Questions and answers by Jack Barkel

Some of the Questions I have been asked.

Q. If you pair a pearl to a yellow eye, and you get a youngster with a yellow and another youngster with a pearl. would you expect to see a difference in homing and vitality between the youngsters.

A. I have found that yellows to pearls off the same pearl to yellow pairing are more often equal in homing ability and vitality, it is when we start pairing the pearl eye ( recessive ) to another pearl eye that we can expect degeneration of stamina and homing ability.
Two yellows together when this practice is continued over three or four generations, will often give you slow plodders and degenerate into a long distance homer, like the Carrier and the Dragoon, from whence this all originated

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Q. Is it true that all Chocolate Meulemans have bull eyes? I have similar looking pigeons but with yellow eyes with gold clusters, and was told they are Meulemans. However a club member told me that if they do not have bull eyes they are definitely not Meulemans. They do excellent on very fast short distance races ( plus minus 1700mpm and up to 450 kilometres ).

A. I went through I think most Chocolate Meulemans stock at Louella World in England, and never found a bull eye unless it had too much white in its feathering. I have a vast knowledge of how to breed with this strain, having bred a five times in a row winner in 2006, many others winning club and fed averages in 2007 in South Africa. All my Chocolate Meulemans, and most of what I have seen over the years in properly controlled lofts have been beautiful Yellow, Green, Gold, Pearl and Violet eyes.

Go onto my website, click on pigeons at the bottom of the opening page and then click on Meaulemans. You will view one of the best examples of this breed anywhere in the world.

I myself am now breeding out the tell tale white feathering in the strain, which if not checked will breed nearly white birds just as it does in families of Grizzles. In fact Karel Meulemans will tell you himself they are recessive Jansen's and by introducing Blue Cheques ( Dominant) and I say with also a dominant eye, your chocolates can double the distance without losing much if any vitality.

Karel Meulemans certainly knows what I have achieved in South Africa with his Meulemans family.

I am open for all genuine questions about my methods etc.I can place more questions and answers on here if you deem them interesting.
Regards
jackbarkel@mweb.co.za
http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

Questions & Answers 2.

Q. You mention the yellow eyes for cock birds, are yellow eyes better for breeding than pearl eyes.

A. This depends on what type of pigeon you need for you particular area. If you line breed to a yellow eyed cock, you will breed for middle to long distance 1200 velocity and below. If you line breed to a pearl eyed cock you will breed for short to middle distance 1200 velocity and upwards.You must try and put a yellow eye with a pearl eye, the reason being, two yellows together will give increased stamina and intelligence ( homing ability ) but a reduction in speed and vitality.
Two pearls together will give increased speed and vitality, but a reduction in intelligence; i.e. Homing Ability.
A yellow to a pearl will assist in producing birds with a balance of Stamina, Intelligence ( homing ability) speed and vitality.



Q. When you say the step in the wing creates a faster wing speed because it forces a faster wing beat which is all well and good for short fast races, but not for prolonged flight. My question is how long are the short fast races and how do you define the long races.

A. Short Races I define as up to 200 miles or 350 kilometres.
Fast Races I define as over 1200 metres per minute.

Q. Do you place any importance on the tail of the pigeon? Do you believe in the theory that you should only be able to see one tail feather when looking at the bird from the top? I have birds where you can see three and sometimes four tail feathers and they have performed pretty well.

A. The Belgium theory of a wedge tail is in my experience utter rubbish, all genuine Busschaerts have wide tails and broad flights in general, and are recognised in the UK as the best strain on a whole in the previous century.
Andre van Bruaene, the same story and characteristics. The Indigo Janssen's developed by Bob Pickering of Yorkshire bred down through the Scalie Bange and Cleopatra also had these broad tails and were fantastic. None of these strains are short in the Great Champions department, so my advice is ignore it in its entirety.

Try to get anyone of these advocates of the wedge tail to give the reason why, or what they believe happens to the tail in flight,and quickly you will expose these advocates for what they are. I also would like to state that I do not condemn the wedge tail either. I just do not think it matters which you have in the characteristic of flight, other than when braking and manoeuvring.

Regards

jackbarkel@mweb.co.za
http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/jackbarkel/

Questions & Answers 3.

Q. Is it possible for a birds eye to change from pearl to yellow. ( It was a youngster last year when you evaluated it.)

A. Yes, in the first few months of their life one or the other colour can be predominant, and then change as the bird starts to mature. This usually occurs from a pearl to a yellow, recessive to a dominant colour and not the other way around. Maybe the bird was young when you brought it to me, and eye changes can be expected up to the age of eighteen months. From then on, eye changes are usually caused by an illness or trauma.
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Q. Is it possible to see vitality, or lack thereof, in the eye of a bird? If so is it possible for you to publish an eye full of vitality and (vigour) and an eye lacking vitality? Is it that simple?

A. Yes it is possible to see the lack of and the abundance of vitality in the eye. Unfortunately I do not have any eyes in my collection with heavy lack lustre, neither have I eyes that show very little vitality.
Eye 1 & 2 below do not show that gleam of vitality that I look for in a stock pigeon, that I hope it will carry over to its offspring. After looking at eye 1.&2. then moving on to eye 3 & 4. I believe that even a novice will be able to see the vitality screaming out in eyes 3 & 4. I believe that 3&4 are the eyes most fanciers look for, and very few realize the attraction is vitality, that will attract even the newest lay person to the sport.