November BLOG 2009
THE 2009 PIGEON RACING CALENDAR STARTS SHORTLY
Regardless of the final outcome of the 2009 young bird race series, November may be the most exciting month in the calendar year. The month of November signals the beginning of the 2010 calendar year for pigeon racing.
THE BEGINNING OF THE CALENDAR YEAR
November marks the beginning of the calendar year for the racing pigeon game. All over Europe and especially in Belgium, fanciers will couple their breeders around December 1. In the US, the mythical coupling date is often described as the Thanksgiving Holiday. The reason for pairing breeders this early in the breeding season is that fanciers want to race young birds in late summer and fall that are as sexually mature as possible. In order to race young birds on the widowhood motivational system, young birds need to be as sexually mature as possible. So fanciers want their youngsters to hatch as close to January 1 as possible every year. In order for youngsters to hatch around January 1, breeders need to be coupled the last part of November or by December 1.
MEDICATING BREEDERS
Prior to coupling, the breeders should be thoroughly medicated at a minimum for canker, coccidiosis, respiratory problems, intestinal problems, and worms. The medication regiment that I use takes about a month to complete. The breeders are medicated each week for a different malady: one week for canker; one week for coccidiosis; one week for respiratory, etc. The medication regiment starts about November 1 each year. During the month of November, the breeders are thoroughly medicated in order to be totally healthy and ready to couple by December 1.
BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL
The month of November is a month of intense study. Pedigrees should be analyzed and breeders should be handled frequently. Successful pairing is a combination of coupling breeders that not only produce a quality pedigree; but also breeders that complement each other in the hand. As I have blogged about numerous times in the past, breeding successful youngsters involves a relationship between genotype and phenotype. Pedigrees should reflect enough line-breeding so that the youngsters have robust prepotency and enough out-crossing so that the youngsters have robust hybrid vigor. Antoine Jacops puts the ratio at 70% prepotency and 30% hybrid vigor. In order to accomplish this goal, I spend hours of time in November coupling breeders on paper and then coupling breeders in my hands.
PRE-MATING IS CRITICAL FOR SUCCESS
Unless breeders are re-coupled with their previous year's mate, it is usually helpful to spend the month of November "pre-mating" breeders so that they will couple quickly and without incident or injury. November and December are months with less daily sunlight. In many parts of the globe, many days during these months are mostly cloudy. During these months, the average daily temperature continually drops. Evenings, nights and mornings are often very cold. During the cold, breeders tend to be less active. Breeders tend to be more inactivate and to sit around fluffed up. Consequently, pre-mating in early November often produces more fertile nests of eggs than waiting to couple breeders until December 1. Just because pigeons are coupled December 1 doesn't mean that eggs will be laid and youngsters will hatch around January 1. Winter breeding can be tricky. Proper pre-mating in November will usually produce a more harmonious and successful breeding scenario in December.
THE LOFT SHOULD BE CLEAN
November should be a time for thoroughly cleaning the breeding loft for the next breeding season. Nest boxes, nest bowls, loft floors, drinking fountains, grit bowls, grain dispensers, etc. should be thoroughly cleaned, repaired or replaced for the new breeding season.
NO OVER-CROWDING
One of the most common barriers to successful winter breeding is over-crowding the breeding loft. Regardless of what research studies indicate and what you may have read in magazine articles, breeders that have plenty of room and that have been properly pre-mated do not randomly breed with each other. Couples remain faithful to each other if managed properly. Youngsters will be bred from their own parents if their parents have been managed properly. Over-crowding creates late eggs, infertile eggs, broken eggs, and eggs that may be fertiled by random pigeons. No over-crowding! Breeding a few pigeons well is better than trying to breed many pigeons poorly.
TURN ON THE LIGHTS
The sex drive is influenced by light and number of daylight hours. In order to stimulate breeders to successfully breed in the winter, springtime will need to be artificially created in the winter by turning on the loft lights for about 16 or 17 hours per day. I do not think that they type of light is critically important; but I do think that the light needs to be bright enough such that pigeons become sexually active. I do not know what a minimum wattage would be other than to advise to frequently observe the breeders in order to assess their level of sexual activity. Around November 1st, turn on the loft lights enough to simulate spring and summer: a minimum of 16 hours per day. I would not advise you to leave the lights on for 24 hours per day.
WARM THE LOFT - NO DRAFTS
If a loft is too airy or drafty, it may be advantageous to use plastic or cardboard or plywood or something else to make the loft as warm as possible while not minimizing or completely stifling proper airflow. In Belgium, fanciers often use heated floors or place straw or corn husks or some other artificial covering on the floor to warm the breeding loft. For winter breeding, the breeding loft should be comfortably warm enough for the breeders, the nests of eggs, and unfeathered youngsters in the nest so that eggs don't freeze and youngsters are not chilled. It does little good to raise winter youngsters if the youngsters are not robustly healthy due to cold temperatures and lack of food because of too few hours of light for their parents to adequately feed them. Drinking fountains should also be placed on heat plates or over a light bulb in order for the water to be readily available when the temperature drops below freezing.
NOVEMBER CREATES HOPE & MARKS A NEW BEGINNING
In conclusion, November is one of the busiest months in the calendar year for racing pigeons. I particularly like November because November is a month of hope. Regardless of the success or failure of the past 2009 young bird race series, November marks a new and fresh beginning. In November, anything is possible. No 2010 young bird races have been won or lost yet. The racing slate for 2010 is clean.
Let me encourage each reader to work hard all of the time; but especially in November. Create success in the fall 2010 young bird race series by working hard in November 2009. If you need to add new breeders; get them. If you need to eliminate breeders that haven't produced anything; use them for pumpers for those breeders that have raised the best performing youngsters. If you have 12 pairs of breeders and only 4 of them have produced quality youngsters, use the other 8 pair of breeders as pumpers for the 4 pairs of better breeders. Racing 8 youngsters out of your single best pair of breeders is probably better than racing 24 youngsters out of all of your breeders.
QUALITY IS JOB ONE!!!
Quality pigeons perform at the top of the race sheet. The number of young birds that you raise has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of any one of them. Quality is not a function of quantity. But somewhere along the line, the importance of quantity became embedded in the culture of the American Racing Pigeon Sport. However, quantity is often a deterrent to quality. Most lofts have at least one or two quality pigeons in them. It is better to focus on those quality pigeons than it is to surround those quality pigeons with a horde of average or below average pigeons. Poly-breed superior pigeons by pumping their eggs to the horde of average pigeons to raise. If you do, the racing performance of your loft will increase significantly in a very short period of time.
BREEDING CHAMPION PIGEONS IS A RESULT OF A FANCIER'S INTUITIVE ABILITY & COMMITMENT TO HARD WORK
Champion racing pigeons are very rare. One top fancier in Holland who has a loft full of champion racing pigeons estimates that he breeds about 200 pigeons in order to produce one super champion; and he feels fortunate if he meets that threshold. Just think about how many rings are sold each year in Belgium and Holland. The number must be well over a million. How many great champions are produced each year in Belgium and Holland wearing one of these rings? Only a few.
I encourage you to work hard in November to breed the very best pigeons that are possible given the quality of the breeders in your loft. Success in the fall young bird race series depends upon the success attained in the breeding loft each November.
There are fanciers who have a natural intuition for the game: both racing and breeding quality pigeons. Although a fancier's natural intuition is the easiest path to success, breeding quality pigeons can be learned. But it takes a great deal of individual dedication and hard work. Breeding quality pigeons should not be a gamble nor should it simply be a function of hoping that luck strikes the loft. Breeding quality pigeons comes from a fancier's intuition, study, and dedication to the intricacies and nuances of the Sport that begins each year in November.
Today is obviously Friday the 13th. Strangely, over the years Friday the 13th has been the luckiest day of the year for me. I don't know why. Probably just coincidence. But you never know.
The past few weeks, in addition to preparing and coupling the breeders (on paper) as I stated in Monday's blog, I have been road training a team of 2009 late hatches. Frequently, late hatches turn into very good breeders. Less frequently, however, do they become great racers. The primary reason for this may reside in the moult; or in the fact that late hatches often become an after thought in many lofts - ignored and untrained until springtime when the old birds are readied for the spring and early summer race series. I have found that late hatches will often make better racers the year after they go through a complete and proper moult. Consequently, my 2009 late hatches may not race very well until 2011. The down side to this scenario is housing and feeding late hatches for 1 1/2 years waiting to race them until they are two years of age or older. That's a lot of time, energy and expense for an "extra" group of pigeons in the loft.
If late hatches are raised, however, it is probably best to road train them during their birth year - just like early hatches are trained. That is what I am doing now. I enjoy road training late hatches to an excellent eating establishment within 10 to 20 miles of the loft. In fact, I take the late hatches with me almost every time I travel around Tulsa or the greater metropolitan area if I am able to do so. The primary purpose of road training is to hone the pigeons' orientation skills. I train them any direction - all within 10 to 20 miles of the loft. Pigeons learn to orient at the release point. Consequently, a distance of 10 to 20 miles usually makes a sufficient toss. The length of the toss seldom, if ever, has any bearing on developing pigeons' orientation skills.
The primary danger with short tosses is usually a result of the energy level of the trainees. Sometimes very energetic late hatches will fly around the release point for awhile or head in the wrong direction for awhile before they finally orient themselves towards home. If they accidently fly away from the loft for a significant amount of time, they may have trouble finding their way back home or be too tired to find their way home on the day. If they spend the night outside somewhere, they run the risk of being killed by some type of predator or injuring themselves on wires.
In order to mitigate this road training danger, I loft train the late hatches for an hour or so before they are road trained. Loft training them for an hour takes the initial energy level out of the late hatches and helps them develop a better mental state to work. when they are subsequently released for a road toss after loft training, late hatches will generally head straight home. In fact, we use the very same training technique in horses. Before riding and training performance horses, most trainers exercise them in round pens or lope them in large circles for 30 minutes or more in order to reduce their energy levels and increase their attentiveness towards training.
I really enjoy road training young birds and old birds. As I said, they keep me company when I shop or eat out. Releasing them always adds a level of enjoyment to my daily activities. That is why I raise late hatches. I want young pigeons to train after the young bird race series concludes in order to keep me company and make me feel good. If they turn out to be great racers, that's just icing on the cake.
RACING ONE PIGEON WELL
In most other sports involving animals and people, enthusiasts learn the game by beginning with a single animal. For instance, in horse racing or any other equestrian event, novice riders usually buy a single horse and begin to learn the intricacies of the sport by riding their horse. In dog sports like herding or obedience, novice trainers usually buy a single dog and begin to learn the intricacies of the sport by commanding and working with their dog. Not so in the racing pigeon sport in America.
THE MYTH THAT SIZE MATTERS
The most common scenario when novice fanciers start in the pigeon racing sport is for novices to purchase a significant number of breeders and/or accept gifts from other fanciers. I have seldom, if ever, known of a new fancier that began with a single pair of high quality breeders in order to raise a very small race team of elite young birds or who began by obtaining a single high quality youngster to race. For some reason, there is a belief in the American racing pigeon sport that there is safety, security and achievement in racing large numbers of pigeons. Many fanciers passionately believe that there is a sizable advantage that can be gained over other fanciers when racing a very large race team over a very small race team. I know of few fanciers who race a single pigeon in a race series. The predominant belief in the American racing pigeon sport is that size matters.
It is my opinion that this pervasive belief is a myth!
Why? Because I believe that it is best for novice fanciers (or experienced fanciers for that matter) to first learn to race one pigeon very well rather than fly many pigeons poorly because they lack a basic understanding and knowledge of the intricacies game. I believe that novice fanciers should initially obtain a few high quality young birds to train; then select one of these youngsters to race in order to learn to race the youngster very well.
The primary reason novice and experienced fanciers race large teams of birds is usually because fanciers doubt their ability to evaluate the racing quality of their pigeons and they believe that they do not have the knowledge and training to select the best potential racer prior to the race season.
In addition, novice fanciers are often overwhelmed by the initial expense of the racing pigeon sport. It often scares potential fanciers away from the sport. That is too bad; because it doesn't take tens or hundreds of pigeons for novices to be successful in the sport or to enjoy the sport.
For example, the benefits of racing one pigeon are:
One racing pigeon requires one large properly constructed widowhood nest box.
One racing pigeon requires limited loft space.
One racing pigeon can be fed the most expensive grain on the market.
One pigeon can be fed the most expensive and effective supplements on the market.
One pigeon can be medicated using the most expensive and effective medications on the market.
One pigeon can be quickly crated to road train on many short training flights.
One pigeon's droppings can be quickly and completely cleaned on a frequent basis.
One pigeon will be robustly healthy.
One pigeon will become highly territorial.
One pigeon will become very tame.
One pigeon will form a special bond with its fancier.
One pigeon is easy to observe on a frequent basis.
One pigeon requires one mate.
One pigeon can be handled frequently.
One pigeon requires one race band.
One pigeon requires one seamless band.
One pigeon requires less time to scan for races.
One pigeon is much cheaper to train and race than a large team of pigeons.
One pigeon requires far less time to properly manage than a large team of pigeons.
One pigeon requires less physical and mental effort yet gives more enjoyment than a large team of pigeons.
The proper management of one pigeon is far less overwhelming for novice fanciers than racing a large team of pigeons.
These are a few of the benefits of racing one pigeon instead of a large team of pigeons. If size does matter in the pigeon racing sport, then I believe that a smaller size is better than a larger size. Racing one pigeon well can be far more enjoyable and competitive than flying a large team of pigeons whose place at the top of the race sheet is determined by random luck rather than effective management.
In about one week now, racing pigeon fanciers all over the world - and particularly in Belgium, will be "coupling" (we say "pairing" in America) their breeders and racers to breed "winter youngsters" in a very early first round. As I have indicated in many past blogs, the Belgian racing pigeon fancy prefers to race first round young birds that are ready to "ring" (we say "band" in America) during the first week in January. The Belgian fancy prefers to race the oldest young birds possible during racing season and especially during the four national races which begin around August 1st of each year. That is why the Belgian racing pigeon calendar begins on or about December 1st of each year. As I have also said before, the 2010 young bird racing season begins in November when the breeders are readied for pairing on December 1st of each year.
Successful coupling begins with handling each breeder many times so that complementary mates can be paired. The coupling process is enhanced by studying pedigrees so that complementary mates can be paired in order to produce prepotent breeders. During the 2009 coupling process which occurred last year in November 2008, numerous pedigrees were analyzed and coupled "on paper." The following pedigrees are examples. Please study the pedigrees of the parents to determine the degree of prepotency and hybrid vigor.
PAIR ONE: Parents of AU 09 ARPU 52465: SEND CASH
1. BELG 04 6074026 Blue male
2. BELG 03 6194440 - Blue female
3. Progeny: AU 09 ARPU 52465 - Blue WF male - SEND CASH
Analyzing this pair or couple, it should be noted that the female, BELG 6192440, is a full sister to the father of the male, BELG 02 6115379. In other words the male is the nephew of the female. Consequently, SEND CASH is line-bred to the YOUNG SUPER ACE as well as the full sister to the KANNIBAAL. Although CASH is somewhat tightly line-bred, the fact that he raced consistently well is a reliable indicator of his hybrid vigor. The majority of the time, if a racing pigeon with a tightly bred pedigree like CASH performs well, then the odds are that he will also be a very good breeder.
PAIR TWO: A PROPOSED BREEDING FOR 2010.
1. BELG 05 6046891 Blue male
2. BELG 04 6073185 Blue female
3. PROGENY
This is a very interesting pair of breeders. The father of the male and the father of the female are nest mate brothers: BELG 98 6121464 and BELG 98 6121465. The mother of the male and the mother of the female are full sisters. In addition, the father of the male and the mother of the female were once coupled when they bred the 1st National Souillac winner for Antoine Jacops in 2005. The Progeny of this pair will be very tightly bred; perhaps too tight to produce a great racer. We'll just have to wait and see.
These two Pairs of breeders reflect the type of race birds I like to breed and race; although their pedigrees are unusually homogenous - even for my preferences. If the progeny races well however, their future racing performance will verify and substantiate their hybrid vigor while their pedigrees verify and substantiate their prepotency.
It helps to pre-mate breeders unless breeders are going to be re-coupled with an old mate. During the past several weeks, the breeders have been pre-mated with new mates. Pre-mating will speed up the production of eggs for the first round and therefore make the first round more uniform in age. Pre-mating goes better if it is performed in bright sunlight or adequate interior lightening. Light and the number of daylight hours affects the pituitary gland and stimulates breeders to engage in sexual behavior. It helps to keep breeders on 16 or 17 hours of daylight (sufficient interior lighting) in order to successfully raise an early round of winter-breds. If you haven't placed your breeders on an extended light system yet, do so now. It is very advantageous to breed a first round that is hatched within a week of each other. when the first round is weaned and placed in the settling cage for lofting, it is best for the first rounders to be very close in age to one another. It is not advantageous to breed rounds of youngsters that are weeks apart in age. A uniform age allows fanciers to train each round of young birds much easier and much better - which will develop the young birds into racers that perform at a higher level during training and racing.
Having breeders ready to couple on December 1st and pre-mating breeding couples so that they will lay their eggs between 7 and 10 days after mating are two critically important management procedures in order for the race team to perform well in the next young bird race series.
In addition, the breeding loft and nest boxes should be cleaned and ready for breeding. The breeders should have plenty of clean water, fresh grit, fresh pickstone, and clean feed in order to raise healthy youngsters. Taking a page out of the horse and cattle management procedures, I creep feed youngsters in the breeding box from about 10 days of age until they are weaned. I use small bowls of grain to feed them. Even at two weeks of age, youngsters watch their parents eat and model their behavior after their parents so that they begin eating grain much earlier than if they are required to fly to the loft floor to first learn to eat. Creep feeding youngsters also reduces the stress upon the breeders of feeding youngsters entirely by themselves.
Plan for success now rather than wait until your options are limited. Only keep those breeders that you can properly afford to manage and expense. Only raise the number of youngsters that you can afford to properly care for. It is better to feed 20 pigeons a $18.00 bag of feed than it is to feed 40 youngsters a $10.00 bag of feed. Fanciers should let their finances play a role in the number of pigeons that they keep - the more limited the finances, the fewer birds fanciers should raise and keep. The type of young bird season that fanciers desire during next year's race series will be largely determined by the actions fanciers take during the latter days of November each and every year. The annual calendar for the pigeon game starts next week on December 1st - not on January 1st. Those fanciers that are ready for the opening day of the calendar year will race young bird teams that perform at the top of the race sheet during next year's race series.
GIVING THANKS
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. At a time in our history when it is quite fashionable to criticize almost everything on a regular basis, it is the time in our American calendar to give thanks for the great opportunities we have to participate in the fabulous Sport of Racing Pigeons. Since I have been writing this blog, I have received emails from all over the world from enthusiastic pigeon fanciers like myself who really enjoy the Sport. Racing pigeons is truly a global sport that binds diverse fanciers together from all over the world. The only impediment to our global community is language and distance. However, the internet is quickly breaking down these barriers.
Homing pigeons have blessed my life tremendously. Outside of family, pigeons have nurtured and blessed me in a way that no other activity on earth has been able to do. I know that it is hard for many non-pigeon people to understand the sanctity and peace that can be found inside a pigeon loft. I know it may be difficult for some to appreciate the thrill of first glimpsing a racing pigeon on the horizon on its way home from a far away place. I understand that not everyone can take pride in a great young bird or a great old bird. Yet for me, these important parts of the sport represent the very best that the sport has to offer. As you probably know by now, I believe that a great pigeon is infinitely more enjoyable than a diploma or an award. The value for me is not in the award; but in the performance of the pigeon. I simply love great performances of great pigeons.
GREAT PIGEONS MAKE IT ALL WORTHWHILE
For instance, yesterday I was talking with Kirk Hardin, Tri County Loft in Glencoe Oklahoma. Kirk and his daughter Hannah compete in the Northeast Oklahoma Racing Pigeon Federation. As I understand it, one of Kirk's top young birds won the First Ace Pigeon Award as the Federation's best young bird in 2009. Kirk was discussing whether or not he should stock the young bird or continue racing it because of the award. I suggested that he keep racing it in order to achieve an AU Championship before he retires the pigeon to the breeding loft. Kirk agreed. Excellent racing pigeons should be valued for their performances because great pigeons are hard to breed.
Kirk's Ace pigeon is bred from a male that he raised out from Antoine Jacops stock and a Jacops female directly from me. The Ace pigeon is about 3/4s Antoine Jacops breeding. Kirk and Hannah split the young bird race team and Hannah claimed all of the pigeons with any white - which makes her team easy to recognize. As Kirk reported to me, Hannah's team won 1st Average Speed in the entire Federation in 2009 young birds. Congratulations Hannah! Hannah is a very knowledgeable teenager and knows a good pigeon when she sees it.
In addition, since the 2009 young bird results were recently posted on ARPU's National Database, Steve King, Fast Lane Loft, is presently listed in 4th place nationally. Steve's base breeding family is the Antoine Jacops pigeons which he crosses on other families of pigeons. Steve is a fourth year fancier and a very quick learner. He recently built a new loft that allows him to race his pigeons on the widowhood method of motivation. Congratulations Steve! Other NEO Federation fanciers whose young bird race teams have excelled in the 2009 young bird series are Roland Gutierrez in 5th place and Bill Hill in 6th place. Congratulations Roland and Bill! Many of you may know Roland and Bill. They have been pillars of pigeon racing in the Tulsa area for many years and their pigeons are at the top of the race sheet on every race. These results prove that the Northeast Oklahoma Federation is always a very competitive place to race pigeons!
A TIME TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS
The break between the end of the young bird race series and the beginning of the old bird race series is usually a good time to make improvements to the loft. Besides pairing breeders next week, now is often a good time to make these improvements.
TRAPPING AND POINT OF ENTRY
Although many fanciers may currently have separate lofts for young birds and old birds. it has been my experience that having one central place for all of the pigeons to trap for all of their lives is truly a blessing. In my loft, there is one central room into which all of the pigeons trap and enter. Once in the entry room, they can exit left, right, or straight ahead. There can be up to seven exits from the entry room into eight different loft sections. Pigeons are incredibly smart and will quickly learn how to enter their loft section from the entry room. May I suggest that you try this type of construction if you have not done so. It really simplifies the management of all of the race birds and lofted breeders.
NEST BOXES
It has also been my experience that race birds enjoy a nest box that is 30 inches wide by 22 inches deep at a minimum. I prefer that the racers stay in their box when I enter their loft section; whether I am passing through, feeding, changing the water or cleaning the loft section. The 22 inch depth of the box allows the racers to stand quietly and unafraid while the 30 inch width takes into account space for mates, nest bowls, and youngsters. Every nest box has a Belgian wire-coated nest front that can lock pigeons inside half of the box or the entire box. Properly built nest boxes are absolutely critical to the success of the classical style of the widowhood motivational system for pigeons. Without properly constructed boxes, the widowhood system is somewhat neutralized because it is based on the passion the pigeons develop for the space or territory. A nest box represents the territory or interior world of a widowhood racer. It's the apartment or condo in a multi-occupant dwelling. The better or more functional the nest box, the better or more functional the territory. The better the territory, the more the passion a widow will generate to defend it. The more a widow feels the passion to maintain and defend a territory or nest box, the faster a widow will race home. It's almost that simple. Take a look at your nest boxes then ask yourself these questions: Do you observe that your pigeons really enjoy their space or nest boxes? Are they quick to defend it when an intruder enters? Do your racers defend their nest box with passion and aggression? Do your racers stay in their boxes when you enter their area? If your answers are anything other than an enthusiastic and resounding yes; then you may want to reconstruct your nest boxes and limit the number of nest boxes within each section of the loft.
LOSING PIGEONS CAN BE A BLESSING
Often I hear that fanciers' race teams perform much better after a significant portion of their teams have been lost during the race series. This is usually because racing performance is always impacted negatively by overcrowding. Once overcrowding is reduced through losses, the remaining race birds become healthier and more territorial which improves their future racing performance. Pigeons cannot defend something that doesn't exist. In general, the better the territory, the better the racing performances will be.
TACKLING OTHER PROBLEMS IN THE LOFT
May I suggest that you study your loft during the next few weeks over the fall holidays on your time off; then ask yourself several basic questions. Does your loft have proper ventilation or is it simply drafty? If there are wire floors, is the loft drafty and free from odor? If there are solid floors, is it clean? Is it free from vermin? Is it overcrowded? Are there too many nest boxes in too small of an area? Are the nest boxes too small? Do the nest boxes have nest fronts (this is a critical management tool)? The winter break can be a time to improve your loft based upon the lessons that you have learned from experience and from study.
To be continued...........Thank you....................................Please come back again.................................................Dr. John & Morgan Lamberton