pigeons/ bathing

If you look at al the top pigeons in belguim they have different strain of pigeon in them but as long as they win that is all that matters

thats right, strains like the braspenings are janssens based, my lefebre dhaenens are desmet-matthys x roger vereecke based and so on.....all these modern popular "breeds" are only strains from other fanciers that someone has called them after themselves.

yes don i agree doesnt matter what strain the pigeon is as long as they winn who,s bothered

you are right ian, winners is what we want...

i tell you now honestly dont think i have a thorobred pigeon in my loft ,all crossed

heard it said that a cross is needed to be introduced every now and then...ian, how would you decide if a pigeon you had brought in was up to srcatch, and if you would keep it or breed from it? i know you would see how it raced obviously but what would you compare it with? i got told to compare it with your worst racers and if it was better than them it could stay, and if it was worse get rid....
any thoughts ian or anyone?

david i do a points system thro youngbird racing first back of race gets 10 points 2nd gets 9 3rd gets 8 and so on , at the end of the season i top up there points , highest points i keep , until i got enough for next seasons racing the rest go in the bin

fancier told me a few weeks ago that if he buys in a pair of stock birds and he breeds 6 ybs from them....if any of the ybs do not show any promise or raced fairly well he gets rid of the stock pair...any thoughts or any opinions anyone?

David if you lived in belgium and raced very well the pigeon would be of your name and not of anything else

and this is how the belgium fanciers do it i would go on to say every pigeon you have from belguim is a cross but pure when you buy it

If i bring in a new stock pair i would bred 6 to 8 young birds but race them hard if they did well then i would consider keeping them

But if the young birds did not deliver the good then they would only get one more chance/year if no improvement they are gone

if ybs do not win or do anything do members get rid or doesnt it mean much as they are only learning as youngsters and hope for better results as old birds...

youve got to get rid of some but only the owner can know which ones as he watches them every day, cant keep all of them

yes i agree ian, only the owner knows them .....i sit with my ybs every day when im feeding them watching them eating and just getting to know them individually...

so which ones you going to get rid of

ive picked out 5 for the bin....

I agree with you Ian

Only the fancier will know

If you school the young birds well then they should win

If the pigeons have not won by the end of the old bird season as yearlings then everything is removed

my view is that if a bird has not shown some sort of ability by the time its finished racing as a yearling its time to get rid of it....even if its showed something , wouldnt even need to have won a race it might do ok as a two year old....

dont agree with don i have had many wins with pigeons that have done nothing as young birds and as yearlings but were steady some birds you dont get until 2 year olds

Ian if you are racing long distance then yes i would have to wait longer to see what the pigeon has to offer before i would consider on removing

Ian, i am a sprint man and if i wait then i would be left with a load of also rans after they have finished racing as two year olds

To long to wait

Give me 6 pigeons that will race hard every week, than have a loft full of may be's which have never won anything