just looking for any one thats raced a pigeon up till a good old age.i know in my club at the time one members bird was 9 years old.

A cusine of mine raced a 10 or 11 year old and its won a few races I think when they get that old you have to regester then but thats all I no

it just shows how long they can keep going when looked after right.

I no hes only a sprint bird but he has done well for them hess not fast now but on a hard day he no`s what hes doing

your lucly if birds get to 4 or 5 these days unless they are in the stock loft

I have a beutifull jan aden hen I was given from Holland, she has bred every year including this year and is 1998. so she will be 14 when I breed from her next year, she is slow laying but once she does theybare all fertile, and excellant birds still from her.

youmay have already read this but ian put this up and ide say this is what you call and old racing pigeon


Written by Jack Curtis
IS THIS A PIGEON.

OR IS THIS A PIGEON.

By Jack Curtis.

This article is based upon a Fancier and pigeon well outside my normal range, but I just could not overlook

The chance to put them before the fancy, as they have both caught my imagination, by their unique record.

The fancier in question is Adrian Human of Petersfield in Hampshire, and I remember passing through Petersfield in the bus, on my way to Portsmouth while I was doing my National Service, and was stationed at Bordon in Havana Barracks the REME workshops. That was some 60 years ago but I remember the big NAAFI Club in Pompey, with its vast array of female talent from all three services, not a bad place to spend your Saturday nights. So apart from my view from the bus window, you know as much about peters field as I do, however if you refer to the BBC Barcelona Race flown the 2nd of July, and look at the pigeon in 4th position, you will read the ring number GB99J41926 and see that it flew 678 miles 393 yards, at a velocity of 556.85 ypm.

That ring number is no miss print as the Blue Chequer Cock “RAMSDEAN RELIANCE” had it placed upon his leg when he was born in 1999, and has carried it across the channel almost every year of his life, to many long race points in both France and Spain. He is of almost 100% Cattrysse bloodlines going back to the Davenport family at their base, with Newmans lines of the same family added later, plus Norman Bishops Cattrysse to create the present family. If you own a copy of my book “Breeders Digest” there is a comprehensive pedigree of the Cattrysse breeding methods from the foundation cock “Grote Blauwe” right through to Davenports “Game Lady”, and these are the lines that have produced an ELEVEN YEAROLD 4th OPEN WINNER at the massive distance of 678 miles, against 415 hand picked competitors, to which I will add Bloody Fantastic.



His Eye,

The first thing I noticed about this fantastic cock was his eyesign, which I knew straight away was almost identical to the two UNC pigeons that were 1st and 2nd Open bourges, which is our longest race and the winner flew 586 miles and the 2nd Open 569 miles, with velocities of 869 and 860 ypm. I have harped on now for quite a few years about my common factors, and here I find further proof as Reliance has almost identical sign structure to the two Bourges pigeons, plus they are all CLASSIC LONG DISTANCE WINNERS IN LOW VELOCITY RACES. You wouldn’t say he has a FLASHY type of eye, and would struggle in a show, but he carries all of the right characteristics both as a racer and a breeder, so lets have a peep.

Pupil is quite normal, and with a good glass his second circle of adaptation is shown as wisps of smoke, then moving out from the pupil his third circle of correlation is easy to see, all nicely etched around its perimeter

To hold in a yellow based sign, full of spots, pock marks,dust and a dark slash right in the 9 oclock position,

With the dilute shading sitting right in line with his beak, for a great racing sign. His iris is really red cloud over an old gold base, with the breeding marks showing as wires, worms, and squiggles, especially strong at the front of his eye, and from what I can see of his fifth circle it is dark brown/green which again is a big plus from me. It is still bright and clear, end of story.



Barcelona.

The name of this famous race point always brings one pigeons name to the front of my mind, and that pigeon is none other than John Taylor of Walsalls “NEWS LAD”, who won this race in both 1956 and 1957 seasons, a UNIQUE DOUBLE especially in the conditions in which these races were flown. This fine Blue Cock was five years old when he won the first time, with a velocity of 712 ypm flying 797 miles, and he was placed 49th in the international result. In 1957 he came again and won a disasterous race with a velocity of 270 ypm, and what a test of stamina that must have been for him, as well as homing ability. I know his genes went into DEREK SMITHS great all distance winning family, and are still floating about in Bryan Denny’s brilliant 700 plus mile family, which proves the point that class will always tell.

However let me return to RAMSDEAN RELIANCE and his illustrious career, which I want to pick up in 2003 when he came out of Palamos with the British Barcelona Club, to win 7th Section A, 19th Open, velocity 446 ypm flying 657 miles, he followed on in 2004 with 10th section, 44th Open, vel344 ypm, then in 05 he came again to claim 17th

Section,51st Open, vel 198 ypm. The year 1006 saw him back again to win23rd section, 108th Open, vel 455 ypm,

Then from Barcelona in 2009 he won 4th section, 16th open at 678 miles, vel 568 ypm, and finally 2010 saw him come again to win 2nd section, 4th Open, with a velocity of 556 ypm, and I don’t know if Adrian is going to finish him there or keep him going, but if he never flies another inch he has proven himself to be a SUPER PIGEON, TESTED AND TESTED AGAIN AND AGAIN



He has bred some superb offsprings which makes him a complete all rounder, and I congratulate Adrian for having the nerve and skill to create such a marvellous pigeon, which is a credit to the whole British Fancy, win so outstandingly, when many lofts can hardly raise performing 3 and 4 yearolds.



Jack Curtis.

The oldest pigeon but not racing is in this weeks British Homing World in Ronnie Johnsons article the pigeon is 25 years old

i know my brother had a 16 year old cock last year who was still breeding ok, as far as i know he still has it.............

oldest pigeon i have is an 05 cock.

Whilst not technically a racing pigeon 'Kaiser' was a German homing pigeon bred during WWI (1917), who was captured by the Americans and used for breeding and lived to be 32 1/2 years old!!!

]The oldest recorded pigeon was a red checker cock called Kaiser. He was born in 1917 and died in 1949 at the age of 32 ½. Kaiser was in fact a German war pigeon who was captured by the Americans in 1918 and used by them for breeding.

Kaiser, WWI Captured German War Pigeon:
“Kaiser” 1917-1949
Band # 17-47-0-350
Red Checker Cock
Bred and trained by the German Imperial Crown
Captured by the Americans in 1918 during the Meuse Argonne offensive
Assigned to the US army signal corps, Fort Monmouth, N.J and Camp Crowder, MO.
Handled by Col. Clifford Algy Poutre from 1936-1943
Kaiser lived for 32½ years
Specialty: outstanding breeder


PORTRAIT OF A PIGEON

By Wilson P. Dizard
Published in The New York Times, February 24, 1946

Technically, Kaiser could be called a traitor to the Imperial Crown of Germany. A soldier of fortune, he has served under two flags in two international wars. This may seem surprising when one considers that Kaiser is 29 years old and that his kind has always been regarded as a symbol of peace. But Kaiser carries no olive branch in his bill-he’s a Regular Army Flier, assigned to the United States Signal Corps, and the oldest pigeon known to history.

Kaiser was hatched in Germany in February, 1917, and was trained as a military homing pigeon for the German Army. The famous bird was captured when the Yanks stormed an enemy front-line trench during the Meuse offensive in 1918. He was brought to this country and assigned to the Signal Corps Pigeon Center, Fort Monmouth, N.J., until August, 1942, at which time he was transferred to Camp Crowder, Mo., the Army’s pigeon-breeding center.

In terms of human ages, Kaiser is a cool 140 years old-the normal life span of a pigeon being from 5 to 8 years. Despite his advanced age, Kaiser has continued to father large groups of homing pigeons. He astounded his keepers and pigeon breeders all over the country last year by fathering seven youngsters. The breeders shook their heads and said that because of Kaiser’s age his youngsters would be useless as military homing pigeons. They took it all back when one of them, Little Caesar, won a 320-mile race from Dallas to Camp Crowder in competition with some of the best birds in the Army.

There is no logical explanation for the Kaiser’s hardiness except for the fact that he lives under ideal conditions at the Crowder lofts. He and the latest of his many mates, Lady Belle, live alone in a white loft away from the other loft buildings. The only difference between their loft and those of the other pigeons is that Kaiser and Lady Belle have an electric heater-a small concession to Kaiser’s old age.

Although a “member” of the United States Army, Kaiser still wears a seamless aluminum identification band on his left leg, bearing the seal of the German Imperial Crown. This band was placed there by his German keepers when he was a week old, and it cannot be removed unless cut from the leg.

interesting reading steve, will be a rare thing for a pigeon to reach this age eh............

some of mine cant even make it home from peterborough don.............