Winning pigeons

Breeding winning pigeons should be aim of every fancier. But we all have a different idea of what we class as a winning pigeon.
Lets say in your youngbird team, you have say five pigeons that always drop together, week in week out. The first pigeon you manage to get hold off and clock wins the race. On paper or on the race sheet, only the one bird is the winner. So in your loft there are four other pigeons, that could have also won the race, but you were unable to clock them all at that precise time.
So without keeping accurate records, this information, may well be overlooked.
I would look at it as, I have five winners in my loft.
In your opinion what would you say contributes to the production of a winning pigeon?
Is it the breed and origin of the parents?
Is it the skill and dedicated management of the individual fancier?
Or is it the carefully planned routine known as the feeding/ training/racing system?
I have just this morning had an in depth, discussion about this very topic.
One person reckons it's all down to the pigeons themselves. I had to disagree and stated, in my opinion that it is a combination of all three.
I would like to hear your thoughts.

hi gary, by what ive read and been told......ron green purposely did this to build breakaways record up as a champion racer.

anyway, in my opinion its a mixture of good pigeons and good management, and also a %of luck involved............ive heard time and time again "the basket will sort them out". yes i agree it will sort them out and get rid of certain birds.......but this in my opinion is not a foolproof method of selection if the fancier and his management is rubbish.

Bloodline, management and feeding

It has been said a good fancier can make winners of birds that are in the middle of being good and bad so I have to say that management plays a big part and what suits the pigeons

David wrote:

hi gary, by what ive read and been told......ron green purposely did this to build breakaways record up as a champion racer.

anyway, in my opinion its a mixture of good pigeons and good management, and also a %of luck involved............ive heard time and time again "the basket will sort them out". yes i agree it will sort them out and get rid of certain birds.......but this in my opinion is not a foolproof method of selection if the fancier and his management is rubbish.

Hi David sorry mate but that is not correct about breakaway yes he was a fantastic pigeon and his record will never be beat but if so it will be a long time coming

David from what people who raced against Ron have told me that there was many a time that breakaway's own sons beat him and Ron would wait for him to come home or if he came with a few others Breakaway was aways the first pigeon clocked

youve just said what i said don................................

a quality fanciers can make desent birds good if they got the brains but 97% bred are crap
but a ave fancier will never do well with ave birds
most lofts have a couple of good birds but most are rubbish
look in the stock lofts anything thats not bred birds to score by the time they are 3 are only fit for the bucket yet some perservere with them when in fact they would save time and money by disposing of them
some could not recognise quality if hit hit them in the face and most could not pick winners never mind their nose
thats fact you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear

i agree sean, well said................................most pigeons are no good.

Crap..

i think it has to be a combination of the three but will say that i think its more manage ment with sprint pigeons and your system ....the love of home for ybs....and the pigeon itself for distance ....i think you can win club races with average birds so long as you have the other factors rite jmo but fed and combine and national winners well thats a different kettle altogether

Gary Burgess wrote:

Crap..

whats crap Gary have a good reid of brasspennings writings

oldstrain wrote:

i think it has to be a combination of the three but will say that i think its more manage ment with sprint pigeons and your system ....the love of home for ybs....and the pigeon itself for distance ....i think you can win club races with average birds so long as you have the other factors rite jmo but fed and combine and national winners well thats a different kettle altogether

darren i have handled many 1 hit wonders combine and national birds its the ones with a number of turns you want mate
some lofts look for the best buy the best and breed 5-6 rounds out of them and at the end of the season the ones with 1 or 2 y/bs left go in the bucket
top fanciers would win with just about any thing
the best lofts are the out of position lofts who fly small teams and win out of turn all the best sean

Gary Burgess wrote:

Crap..

hi gary dont know if your post refered to me saying most pigeons are no good, but if so every year fanciers breed 30, 40, 50 or even 60 ybs....what % or how many win....?

90%, 80% ? no most would be lucky to get 2 or 3 winners out of 30 to 40 ybs, so there you have it, most are no good.

David wrote:

Gary Burgess wrote:

Crap..

hi gary dont know if your post refered to me saying most pigeons are no good, but if so every year fanciers breed 30, 40, 50 or even 60 ybs....what % or how many win....?

90%, 80% ? no most would be lucky to get 2 or 3 winners out of 30 to 40 ybs, so there you have it, most are no good.

correct very few score too much crap bred to start with from birds that should be in the bucket and we are all guilty of it
long ago the real old pitmen bred a dozen flew the whole y/b program and culled at the end of season big teams dont mean winners they mean more work more money and less pleasure

I'm sorry David and Seanl, but if I bred 40 youngbirds and only had two or three winners. I'm afraid I would chuck myself in the bucket.

i'm enjoying this topic keep up the bitching

I bred 65 young birds this year; sent 5 to the one loft race,and 4 to a mate of mine lost 8 fly away, 2 to Rene,and bought in 6,and have 31 left

sorry Ginger step into Garys bucket who's next?

Gary Burgess wrote:

I'm sorry David and Seanl, but if I bred 40 youngbirds and only had two or three winners. I'm afraid I would chuck myself in the bucket.

hi gary, yes this is all well and good....but the fact is that fanciers in general only have a small % of winning birds out of the hundreds they breed over the years,

the few fanciers who do have only winners in their loft must kull very harshly every year because they are all managed the same way by the same man, and unfortunately all ybs bred and all oldbirds raced are not winners.

this is only my opinion..........

sorry David not good enough please step into Garys bucket who's next

black wheely bin for me george.............

david is that because you are no longer built for speed?

rainbow wrote:

david is that because you are no longer built for speed?

thats quiite possibly the reason george............. not as streamline as i once was...........

i bred 30 ybs culled 2 and kept 2 for stock lost 1 training and 1 off the loft (hawk) and 1 got injured (broken keel) 23 went to the races and i had 12 left after 5 races and lost 7 in one race (had a smash) of these 23 birds i picked up 7 club cards 6 of the cards were won by different birds and i had 3 winners and was the most successful yb flyer in my club .....gary how many wins would you exspect

oldstrain wrote:

i bred 30 ybs culled 2 and kept 2 for stock lost 1 training and 1 off the loft (hawk) and 1 got injured (broken keel) 23 went to the races and i had 12 left after 5 races and lost 7 in one race (had a smash) of these 23 birds i picked up 7 club cards 6 of the cards were won by different birds and i had 3 winners and was the most successful yb flyer in my club .....gary how many wins would you exspect

daren thats a very good strike rate and with so few y/bs is crakin flying well done you have just answered my point most are crap all the best sean

Gary Burgess wrote:

I'm sorry David and Seanl, but if I bred 40 youngbirds and only had two or three winners. I'm afraid I would chuck myself in the bucket.

so how many did you breed
how many won
how many scored
sorry Garry which planet do you live on it certainly aint earth and your not living in the real world
there are huge numbers of rings sold every year and be lucky if 2% score
all the best sean