THE RACING PIGEON 27 OCTOBER 2023
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Talking about balance:- This was how I described it in my book The Widowhood Year.
by Dave Allen
found that to be the case in my own loft. Maybe it’s something to do with the family I have cultivated. Finally, when discussing the wing, look at what I call the ‘cutoffs’ under the wing. They are the small feathers under the rear wing. Just lift the wing and you will see them. Now I have never seen a good pigeon which does not have perfect cut offs. I’ve written about the subject in a previous article. I regard all the above points of importance
Well, the 2023 season is all over bar the shouting. It’s now time to select and see that the pigeons enjoy a good moult. Regarding selection most fanciers now have ETS so they can look back on the season and see how each individual pigeon has performed and personally I go for performance above all else. However, that said I like a well-balanced pigeon where the birds tail goes straight out, not dipping down and certainly not bending upwards. In other
The above photographs depict a bird which is in my mind perfectly balanced. It’s tail goes straight out and the bird sits buoyantly in your hand. The above pigeon has topped the Federation at 100 miles, 200 miles and 300 miles.
bags and a load of beans. The wheat did not suit me, and I said to the farmer “is this milling wheat?” To which he replied “yes” which was what I expected so I asked him if it was good enough to go into a bakery and he said “no”. I left it at that. Enough said but my colleague bought a few bags.
As I write this article I am just back from a visit to a farm with a friend of mine, he wanted to purchase some beans, peas, and wheat which he’d previously purchased from the same supplier last year. On arriving at the farm there were plenty of beans, peas and wheat bagged up plus large amounts of each
Here’s a blast from the past when the game was at its peak – 365 members in the Federation with each club having 15-25 members.
but none of them override basket perform- ance. So if you have a pigeon which has performed well but does not conform to any of the above points, keep it – basket perform- ance comes above any theories. At this time of year, I do believe it’s impor- tant to give the birds the opportunity of a bath a couple of times per week. They enjoy it and it’s good for them, it gets the scale away and helps the new feathers to burst through. I no longer buy expensive bath salts I just use 15ml of cider vinegar and a tablespoon of kitchen salt per 2-gallon bucket and that does the trick. Talking about the moult it’s important to have the right feed, I like to use 20% newly harvested barley, it’s a guide to feeding and it’s certainly good for the birds. However, you must make sure that it’s good malting barley. The way to do this is place a handful in a saucer and cover with water, after three to four days it should start to sprout and by the end of the week if it’s any good sixty to seventy per cent should have sprouted. I’ve just been given a sample of barley which looked really good. It was clean, smelt good and was nicely clipped. However, after five days in the saucer just kept damp by adding a little more water when requited hardly any of it had sprouted, just around fifteen per cent, but what I did notice was the mould or fungal spores which had grown on it. now this is definitely no good for pigeons. So, for me it’s just not good enough for the birds.
words, it should be the natural extension of its body and I like a well-rounded pigeon. I don’t know whether you would refer to it as boat shaped or egg shaped but I am not keen on deep breasted pigeons. There will be the odd exception where a pigeon with a deep keel has performed well but nicely round around the breastbone is what to look for. One that sits nicely in your hand. Regarding the eye of the pigeon when selecting the only thing I look for is a small, nicely rounded pupil. Red eyes, white eyes, yellow eyes, chestnut eyes winners come in all colours but a constant with a good racing pigeon is the pupil. For me it must be small and rounded. By the way when judging the pigeons’ body if you find one which is wet and sweaty along the keel, then that’s something special. Make a note of its number and watch its progress. Now to the wing, lots of fanciers spread the wing but I wonder if they have any idea of what they are looking for. Here is some advice – when you spread the pigeons wing the primaries, number one to seven should lie well over the top of each other. Jan Grondelaers was a fanatic for this, and I can’t think of many better fanciers than him. The last three flights, ie eight, nine and ten should be roughly the same length and rounded at the tips. Incidentally whether this is pure coincidence or not I don’t know but a pigeon with it’s tenth flight longer than its ninth often turns out to be a good breeder. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know but I have often
Here's a copy of the letter from Staf Van Reet 25th October 1984. It's fairly self-explanatory and it will be of interest to the Van Reet enthusiasts.
On the way back in the car he said, “I can’t understand why you haven’t purchased any beans or peas”. I told him “I very rarely feed beans and the corn was not up to standard for me” I said to him “look would you eat food which is covered in dust?” and he replied “No”. I replied “Hmm! Well, that’s why I will not use inferior corn”. The Doncaster weekend is coming up shortly and it has now become the Number One Exhibition in UK. The good thing about
piled up in various corners of the huge barn. I was going to purchase some peas but having looked at them I said to my friend “they are not for me”, and he said, “why not?” to which I replied “they have too many dimples in them and they are mucky”. He took a small handful, rubbed them in his hand and said “look they are ok now”, I replied “look at your hands”. They were covered in muck, and I am not prepared to have my birds eat them. He still took two
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