Widowhood or Natural .

Once wrote an article in the BHW regarding systems many years ago.

I described the Widowhood system as Robotic and the pigeons no more than ROBOTS.

Never changed my mind since.

Regards.

Some love them on widowhood. Especially in the Fed here. Consistent to say the least. 1000 mpm and less last weekend. Hen was first cocks following. Whatever suits a persons desires. W cocks and hens can be hard to beat. They are in form 90% of the time.

Seem to remember bears being made to dance, the owners got the result BUT HOW??????.

Not always the result but HOW is my concern.

There is no comparison whatsoever between an open loft pigeons life and one on widowhood.

I beat the Widowers as often as they beat my open loft pigeons and I know which were the happiest, and I enjoyed seeing them 24/7 if I wished, not a couple of hours a day.

My pigeons were naturally healthy also not propped up with drugs.

Would never ever contemplate keeping Robot Pigeons.

Regards.

halcanada81 wrote:

Some love them on widowhood. Especially in the Fed here. Consistent to say the least. 1000 mpm and less last weekend. Hen was first cocks following. Whatever suits a persons desires. W cocks and hens can be hard to beat. They are in form 90% of the time.

Just comes down/back to that Rome thing for me here I'm  . Don't quite know if I would relate the widowhood system to the Bear scenario as mentioned, just one way of winning when placed in the right hands I could suggest. Down here more wins have come over the years on average by just flying to a simple perch etc or even a brick on the floor at times maybe .
*****

25 years ago I went from getting the odd prize card in the club, maybe 2 wins a year if lucky, to being top prizewinner winning 12 firsts a year plus taking up to the first 5 positions regularly by swapping to widowhood. This was a club with 12 members. I also won fed inland averages with a very small team. So my perception of widowhood racing (cocks only) is perhaps very different to other people but I can only speak from my own experiences.
I was never struggling to find fit pigeons to send, they held condition for months on end, importantly suited my shift work, and were a joy to watch exercising. They were tame as Robins, ate less corn, never needed training once racing started, and would race to win in any wind, any weather. I'm certain they were quite content with their loft surroundings and regime, loved their hen on return, knew what was expected of them otherwise they wouldn't never race home ahead of the pack, my thinking anyway. Bit like people not happy in their job, turn up late, don't try, go along at their own pace, chuck towel in when things get tough Like I say just my view having raced natural and widowhood equally amounts of time.

i agree entirely with your post ...widow or natural?....save the aggro and go widow less feed less mess no training and form kept for longer and no worrying about hens in egg,could be widow hens for me next year

the best pigeon and most knowledgeable men I met through time, excellent stock men, genuine lovers of pigeons, lived for their birds, knew there birds individually inside and out, were all widowhood fanciers. That's both UK and European. I know there will also be comparable natural fanciers but I have yet to meet them.

They know how to treat birds as individuals, get the best from them each week, anyone who thinks racing widowhood cocks is a case of put a bowl in on basketing and have the hen waiting after the race for an hour is mistaken. Might work for a short time but good fanciers know how to get the super motivation into the birds which gets them to race as a team on saturdays, 5 or 6 dropping in together from a relatively small team. A good natural man has to do very similar with his birds, set them up on nest condition, chipping eggs etc and sending a natural cock driving isn't so different to sending a widowhood cock, in my eyes anyway.

If these men I mention thought their birds would perform week in week out on natural they would all be on it believe me. however some do have birds sitting for the longer races at the back end of the season.

Personally I believe there's room for any system fanciers, up to the owner and I always enjoy reading about the natural fanciers holding their own in today's racing world.

I might add the best fanciers I mentioned would be top of their game whatever they kept if it wasn't pigeons, greyhounds, horses, cage birds, they just have that special "stock sense" that comes naturally.

To put matters exactly how I feel regarding Widowhood.

In my opinion it is a totally unnatural way of keeping any living thing.

If I had my way it would be banned.

Anyone on Widowhood who says they do not have to give both preventative and curative medication at some time I would not believe.

For a pigeon to be kept fastened up at least 20 hours a day without it's mate anxious etc; ?????.

Hens sometimes kept in little widowhood hen boxes just used as a tease.

Of course most continental best results are from widowers, they ALL FLY THAT WAY.

As for natural flying, you have to understand a pigeons nature and as individuals no fanciers keeping hundreds of widowers can know each pigeons personality they only see them twice a day flapping around the loft.

Most races are now won by yearlings worn out before their life should be starting.

Those who think pigeon racing today is good should have lived 80 years ago when fanciers spent every possible minute with them enjoying seeing them enjoying themselves not shut up 20 hours a day away from their mate.

Perhaps a few widowhood fanciers may try it themselves.

There is a challenge for you barnie, leave the family for six days a week, just join them on Sunday, go to church and just as you are going to settle down to family life be taken away again.

Let me know how you go on if you try it.

Regards.




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Misty, what is worse? Sending a well prepared widowhood cock or a natural pigeon pining for it's chipping eggs, it's mate, little babies needing feeding and covering, stressed to bits in the baskets wondering if it's nest is ok, if it's babies are still alive especially if held over ? To me that is the ultimate cruelty, I know we have different opinions so that's just how it is I'm afraid.

There's nothing natural about pigeon racing, what other species is taken hundreds of miles away and expected to fly back without help? No such thing as "natural". Racing pigeons aren't a natural species, developed by man for the purpose of racing, no different to pet dogs, cage birds, anything developed and reliant on the owner 100%.

Great that you have your opinion and I have mine, that's what it's all about.

You raise some very good points barnie, nothing normal about racing pigeons and I respect your views.

But I never sent both parents to race at the same time.

My main concern was the whole year round and giving them as normal a life as possible.

When you think about it barnie the strangest creatures on earth are HUMANS .

Take care.

Regards.

Fully understand where you're coming from and respect your views too, best wishes

Best post about widowhood I have seen in a long time. Very informative!

Just read BHW one of the top distance fanciers first training toss for young birds was 70 miles.

Think things started going to pot when sprint racing became more important to many, less of everything needed, including time.

Think a lot regarding the future of the sport depends on how the rest of the season goes and what the prospects for a full season look like for next year.

The sport was in a precarious state prior to this present set back which it could have well done without.

Regards.

i had 1 full season on widowhood last year with 8 cocks they won me 300mile points trophy and highest prizewinner down the club ,prior i was natural and won naff all and this year went natural and apart from 1 race it has been rubbish ,all the top flyers have a system / routine that i know ...they will race natural but only with birds layed out for a race as form is not kept very long with natural birds,open loft is ok but modern day in a town or city its hard to achieve as somebody always complains about roof hoppers but out in the sticks it would be different i think and achievable ,somewhere like hals set up certainly would not here atb

There is an art in flying the natural system, you have to know EVERY PIGEONS quirks and likes and dislikes and take advantage of same.

You cannot fly natural and fasten pigeons up for 20 hours a day and expect results.

The only way is open loft or it is not natural.

Half and half is no good.

I always set out pigeons for a particular race and often told I was a big head when I said I would win an open race etc: but I always did when I said I would because I knew my pigeons as individuals and their individual capabilities.

Widowhood gets results by treating pigeons like robots, similar to car racing.

Regards.

I think of widowhood cocks akin to soldiers. All live together, sleep together, train together, eat together go to do a job together. Learn the regime. Know what's expected of them and go out and do it as a team. All thinking along the same lines. That's why top flyers get multiple drops, team performances on the top of their game.

If soldiers went home on a night to wives and families how would they maintain their regime? Would they feel like going out in the field, call of duty? I don't think so. Pretty much the same scenario when competing in major sporting events, World Cup football or Rugby for example generally wives and family stay away and teams live, train, eat and sleep in the same camp. Focussed on the job in hand, that's the thought anyway although never seems to work for Englands football team

It's not such a harsh life on widowhood as some may believe, paired up in January, eggs and youngsters same as natural, split off during March, just over 3 months to go out to work, earn their corn with hens waiting as reward, then once racing is over, paired up again and at least a round or two of eggs or latebreds off the best, again like natural. Split off again maybe October. Couple of months resting, finish the moult and ready again about Christmas to think or pairing up again. Can't speak for everyone but my hens were kept 200yds away in a large aviary with everything they needed. Let out to exercise friday afternoon as they made their own way to the cocks loft, then exercised saturday morning for an hour before cocks returned, then a bath and they were fed full of best corn and seed, absolutely bouncing for the returning cocks. This is another aspect of widowhood often overlooked:-the hens have to be on the ball too and no way would I box them up, I can't see how they would be fresh enough for the cock coming home. The aviary had a wire grid floor, open sides but a solid back and roof with 2 full length poles to perch on, they had nowhere to pair. Everytime there was a bit twig, leaf or flight feather blew in there I would remove to stop them even think about nest building. Like I said previously there is much more to widowhood than sticking a hen in the nestbox every saturday believe me.

I applaud natural fanciers who hold their own in modern racing, but just because I wouldn't opt for this method myself I wouldn't condemn anyone who does. Each to their own I say.

We are having a real barnie over this one barnie and why not it is the spice of life.

If you fly natural and do no good and then fly widowhood with the same pigeons and win it just means you cannot get the best out of them by your methods, the methods wrong and not the system.

Like Hamilton racing a car one week and your next door neighbour the next.

My idea was to have every pigeon in the loft either capable and actually do win a card at either racing or showing and not a one or two bird loft.

I was 90% successful in doing so and also enabled many other fanciers to obtain their day.

Take half a dozen pigeons from most lofts and the others would be pie material.

I would not believe any Widowhood fanciers if they said they did not flock treat and give additives.

All my pigeons got was a vast variety of feed available all the time and garlic in the water and sand and lime deep litter and I never had any health problems with the pigeons.

Just wish pigeons could talk would be some red faces me thinks.

Regards.

to be honest i dont see it as correct to say one is better than the other or whether one is more kinder its not a points scorer ,surely alot depends on lifestyle ...i mean , i could not have pigeons on open here with cats ,spar hawks at end of street ambushing birds on neighbours feeder good grief ...just do what suits you and yer lifestyle ,all systems work at times its take yer pick which one you want to adopt we all love the birds and the aspect of racing them gives extra thrill enjoy while you can

My first win was to the nest. 500 miles. That nest position and all related to it I wrote down. Tried to duplicate it over the years. Eventually got a program that worked at most distances. Live and learn.

oldstrain wrote:

to be honest i dont see it as correct to say one is better than the other or whether one is more kinder its not a points scorer ,surely alot depends on lifestyle ...i mean , i could not have pigeons on open here with cats ,spar hawks at end of street ambushing birds on neighbours feeder good grief ...just do what suits you and yer lifestyle ,all systems work at times its take yer pick which one you want to adopt we all love the birds and the aspect of racing them gives extra thrill enjoy while you can

I fully agree etc O/S I know not how the champion Irish flyer as an example in Ronnie Williamson goes about his daily business in a pigeon sense, but it would require a very brave man I suspect  to suggest his methods are wrong come race day no matter what method he may use. End of the day     humans have the final say I'm   on the subject matter      & we are not perfect I suggest sadly, or live in a perfect type world. .