just found this

Took this from another site.Hope it is of interest to some members.

'It is easy to understand the enthusiasm a fancier displays at the start of a new season. Last season's failures will soon be forgotten with this year's great accomplishments and results. However, to expect a great turn around is foolish unless the specific problems from past years have been corrected. Basically, the pigeon fancier is a sentimentalist. Unfortunately, this is a serious problem in many lofts. Each year the fancier becomes attached to a few select birds. This attachment is due to a fancy pedigree, cost, strain, eyes, build, color, etc. After a few seasons of disappointing races, he does not or will not admit that some or all of these birds will never develop into anything but culls. He keeps the birds, hoping they will improve. He does not realize the harm that he is causing his loft.

Here are my Best Kept Secrets:

Secret #1: CULL HEAVY

When cutting back, forget all about names, strains, cost, etc. There are two kinds of pigeons: GOOD ONES AND BAD ONES. "Bad" pigeons cost us more money than "Good" pigeons! We spend a lot of money on feed, supplies, medicine and training; as well as time on poor birds only to be paid back with disappointment and heavy financial loss. Only birds that have shown potential should be kept for future racing or breeding. This means pigeons that are consistently racing or producing birds in the top 10% of your race schedule. Therefore, forget about giving a pair "one more chance", and finding an excuse for that "special cock or that expensive hen." Secret number one "Cull Them."

Secret #2: QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

DO NOT OVER CROWD YOUR LOFT (Racing or Breeding). Quantity offers only cost and wasted time. Quality is profitable and rewarding. Once you learn the advantage of quality above quantity, put it into practice.

People are creatures of habit. The easiest thing to do is repeat the same past mistakes. Those fanciers who raise and train 100-200 squeakers every year with the hope of getting one or two good pigeons in their lofts take the longest and most costly road to success. Many times there is quality in an overcrowded loft, but because the birds are overcrowded, their health and performance is poor. What qualities do we look for in a good pigeon?

Secret #3: GOOD HEALTH

When selecting quality pigeons, always select "Good Health." There can be no sound foundation without it. Healthy pigeons produce healthy young that will race well. This is an undisputable fact.

Secret #4: HOMING & NAVIGATION QUALITIES

Breed from birds that have the "Compass" or "Homing Instinct." If a pigeon can't home, how can you expect it to win?

There is still no consensus on how a bird homes and navigates. It is a matter upon which we can only speculate. It is important to recognize that a racing pigeon must and does navigate. The bird must have the ability to orient itself and to maintain its course. The intelligent pigeons apparently have no trouble finding the most direct route home, and they are able to adjust to different types of conditions (weather). Therefore, place high value on a bird that has come home time after time after hard races, when there are no day birds nor birds home in normal race times.

You cannot measure this quality by a few races or tosses, and it cannot be found by fliers who constantly hold birds out of races for minor reasons. Look for evidence of "Homing Instinct" over a long period of time.

You cannot evaluate a bird's intelligence in the short, fast races. You must go the distance. When the same pigeons show up, they possess that quality from which you can breed to improve your loft.

Secret #5: LET THE BASKET & RACES CULL FOR YOU

The only fair and impartial methods of selecting intelligence that gives true satisfaction and results are the training basket and long races. b

In my opinion, no individual can measure mentality and the degree of homing instinct of a bird from looking at it, feeling or handling it, or looking into it's eyes. Don't waste your time or money! You already have the best graders in the world, "The Basket" and "Long Races".

Over the past years, I have had several famous fanciers and graders visit my loft. Their differences of opinion were so great that what one called a champion, the other called a cull. This only strengthened our opinion that no one human being can evaluate nor grade your pigeons. Those that profess this ability have done more harm than good to our sport over the years.

Secret #6: BREED FOR INTERNAL QUALITIES, NOT EXTERNAL APPEARANCE

Some fanciers have pigeons which seem to have everything one could desire in a bird's appearance: wing, back, build, eyes, feather, etc. However, these pigeons have never earned the feed that it cost to raise them nor the money it cost to buy them.

When a fancier selects pigeons in his or another loft, the pigeons' appearance will almost entirely guide him. The pigeons that have a nice appearance are the ones that he will always select. Yet, so many times when the birds are counted at the end of a series of races, the pigeons which did not look the best are on the perches, and the birds which had every appearance of being fine pigeons are not home or lost.

Outwardly many pigeons seem to look good, but it is what is on the inside that counts on race day: intelligence, orientation and navigating ability, motivation, determination, desire, heart and health. Appearance, fancy pedigrees, and popular names are all equal, until the basket or race day arrives.

I consistently breed generation after generation from pigeons which possess these internal qualities. I intensify and fix these characteristics in my birds so they will reproduce themselves in my youngsters year after year.

Secret #7: I BELIEVE IN HEREDITY

I believe in the simple principle of genetics, "Heredity is handed down from one generation to the next." No one can start with mediocre pigeons and castoffs from several different fanciers, and hope to come up with anything that is close to an established family of pigeons that will pass on the needed quality genes and traits. Therefore, select from a family of pigeons that has bred continuous winners over a long period of time, at least 10 years in tough competition.

If you are not breeding from winners or children of winners, you are in trouble! This is where it all starts. All the time and money spent for care and training throughout the year can amount to hours of frustration, disappointment and expense. Pairing the best with the best does not necessarily guarantee success, but it definitely increases the chances of it.

In both the racing and breeding lofts, the true value of a pigeon will be found only by actual tests, either by flying or by the quality of young it produces. The true tests of a quality breeder are the performance and breeding success of its offspring, not its own race record. If a bird cannot reproduce itself or better, it is no good as a breeder and should be culled. Remember results will not be seen in one year. It will take 2 years to see any real evidence.

Secret #8: LOFTS SHOULD BE COMFORTABLE AND SECURE

I believe that pigeons have no sense of luxury, but they do have a sense of comfort and security. Therefore, a luxurious loft is not essential to success, but a loft must provide comfort and security from all outside dangers:

1. Dry & Clean - Bleach loft and water & feed containers regularly.

2. Adequate Ventilation - Provide plenty of fresh air,

3. Plenty of Natural Sunlight

4. Vermin Proof

5. Not Overcrowded - Comfort and sleep is important.

6. Trapping & Clocking - Give it plenty of thought and

Make your loft as pleasant as possible for you and the birds. Spend quality time with your birds, and you will improve your record. Give the birds kind, gentle and regular attention so they will trust you. This should make them contented and unafraid. This loving care they receive will encourage their instinctive love of home, and it will speed them up or motivate them to their best performances on race day. There is no one perfect way of doing things in this sport. However, there are certain things which everyone must do to succeed.

It is often said, "A fancier that flies well is envied." When a fancier flies especially well, it means that he has secrets or special tricks. I believe there is no truth to the so called "SECRETS" of our sport. To become a champion and remain one, the true fancier does not trouble himself with color, body, eyes, wings, etc. He breeds birds that will successfully compete in the tough competition, and he lets the races and the "Basket" be the true tests.

QUOTES

1. Good health is 75% of the secret to successful pigeon racing.

2. Sending pigeons to training tosses will not cause them to be in good health.

3. There is no substitute for the basket test. It never shows favorites.

4. A few good pigeons are better than a large number of inferior ones.

5. Give your youngsters a chance to mature. Do not overwork and burn them out with long, hard training flights.

6. A large flying team is never necessary to win or compete successfully.

7. A loft stands or falls according to the value of its HENS!

8. Most of the sickness which plagues fanciers starts from overcrowded conditions in the loft or the club's race

9. Go slow and be patient. Start with 3 to 5 pairs of breeders and build a nucleus from them.

10. Train consistently and have an effective trapping system with plenty of short tosses (10-20 miles).

11. Breed performance birds to performance birds or performance bloodlines to performance bloodlines.

12. Avoid birds that have been breed year after year for pedigree lines: The cost is HIGH and the results are POOR!

13. The downfall of many successful lofts has been their attempts to make changes by trying to seek new blood and not

14. Keep only a few pigeons, but keep the best you can get.

15. Intelligent pigeons have no trouble finding home and are able to adjust to different types of conditions.

16. Frequently top lofts use a select bird from the other champion lofts around the country as a performance cross.

17. Successful flying requires a 365 day per year commitment.

18. If you count on chance or luck to win races, you will have a better chance if you purchase a lottery ticket'

Like they say at times

Common sense isnae very common

yes very good g a lot is just common sense

Agree with it all except the bleach.

why not the bleach gary

i leave mine in a bucket over night in miltons the drinkers are never left in the loft at night no point they cant see to drink

It's just one of my pet hates, also it causes harm to the pigeons gut floras if it not thoroughly rinsed properly.
Plus it plays havoc with my sinuses.

Gary Burgess wrote:

It's just one of my pet hates, also it causes harm to the pigeons gut floras if it not thoroughly rinsed properly.
Plus it plays havoc with my sinuses.

Gary don't go there mate there has been big debates about bleach and even Bert Braspenning uses it and that has been placed in one of his articles which i have got

Good read Graham

we have had many discussions in the past about bleach and it always comes down to opinion, but how you can think poison helps pigeons is a bit beyond my common sence. We go on about internal health and feed to help freindly bacteria, bleach does what it says on the tin ...kills all known germs dead....that includes bacteria, the reason birds dont seem too bad on it is because there is nothing alive inside them to do harm, that includes good also.

There are lots of fanciers who do use it and swear by it.
When I was power washing and chemical cleaning for a living, we used to use an extremely powerful bleach on the concrete floors of hen houses. Sodium hypochlorite, I actually have known fanciers to use it.
To give an indication of how strong it is, the strongest available household bleach is only between 5 or 6% of its strength.
A lot of top fanciers do use Sodium Hypochlorite. I will only ever use anything like this twice a year, once at the end of the breeding season in the stock loft, and then again before breeding commences.
For the rest of the year, I will only use Virkon S, or Vanodine V18.

lets have another discussion about bleach martyn, im sure it will end up in trouble again.........

my view regardless of "bert braspenning" is that i would never add it to the drinking water of pigeons, it is a corosive and can only damage the birds insides......ive read coments by some users saying the wattles look white, of course they will be white they have been bleached !!!!!

this is not to say i dont wash the drinkers out in bleach, but i rinse them out thoroughly before letting birds drink from them......


ive heard fanciers say it kills germs, yes it does but how can they possibly think this can be of benefit to the insides of a pigeon, if your child was ill and the doctor said give him/her a drink with bleach in it and they will be ok, what would you do, give them it ???

i know what i`d tell him to do.....

sterilising the loft then its virkons for me as its sold localy and milton for the drinkers which get sterilised 1 a week never used it actualy in the water though

good read graham

same with babies bottles isnt it darren, steralise with miltons and it tells you to rinse thoroughly before allowing the baby to drink from them.......

the topic wasnt about bleach its just a bit of basic info for all to read


use what ya like at your own peril


take from things others write what you want but dont put other peoples comments down i find it rather rude

thats right g do you own thing but dont knock others , everyone to there own

bleachhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh if ya wanna use it then use it ffs not for me in the drinking water though

sorry g

very good read g , all common sense don,t knock bleach we are talking about one little drop in the drinker
thats all i do about once a month the birds wont get harmed in any way there are plenty of things on the market to replace the goodness you might think bleach takes away but its a cheap product i use all year round and i think its the reason my birds never get ill but each to there own its one thing i will all ways use but its a very small amount .

Yes your right david always stirs up the poop...lol
Anyway I will comment on what ever I want regardless what the post is about, thats what this forum is all about dopy. knocking others comments in a constructive way is also what this forums all about always has been always will be and not rude.

just stiring the bleach subject up again, my problem is this, everyone says well its such a small amount added to the water cant do any harm...well if its that small amount then its not worth putting it in the first place, seems silly to me, I want to add something that will make a difference, but not poison.

no comment

like i said each to there own , you put a small amount in cos to much will do damage , just like it did to that flyer last week who put pure concentrate garlic oil on there corn and it killed all there birds 101 birds .
common sense tells you a very little wont harm them it just flushes out there system ive been flying pigeons over 30 years and ive never had a sick bird by doing this its better then popping pills down there throat every other week and having big losses cos the yb havent got a imune system no more cos there parents have been ruined by pills and potions . we can talk about this till the cows come home ill stick to what i do you do the same .

fair play kev

plenty are quick to come on here and slag others comments down its a shame they never condribute by adding a post now and then
or is it for fear it will get bad feedback

the bleach topic is only like most other topics on this site, some people say "each to their own" but thats just rubbish.....if another member doesnt agree with their way of thinking they spit the dummy out and before you know it the site is in disaray again.......

i think tihe time is coming where moderators will need to be appointed as the relaxed system we have on the site is going to be its downfall, as nearly every topic turns into an arguement.........and the rules will have to be followed.

I can see all sides of the argument and would never condemn a fancier for what he does or doesn't do.
I knew many old time fanciers that did things that used to make me cringe.
But saying that, they achieved the desired results with their birds.
Horses for courses as they say..

i disagree garry horse for course i had a fiver on a horse last week it said course specialist ffs it came in last lol no offence mate