December BLOG 2009

12.09.09 - Wednesday

For those of us who have coupled breeders during the past several weeks, the 2010 breeding season is underway.  In November, the breeders should have been thoroughly medicated.  Nest boxes should have been thoroughly cleaned.  Pedigrees should have been thoroughly studied.  And, breeders should have been thoroughly handled.  If these activities were successfully accomplished, the results of the hard work exercised in November is currently mirrored in the breeding boxes of the breeding loft.  Today, there are about 50 pairs of breeders already coupled in order to breed a race team made up of first and second round young birds.  There are about 50 more pairs that will be coupled later.

Usually, there were several pairing choices prior to the coupling of each pair of breeders.  While I have made my choices for now, after a round or two of breeding, many of the breeders will probably be re-coupled to breed youngsters from one or more of the other breeding choices that were determined for many of the breeding pairs.  Coupling or pairing is always a dynamic process.  I prefer to create pairing choices through a diverse breeding program.  Next year's pairing choices (2011) will depend upon the current matings in the breeding program.

The breeders should be laying their first eggs shortly; if they haven't done so already.  I use Belgian clay nest bowls.  I place oval pads in the bottom of the nest bowls to create padding for the nests.  I then place pine needles that have been accumulated from various local sources in the bottom of each loft section.  Each pair of breeders are required to build nests.  Building nests is a critically important part of the breeding process.  Nest building is also a valuable tool to evaluate young birds and yearlings as future race birds. 

The laying of eggs is the final result of a seven to fourteen day process.  It is best for breeders to go through a number of distinct phases in order to successfully lay their eggs. The Phases leading up to egg laying are as follows:

• Phase 1 is courtship.  Older breeders tend to court their mates faster than younger breeders. Young birds and yearlings tend to be more aggressive during the courtship process.  They require much more pre-mating in order to facilitate a successful mating process than old birds require.  For instance, young males will fight and act aggressively toward new mates more than older males.  Older males are usually calm and very suave; and they can quickly couple with either young or older females with little trouble or chance of injury. 

• Phase 2 is sitting in the nests.  After coupling, breeders intensify their relationship by spending time in nest bowls physically touching each other. 

• Phase 3 is nest building.  Nest building intensifies the relationships of breeding couples and intensifies the feeling that the couples develop for their nests and nest boxes - and ultimately in the loft itself.  Nest building requires both partners to work together in order to build comfortable, safe and secure nests for themselves and their future clutches.  It is physically and psychologically important that breeders and racers have the opportunity to build suitable nests by providing plenty of nesting material for all pigeons coupled - whether race birds or breeders.

• Phase 4 is mating. During the entire mating process, couples must be given enough physical space to successfully mate such that other birds do not keep fellow breeders from copulating.  A lack of space often results in infertile eggs or only one fertile egg in the nest.  A lack of physical space can also retard the egg laying process for days or weeks.

• Phase 5 is driving.  After coupling, nest building and mating, males will drive their females to lay in their nests.  This phase is often a crazy time in the loft as males are ruthlessly chasing their females; and only rest when their females are sitting in their nest bowls.  As you no doubt have seen, females often have trouble eating and drinking while males are driving them.

• Phase 6 is egg laying. Once breeders have successfully built suitable nests, the females will sit in their nests until they lay their eggs.  Usually, females should lay their eggs within 7 to 14 days after coupling.

Each of these six phases is important to the goal of producing eggs from each pair of breeders within a week of each other.  A lack of light, cold temperatures, overcrowding, a lack of nesting material and incompatible couples are all deterrents or retardants to the breeding process.  Successful winter breeding is usually not hard to accomplish; if the proper steps are taken to produce a successful result for each and every breeding couple.

I find December an exciting time of the year.  It is the beginning of the 2010 racing season.  For me, December represents a new start.  December represents a hope for a new highly successful race season in the young bird race series next fall.  More importantly, December represents the Hope of the World through the birth of Christ Jesus - God's perfect Son.  As part of this super human pfemaleomenon, December reflects a special and unique time of giving.  In order to prepare for Christmas, immediately after the Thanksgiving weekend, Morgan unpacked the Christmas ornaments and other Holiday paraphernalia and completely decorated the house. We purchased a "real" Christmas tree at a local tree farm and placed it in its usual spot in the living room.  We have almost 20 stockings completely covering the mantle for  children and grandchildren.  For us, December is a time of real joy.

In order to reduce potential problems, if necessary, the breeding loft should be winterized or covered such that eggs are not chilled or frozen despite the breeders' best efforts to keep them warm.  It is best to keep the breeding loft quiet and calm so that breeders will sit tight on their nests.  Depending upon the ambient temperature, eggs can be chilled in a matter of moments if fanciers are not careful in the breeding loft.

The onset of the breeding season can be a time of joy, celebration and enthusiastic expectation for the promise of next year's young birds.  It is a great time of the year! Enjoy it! 

12.11.09 - Friday

GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS: Managing Breeders to Lay Around December 10th

The very most important statement that I can write in this entire blog is the following:  effective and successful racing pigeon fanciers are people who know how to manage their pigeons in such a way that their expectations and goals are manifested in the behavior of their pigeons.  This statement is the key to playing the racing pigeon game successfully.  There are many goals and expectations that must be realized in order to play the game at the top of the race sheet.  The first major goal that must be accomplished in the yearly calendar (that begins about November 1st) is successfully raising an early or "winter" round of young birds that hatch around January 1 of each year.  Whether the young bird race series begins in May, June, July, August or September, it is usually best to race the oldest and most mature young birds possible in order for the youngsters to be the most competitive in the races.  Consequently, January 1st hatches usually make the best possible race birds.  In order for breeders to hatch a first round of youngsters around January 1st, breeding pairs need to lay eggs about December 10th of each year.  In order for breeders to lay their eggs by December 10th, they should be coupled during the last week of November.  Even if breeders are coupled during the last week of November, they may not lay their eggs in 10 to 14 days; or by December 10th.  Pigeons are not robots.  Pigeons are not mechanical; they are not machines.  They cannot be programmed to respond automatically.  Pigeons are animals.  They are unpredictable.  They have minds and desires of their own.  Consequently, they must be managed with great sensitivity and care in order for them to behave consistently with the goals of their fanciers in order for their fanciers to play the game at the top of the race sheet.  One desire of every pigeon is to be coupled with pigeons for which they feel extremely passionately.  In the wild, pigeons usually mate on a basis of choice.  Do you know how differently one pigeon will "feel" for another?  Unless you have observed the differences, it may be hard to understand the importance or seriousness of which I speak.  when choosing mates for your breeders rather than letting your breeders make their own choices - it is important to couple pigeons who feel passionately about each other.  In order to fully understand the importance of compatibility, try coupling a male with several females or a female with several males and carefully observe and record the responses for each pair of pigeons.  I am willing to bet that you will see a variety of responses - one pigeon for another.  Even if a potential breeding couple is pfemaleotypically and genetically compatible, if they don't respond passionately to each other when coupled, they may not lay a clutch of eggs by December 10th.  Instead, it may take a month or two for dispassionate breeders to eventually lay a round of eggs.  If a majority of breeders follow this procedure, a uniform round of early youngsters will be very hard to breed.  Dispassionate compatibility often neutralizes or subverts the significant benefits of breeding and racing winter youngsters. 

A second important goal when trying to breed winter youngsters is simulating the normal daylight hours that pigeons experience in spring and summer through 16 hours of artificial daylight.  Daylight or artificial indoor light affects the pituitary gland of all animals and influences many behaviors including sexual behavior.  Without extended light in the breeding loft, breeders will often take two or three times as long to lay their first round of eggs.  If this happens, once again, delayed egg production due to reduced winter light may subvert the significant benefits of breeding and racing winter youngsters.

A third important goal when trying to breed winter youngsters is temperature control and a comfortable loft.  If outside temperatures are consistently below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, open, airy and drafty lofts will usually prevent breeders from laying eggs quickly or by December 10th.  Even if outside temperatures are cold, lofts should be winterized in such a way that breeders are as comfortable as possible.  when winterizing your lofts, be careful to maintain proper ventilation.  Inadequate ventilation will produce respiratory problems in breeders which will affect the health and vitality of winter youngsters.  It is of little benefit to raise an early round of unhealthy youngsters.  Unhealthy breeders and youngsters are a scourge and will only result in great expense for medicines and a significant loss of precious breeding time. Creating health problems in the winter breeding months will force fanciers to medicate breeders and wait to raise healthy rounds of youngsters in April and May when breeders are healthy.

These three goals, (1) coupling passionate breeding pairs, (2) simulating springtime daylight, and (3) comfortable and non-drafty lofts, are goals fanciers must manage in order for pigeons to respond properly.  Successful fanciers manage.  Unsuccessful fanciers ignore successful goals and management strategies and simply allow their pigeons to couple and breed strictly on their own without any consideration for the basic needs and desires of their pigeons.  Unsuccessful fanciers do not understand the intricate behaviors of complex racing pigeons or the enormous amount of work that it takes to get pigeons to behave consistently with successful goals.  Unsuccessful fanciers simply allow their pigeons to breed in large rooms with little consideration for the importance of pedigrees and genotypes.  Many of them do not keep breeding records.  Unsuccessful fanciers simply try to raise as many pigeons and possible and race 50 or 100 or 150 pigeons each week hoping that one of their pigeons will race near the top of the sheet.  In fact, I heard a fancier say the other day that a small race team was 45 to 60 pigeons.  For me, a small race team is less than 10 pigeons - say, 5 or 6 pigeons.

Sensitive, thoughtful management based upon a pigeon's basic needs influences each pigeon to behave according to my specific goals and expectations.  Managing pigeons "in mass" without consideration for the needs and desires of each pigeon will reduce the performance of all pigeons.  This type of uninformed and careless management relies strictly on luck in order for pigeons to race well.  If I want to play a game based strictly on luck, I will go to a casino.  However, if I want to play the racing pigeon game at the top of the race sheet, I must understand and properly manage the basic needs and desires of my pigeons and I must manage the loft in such a way that my goals will be successfully manifested in their performances - starting with my desire for them to lay their eggs on or about December 10th.

12.14.09 - Monday

I recently received word from my friend Larry Adams of Durant Oklahoma that one of his young bird teams is currently 3rd Champion Loft in 2009 young birds.  Larry's results are under his wife Nancy's name.  Larry and Nancy typically race two teams of pigeons.  Many of Larry's breeders are Antoine Jacops directly from the Lamberton Loft or bred down from the original Jacops breeders. While the Jacops pigeons have bred Larry many excellent racers, the male in what may be Larry's best "hit pair" is a son of S. R. HADDEN, a full brother of SPACEMAN that has been breeding in Tulsa for several years.  The sister to SPACEMAN, SKYLAR, is also breeding in Tulsa and has bred Steve King, Fast Lane Loft, very nice pigeons.  Congratulations Larry and Nancy.

Interestingly, as I have said before, Steve King, my club mate, is 4th National Champion Loft 2009 YBs while Roland Gutierrez and Bill Hill in another Tulsa club, Greater Tulsa RPC, are 5th and 6th respectively.  The racing pigeon game is played very competitively in Oklahoma in general and northeast Oklahoma in particular.

In family news, our son Jeremy (who takes such incredible pigeon portraits) is also a film maker.  Because Jeremy has been working so many long hours on a documentary film for over two years now, our youngest son, Jeff has taken over a large part of the pigeon management and loft duties, chores and assignments. Jeff has also been taking excellent pigeon portraits and will soon start filming more short instructional videos to post of our website when the weather gets just a little warmer.  Back to Jeremy, the film on which he has been working was recently accepted by the Slamdance Film Festival: an alternative film festival to the more traditional Sundance Film Festival.  The following announcement was taken from Variety.com about the Slamdance 2010 festival.  I have highlighted Jeremy's submission in red towards the end of the article in the list of Documentary Films selected.

We are all very proud of Jeremy and wish him the very best as he struggles to become a successful filmmaker.

Here are portraits taken by both Jeremy and Jeff.  Jeremy has been taking portraits for several years and Jeff has been taking portraits for several months.

Jeremy's Portrait DIAMOND CHEX

Jeff's Portrait DIAMOND RIO

It has been too cold and the hawks have been too intrusive to exercise the race birds.  So they have been sitting in the loft.  I have handled many of them and they have gained a little weight - a little more than is desirable.  If I exercise the widows now, I'm afraid that the hawks will be too fast for them since they have gained weight.  Consequently, I am placing the race birds on a diet of 1/3 barley and 2/3rds regular mix to see how fast they lose a little weight.  After a week or two, their weight should be down enough for them to evade any Coopers Hawks that fly by.

Meanwhile, the breeders have been laying their eggs for the first round.  Their nests contain pads on which they build nests made from pine needles which are placed on the loft floor.  Although it is not a fool proof  connection, over the years I have found that the best racing widowhood males build the largest and most elaborate nests out of the pine needles that are provided.  They also are often the fastest pigeons to build quality nests.  While one yearling may place only a few needles in his nest for his female to use to build the nest, other yearlings will bring hundreds of pine needles for their females to build nests that are four to six inches over the rim of the nest bowl when they are finished.  I have often wondered what accounts for these differences in behavior?  All I can do is guess and surmise that the males that work the very hardest with the most passion and attention to detail while building their nests carry these same qualities over into the races.  Like architects or construction engineers, I think it takes a great deal of abstract intelligence to build high quality nests.  The abstract intelligence that is demonstrated in nest building is also a large factor in understanding a motivational system and racing home rather than flying home. 

12.17.09 - Thursday

THE IMPORTANCE OF NEST BUILDING

Over the past few weeks, I have tried to stress the critical importance of allowing the breeders to build their own nests as well as providing the breeders with plenty of high quality nesting material.  I like to use fresh long pliable pine needles.  when the hawks are not cruising the loft and when the weather is relatively balmy, I often will place the pine needles on the ground just outside of the racing loft.  There are medium-sized doors on the outside of each loft section through which the race birds can fly in order to bring nesting materials from outside of the loft to the inside the loft.  when this situation is possible, the race birds will bring almost anything into the loft and carry it up to their nest.  In the case of the import breeders, since they never go outside, their pine needles are placed on the loft floor of each section.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FREQUENT BATHING DURING NESTING

Another important activity for the racers and breeders during nesting is bathing at least once a week.  First of all, bathing makes pigeons happy.  Pigeons love to take baths.  Bathing relaxes them and calms them down.  In addition, bathing cleanses them, helps maintain good feather quality, and helps get rid of unwanted parasites.  Another very important function of bathing is the effect that it has on the eggs that the breeders have recently laid or will soon lay in the case of winter breeding.  when breeders bath, their feathers obviously become somewhat wet or damp.  After bathing when the breeders sit on their eggs, the moisture from their feet, legs, and feathers on their lower body will slightly moisten the eggs in the nest.  If breeders are allowed to bath frequently, over a three week period of time, the shells of the eggs will become a little more flexible which will allow the babies inside the eggs to peck out a little easier than if the shells are not moistened at all.  The difference in shell quality after bathing may be slight; but it is just another nuance practiced by many of the world's best fanciers in Belgium.  Even in cold temperatures, pigeons will willingly bath.  If the sun is shining and the temperature is above 38 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the pigeons will have the opportunity to bath.  Sometimes an Ivomec drench or Adams Shampoo (with Permethrin) is added to the water to control parasites.  In addition, there many other Belgian bath products that can be used effectively which will soften, cleanse and stimulate the breeder's feathers.  Bathing can have many positive benefits for pigeons and most fanciers know about the beneficial effects on pigeons.  However, the beneficial effects upon egg shells are not as easy to recognize and appreciate. 

12.24.09 - Thursday

RECORD KEEPING

It more important than ever for fanciers to create an information cache either by hand or on the computer or both.  There are many ways to accomplish the goal of good record keeping.  I like to use three-ring binders that can be copied or scanned into the computer.  The first type of record that should be kept is the BREEDING RECORD.  A basic breeding record should include several bits of information including:

• date of hatching

• ring number

• color

• sex

• sire

• dam

• interesting or pertinent notes

The following Table 1 demonstrates a typical page in the annual breeding book.

Table One

These pages are printed on the computer, holes punched in the sides and the sheets are placed in a three-ring binder marked 2010 BREEDING RECORD.  The cover page is slipped under the transparent cover on the front of the three-ring binder.  The cover page often displays a picture of a significant breeder or some other picture that reminds me of the breeding season.  The columns of the table are adjusted to the space needed for the column of information.  For instance, sex is designated with a C or H; consequently, this column of information can be extremely thin.  The NOTES column is always the widest to allow more information to be recorded.

A second important record shown in Table Two is the Yearly Medication Record.  Like the Breeding Record, the Medication Record includes column of information.  The following Table Two demonstrates the basic information that should be continuously recorded.

Table Two

A third type of important record are the Training Records (Table Three).  The following record is the Comprefemalesive Young Bird Training Record.  That is, it is a comprefemalesive record of each and every training toss.  The Comprefemalesive Record summarizes the information for each toss so that an overall view of the training schedule becomes apparent.  This record will record the number of tosses each young bird was given provided the young bird was not late or lost on a previous toss.

Table Three

A second important Training Record (Table Four) is the Single Training Record which records the arrival times for each young bird for every training toss before the selected race team are chipped for the races.  Once the younng bird race team has been selected and chipped, arrival times are printed out from the Unikon Timer.  Prior to this, the Single Young Bird Training Record is one of the most important documents since the arrival statistics provide a major criteria for selecting the final young bird race team.

Table Four

Coupling records are also important; but I use the Power Pigeon Pedigree Program to track breeding couples and their progeny on an annual basis. 

Information is critical to success and competitiveness in any sport.  In the pigeon sport, information should be treated like a major partner; especially in the breeding and racing operations.  Information is power.  Although you may have a great memory, there is absolutely no way that all of the year's decisions, events can be memorized and held indefinitely without being permanently recorded.  Consequently, written records are an absolute must in the basic operations of a pigeon loft. 

Please remember that creating, organizing, analyzing and interpreting information or data is one of the most important functions of fanciers who play at the top of the race sheet.  The more pigeons that one keeps in the loft: breeders and racers - the more important written records become to the overall success of the loft. While it is much easier to remember the progeny of a few pairs of breeders, it is much harder to remember the progeny of fifty pairs of breeders.  It is relatively easy to remember the training results of six youngsters while it is extremely difficult to remember the training records of more than about 12 pigeons or 60 to 100 pigeons.  Written records provide a tremendous support system to our memories.  Although we think that we will remember, memories often fade; especially when a large number of pigeons are involved. As a rule, the more pigeons that fanciers manage, the more important written records are to success at the top of the race sheet. 

12.28.09 - Monday

PIGEON RACING IS A GAME

Racing pigeons is a game.  It can be played in many ways.  The modern game was first popularized in Belgium in the middle 1800s.  In Belgium, fanciers compete with their "best" birds against the "best" birds of other fanciers.  The key word in describing the Belgian form of the game is the word "best."  Belgian fanciers compete with their "best" pigeons.  The predominant philosophy that seems to permeate the American version of the racing pigeon game is that American fanciers race "all" of their pigeons against other fanciers who race "all" of their pigeons; the word "all" meaning all of those pigeons that remain after training or after a race series has been completed.  Therefore, a simple way to distinguish between the Belgian game and the American game is to examine the difference between the terms "best" and "all."

To me as a classically trained fancier in Belgian methodology, the terms "best" pigeons means the very top tier of pigeons in terms of breeding and performance.   It means those "uncommon" birds on the race team. It means those birds that excel above and beyond the statistical average or the " normative" pigeons on the race team.  In order to determine which pigeons are the "best" racing pigeons, we can turn to the fascinating world of statistics.  For instance, we might create a table the ranks the average Time To Win from first to last.  As a hypothetical example, if we take the average Times To Win for each of nine* pigeons on the race team, we might get a distribution that can be described by the following Table A:

*For the purpose of this discussion, I have limited the number of pigeons on the race team to nine for simplification purposes only.  This number should be the actual number of birds on the race team.

In determining which pigeons are the "best" pigeons in terms of the average Time To Win, how should we determine which pigeons performed the "best."  The first two pigeons all scored under an average Time To Win of three minutes.  Are they the best?  The first four pigeons scored under an average of eight minutes.  Are they the best?  The first six pigeons scored under an average of twenty-three minutes.  Are they the best?  Should we also include Pigeon 7 in the discussion?  Pigeon 7 scored well under Pigeons 8 and 9.  Is Pigeon 7 also one of the best?

Now let's add the actual Prizes that several of the pigeons won to the discussion in order to further analyze the data.  Pigeon 8, a pigeon that we might eliminate or not include as one of the "best" actually won a 1st  prize.  It is a race winner.  Yet, it scores second to last in terms of average Time To Win.  Should we include Pigeon 8 as one of the "best" simply because it won one race?

Let's examine the difference between the first two pigeons.  Pigeon 1 has the lowest average Time To Win.  Is it the "best" performing pigeon?  Clearly Pigeon 2 has far more "head" prizes than Pigeon 1.  But Pigeon 2 has one race in which it scored 135th prize and another where it scored 41st prize.  These two races caused Pigeon 2 to score second in the distribution.  If we took out one or both of these races, Pigeon 2 would score 1st  average by far.  So is Pigeon 1 the "best" performing racing pigeon or is Pigeon 2 the "best"?

In order to further examine the relevance and meaning of these statistics, we should also include the average number of pigeons in the races.  If the average number of pigeons in the races was 160, then the 135th prize of Pigeon 2 was indeed a very poor race.  If the average number of pigeons in the races was 500, then Pigeon 2 still scored in the top 1/3 of the pigeons in the race.  Not too bad considering the number of pigeons in the race.  If the number of pigeons in the races was 1,500, then Pigeon 2's performance scores even better.  Now Pigeon 2's 135th prize is in the top 10% of the pigeons in the race.  Now is Pigeon 2 actually the "best" racing pigeon on the team?

Another statistic that influences the interpretation of the average Time To Win statistic is the speeds of each race.  If Pigeon 2 scored 135th on a very fast race and was only a few minutes away from 1st prize - then 135th prize isn't so low or poor.

Let's turn to another statistical tool to understand how to make decisions concerning which pigeons are the "best" pigeons on the race team.  The following graph shows the "Bell-Shaped" Curve.

The Bell-Shaped Curve is a curve that demonstrates a range of scores that includes a statistical "average".  If we would plot all of the prizes for each racer on the team, we should get a plot that resembles a "bell shape."  Some prizes are higher.  Some prizes are lower.  And the majority of the prizes are somewhere between higher and lower prizes.  The mid point of the distribution or curve is known as the "average" or the "norm."  For the best loft in a club, the average prize for the entire race series might be 4th prize.  For the worst performing loft in the club, the average prize for the entire race series might be 60th prize.  Using the Bell-Shaped Curve as a tool, we can determine that the "best" pigeons are the pigeons that perform higher than the statistical average or the norm.  If the average prize for the race team for all of the races is 18th, then those pigeons that scored on the average higher than the 18th prize should be the "best" pigeons on the race team.  In the case of Table A, in terms of the statistical average of prizes, Pigeon 3 actually has the highest average prize.  Is Pigeon 3 the "best."

All of these discussions of which pigeons are the "best" require an analysis of the performances of a race team and it requires that decisions are made based upon that analysis.  Many fanciers do not feel comfortable making that statistical analysis or making those hard decisions concerning which pigeons are really the "best" racing pigeons on the race team.  After all, there are pigeons that mature as yearlings or two-year old pigeons and perform better as they grow older.  There are pigeons that race better at the short, or middle, or longer distances.  There are pigeons that race better in tail winds.  There are pigeons that race better in head winds.  There are pigeons that race better in bright sunshine on a fast race while there are pigeons that race better when it is cloudy and dark. 

Rather than deciding which pigeons are the "best" pigeons on the race team, it is much easier to race every pigeon hatched or every pigeon left on the race team after every race.  Many fanciers say that they let the "basket" make their decisions for them.  They simply race those pigeons that remain in the basket after exposing their pigeons to some sort of training schedule.  Whether the schedule is very rigorous or very easy, many fanciers simply race all of those pigeons that are left available to them in the basket.  And while there is nothing wrong with that method of making decisions, it is not consistent with the Belgian method. 

The basket can be used to yield data which can be analyzed in order to yield some sort of direction in the decision-making process.  I do not race all of the pigeons that remain in the basket after training or after a race series has been completed.  I want to race only the best; and that means that I must make difficult decisions based upon the training and performances of the pigeons as to which pigeons are really the "best" pigeons to race.  I have been taught that the number of pigeons on the race team affects the performance of each pigeon on the race team.  Why?  Because it is virtually impossible for a single fancier to properly manage and motivate a large number of race birds on a race team in order to consistently place each pigeon at the top of the race sheet.  I know a few Belgian fanciers that race large teams.  But they have significant help from partners or other family members to play the game with a large number of pigeons.

I have been taught to play the game by selecting the very best pigeons to race on a relatively small race team - compared with most of the fanciers in the American fancy.  This method of playing the game requires difficult decision-making in order to race only the "best" pigeons rather than racing all of the pigeons that remain in the basket.  Over the years, I have found that many average pigeons still remain in the basket after training and after a race series has been completed.  

To be continued...........Thank you....................................Please come back again.................................................Dr. John & Morgan Lamberton