The beginning of the month of February is a very important time in the year for the 2009 young bird race series. Just as December 1 is an important time in the calendar year to couple the breeders, February 1 marks the time of the year when the first squeakers are ready to train as they come out of the nest. As I indicated in Friday's blog, the relationship with just weaned young birds is a "test of wills." It marks the first important time when a fancier's management strategy can be used in a one-on-one basis with each new young bird. Young bird races in the fall can be won or lost beginning in February.

Never wean a weak youngster or a youngster that does not appear to be physically robust. Never place them in the young bird loft. Squeakers that stand in the nest and droop their wings can be a sign of squeakers who need water. However, droopy wings can also be a sign of weakness. Squeakers that are unusually thin or extremely passive are often weak youngsters. Only wean those youngsters that look and feel strong and healthy. Eliminate all others - now. The minute the decision is made to "give a weak youngster a chance," the overall quality of the young bird team will be severely lowered and handicapped. Why? Because the young bird team will usually model the behavior of the weakest youngster. This tendency reflects one of the statements in the blog that should be copied down on the first page of your annual 2009 three-ring binder. Re-read it every day. It is also holds true for old birds.

Weak youngsters are a scourge to the young bird team - just as weak old birds are a scourge to the old bird race team. Keeping weak pigeons on the team assures that performances during the race season will be clocked at the bottom of the race sheet. Weak youngsters will seldom, if ever, win young bird races and will only encourage the other youngsters to act weakly. Let me state it in terms of human sports. If a weak racer can be defined as a strikeout in baseball, every weak pigeon or strikeout lowers a batting-average. The more strikeouts that occur, the lower the batting average will be. when racers exercise, they tend to want to quit exercising when the first pigeon stops exercising and flies down to the loft. If the first pigeon is a weak one, it's fatigue factor will often encourage the other pigeons to quit exercising early and seek the comfort of the top of the loft. Not every pigeon that lands early is a weak pigeon. If the first pigeon is trying to stop exercising because he or she wants return to its nest to sit on eggs or youngsters, then it is not a weak pigeon. Sometimes "hurt" pigeons will quit exercising early. Sometimes pigeons that have been terrified by a hawk will quit exercising early. Always examine any pigeon or pigeons that want to stop exercising before it is time to stop exercising. (Usually 45 minutes to an hour) Try to determine why a pigeon wants to stop exercising earlier than the others. If it is for an "undesirable" reason, eliminate it from the race team.

Excellent racers want and love to exercise! If the entire team wants to sit on the loft or does not want to fly, there is a health problem throughout the team. If young birds land in trees or on poles and do not want to exercise, there is a problem. Although I allow first time fliers to land somewhere other than the loft one or two times, I never tolerate landing anywhere but on the loft if it becomes a habit. Likewise, never let young birds sit on the loft without exercising after they have learned to fly well. Pigeons learn how to act by modeling behavior. If the behavior of the weakest pigeon or worst behaving youngster becomes the standard for the team, the overall performance of the team will be severely compromised.

The standard for the race team should be a standard of excellence rather than a standard of weakness or a standard of poor performance. I want my race team to fly like winners - robustly, proudly, willingly, effortlessly. I never keep pigeons that will not fly on their own. I never keep pigeons that only exercise when they are coaxed or forced to fly. I look for racers that love to fly. I eliminate all other pigeons on a daily or weekly basis. Not every youngster that is raised is a good one. Every day - every single day - I look for a reason - the slightest reason - to eliminate a young bird from the race team. Remember the Lamberton Rule, on the average, less than 10% of the pigeons raised will include the pool of potential high quality racers for the upcoming young bird race season. Said another way, of the first 100 young birds that I raise in 2009, on the average, less than 10% of them will win prizes during the young bird race series. Excellent pairs of breeding pigeons will breed average youngsters. If a great breeding pair breeds ten youngsters in a breeding season, not all ten of them will be great racers. Several of them will race better than the rest.

What is the standard in your loft? Do you carry weak youngsters on the race team only to lose them off the loft or during training? It is best to eliminate weak pigeons from the young bird loft as soon as possible. February 1 is the time of the year to set your standard for the young bird race team. Let me encourage you to set your standard high. Gerald Koopman once said that he is "lucky" to find a champion pigeon in every 200 young birds he raises. 1 in 200 calculates to one-half of a percent. Koopman's statistical standard is even higher than mine. Eliminate weak youngsters. As soon as a weak youngster is discovered, eliminate it from the race team. A weak youngster will seldom, if ever, become a great racer.

Unless every single pigeon is permanently lost, I do not believe that "smash" training tosses are a bad thing to happen. Smash training tosses are nature's way of correcting the number of young birds on the race team in terms of a statistical odds. The odds are less than 10% that any young bird will make a great racer. If I took 100 young birds on a training toss and lost half of them, the odds are still not in my favor. The odds indicate that I should lose or eliminate 90 out of every 100 young birds that I raise. As my friends know, on a potential smash training toss - when the young birds are obviously late - I only am concerned until the first bird arrives home. After that, I am not concerned at all. Why? If one bird comes home - then all of the birds could have met the standard of the first bird and come home also. The first bird home should be the standard of excellence for the race team rather than how many pigeons didn't return home? If I lost every single pigeon on a training toss, then I might blame myself for the results, i.e., I took them too far, they were not rested, the weather was bad, etc. Fortunately, that has never happened. If it did, I think that the results were my fault and a result of a poor management decision or decisions and that I should have done something differently. But when the first bird arrives, I reason that the first bird came home in spite of my decisions - and if it could have come home - all of the young bird could have come home also. Oftentimes our racers come home in spite of what we do rather than because of what we do as the managing partners in the pigeon game. To repeat, assuming there is no adverse management decision at work affecting the birds, smash training tosses are often nature's way of correcting the number of racers on the race team. I am never upset by a toss during which a significant part of the race team is lost. Normally, many birds that do not come home the day of a smash toss will come home in the next several days. (Just because a bird is late from a smash toss doesn't mean it is a poor pigeon and should be eliminated.)

SELECTION IS A DAILY ACTIVITY RATHER THAN AN OCCASIONAL HEADACHE OR A FUNCTION OF THE TRAINING BASKET ONLY

In conclusion, February 1 is the day when a standard of excellence should be set for youngsters coming out of the nest. After February 1, each young bird should be evaluated against the standard on a daily basis. when a young bird no longer meets the standard for any reason, it should be eliminated from the team at once. Concentrate your time, energy, resources and talents on the best birds on your team rather than continually trying to rehabilitate weak pigeons who will ultimately never score head prizes anyway. I know most fanciers would probably rather leave the business of young bird selection strictly to the basket; but that's an expensive and time consuming way to race pigeons - in addition to the harm it will do over time to the better pigeons on the race team. I become irritated when I see pigeons dominating the race team because thy are weak. Weak pigeons eat a great deal of food. Weak pigeons often become fat. Young birds will not exercise when they are fat and weak. Weak youngsters tire easily and quickly. Weak pigeons encourage better pigeons to model their undesirable behaviors. Weak pigeons are a scourge to the race team that should not be pitied or pampered. Instead, weak pigeons should be immediately eliminated from the team. Take pride in the best pigeons on the race team. Spend your time with your best young birds. Focusing on the best pigeons rather than the poorest pigeons will make a great difference in where your race team scores on the race sheets during the race season in the fall. Don't wait until August to try to win pigeon races. Start now. Only select the very best pigeons for the race team. Resist cramming the young bird loft full of pigeons thinking that the loft will be thinned out when training begins later in the year. The damage that weak youngsters and overcrowding may do to the better young birds may be irreparable by the time training begins.

P. S. Are you keeping daily records in a three-ring binder as I have suggested? If not, please consider doing so immediately. Keep great breeding records in addition to notes about individual pigeons and the loft as a whole.

Good notes kept in a three-ring binder will help you manage your birds by creating a written record of significant events during the calendar year.

Response:

Thank you for your email and welcome to the Sport. Concerning your question about starting the racing pigeon game with breeders or young birds, either way you mention is acceptable. If you want to experience the thrill of watching breeders hatch and raise young birds, obtain several pairs of breeders. If you want to experience the immediate thrill of watching young birds soar around the loft, obtain several young birds. The answer to your question probably lies in which strategy will allow you to have the best access to good quality pigeons. Sadly, if you rely on "gifts" to begin the Sport, you may receive second-rate breeders or culls from established fanciers. Sometimes fanciers use the opportunity of gifting breeders to cull their loft. Other fanciers don't know whether breeders are good or not. Just because a pigeon is a great grandson of Old Joe doesn't make it a good one. In either case, unless you are good friends with a competitive fancier who will mentor you and gift quality breeders or young birds to you, please be cautious of pigeons someone gives you. Although gift pigeons should be blessing for you, it will take years to undue the long-term damage that inferior breeders will do to the performance outcome of your game. It may even cause you to leave the Sport if you have no success racing pigeons due to bad breeders.

If you are able, I suggest that you follow both strategies: obtain a pair or two of good breeders and ten or twelve good young birds. In your planning, keep in mind that you may lose a few young birds before the young bird season begins. Hawks, fly-a-ways, injuries, training losses, etc. may reduce the number of young birds you have available to begin the young bird race series in the fall. Also, if you only obtain young birds now, unless you breed an early round of youngsters from them in January of next year, you will need to obtain another kit of young birds to fly next year since you will probably race the 2009 young birds as yearlings in 2010 and will not want to breed from them while they are racing.

Whatever decision you make, I suggest that you use extreme caution and do not obtain too many pigeons. It is very easy to do in the euphoria of the moment. Your loft is not a large one and could become overcrowded very easily. Even if you obtain very high-quality pigeons, overcrowding will neutralize their quality with fighting and health problems. Unless you enlarge your loft (I am not suggesting that your loft should be enlarged), please stay small by housing only a few pigeons. Stay small for several years while you learn the intricacies of the game.

In order to ensure that new fanciers get started the right way, the AU offers a Help-A-Beginner mentoring program that pairs reputable well-established mentors with new fanciers. I suggest that you visit the AU's website and consider this program. when I began, I purchased a pair of excellent breeders from a local fancier that enjoyed mentoring young people. His name was Keith Parrett. I was 14 years old at the time. His friendship pointed me in the right direction and I have benefited from his mentoring to this day. In addition to good pigeons, I suggest that you seek a good mentor or mentors. when seeking mentors, consider that good mentors may not be able to come to your loft; especially if they are from outside of the State. You may need to travel to their lofts - even if they are out of your immediate area. I began traveling to Belgium to seek mentors over 25 years ago. Today, the internet is a good way to find relevant information for beginners. Through my blog and videos, I try to offer "mentoring on the net." I have a number of exciting additions planned for the website in 2009. Please stay tuned.

Finally, if you decide to purchase pigeons, please make sure that you purchase good pigeons from a reputable breeder. Buying pigeons doesn't necessarily mean that you will receive good pigeons unless the seller is reputable. Only purchase pigeons from someone who has your best long-term interests at heart. I hope these thoughts help you. Please feel free to email any time you wish. Please keep me posted on your progress in the Sport.

I mentioned earlier that some philosophers and social scientists characterize the mind as a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa" at birth. Over time, life experiences are recorded on these mental slates that are reflected in personalities. In other words, these scientists believe that personality is the sum total of life experiences recorded in our minds. There are also genetic "predispositions" that sometimes influence how experiences are recorded on the slate. You may have read in school that ducks imprint an image of their mother at a very early age. Although ducks are used as a classic example of imprinting, I believe that all brains imprint life experiences in the brain in a similar manner to ducks. Experiences recorded during the earliest years of life have a greater meaning or influence over our attitudes and behavior because they are first experiences. First experiences shape and point the human mind in certain directions based upon the content of the first-time experiences. In humans, our brains record places, events, smells, tastes, music, etc. at very early ages that tend to influence our behavior, decisions and preferences throughout our lifetime. Although humans may not imprint first-time experiences with the same intensity as ducks, the human brain still records "first time" or very early life experiences with an intensity that is greater than experiences that occur later in life. I believe that the same is true with all other animals including pigeons. Experiences recorded during the weaning phase - the 5th week of life - the first time out of the protection of parents and the nest - are recorded with an intensity that influences pigeons to behave in certain ways for the rest of their lives.

Memories are imprinted or recorded on synaptic webs within the brain. I believe that "first-time" or very early experiences are recorded differently than later experiences simply because they were recorded first. Consequently, early experiences influence subsequent behavior more powerfully than later experiences in life. All of this to say that the 4th, 5th, and 6th weeks of life represent a critical mental crossroads that will determine a pigeon's behavior for the rest of its life. The first week of February is the 5th week of life for January 1 hatches. The experiences these youngsters are now recording will influence them for the rest of their lives. Antoine Jacops' believes that fanciers should be very strict with just-weaned youngsters. He believes that fanciers should teach these youngsters exactly what is expected of them for the rest of their lives during this week. Lessons about trapping and lessons about coming when called are two critical lessons that must be taught properly and effectively to each youngster during the just-weaned phase of development. During this phase of training, withhold food until the youngsters learn to comply quickly with each task.

Concerning the task of coming when called, I scrape and sweep a portion of the loft floor twice a day in order to feed the youngsters. While sitting on the floor with the young birds, I take a premeasured amount of food (a soup spoonful per young bird) in a two pound coffee can and slowly - very slowly - feed a few grains at a time to the young birds while I call them. I sprinkle the grains on and around my legs and body and call saying come - come - come - come. I also encourage the youngsters to eat from my hand. I teach the youngsters to come to me or stand on me in order to receive each grain. The smart and brave youngsters will have little problem learning this new task quickly. The less intelligent or fearful youngsters will have a greater problem learning or complying with this task. I record the ring numbers of those young birds that learn the fastest and are least fearful. This recorded information will provide one of the first powerful glimpses into which youngsters will become the best racers. I believe that the best racers are the smartest pigeons on the team and the youngsters that have the capacity to replace their innate fear with a learned trust. Learning to come when called is a task which will clearly reveal the learning capacity and compliance factor of each young bird. I urge you to build a relationship of trust with each young bird. Without a meaningful relationship of trust with each racer, racing at the top of the sheet may only represent wishful thinking. The best racers are pigeons that learn quickly and build trusting relationships with their mentors.

Trapping quickly is also a learning activity. After the young birds learn to come quickly when called, I place them on the landing board to enjoy their freedom. After about 30 minutes, I call them into the loft to eat. Only those youngsters who come through the trap and into the loft very quickly receive a full meal. Those that take their time trapping may only get a few grains. Those youngsters that ignore the trapping task are not fed at all. Those that were slow or did not respond are recorded in the 2009 three-ring binder. This information becomes a strike against them. If late youngsters change their behavior on subsequent days, they are added to the list of compliant pigeons and the strike against them is forgiven (not forgotten). Late pigeons continue to receive only a few grains or no feed at all until they comply with the learning activity according to my standard. If they never learn the task correctly, they will be eliminated from the race team. Only select the very best performing youngsters. Youngsters that do not perform correctly at any stage of the developmental process will seldom become top racers. Appreciate those youngsters that learn quickly. Have no pity for those youngsters that learn slowly or refuse to comply. They are a scourge to the young bird team and should be eliminated. when teaching young pigeons to trap, set a realistic time limit. Depending upon the physical construction of the trap (number of entrance holes or slots) and the number of young birds on the team, set a time limit of 30 seconds, one minute, two minutes, etc. for all of the young birds to trap. Any bird that does not trap before the time limit expires receives no food. The odds are great that on the next day, without eating for 24 hours, the slow trappers will be the first young birds through the trap. As with people, sometimes its hard to get a young bird's attention. A hungry pigeon (not a starved pigeon - there is a big difference between the two) is generally an attentive pigeon. Overfeeding is the best way to completely lose control of the young bird team. If you have a tendency to overfeed your pigeons, add about 20% barley or more to the race mix. The barley content will keep your pigeons hungry and counteract the good will you wish to bestow upon the young birds by feeding them every morsel they can eat. While we all want to be good to our racers, overfeeding is bad physically and mentally for pigeons and very hard on the pocket book.

Young birds that learn to come when called will remember the "come" command for the rest of their lives. They may need a quick refresher course from time to time in order to comply more quickly. But the "come when called" task is imprinted in their minds forever. Remember, just weaned youngsters are like a sponge mentally. They soak up knowledge and experience very quickly. The learning phase of homing pigeons is never as fertile as when youngsters are just-weaned. Teach young birds early. Don't wait until they are older, fearful and wild to try to force them to comply with your tasks. Just-weaned youngsters are looking for direction. They are looking for guidance. Looking for direction is a very important component of the weaning process. Satiate young birds with knowledge; not food. If you are an attentive and caring fancier, give young birds proper direction and guidance. Empower young birds with knowledge. Calm their fears by teaching them trust. Once they have learned to use fear as a first response or a directive in life, they will never comply with tasks with the same passion and obedience as they would have if they had learned compliance when they were very young. All animals want to achieve homeostasis. All animals want a good life and a calm positive environment. A chaotic loft is one in which fanciers and young birds do not understand each other and are not on the same page. Young birds cannot learn what fanciers don't teach them. They are smart; but not mind readers. Clearly, calmly, gently and consistently, teach tasks, expectations and boundaries to your young birds as soon as they leave the comforts of their nests. I cannot begin to convey or stress the importance of the first week of February to January 1 hatches. Do not wait to train just-weaned young birds. If you bred January 1 hatches - if you have just-weaned youngsters in the loft - spend time with them right now. Teach them the basics: coming when called and trapping. Make them comply quickly each time you feed them. A little extra time with young birds now will pay huge dividends during the future young bird race series.

Scoring at the top of the race sheet rarely happens as a result of a performance on a single race day. In any sports competition, performing well is usually the culmination of time, effort, study, patience, and hard work. One of the first major tasks to manage in pigeon racing is to build trust with each young pigeon. It is usually very difficult to build trust in older pigeons. Older pigeons usually learn to fear people unless they are taught to be trusting. when beginners start with "gifted" pigeons from other fanciers, it is very difficult to break their fearful behavior and retrain them to be trusting. The best method for breaking older pigeons is to feed them a 1/2 ration for enough time that they become hungry enough that they will try to fly on top of you in order to get food when you enter the loft. Even then, these pigeons will always need to be kept hungry to control them. There is a huge difference between control and trust. Control reflects behavior in which pigeons perform because they must to do so. Trust reflects behavior in which pigeons perform because they want to do so. The best racers are pigeons that learn to trust at the earliest possible age. I teach my young birds to trust in the nest by modeling the behavior of trusting parents and by feeding them in the nest box. Therefore, I expect young birds that are trusting when they come out of the nest. However, I also reinforce their notion of trust when they are weaned.

One of the major factors in developing champion racing pigeons is developing trust in young birds. when I have purchased champion racers from Belgian fanciers, I have found that these champions are extremely trusting pigeons and are capable of transferring their trust from their original owner to me. For instance, I purchased from Mike Ganus two full brothers that won 7th and 8th national Bourges for Theo Ijskout. These racers are exceptionally trusting in the breeder loft. when they want something, they literally tell me what they want. As I approach their sections of the breeding loft, they often wait for me in the aviary or nest box craning and bobbing their heads toward me telling me that they need something, either food or fresh water. If they are following the same behavior on the floor, I know they want more grit. Consequently, champion racers are usually very trusting pigeons. It may be hard for many readers to understand why trust makes pigeons faster and more consistent racers. Many readers will probably not believe these ideas. But the greatest gift I have received from the myriad of Master fanciers that have mentored me is understanding the role of trust in pigeon racing. Let me simply say that trusting pigeons are more confident pigeons. Trusting pigeons are more loving pigeons. Trusting pigeons are more passionate pigeons. I have been shown that confidence, love and passion are three of the most powerful reasons why pigeons race very well.

Purchasing products to make pigeons fly faster probably makes more sense to many pigeon fanciers. Buying something is much easier than working hard for it. And certain products do help pigeons attain good health. But trust can't be purchased at any of the supply houses. Trust can't be borrowed from a fellow fancier. The only way trust between young birds and fanciers can occur is from hard work in the young bird loft with squeakers either in the nest, or just-weaned, or both. when working with young birds, observe those pigeons that build trust easily and quickly. Record their ring numbers. Chances are, they will develop into the best racing pigeons. Please consider the difference between trust and control. Trusting pigeons control themselves. Trusting pigeons learn the intricacies of an effective racing system more easily than fearful pigeons. Trusting pigeons seek to perform well in the race system because they are trusting. Teach young birds trust and the loft will become calm and orderly. Lofts exhibiting trust between fanciers and pigeons are never chaotic lofts in which fanciers control their pigeons through punitive means. Building trust takes time, patience, and hard work. Building trust should start from the earliest moments in the lives of young pigeons. If developed properly, trust will last a pigeon's lifetime and can be transferred to other fanciers.

My good friend Bill Hill with whom I have been racing pigeons for nearly 30 years has earned 2nd National Hall of Fame with AU 08 AHPI 2581. This young male performed very well in five races from 100 to 300 miles. Bill also scored 16th National with AU 08 AHPI 2300. Bill is a master at building trust in his race birds. Another master fancier is my friend since childhood, Steve Trotter. Steve scored 32nd National with AU 08 BJR 1031. Steve is also an expert at building trust in young racers. Steve is handling the "High Roller Loft" at the 2009 Texas Center Convention July 15 - 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bill and Steve are managing the 2009 Texas Center Convention with Convention Chairman Roland Gutierrez. Roland is also one of my longtime friends and scored 5th National AU Champion Loft in the 2008 young bird race series. Steve, Bill and Roland are excellent examples of master fanciers who have excellent pigeons and build trust in the racers. This is one of the major reasons they play the game at the top of the race sheet.

Racing at the top of the sheet is definitely a set of skills that can be learned. But racing at the top of the sheet takes study, trial and error effort, extreme patience and hard work. Once trust has been developed with a few young birds, the game will never be the same. Building trust is fun. Building trust creates a calm and peace in the loft that is truly enjoyable. As I said several times in the past few days, if there are January 1 hatches in the loft, begin to build trust in them. Not only will it make the game more enjoyable on a daily basis, it will make a difference during the 2009 young bird race series. If you need further proof or verification of the value of trust, come to the Texas Center Convention this summer and visit with Roland, Bill or Steve. In addition, send an entry or entries to the High Roller Loft and watch your pigeon's performance in the race under Steve's management. You'll be glad you did!!!

This past week I have been talking about building trust with young birds starting at the age of 5 weeks (if not before). To date, I have not discussed exactly how trust can be observed between fanciers and young birds. Currently Jeremy and I are working on a video covering this subject. But for now, I'll simply discuss "observable trust." Before I go further, however, I want to talk about the use of a "Judas Pigeon." A Judas Pigeon is virtually the same type of entity as a "Judas Goat" - that is, a goat that influences other animals to follow them or to behave in a certain manner. A Judas Pigeon is an older pigeon that has learned a required behavior or how to play the game. In the case of just-weaned youngsters , the required behaviors are eating from the floor, eating off of my body, and drinking from a 2-liter water fountain. To use a Judas Pigeon, I will place a gentle old bird(s) in the young bird loft that will serve as a model for the youngsters. After I scrape a portion of the loft floor (a 5' by 5' square) in only one of the multiple loft sections, I will sit on the floor and gently, slowly sprinkle a few grains all around me and call for the young birds to come - come - come - come. At the first moments, the young birds do not know how to respond. Several make take a step towards a grain and stop. Others may sit relatively motionless like deer in headlights. The Judas Pigeon will quickly run over to the sprinkled grains and begin to eat. The just-weaned youngsters will see the behavior of the Judas Pigeon and will begin to model the Judas Pigeon's behavior and peck at the grains. The brightest youngsters will model the behavior of the Judas Pigeon very quickly. From that moment forward, the brightest youngsters will become the new leaders for the rest of the flock. After a few days - possibly even one day - the Judas Pigeon can be removed from the loft since the brightest youngsters have assumed the role of the Judas Pigeon's in the loft. Soon (one or two days), all of the young birds should be coming when called and eating the grain sprinkled on the floor or on my body. Young pigeons learn very very quickly. As I said before, they soak up information and training like a sponge. Because of their young age, the first stimulus-responses that they learn are recorded on their relatively blank slate of life. Because these memories are the first memories they experience out of the nest, they are recorded or imprinted with a passion or intensity that they will remember the rest of their lives.

Only feed the young birds one rounded soupspoon of feed during the evening session. then, feed 1/3 of the amount of grain that was fed in the evening during the next mornings feeding session. Be sure to include about 20% of a good barley in the young birds' diet. For example, if the young birds consume a one pound coffee can of grain during the evening feeding, they should be fed 1/3 of a coffee can the next morning. The amount youngsters consume during evening feeds will vary depending upon (1) the amount of physical exercise they experience during the day and (2) the outside temperature, humidity and other environmental conditions. Always keep youngsters a little hungry. Never over feed or give them all they can eat. During the weaning process, try to feed youngsters using the exact same regiment at the same time of day - every day.

It is easier to teach youngsters to come when called when they are forced to stand nearby due to the size of the room in which they are fed. My loft sections are a little smaller than 5' by 5'. when I sit down, I occupy most of the space in the room. It is hard for youngsters to avoid touching me. A large room allows fearful youngsters to stay away from the feed and to avoid the fancier. Feed youngsters in a relatively confined space until the youngsters have developed trust and understand the feeding regiment. In just a few days, it is easy to observe which youngsters respond the quickest to the feeding regiment. when youngsters anticipate the feeding regiment by coming towards you rather than allowing their innate fears to influence them to fly away from you, the youngsters are beginning to trust. Record every morsel of information in your loft book. It will come in handy as each youngster is evaluated later in the year for inclusion on the young bird team. Offer food out of your hand. Record those youngsters who eat first from your hand. They are often the best pigeons. Select smart pigeons. Eliminate slow pigeons or flighty pigeons. Smart tends to breed smart. Slow tends to breed slow. Even the best pigeons breed youngsters that are not so smart. Record the signs of intelligence and trust as early as possible. It will save your back and your pocketbook when you realize which youngsters will never make great racers during the young bird race season and eliminate them from the race team early in the calendar year.

Develop your own criteria scale for trust. What observable behavior suggests intelligence and "socio-ability?" (The ability to develop a high quality relationship with a human being and the ability to overcome innate fears.) Evaluate each young bird for each criteria on your scale. Record this information. Hard to do with 80 to 100 young birds? Aha! There's the rub! However, it's better to race one pigeon well rather than many pigeons poorly. when you gently sprinkle a few grains between your legs, record which pigeons quickly climb over your legs to peck the grains. Record which pigeons eat from your hand first. Record which pigeons eat the most. Record which pigeons eat the least. Record which pigeons are afraid. Record the actions of each youngster in the loft. These records will create an informational picture of each youngster and their abilities. It is not so difficult to spot potential champions when you know what to look for. After a few days, observe which pigeons are developing a distinct relationship with you? Which pigeons look for you when you enter the loft? If you enter the loft using the come command, observe which youngsters visibly respond to you by raising their wings, squeaking, and running towards you pecking at your feet? Try to develop a relationship with each young bird. Eliminate those youngsters that do not form close bonds with you at the earliest ages. They will seldom race at the top of the sheet.

when it gets to the point that it is more rewarding to play the game with only those young birds that respond quickly to your hard work than it is to coddle youngsters that never really conform to your management system, racing pigeons will change for you. when you raise the performance bar in your racing loft such that only the best youngsters deserve your time and resources, racing pigeons will change for you. when you recognize those pigeons whose incompetence controls you and your "sixth sense" tells you to immediately cull them from the team, racing pigeons will change for you. when poorly performing pigeons are viewed as a scourge in the loft, racing pigeons will change for you. Racing pigeons at the top of the sheet is not a mystery. It is not voodoo. It is not magic. Rather, it's the result of great pigeons - hard work - excellent decision-making - and a healthy dose of luck.

As I have written before, the fastest and easiest way of teaching young pigeons how to behave correctly is through modeling the behavior of pigeons that already know the system and quickly comply with its requirements. The Judas Pigeon is simply a model pigeon for young pigeons to imitate. For example, when the young males are coupled with old females during the summer months before the fall race series begins, the old females teach the young males how to behave in the nest box. Old females will "settle" flighty young males in the nest box in less than 24 hours. The same is true for old males and young females; but the visible change in behavior is not as dramatic with females as it is with males. But that's for a later blog in June.

The only problem with modeling is the case in which there is no proper role model in the loft. In such a case, however, choose the brightest young birds to serve as role models. Choose those youngsters that catch on to a new system very quickly. Pigeons can help you or hurt you. That is, smart pigeons can reduce a fancier's work load by quickly conforming to a required task. Those pigeons that are constantly battling the fancier will usually turn a pleasant hobby into a tremendous amount of work. As you can tell, one of the two top criteria on which I select young birds is intelligence. The second criteria is health. Smart pigeons make the game a tremendous joy. They help you play the game by performing well in the racing system. Pigeons that are nervous and flighty - pigeons that always fly out of the box when I enter the section - pigeons that won't eat properly because of their innate fears - pigeons that consequently cut down their exercise time to get into the loft early to eat - lazy pigeons that sit on the loft and won't fly or that land in trees - pigeons that are generally disruptive - are all a scourge to the loft. Their disruptive behavior is actually a model for smart pigeons to follow. Once these pigeons are eliminated from the team, the overall performance of the young bird loft will soar sky high! I have zero tolerance for pigeons that will not help me. Consequently, I divide young birds into two groups: those that help me and those that hurt me. Remember, I have very little use of my right arm and hand and limited use of my left hand due to several injuries I have suffered on the Ranch. For me, a pigeon's non-conformance is painful. when I carry a hand crate of young birds to the truck for road training, it hurts, literally. when carry a full hand crate or crates and suffer the pain of that chore, every young bird in the crate better be a good one. when I go through the physical discomfort associated with scraping and sweeping the young bird loft twice a day in order to feed the race team, the young birds that are going to be fed better be good ones. Although it has been difficult for me to carry hand crates (big or small) since I was 16 years old and first injured, it has been increasingly painful over the last several years. One of the reasons that I advocate small race teams is because most fanciers have some type of limitations. Those limitations may be time, money, physical challenges, etc. Smaller teams take less time to care for. Smaller teams cost less money to care for. It is not as physically painful to manage a small race team. If you have limitations in your life that tend to spread you thin, develop an appreciation for those young birds that help you rather than put up with young birds whose needs are so great that they make playing the game a real chore.

I am constantly comparing the young birds. On a daily basis, I automatically compare each youngster with a mental image of an ideal standard of excellence. I developed this mental image from the fanciers discussed on the index page of this website by observing and handling their best pigeons. Antoine Jacops allowed me to take care of his racing lofts in Belgium. These experiences allowed me to develop a mental image of an optimum standard of excellence concerning Antoine's preference for top racing pigeons. An ideal mental standard represents the type of ideal behavior that I hope to observe from each of the young birds as they learn the requirements of the widowhood system. Those youngsters that quickly begin to conform to my mental standard are highly rated. Those youngsters that cannot or will not conform to my mental standard of excellence are a scourge and are eliminated. It's really that simple. The results of the training basket later in the calendar year will only confirm or refute the rating that I have documented for each pigeon. Making comparative observations on a daily basis is a habit. It is a good habit. Through comparative observations, the positive or negative development of each young bird can be rated and recorded. This information makes up much of the criteria which allows me to rank the young team from best to worst long before the young birds have ever gone down the road.

Every year, the breeders are coupled about December 1. The first round of youngsters are hatched during the first week of January. The first round of youngsters are weaned and learn to come when called by hand-feeding them during the first week in February. Every year, the same procedures occur on or about the same day of the year. This week all over Europe and elsewhere, fanciers are teaching their first round of youngsters to come when called. Next year at this time, I will blog again about hand-feeding January 1 youngsters and teaching them to come when called during the first week of February. Just as in football or other sports, playing the game is a year-round program. May I suggest that you create an annual calendar and place it in the front of your three-ring binder so that you can anticipate the schedule of the game on a weekly or monthly basis. For instance, next week after the youngsters know how to come when called, I will crate them - let them sit for a few minutes - open the hand crate - call the youngsters to exit the crate and watch them run across the loft floor to the few grains that I have sprinkled on the floor around me. when they can fly just a little better, I will place the crate on the landing board and repeat the same exercise. when I call them, the youngsters will exit the crate and run through the traps flying down to me on the floor while I feed them. Pigeons are so intelligent that it will only take a few sessions of successfully completing these exercises for smart pigeons to master the exercises very well. In several months when your youngsters are exercising around the loft, you will want to be able to call them into the loft. Learning that skill set is a process which begins the first week of February each year.

The young birds are coming well when called. They recognize me as their source of food and react well when I enter their loft. They are used to a hand crate and run from the hand crate when I open the door on the crate and call them across the floor. They have been spending time on the landing board and understand how to enter the loft. These past several weeks are the most critical window of time that the young birds will ever experience to teach the components of a basic education. As I have said before, the lessons they are now learning will be with them for life.

While feeding, the youngsters are becoming individuals as I begin to learn the mannerisms of each youngster. The smart ones are obvious. The fearful and slow youngsters are also obvious. There is a large group of youngsters yet undefined that will take some time to understand and appreciate.

Racing has begun in California and other parts of the US while racing is still weeks or months away in other parts of the country. For the club in which I play, the West Tulsa Club, club training races begin March 7 while the Federation races will begin April 4 from a 150 mile station (240 kilometers). On relatively warm days, the old birds are exercised twice a day. On very cold days, they are only exercised once a day. One of the factors that brings old birds into form is a warm air temperature. It is not particularly profitable to exercise veteran old birds rigorously before the temperature is over 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Unraced late hatches may benefit from more prolonged exercise in the cold; but it is not necessary for seasoned or veteran old birds. This time of year in Oklahoma is still deadly because of the amount of Cooper Hawks in the area: both migrating and indigenous. I have heard of several fanciers who have lost important birds in the past several weeks.

There are important management duties that accompany each phase of the loft: young birds, old birds, and breeders. One of the reasons for having only a few birds is that it is better to manage a few birds well than a large loft poorly. There are important management duties that accompany each aspect of the pigeon loft. It is important to perform each function well. For instance, young birds should not sit idly for several months while old birds are trained and raced. The breeders must not suffer because of the young birds and old birds are being trained to race. All three groups of pigeons must be cared for equally and completely. Otherwise, the entire loft will suffer.

I have taken the old birds on several tosses. These tosses are from many directions. I rotate or vary the direction of the tosses based upon the weather, the wind, and where I want to eat. It helps racing pigeons sharpen their orientation abilities to vary the direction home. Racers that have only been trained on the line of flight may not react particularly well when they are trained from an unfamiliar direction. That is because they react when released based upon their release experience. I prefer thinking pigeons to reacting pigeons. In the long run, I believe that they are faster pigeons. I try to confuse my racers. That is, I constantly try to place them in varied situations so they will have to think their way out of the situation. I believe that pigeons that reason well are faster pigeons. Speed is not simply a function of the physical aerodynamics of the pigeon. Endurance is more a function of body type. Speed is mostly a function of reason. The pigeons that reason the shortest most direct way home are invariably the fastest pigeons in the race. Sometimes, lucky pigeons, pigeons that are able to follow the smartest pigeons, will beat them home due to loft position. That is, the smartest pigeons may have led the imitators straight home. But on the average, the fastest pigeons are the smartest pigeons.

In order to develop a pigeon's innate intelligence, they need to be placed in problem-solving situations - even at early ages. Varying the release points from north, south, east and west are ways of creating problem-solving situations. An added benefit of training pigeons into headwinds is that headwinds create problem-solving situations. So do cross winds. So do cloudy days as opposed to bright sunny days. Although I know of fanciers who train regardless of the weather, I do not engage in problem-solving situations that are past certain reasonable environmental boundaries. I don't road train in the rain. Depending upon the situation, I might exercise the pigeons in the rain. But I don't road train the racers in situations that involve dire weather conditions. Proper training requires common sense. Proper training is a balance of rigorous training with reasonable expectations. Sometimes we make mistakes. But as I have also said before, when the first pigeon arrives after a tough training toss - they all could have arrived. I consider the only truly bad training toss - a toss in which every pigeon was lost. Fortunately, that hasn't happened yet.

Every day in the loft should be similar to every day in a K - 12 school system. Everyday should have a curriculum. Curriculum's are usually repetitive. That is, skills that are taught to race birds, young and old, should be reinforced daily. By reinforcing previously learned skill sets each day, learning becomes cumulative. Cumulative education develops and expands a race team's knowledge base and vastly improves their behavioral skill sets. Cumulative education creates champion racing pigeons through a repetitive education curriculum that reinforces behavioral skills.

For instance, every time old birds are exercised around the loft, fanciers have the opportunity to reinforce trapping skills. If old birds are exercised twice a day - once in the morning and once in the evening - these exercise periods present opportunities to reinforce trapping skills. From the time a race team lands on the loft roof or the landing board, depending upon the size of the team and the size of the trap, the entire team should probably enter the loft in 30 seconds or less. Calling a race team into the loft after an exercise period presents an opportunity to hone their trapping skills for the upcoming race season. If race teams do not trap quickly, they have not been taught to trap correctly when called. The remedy for this malady is to either cut their food in half for several days, or my preference, increase the barley content of their feed mixture to a minimum of 50%. In fact, it probably wouldn't hurt the old bird team to receive a diet of straight barley for a few days in order to get their attention. Trapping quickly is not something that should be taught on race day. Race day is too late to learn lessons and develop skills. Trapping quickly should be reinforced daily every time the old birds are exercised - unless the old birds have an open loft for several hours. But even in an open loft situation, I kick all of the birds out of the loft before the loft is closed in order to create an opportunity to reinforce the race team's trapping skills after a session of open loft.

Developing champion racers is a function of creating and taking advantage of small daily opportunities to improve the race team's behavioral skills. Learning opportunities can be missed if the race team is not paying attention. A hungry race team is an attentive race team. I don't mean a starving race team or a malnourished race team when I use the term hungry. By hungry I'm referring to a physical state in which the race team is attentive because they want something from their managers. A 5% to 15% barley concentration in the race mix will usually prevent overfeeding and insure that the race team will be attentive during every exercise period. Depending upon the amount of exercise the race team receives, I usually feed each pigeon a rounded soupspoonful of grain during the evening feeding and one-third of that amount during the morning feeding. This amount of daily food intake will usually make sure that racers are attentive during daily learning opportunities.

Champion pigeons are very smart pigeons. In addition to a high innate intelligence quotient, champion pigeons are pigeons that have been taught a highly competitive racing curriculum (i. e., widowhood) that is reinforced every day of the calendar year. And, as I have been repeating for weeks now, the curriculum begins when they leave the nest (at the latest). Champion pigeons think whatever they have experienced. If they have experienced very little training or have been ignored, they will be wild and uncontrollable. If they have been frightened as a result of improper management, they will be wild and uncontrollable. Without proper training, the vast probability is that racing pigeons will be wild and uncontrollable. Only a daily educational strategy will change the usual ways pigeons think about their world. Because of intensive educational curriculums, champion pigeons in Belgium think much differently than pigeons that have been frightened, mismanaged or ignored. If you want to race pigeons at the top of the race sheet - if you want to develop champion pigeons with which to play the game and have fun, learn to be an effective teacher by creating a thoughtful and relevant educational curriculum and by taking advantage of every opportunity possible to reinforce critical skill sets on a daily basis.

There are many articles written on the physical attributes of good racing pigeons: eye, wing, body type, flights, vent, back, etc. For me, the very most important attribute of racing pigeons are their brains (intelligence) and their corresponding personalities. Smart and passionate pigeons will overcome most physical defects. when handling champion Belgian pigeons, I frequently handled pigeons that were not as perfect in the hand as other champions. The reason for this discrepancy may be as follows. First, those champion pigeons that did not handle perfectly were very smart and passionate pigeons. Their passion, drive and mental toughness helped them overcome their physical deficiencies. Second, those champions flew their best at distances that fit both their mental attributes and physical body types.

The very first question most people ask me is at what distance will the Antoine Jacops pigeons best compete. Because Jacops preferred an all-purpose pigeon, he bred pigeons that were smart, passionate, and physically aerodynamic. He accomplished this goal through rigorous selection. Antoine selected only those pigeons that were very smart and physically correct in the hand.

Over time, his selection criteria produced pigeons that had the mental and physical capabilities to compete at short distances as well as long distances. Although it is hard to breed all distance pigeons, anyone who tells you that there is no such thing as an all around pigeon has never played the game with the same skills as Antoine Jacops - in my opinion. As I have said before, Antoine has told me that if he breeds 10 youngsters from his pigeons, two will excel at the short distance, two will excel at the long distance, and the other 6 will be somewhere in the middle. For instance, Antoine's Fondman flew in the top 100 Barcelona several times. The Fondman was bred from the same pigeons that also produced both short and middle distance winners.

As the pedigree to the right shows, the Fondman was 85th National Barcelona in 1996 - 31st National/75th International Barcelona in 1998 and 422nd National Barcelona in 1999. The Fondman was bred from the same breeders that produced other middle distances performance pigeons including a female that won the "Olympia Cup." Genetically, the Fondman's grandfather came from Flor Engels and was a great breeder, BELG 91 6615710, the Dark Engels. The Dark Engels is a grandson of Engels original super breeder, the Oude Lichte, BELG 78 6084723 - a famous pigeon in Belgian racing pigeon history (listed in the great great grandparents column of the pedigree).

The Fondman's pedigree also goes back to these super pigeons also listed in the great great grandparents column of the pedigree:

This pedigree reveals the true story of champion racing pigeons. That is, champion pigeons breed champion pigeons. Period. End of story. Champion pigeons race at most distances - some better than others. Have you ever heard that a Meuleman's pigeon down from the Golden Couple would compete at the long distance? The Fondman's pedigree contains two sons of Meuleman's Golden Couple: the Witneus and Den 78000. However, historically, Meuleman's pigeons were not known as long distance pigeons - probably because of their size due to inbreeding. But Jacops flew the Fondman to Barcelona, a Meulemans-based pigeon crossed into his old line pocked with the distance pigeons of Engels. The Fondman's pedigree and performance clearly demonstrate the true magical genius of Antoine Jacops.

when you look for pigeons to bring into your loft, may I suggest that you first look for pigeons that have been bred down from champion pigeons. Don't look first for short, medium and long distance pigeons. Don't look first for pretty pigeons. Don't look first for pigeons with a pretty eye. First, look for pigeons bred from champion pigeons - either breeders or racers or both. then, when you breed new pigeons, select only those youngsters that tend to race better at the distances you prefer. Breed around those pigeons that perform best at your favorite distances. Personally, I like all distances. But I don't want to keep three or four families to compete at all distances. I want to keep only one type of pigeon for all distances - a smart pigeon - an all-around pigeon.

It is hard for me to convey how super Antoine Jacops pigeons really are. Unless one understands the true genetic power contained in the Fondman's pedigree, for instance, it is extremely difficult to fathom the value of the champion pigeons in his lineage: Jacops pigeons down from the Witte, the original white male; as well as the champion pigeons of Engels, Meulemans, Mariman, Schellens, etc. when out crossing to his best pigeons, Antoine looked for smart pigeons from the very best fanciers in Belgium. Similarly, when you select new pigeons, may I suggest that you value a pigeon's intelligence quotient over all other factors. First ask yourself, is this a smart pigeon? Did it race? If not, did its siblings race? Did its parents race or breed other good pigeons? Did its grandparents race or breed good pigeons? What about the great grandparents or great great grandparents? Did they race or breed? Ask yourself, how intelligent is this new pigeon's genetic package? If you begin to focus on the innate intelligence of pigeons rather than their color or their eye or some other part of their body, I suspect that you will begin to play the game nearer the top of the race sheet.

Road training is very important in the development of champion racing pigeons. While I do not believe that training tosses are necessary to bring the race teams into form; they are very important to sharpen the orientation acuity of each pigeon. Racing pigeons can be brought into form primarily through consistent exercise around the loft by exercising them an hour - twice a day - in the weeks prior to the first race of the race series. Pigeons are very smart. when taught properly, healthy pigeons will quickly learn to freely exercise for one hour around the loft and then enter the loft to eat their morning or evening meal.

75% to 90% of the time, road tosses should seldom be longer than 20 miles. Frequent training tosses from 20 miles (or less) are better than daily tosses of 50 to 60 miles. I train my race teams from all over the Greater Tulsa Metropolitan area. when I take short trips around the city for errands, appointments, shopping, etc., I quickly load the race team (or a portion thereof) into a small hand crate and take them with me. Often they are single-tossed. If I want to exercise the race team more rigorously, I take them on a 20 mile road toss into the wind - regardless of wind direction.

In my opinion, training tosses of more then 20 miles are grossly over-rated, time consuming, and expensive. I usually toss the race team 50 miles or more on Saturdays in order to simulate the regiment of a short race. If you do not road train your pigeons frequently because you don't have the time to toss your pigeons 50 miles or more, you are missing the natural opportunities to road train your pigeons that you have built into your "normal" daily routine. For instance, take your pigeons to work. Even if it's only a few miles. Or, leave for work a few minutes early - drive past work a few miles - release your pigeons - and drive back to work. Be creative. Use your imagination. Think outside the box.

The primary reason to road toss your pigeons is (1) to teach them to be calm in the crate and (2) to learn to quickly orient home from the release point. Do not use training tosses to bring your pigeons into form. Do that around the loft. Create "learning opportunities" for your pigeons to learn to orient quickly by taking them every where you travel whenever possible.

Finally, it's easier and faster to crate a small team of pigeons than a large team of pigeons. The number of pigeons on the race team can prohibit frequent road tosses unless your loft is constructed with a quick-loading system for a large number of birds.

If you have been road training your pigeons on daily tosses of 50 miles or more, it is my opinion that you have been wasting your time and money. By the same token, people are free to spend their time and money any way they wish. With that said, however, the problem is that there seems to be many relatively new fanciers who believe that they must spend 2 or 3 hours per day driving their pigeons down the road if they want to compete at the top of the race sheet. Because most of these new fanciers do not have the time to spend road training their pigeons 50 miles or more each day, the idea of training pigeons becomes frustrating for them. In order to understand this problem, let's discuss the true purpose of road training homing pigeons.

Through road training, homing pigeons will learn to be basketed, transported and released. They also have the opportunity to learn to eat, drink and rest in a shipping crate. They can learn to tolerate shipping crates and to relax while captive. In spite of all of these important developmental skills, the primary reason for road training homing pigeons is to develop their orientation acuity. That is, champion racing pigeons are expected to orient quickly and accurately at the point of release. As long as homing pigeons are released away from home, their orientation acuity can be developed just as easily from short distances as it can from longer distances. The length of a road toss has little to do with developing their orientation acuity at the point of release. Why? Because orientation occurs primarily at the release point and is usually determined by the time pigeons leave the release point. Therefore, the length of a road toss does not affect a pigeon's orientation acuity since orientation occurs at the time of release and has essentially occurred by the time the pigeons have exited the release point. Consequently, short tosses are just as effective orientation exercises as longer tosses. In fact, it is easier for pigeons to overcome orientation miscalculations during a short toss than it is a longer toss. Pigeons may travel miles out of their way if they do not orient accurately towards home. If their mistake occurs within a 20 mile radius of the loft, losses can be kept to a minimum since home is closer than it would be on a 50 mile toss. Often, pigeons experiencing orientation problems quickly become tired and thirsty. If home is near, their limited energies may last just long enough to get them home.

Training tosses beyond 20 miles on a daily basis for the purpose of conditioning race birds is unnecessary. The race team can be conditioned on a daily basis while exercising around the loft. I use road tosses from 60 to 75 miles primarily on Saturdays - the day of the week when our club races pigeons during the official race season. By simulating the regiment followed during the official race season with long road tosses on Saturdays, racers have an opportunity to rehearse the weekly regiment followed during the official race series. For instance, when the race team returns from long Saturday tosses, electrolytes are mixed in the water and the race team is fed a depurative mixture. Every effort is made to follow the exact same management schedule for a 50 or 75 mile training toss on a Saturday that is followed during the actual race season.

I know there are many older established fanciers who may not agree with these ideas. Many fanciers are rigid when they discuss road training. However, new fanciers often believe that the only way they can be competitive in the sport is if they road train their pigeons 50 miles or more every day. Most working fanciers cannot accomplish this goal. Fanciers with many commitments - with one or two jobs - fanciers with several young children or children involved with weekly sports activities - cannot spend 2 or 3 hours per day road training their pigeons. Due to my schedule, I condition my race team by exercising them around the loft for one continuous hour twice a day. While some fanciers use a flag to accomplish this goal, I kick a basketball high in the air in order to encourage the race team to keep flying until I tell them to stop. After a week or two of proper training, the race team will develop an internal clock - will self-regulate - and will fly continuously for one hour before landing and trapping to eat.

I believe that many short tosses within a 20 mile radius of the loft is the most effective way to develop a race team's orientation skills - exercising two hours per day around the loft is the best way to condition racing pigeons - and simulating race conditions with a long road toss on the weekend will develop a race team's "bio-rhythms" and builds their energy for the weekends. Each of these three aspects is equally important in order to race at the top of the race sheet. I do not believe that road training pigeons 50 miles or more every day is necessary to be competitive in the sport.

More revelations to follow......................................................Thank you......................................................Dr. John and Morgan Lamberton