BLOG - October 2008
While the racers are recovering and transitioning from the race on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, they should be exercising vigorously by Wednesday. Depending upon the weather, Wednesdays are usually a high exercise day. Increased exercise results in an increased consumption of food and an increased percentage of intake utilization of the consumed food for each racer. Wednesday is the major "break" from the past week and the "beginning" of the hard onset of form for the next race. If the weather is bad on Wednesday, i.e. rain, fog, humidity (dew point) etc., this break day can be shifted to Tuesday or Thursday. But in a perfect world racing on Saturday, the most important day of exercise is Wednesday. If Wednesday is "break day," then Thursday should be a close repeat to Wednesday. On Thursday, the birds are fed all they can eat and they remain in the loft without exercise on Friday. As I have said before, Friday is a day of contemplation. While that may seem strange or weird to say, try the system. You'll learn that your pigeons are capable of things of which you have never dreamed.
This thought brings me to another point. I have spent a lifetime learning the regiment and the magic of the racing pigeon game particularly as it is practiced in the Antwerp Union in Belgium. I have raced there helping some of the greatest masters in Belgian racing history for over 20 years particularly with Antoine and Maria Jacops. These incredible life-changing experiences were a gift to me and were not the result of me or my abilities or lack thereof. For whatever reason, God crafted my life's path to include the art of racing pigeons as practiced by the Masters racing in the heart of the toughest racing pigeon competition in the world, the Union of Antwerp.
As it turns out, this path started with my dear friend Mike Ganus, one of the greatest pigeon fanciers to ever play the racing pigeon game. Without Mike's friendship and influence, my life may have turned out to be very very different than it has. The incredible importance of Mike's friendship in my life is one of the reasons that I require that the best of human character and fairness be included as major building blocks in the racing pigeon game. The racing pigeon game is not always about pigeons; it is usually influenced most profoundly by people through friendships. when I say friendships, I'm not speaking about someone being nice to someone else in order to get something from them, or to make something turn out like they wanted. I'm speaking about true friendships: relationships of give and take in which all parties are valued, self-actualized and deemed important.
In the Antwerp Union, Wednesdays are usually an important day of exercise, weather permitting. Saturday's race results are often most profoundly influenced by the quality and intensity of Wednesday's exercise.
Today Jeremy posted another video on YouTube. It deals generally with the important information and data found in the nest box and more specifically on droppings. I clean 13 nest boxes twice a day. It takes less than 5 minutes. In fact, each nest box probably takes about 15 seconds to scrape completely clean. Depending upon the day, I either use a large flat scraper or a smaller headed three-cornered scraper. This information can be found in the video detailing how to feed young males. Both the amount of grain left and the exact seeds left after each feeding are data that can tell stories about each racer. Some racers leave peas. Some racers leave corn. Others leave red milo. Some racers eat all of the seeds while others always leave seeds. To a degree, each racer must be fed separately; but the reality is that most racers eat the same type and volume of seeds each day. Beware of racers that do not eat! There is something wrong. By closing each section of the race loft, I ensure that a racer will not accidently consume the food of another racer who occupies an identical nest box in a neighboring section of the loft. I try to take behaviors away from the racers such they are required to pick the option I want them to choose. Pigeons are not people. Although they are creatures of habit; they cannot read our minds and will often choose an option unintended by the fancier if such as option is available. Successfully training animals and people for that matter often involves the removal of options. when the five race section doors are open, some of the racers will leave their nest box and fly to the floor ahead of me as I walk through the loft. However, with the section doors closed, they will remain in the nest box as I enter their section.
Back to today's video, I visually analyze the racer's droppings twice a day before the nest box is scraped. The droppings must be perfect each day in order for each racer to remain on the race team. Some pigeons drink more water than others. Those that drink too much are not chosen for the race team. Their droppings are often loose - even if they are in perfect health and form. As you can tell if you've followed this blog for any time at all, the criteria for a place on the race team are exceptionally stringent. Like I've said in the past, the pool of racers from which I chose are often 10% or less of the total number of young birds raised during the breeding season for inclusion on the race team. Quality of droppings, water intake, amount of food eaten are all qualities that make up a good racing pigeon. Today's video attempts to begin the discussion of the interpretive value of the elements in a racing pigeon's nest box including the droppings.
Each week, the race team spends Friday in the loft. Friday is a day of meditation and contemplation rather than exercise. The racers know that. So today, they are displaying and cooing every time I enter the loft and they seem restless and anxious to see their mates. Remember, all animals including people have internal clocks. The race team knows that today is Friday and they know they will spend the afternoon with their mates. At 2:00 pm, the widowhood males are let into the young female loft and the lone blue male gets to see his older female. At about 5:00 pm, the young bird team will be basketed for the race. The passion I observe in the race team today is their way of showing that they are ready and motivated to race tomorrow. Motivation is often observable if you know what to look for and how to see it. It is not always a display of high energy. Sometimes ii is quiet concentration and focus. 163 is very quiet when she is motivated while 2471 is very outwardly demonstrative. These two females share the same loft compartment and are total opposites in how they react to their world. 163 is quiet and focused while 2471 is highly demonstrative.
I think 44435 will have another good race tomorrow. She and her mate were the only pair I observed billing. Other pairs sat in their bowl together while less demonstrative racers simply bobbed their heads as they watched their mates display and move about the nest box. I believe that all of these gestures and behavior and data that can be recorded, quantified and interpreted.
163 has never really mated. Although she displays to a male, she eventually fights them. She seems more mated to me than any of the approximately six older males that have attempted to couple with her. Today, she did not see a male. Perhaps seeing a male last week contributed to her need for water on the race course. I have no idea. But she displays whenever I enter the loft. I always take a few seconds to spend with her and I never ignore her. She much too good of a racer not to take her behavior very seriously.
Each week of racing further reveals the intelligence, character, passion and stamina of each racer. Each week completed in the 8-week young bird race series is like a large piece of an eight-piece puzzle whose addition reveals another fascinating feature in the performance picture of each young bird racer. As I have said many times, the Belgian system of racing 16 weeks is far superior than our watered-down version in the United States. While this statement is no direct criticism of American pigeon racing, it reflects one very significant reason why I believe that on the average the Belgians breed better racing pigeons than are bred in the US. Why? Because 16 weeks of racing provides twice the evaluation data for each pigeon than an 8 week racing schedule provides. Why we don't race longer in America, is a mystery to me except to state the obvious. Pigeon racing is America is a local hobby managed by volunteer members who only have so much time and desire to volunteer. Pigeon racing in Belgium is a national sport managed by a Federation that pays members to work each weekend. Perhaps there is a systemic answer to the difference between the number of pigeon races organized in each country. Particularly in old bird racing, American fanciers manage, support and finance their race teams 52 weeks a year in order to race them 8 or 10 weeks. That is a ratio of 44 to 8 or 42 to 10. Only the most passionate pigeon enthusiasts seem to be willing to put in so much effort for such a small reward. The reward must be found in the simple animal husbandry of enjoying pigeons rather than the more complex enjoyment of human competition. In any event, tomorrow is the third week in the 8 week young bird race series from 150 miles/240 kilometers. The forecasted weather calls for a tailwind of from 10 to 20 mph.
We bombed on Saturday's race from Durant!!! The race team was late - from 6 to 20 minutes. Why? I can only speculate that when the race team flew 3 and 4 hours in the morning exercise periods during the week, it was too much training. Too much exercise during the week resulted in tired racers on Saturday. Last week we moved a 16' by 80' mobile home that had served as our office away from the front of the loft. The noise and activity during the mornings kept the young bird team in the air far too long to race well on Saturday. In addition, the removal of the office resulted in a new spatial environment for the race team. It took several days for the young birds to adjust to the new environs. Consequently, the race team didn't have the necessary edge to compete at the top of the race sheet.
Today, the race team exercised about 1 hour and 20 minutes. This amount of exercise is much better for the team. Racers that compete week after week only require about 2 hours of exercise per day in order to stay in form. As I have said in the past, one hour of exercise around the loft is about the same effort and 30 minutes of training on the road.
Next Saturday is the second 150 mile race. After Saturday, 50% of the race season will be over. In rating the overall quality of the race team, 4 races with a tailwind each less than 3 hours in duration does not tell much about each individual young bird. The mild and windy weather in Texas and Oklahoma does not easily lend itself to a rigorous evaluation of each young bird. In areas of the country with a mild weather similar to Texas and Oklahoma, this is why so many young birds are kept as yearlings and why old bird teams tend to be large. It can take several race seasons to determine the best racers from a breeding season.
The race team flew about two hours this morning. Consequently, I cut their food by about 15%. I will increase their food tomorrow to the normal daily amount; but I don't want the young birds exercising much over 1 1/2 hours in the morning. The ideal amount is from one hour to 1 hour and 15 or 20 minutes.
Last week, I injured my left hand and left leg moving the mobile home from the Ranch. I haven't been able to blog or to ship pigeons. It has been very difficult to drive. I am left handed and my right hand is partially paralyzed from a calf-roping accident. So, it has been very difficult the past week. Thank goodness for Morgan! She always takes great care of me.
I have been evaluating the breeders every day that I have been able. I have put a number of young birds back for breeders. I am beginning to couple breeders by pedigree on paper. In Belgium, most fancier's couple their breeders around December 1. The young bird race season begins in May in Belgium; so March or April hatches are too young to race. The 4 prestigious National young bird races begin about August 1 and continue every two weeks. In order to race youngsters on widowhood or any other motivational system, they must be as mature as possible. Consequently, youngsters are hatched as close to January 1 as possible.
Because I race the same system in Tulsa as fanciers follow in Belgium, youngsters are hatched about January 1. Although the young bird series doesn't begin until the second weekend in September, the young bird team could begin racing much earlier. when the young birds in Tulsa are taking their first 100 mile race in Oklahoma in September, the young birds in Hakendover have completed the 4 National young bird races and have flown races over 300 miles.
All of which to say, I am beginning the 2009 young bird race series now by studying ways to best couple the breeders based upon the results of the 2008 old bird and young bird race series for me and for other fanciers who race our pigeons. I will have each pair of breeders coupled on paper by Thanksgiving when they will actually be coupled. May I suggest that you try coupling your breeders around December 1 and racing mature young birds in 2009. It's really fun and will make your pigeons very competitive!
If you decide to raise early 2009 young birds, you can send your best young birds to the 2009 Texas Center Convention Races which will be held in Tulsa Oklahoma in July. Click Here to view the 75 Combine's website detailing the 2009 Texas Center Convention in Tulsa in July, 2009. The Convention and Race organizers are Roland Gutierrez, Steve Trotter, Bill Hill, Charlene & Larry Dobelbower, and Tina & Derik Webster. Roland, Steve and Bill have attended Texas Center Conventions for many years. They have also hosted several Texas Center Conventions over the last 20 years. These Conventions have always been great successes!!! If you want to participate in several great young bird races in 2009 and attend a first-rate convention, please consider entering the Texas Center young bird races and attending the July Convention. It will be informative and a lot of fun. The convention organizers always plan activities for fanciers and for spouses who don't want to spend every waking moment around pigeons. There is excellent shopping and very interesting places to visit in Tulsa including Discoveryland USA, SpiritBank Event Center, BOK Center Ticket Masters, Big Splash Water Park, Fair Meadows Horse Racing, Oral Roberts University, Creek Nation Casino, Cherokee Casino, Osage Casino, The Plaza Shopping Center, RiverWalk Crossing, Woodland Hills Mall, Brookside Entertainment District, Promenade Mall, Utica Square Shopping Center, Oklahoma Aquarium, Philbrook Museum, Gilcrease Museum, and the New Tulsa Hills Shopping Center to name a few.
The Convention hotel, the Southern Hills Hilton, is a very comfortable hotel that offers both convenience and comfort.
Although our loft didn't perform well last weekend, both Tony Smith and Kirk Hardin raced very well. Tony scored 4th, 5th and 6th club while Hanna and Kirk Hardin (Hanna is Kirk and Paula's beautiful and talented daughter along with equally talented sister Sarah) won both of their club races and scored well in the Federation. Tony's 4th and 5th place birds were raised at our loft and his 6th place bird was bred from our pigeons. All of the Hardin racers were granddaughters or daughters of AU 05 LAMBERTON 65 White Splash female. I donated this female to an auction in Oklahoma City and Paula bought 65 for Kirk as a present. Since then 65 has been a once in a lifetime breeder. In 2006, 65's nest brother, Diamond Jack, was the 4th National Ace Old Bird in the ARPU and later sold to a Japanese fancier. 65, DIAMOND JACKIE, has raised over a half dozen race winners and her children have been golden breeders. 64 and 65 are bred from an Antoine Jacops import male, DIAMOND RIO, is a son of the WHITE DIAMOND and grandson of the DIAMOND ACE. Their mother is FLICKER, a daughter of Flor Vervoort's and Mike Ganus's PHANTOM.
Tony's racers are also down from the Antoine Jacops pigeons. Time after time, the Jacops pigeons excel. They are simply the best!
As I have sais many times, Fridays are a day when the race team stays in the loft (races are on Saturday). In the loft, the race team concentrates strictly on motivation. At about noon, I coupled the young birds with their older mates. During this time, the noise and activity levels in the loft are totally opposite of the usually quiet environs as the older males roar their excitement and actively pursue their mates in the nest box and particularly in the nest bowl. when the males settle down and lay in the nest bowl calling their mates, the young females should be lowering their tails, bobbing their heads, and charging their mates laying in the nest bowl. I believe that there is a direct correlation between the passion of the young bird and the speed with which the young bird races home. Generally speaking, the best racers are the most passionate young birds. Much of the time, motivation can be observed. Those young females or males that display the most passion with their mates are the best racers. I said much of the time because there are always exceptions to any cluster of observations.
Young bird racers need more "together time" than old bird racers due to their immaturity. In old birds, I might show the mates for 5 minutes or 15 minutes or 30 minutes. However in young birds, I show the mates for a period of hours. Because I had a chore to do for Morgan over the lunch hour today, I showed the males to the young females and the old female to the single young male I'm racing at about noon. I basketed the race team about 5 p.m.; so they spent about 5 hours with each other. During this time, I let the pairs do whatever they wish within their racing section. If the racing section doors are left open, occasionally an overly passionate male will pick a fight with another male in another section or attempt to take over another nest box or mate in another section. Remember, each section is identical. Although the males know their own nest boxes, they will occasionally try to command an identical nest box in another section if they have the opportunity to do so. So every section is closed forcing the males to concentrate on their mates and their nest box rather than wander around the entire loft. Fridays are strictly a day for building and fostering motivation for race day. On Friday, the impact of feeding and feeding additives has been completed, the influence of additives to the water has been completed, the effect of exercise has been completed. Fridays are a "zen" day of contemplation and motivation through spending an important period of time with their mates.
Racer's mates must be passionate and attentive. No mates should be used that cannot be instantly and highly passionate when introduced to their mates. The quality of a mate's passion directly correlates to the motivation of the racer. Extremely passionate males can highly motivate young females to race home and trap quickly on race day. The same is true for young males. This is one of the primary reasons why old birds are used as mates for young birds. After basketing the young females, I sometimes leave their crate or crates on the floor of their section. The young females can see their mates in their nest boxes from the crate and remember that picture in their minds when they are taken to the club for entry into the race.
After great health, training and breeding, motivation wins pigeon races. In my opinion, food and hunger are not ever adequate and effective motivators. Although any pigeon can win a 3 hour blow home pigeon race, motivation wins overall championships by preparing racers to perform their best week after week. A motivated racer on widowhood or in a particular nest situation on the natural system will out race a hungry racer on a 300 mile/480 kilometer race the vast majority of the time. If your loft and your race management system cannot induce a high level of motivation in your racers in preparation for race day, your race teams will seldom win championships and you will seldom, if ever, be a champion fancier. Since most fanciers aspire to championships, the sport of pigeon racing will be extremely frustrating and will never offer the type of enjoyment that you desire for a relaxing and enjoyable hobby.
I'm showing my age!!! I accidently left 163 at home when I basketed the young birds. That was a total mistake!!! After injuring my hand and leg selling and moving the mobile home away from the lofts and off of the ranch, I guess the events of the past week fatigued and confused me. Luckily, I dodged a bullet in the club. Two other consistent young females were 1st and 2nd club. But the results of the Combine and Federation are still undetermined. 163 is consistently the fastest pigeon on the team. If she had beaten my other two racers, she might have made a better showing against the larger competitions.
John & Erica Reed in the TOK Club and Kirk Hardin in the Keystone Club joined me in winning club races from Paris, Texas this past Saturday. We all accomplished the same goal with Antoine Jacops pigeons. As I have said repeatedly, Jacops' pigeons are the fastest most consistent racing pigeons in the world! Both fanciers are going to email me with more specific results and I will blog about their birds at a later time when I have more information. John is the son of long-time highly successful pigeon racer Buck Reed. Buck has been a great pigeon fancier in Tulsa for many many years. I first began racing with him in the early 1980's when I returned to Tulsa from college. John & Erica are now continuing the Reed tradition of winning. Erica told me that their first three racers were bred from Lamberton pigeons! Kirk's winner won for the third time this season - and we've only raced 4 times!!! She is a daughter of a Ceuleman - Jacops cross whose parents both came from our loft.
To date, Lamberton Cuypers has won 3 of the 4 "B" races this season. 2471 grizzle female has raced well 3 of 4 races while 44435 has raced well every week. In the club, 44435 has a 2nd, two 3rds, and a 60th (22 minutes out last week when the young birds over trained due to moving the mobile home). I think that 44435 is currently the unofficial high point bird in the club B race series. She is a cross between the pigeons of Antoine Jacops and the super pigeons of my partner Jef Cuypers - a full brother to Jacops' NUDIST - a multiple 1st prize winner in the Antwerp Union crossed on a female produced from one of the Cuyper's best breeders bred to a full sister to the 4th Ace pigeon in the Antwerp Union. Is it any mystery why 44435 should be a great female? She is bred to be a great female from great performance pigeons in the toughest area to race in Belgium - the Antwerp Union! Both 2471 and 44435 are highly passionate females and react very strongly to their older mates. 44403, the only male on the race team, was 12th club about 6 minutes out. He is really a good one!!!
The young birds returned from the race to full food, Pedialyte in the water, and their mates. Their mates were removed Saturday evening. Sunday the young birds exercised as normal and showed little sign that they had raced the day before. After 4 weeks of racing, too much exercise will easily tire them while not enough exercise will cause them to lose form. About an hour of exercise twice a day is all the young birds need to hold them in good form for the next race.
Please start medicating your breeders. Put the best breeding pairs together on December 1, 2008 and send January hatches to the 2009 Texas Center Convention Races hosted by the 75 Combine in Tulsa, Oklahoma on July 14 - 19, 2009. Please make plans to attend the Convention. Several of the best racing pigeon fanciers in America are managing the races - Steve Trotter, Roland Gutierrez and Bill Hill.
After Saturday's race, 50% of the race season is completed. So far, the first 4 races have been little more than training tosses. Each of the 4 races has lasted less than 3 hours - all with a significant tailwind. The next 4 races are 2 - 200 miles/360 kilometers and 2 - 300 miles/480 kilometers. Hopefully, the increase in distance will have an impact on the quality of the races. However, next Saturday's forecast calls for another "blow home."
At this point in the race season, the young birds should be very well-trained and ready to race farther distances. In order to provide an additional stimulus to the race team for the second half of the race season, the young birds are going to receive additional supplements to their feed and water. For the first half of the race season, the young birds primarily received Red Cell on their food. However, the young birds will now receive a more complex regiment of supplements. Although there are several effective supplemental programs available including the excellent Vita-King products, as of this week, the young birds are now receiving the Herbots regiment of supplements. The following Table was reprinted from the Herbots website. It outlines exactly when their supplements should be administered for races when the racers spend one night in the basket (generally 300 mile/480 kilometer races or shorter).
| 1 - Day basket | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Both in Hakendover and in Tulsa, the Herbots supplemental regiment has proved effective during the race season. I can't say that the race results of the young bird team will drastically improve due to these supplements. But I can say that these products contribute to the overall "form" of the young bird race team. Zell Oxygen is a liquid that coats the seeds in the grain fed to the racers. Optimix is a powdered complement to Zell Oxygen and both products provide the racers with the following ingredients taken from the Herbots website:
| Optimix |
300 gr
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| Zell Oxygen |
250 ml
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Besides Zell Oxygen and Optimix on the grain, I add Vita Duif and Bio Duif to the water. Again, the information concerning these two products has been reprinted from the Herbots website.
| Vita Duif |
300 ml
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| Bio Duif |
300 ml
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We (Lamberton and Cuypers) use the products according to the regiment outlined above for "1 - day in the basket." In the past, we also have used other Herbot products including 4 - Oils, Pro-Digest, and Aminovit in addition to other products. However, I do not believe that it is completely necessary to use every product exactly as outlined in the Table. It has been my experience that the 4 products I have mentioned seem to be the most important products in the regiment.
These products are expensive for 13 racers; and even more expensive for significantly more racers. Please do not think that I am saying that these products will generate miracle results for your racers or that these products will take the place of daily exercise, correct feed and water, and many other significant management practices and procedures. These products will only make a difference if the race team is already in super health and form. If you cannot create super health and form in your racers for whatever reason, using these products will probably be a waste of time and money. However, if used correctly, these products will often nudge the racers into a heightened degree of form.
After a week or so of using these products, the racers should become more silky smooth in appearance. Their feathers should shine. They should molt more down and produce more powder to coat their feathers. They should look refreshed. They should act more passionate and confident. These signs are not a result of using the aforementioned products. They are a function of heightened form. The products may simply influence the degree of form and increased form can be observed just as I have mentioned.
Supplements seldom, if ever, work on untrained pigeons in poor health or form. If your pigeons meet this primitive standard, then I suggest that you save your money and leave supplemental products on the pigeon supplier's shelf. They will probably not make any positive difference in the performance of your pigeons.
The past 4 weeks, the mates of the racers have been allowed to stay with the racers at about 1 pm on Friday afternoon. Today, the mates were coupled with the racers at 9 a.m. in order to spend most of the day together. During the race season, I try to alter slightly the routine on Fridays in order to keep the racer's mental preparation fresh and exciting. While next Friday's routine will probably be the same as today's routine, I will add nest-building materials (pine needles) to the loft on Fridays before each 300 mile/480 kilometer race in order to further intensify the racer's motivational experience.
Since the 200 and 300 mile races are longer and more taxing upon the young birds, I prefer that they remain fairly calm before basketing. Consequently, the amount of time they spend together is lengthened in order to calm the racers down before basketing - yet still motivate the young birds to race home quickly.
I can see a slight difference in the race team since the new additives have been administered. The racers' look very ready to race well. They handle beautifully. At basketing, each young bird was very buoyant.
Saturday's race was not the "blow home" that early weather forecasts had predicted. The winning racer, 2468, spent almost 5 hours on the wing. While this is not a great amount of time, it is far better than the 3 hour "blow home" races that have characterized the races over the past 4 weeks. 2468 flew straight to the land board, blasted through the trap, ran down the loft floor to her nest box, and once she saw her mate, blasted upward to her box with wings clapping, throat swelled, and audibly calling her mate. Her performance represented the epitome of a perfect widowhood race. Her motivation was clearly observant by her actions and by the amount of time she won over the second place pigeon. In the club, 2468 won by almost 7 minutes! If you haven't witnessed or experienced this fantastic event produced by the widowhood racing system, it is truly an awesome experience!
After 5 weeks of racing, none of the 13 young birds have been lost or have come home later than about 3 hours after the first bird clocked. Other fanciers I have talked to regionally have lost over 50% of their race teams! The incredible performance of the race team is a direct result of the rigorous criteria that characterized the entire selection process from the moment the young birds were hatched until their first young bird race in September. I learned the selection process from Mike Ganus and Antoine Jacops. They continually asked the question, why keep and manage all of those young birds that are eventually lost during the race season?
In Belgium, the best young males are often not raced beyond 200 miles in order to keep them fresh for their yearling old bird season in one year. In the USA, the span of time between young birds and old birds is less than 6 months while the time span between race seasons during subsequent years is one year. Consequently, young birds do not have as much time to recover for their yearling races as when they race as 2 or 3-year olds. Because of this system of racing, I try not to tax young males during the young bird race season so that they will have completely recovered from the physical ramifications of the young bird race series in order to race at a high level as yearlings. 44403, the only male on the race team, was removed from the race team on Sunday. He will race again as a yearling in the spring 2009.
Young females mature faster and can race much harder than young males. Young females can race much farther distances and race through much more arduous physical circumstances than young males. Therefore, young males should be managed more carefully than young females. That is why I generally prefer to race young females over young males.
Eleven of the 13 young birds clocked within 48 minutes of the first bird, 2468, that won the race! Because of the performance of 44454 and 176 over the past 5 weeks, they were also removed from the race team. The race team now sits at 10 young females. With the exception of one female, these 10 females clocked within 38 minutes of one another on Saturday's 5 to 6 hour 200 mile/320 kilometer race. This is the type of super performance that signals that the entire race team is responding well to the widowhood motivational system as well as their food, water and exercise regiments.
With the exception of the race following the removal of the 16' by 80' mobile home office directly in front of the race loft that caused the young birds to exercise 4 to 5 hours per day, we have won 4 of the 5 "B" races in the club. In other words, to date, 6 of the 13 young birds on the race team have won a race or were equal 1st. Another way to characterize the cumulative result of the race team is through a percentage. In other words, about one-half or 50% of the race team has won a race or has been equal first with 3 weeks still to go in the race season. Can you now see why it is best to select the most exceptional racers for the young bird team before the race season begins?
2468 is a granddaughter of TOTAL RECALL, the son of the GOLDEN MATTENS that Mike Ganus sold me with the guarantee that TOTAL RECALL was the "best son of the GOLDEN MATTENS that he had ever raised." I have heard from a few fanciers who indicate that they have not had much luck with the MATTENS pigeons. This certainly has not been my experience. My GOLDEN MATTENS-bred pigeons have made excellent racers and I recommend them as excellent crosses for other types of pigeons - especially the pigeons of Antoine Jacops.
The 4th place bird in the club is 156, an Antoine Jacops female, and one of my favorites. Besides performing well on the shorter, faster races, I believe that 156 is a female that will excel at the distance. 44435, also a Jacops female, is the unofficial high point bird in the B race series and she clocked 17th club about 16 minutes after 2468.
Saturday's 200 mile/320 kilometer race was very fast. All 10 females returned within 30 minutes after the first bird clocked. The first female, 44435, the unofficial high point female in the club, won the club race. So far, the 2008 young bird race series has unfolded nicely over the past six weeks. To date, the race team has won 5 out of 6 club B races (unlimited entries). The only week that they didn't win the club B race was the week we moved the large mobile home away from the front of the loft. Due to the noise and activity preparing the mobile home for travel as well as the actual move itself, the race team exercised more than twice as long as normal, i.e., 4 hours instead of 1 or 1/2 hours during the morning exercise periods. The increased training took the edge off of the race team and our first bird clocked in 11th place approximately 6 minutes behind the club race winner.
The two remaining races are from 300 miles/480 kilometers. Normally, longer races provide a better test for young birds than shorter two hour "blow homes" races provide. Saturday's weather forecast for the first 300 mile race calls for south winds of 5 to 15 miles per hour. The effects of a significant tailwind will probably negate the positive effects that the longer distance plays in terms of evaluating each young bird. Usually, a longer race distance equals more hours on the wing which provides a greater physical test for the young birds. However, a significant tailwind reduces the hours on the wing by increasing race speeds. Ultimately, Saturday's race may not be much more of a physical test for the young birds than the first six races have provided. Even so, after six races, a record of each young birds racing ability is emerging. For instance, 44435 has clocked 1, 2, 3, 3, 17, and 60th in six races. Again, the only race in which she did not perform as well as normal was the race after the week that the mobile home was removed from directly in front of the racing loft that caused a dramatic undesirable increase in exercise training.
As I have written before, the race team will be evaluated over the entire course of 8 weeks of racing. In Belgium, young birds often race a series of weekly races that span up to 16 weeks, i.e., May, June, July and August. Because of the significant differences between 8 weeks of racing and 16 weeks of racing, I believe that the Belgium system of racing pigeons provides much more cogent information about the racing ability of each young bird than our system provides in northeast Oklahoma and other areas of the USA where 8 weeks of racing young birds is the standard. This high-quality data (more extensive race records) often determines whether or not a particular young bird will remain on the old bird race team, or move to the breeding loft or will be removed from the loft entirely.
The races in Belgium are pocked with all types of different weather and weather conditions, i.e., sunshine, rain, fog, mist, clouds, crosswinds, tailwinds, and headwinds. In addition, the number of birds in the race is usually more than the typical club race in the USA. In Provincial or National races, birds break many directions upon release. These race conditions also contribute to tougher physical and mental tests for young birds.
All of this to say, I believe that the reasons that Belgian birds may be better than birds in the USA can be found in the rigors of a longer race schedule and the rigors of variable weather conditions over the race course from France and Spain into Belgium. These rigors create wider margins of difference among the racing performances of each young bird on the race team. These differences in race data allow Belgian fanciers to make much better decisions concerning the selection process, i.e., which young birds to keep and which young birds to cull. Oftentimes, fanciers race every young bird they raise over a four or five month breeding season; and keep every young bird remaining on the race team after the young bird race series has concluded. Consequently, many race birds with less than stellar race records are bred as yearlings and as older pigeons. Average pigeons breed average pigeons. Moreover, both good and excellent racing pigeons will also breed average racing pigeons. Breeding and developing champion racing pigeons is usually like trying to find a needle in a haystack. As I have written before, some Belgian fanciers put the ratio of champions bred to all young birds bred at 100 to 1 while a very prominent Dutch fancier puts the ratio at 200 to 1. In other words, these European fanciers believe that one champion racer is bred in every 100 or 200 youngsters bred each year.
Of course, the robustness of this discussion depends upon one's definition of a champion racing pigeon. If a champion racing pigeon is defined as simply a pigeon that remains on the race tam after the race series has concluded, there will be many more "champions" bred from each year than if one's definition of a champion racing pigeon is defined much more stringently; say for example, as a young bird that scores a minimum of 4 top 20% prizes out of an 8 week race schedule. In Belgium, a prize is usually calculated at a ratio of 3 for 1; or, the top 33% of the pigeons entered in the race receive a prize. Sometimes prizes are calculated at a ratio of 4 to 1; or, the top 25% of the pigeons entered in the race receive prizes. As an example, if 1,000 pigeons are entered in a race, and the prize ratio is 3 to 1, then the first 333 pigeons clocked in the race will receive a prize. As a further example, under that prize ratio, to date, 44435 has won 5 prizes in 6 races. In the only race she didn't win a prize, there were 156 birds entered. At a 3 to 1 ration, she would need to have been clocked higher than 52nd place. She actually clocked in 60th place. So 44435 just missed scoring 6 prizes in 6 races at a prize ratio of 3 to 1. Is 44435 a champion young bird yet? Again, it depends upon the definition of a champion racer. If 44435 wins Ace Pigeon in the B Race Series in the Club, she might be considered a champion racing pigeon.
In general, the more stringent the definition of a champion racing pigeon, the more success a fancier will experience in the Sport. Champion racers usually make great breeders. If you want to experience more success on race day, increase the performance criteria for your definition of the type of racer from which you will breed youngsters. Unfortunately, and the tasks for all of us, is that our racers' performance is usually a direct result of our own personal abilities and resources, our knowledge of the game, our management philosophy, our physical plant, as well as the racing quality of our pigeons.
More to come..........................................thank you.........................................................................................Morgan and John Lamberton