming pigeons. My best stock birds and proven champions get my respect and are given the best, but they must earn it.  I don’t give any preference to youngsters off of “big name” in the sport pigeons or imports. They are flown just like the rest. They have to prove to me they are worthy of any attention.
It is best to keep notes. I keep a notebook handy so I can write down what I observe. I used to use my memory for everything but realized that writing things down keep it very realistic. You cannot be sentimental about the birds that are in the process of proving themselves if you truly want to build top quality pigeons. I am now sentimental toward some of my champions and best proven stock birds but they earned it and after all we do keep pigeons because we enjoy having them.
There are many things to look for with the building process. One of the major things not to look at is physical appearance. Beginners to the sport will begin listening to all the old secrets of champions. There are no secrets. If there was a secret it would be this, “do the work”.
I would advise against looking at wing length, structure, keels, eyes, feather etc until you understand what it is that gets the job done. A pigeon may look like someone poured the feathers on and they are truly beautiful but the bird could be a hopeless cull.
Learn what a true champion looks like then you might begin to pay a little attention to the physical characteristics. The most important aspect of a great pigeon is what he has to commend himself in the smarts and intuition department.
You can always make a pigeon with excellent character and tenacity more beautiful through selective breeding but you cannot make a beautiful pigeon smart by using just beautiful pigeons in the stock loft.
For myself personally I prefer the look of a true champion above any others and until proven I am highly suspicious of the pretty ones.

Part 2 next week

brilliant read rene will take some ov that on board mate.being new to the sport after a long absence i was tempted to go and get just any high flyer to start with but i held back and was very fortunate to be introduced to a top competitor in the tippler world who has kindly sorted me out with stock birds ov his on the understanding i return them in the future.i believe your more likely to breed better ybs from top birds than just putting any bird to just any bird

Good read Rene gives you something to think about