Whats gone wrong

When i was a young lad all my mates and the majority of miners families made much of their own entertainment, albeit, the miners usually in the pub, on a night and with their pigeons in the daylight hours.

We youngsters had our animals and these were treated as near to nature as possible because there was little alternative.

The animals suffered very few health problems, including our pigeons, and lived and performed for a long period.

Some pigeons into the two figure catorgory.

There was no polished corn, nor very few specifics and clinical lofts vertualy unknown.

Around the early 1970s I looked at the way the sport was going, adopting the continental mentality and said through the BHW etc; that this would lead to the ruination of the sport and the pigeon in particular.

We have now reached the stage where very few fanciers know the real health off their pigeons, flock treatment, use of antibiotics as prevention not as a cure, they have no idea if they are natually healthy or proped up, lofts are like being in a clinic which is ideal for showing off but highly detrimental to the pigeons health.

There are over 200 aids to win advertised, just what do fanciers think these do to the pigeons system that is not intended to deal with them?.

Of couse if the only intention is to win at any cost and all fanciers adopt these methods then you will get the winners saying it works but at what cost and how much money is being wasted etc;

The only safeguard against desease if the immune system, this can only be maintained and and attained by overcomming a problem and can and has been lost by continued preventative treatments.

This in my opinion is what has gone wrong along with money becoming more important then the pigeon.

YBS will be just a minor problem to what will arise if the present situation is not addressed.

LOSSES, IS THERE ANY WONDER.

There is no fancier anywhere that has enjoyed our sport more than I have for over 75 years, and by treating the pigeons as I would want to be treated and as nature intended and been repaid a hundred fold.

Is there a way back? if there is it will be a very long journey.

Regards.

excellent post misty, a very enjoyable read....i have noticed a vast difference in pigeon racing, in the short time i have been involved with it......we raced for a number of years during the 1980`s, when we were one of the very few who raced widowhood around our area, for us it was trial and error, we packed in with pigeons in 1986 and i re started on my own with 6 birds as pets in 2008, and started reading and searching the internet to catch up on how things had moved along, and how things had changed..........young bird darkness and young bird sickness was all new to me, and so are a lot of other things, many of which are still not sinking in, i`m still no wiser as there seems to be one new problem after another.

Misty. My sentiments exactly!!!

Iv read your posts on other sites misty...
The good old days the summers were warmer the winters colder..
There were the same diseases in the 70s as now with the exception of ybs..
The continental way was going on long before that.
The gurnay system that fred shaw later flew and murdered the
Opisition for years.
Recently there was a page of the first edition of the rp and on it for all to read...quack remedies cum quick potions...
Welcome to 2018

Misty, do you win races? FW. A fancier does not have to follow any system that others propose or win with. Many of his points are valid. Any flier who wants to win eventually can. No matter the system employed. If the system you use works for you stick with it. There are a zillion ways to accomplish wins. Better feed. Make your own or get a basic mix and add to it as needed. Buy in young from Super winners if your own are not performing. Good way to go but think about it. If lucky one will inherit winning genes. This winner in every nest bred is bullshit. Most fanciers breed best to best and hope for the best. There is no indicator as to what will perform and what will not. Eye sign feathers or whatever. Champions in Europe come and go. But they do whatever is required to win. So they can sell birds. Winners at any level of competion will use mass media to sell the birds. Money comes in they are happy. The whole point is this. If you have the cash to spend and want to win buy the best birds for the distance you fly. Medicate for everything. Will you win? Probably. Year after maybe. Strains? So many names thrown around it is unbeleivable. It is not the strain. It is the fancier who makes the birds fly or not fly.
Again a zillion ways to do it. Most important of all is health.Good immune system. Then motivation. Nest box or mate or eggs or whatever. The amount of birds one enters means nothing. If 2 or 3 are looking exceptional (shimmy eyed) why send the others? Hoping for 'maybes' usually does not work. JMO.

The Jannsen bros. must have developed the best strain of all time. I beleive they are in all winning modern day strains. Some were in the bloodlines. Yet I beleive that those birds were sprint pigeons originally? How did they do it? 3 brothers observing birds daily. 3 opinions are better than one. I do not know anything about th Bros othr than by pics they were scruffy litle buggers. What was their secret? If I knew I would probably be breeding for the million dollar race! Intrigues me. Dedication to performance and best to best? Any way. Situations here. May not be on for a few days.

Great post Misty, many a true word.

What gone wrong its called progress

the interpretation of progress, is speculative ..........

There's so much stuff advertised to go on the corn or in the water which is probably just a waste of money. In some instances does more harm than good because birds don't drink enough if they dislike the taste but that's the fanciers choice. It's the under the counter stuff that's done the harm to immune systems. One spoon to a litre of water but people think I'll get the edge and chuck 2 spoons in. No coincidence that many fliers who lets say win more than their share, shift out a particular family of birds after 3-4 years and bring in a totally new family.
However there's plenty of old school fanciers just feed good corn and clean water who get problems in their birds and lose as many racing as those who chuck whatever down their necks, so I'm not sure what the answer is.

i dont think there really is an answer colin, we all do our own thing dont we.......

Some who keep on about the good old days ( not just pigeons)
Choose to forget the progress made in healthcare and medicines..
The same ppl probably wouldn't be alive today without them.
As for pigeons blind treatments have always been given...
Who had a microscope 40 years and more ago...or went to a vet
Who knew anything about pigeons..
Read Alf Whites autobiography (great creatures great and small)
Yep the good old days...
Luddites.

this is probably true in most sports... football/athletics/rugby etc. diets, training, treatment/metabolism  has all progressed, for good or bad is always up for debate, i have no idea what the velocities were in the 60's and would be interested to know, but we are always looking for that "edge" and there is no shortage of people looking to sell it to us including fanciers themselves, progress you aint gonna stop it  

barnie wrote:

There's so much stuff advertised to go on the corn or in the water which is probably just a waste of money. In some instances does more harm than good because birds don't drink enough if they dislike the taste but that's the fanciers choice. It's the under the counter stuff that's done the harm to immune systems. One spoon to a litre of water but people think I'll get the edge and chuck 2 spoons in. No coincidence that many fliers who lets say win more than their share, shift out a particular family of birds after 3-4 years and bring in a totally new family.
However there's plenty of old school fanciers just feed good corn and clean water who get problems in their birds and lose as many racing as those who chuck whatever down their necks, so I'm not sure what the answer is.

I agree loads of stuff on sale...look how many multivits..i choose 1 and stick with it aviform seems okay so thats what i use
The same with anything you do what you think is best for YOU

i think any "progress" made in healthcare and medicines have been hyjacked by big pharmaceutical companies, its a multi billion pound industry selling people pills and treatments, none or very few of which actually cure us..........doctors are merely salesmen for these big companies, dishing out pills for profit ....look at the 1939 cancer act, this is in place to stop any cure, and to line the pockets of big business ...97% of treatments do not work, and in fact make patients worse, but yet doctors still prescribe it, why ? for profit , to line their pockets.

when we raced years ago there was`nt all these must have products,that will make our birds winners, now theres shelves and shelves full of vitamins and tonics, manufacturers all out to make money of gullible pigeon fanciers.

fieldwalker wrote:

Iv read your posts on other sites misty...
The good old days the summers were warmer the winters colder..
There were the same diseases in the 70s as now with the exception of ybs..
The continental way was going on long before that.
The gurnay system that fred shaw later flew and murdered the
Opisition for years.
Recently there was a page of the first edition of the rp and on it for all to read...quack remedies cum quick potions...
Welcome to 2018

nice to have you here and agree with most of your sentiments ,you sound very similar to a gentleman on another forum albeit he has been very quiet of late atb