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Every one has their own thoughts (28 aug 2020)

Sometimes you can hear fanciers say which points are in their view important to be a successful racer. I dare give my opinion about a lot of things, since I have been a very successful racer all my life. Others may not agree, that is no problem, but considering my results for decades I cannot be that stupid.   

 PURCHASE

Who you should buy pigeons from and what kind of pigeons depends entirely on where you stand in pigeon sport. The man who has been absolute top for years himself will work differently than the beginner.The man with hundreds of pigeons and two caretakers will act differently than the man with a full job and a small five-meter long loft. What applies to everyone is that it is best to go to champions in a region where fanciers specialize.Example: If you are looking for pigeons for the extreme long distance, it is better not to go to someone who plays in a combine where races from  Barcelona last 3 days longer than elsewhere.Even if it concerns the regional champion long distance.If you are looking for sprint pigeons, it is better not to go to someone in a region where long distance flights are central.Especially the novice fancier should look for eggs or youngsters in the spring, which he can test on the flights. A much better and also shorter way to find out what pigeons are worth, than buying pigeons of which you know little and starting to breed from them. Incidentally, someone who wants to help is much more important than a pedigree.

 COMPETITION

If you want to assess the strength of a sports mate and his pigeons, top prizes and the prize percentage count. But they don't say everything yet. What also counts is where those prizes were won and against whom.I am thinking of the pigeon that, long ago, won provincial Barcelona in Antwerp but would hardly have won a prize in the town of Steenbergen in Holland."There are good ones everywhere these days," you sometimes hear. This is largely true, but there are certainly regional differences.If you are going to compare, the speeds of the top pigeons are important, but even more important the speeds of the last prize winners, or the differences in competition duration. You could say that the best pigeons are where the competitions close first. Calculated over several flights of course.

 DOUBLES MAY BE EDUCATIONAL

You can see how good a pigeon or (club) really is by comparing if there is one or more doubles.An example, and for the sake of clarity, we assume 2 competitions, regional and provincial. "The good blue" won:- Noyon Regional 400 p - 8th. Provincial (4,000 p - 130th)- Pont    Regional 600 p - 10th Provincial (3,000 p - 75th)- Melun Regional 250 p - 4th Provincial (2,000 p - 43rd).It is clear that the pigeon was raced in a club where the competition is poor.From Noyon flew 10 times as many pigeons in double, so he should have been in the top 80.From Pont flew five times as many pigeons in double, so that 10th prize regional should have been among the first 50 provincial.From Melun there were 8 times more pigeons provincial, so he should have been in the first 32 (8 x 4). In other words: Pigeons like these are not as good as it seems because of less competition.Two friends play in the same club and are top in the one-day long distance in the South of the Netherlands. This was recently shown again at La Souterraine. In the club they had respectively 5 prizes out of 10 pigeons and 10 out of 18. Semi National they won 8 prizes out of 10 birds and 14 out of 18. So a strong club.If you win 6 prizes out of 10 pigeons in the club and only 3 in the Fed, then you play in a weak club if such an image is normal.

 SPECIALIZE

Do not keep more pigeons than you can handle and do not be tempted by the mega lofts to keep more pigeons than you would actually want to compete.Are you a hobbyist and you are limited by everything, make a choice. In the past we played here sprint, Middle Distance, small long distance and extreme long distance. And if you wanted to become Over All champion you were almost forced to participate in all those disciplines, also long distance, for the points.That time is outdated. Nowhere in the world do you have as many game options as in Belgium. But here too, if you want to be top you should specialize, make choices.

 BREEDING

Only healthy pigeons belong in the breeding loft. The good things should come from that loft, but there is also a lot bad. Like pigeons that lack basic health. Nothing can be done with such, they are pigeons without a future. Furthermore, medicines do not belong in the breeding loft. It is preferable not to take occasional treatments against trichomoniasis, but it is allowed, in case of an emergency also against paratyphoid, but that is about it.I myself have very good experiences with pairing yearlings who both flew performed fantastic  when young.What I have bad experiences with are old breeders. I know that many think otherwise, but I have barely had pigeons that continued to give good until an old age. Fanciers who sell everything "older than" know what they are doing, although pigeons for the great long distance may be a different story.Furthermore, it does not seem advisable to let couples stand together for too long. Even though they gave good birds before. The longer they were coupled, the more inferior the babies, it sometimes seems.

 SEDUCTIVE

If you want to strengthen your family, don't dig into sales lists on the Internet.The sellers know how to bring it so seductively that you think that there is only "gold" on offer and you cannot fail with the offered commodity.The reality is that good pigeons are exceptions. Also in the loft of the greatest champions. Would it be any different for those many thousands of pigeons that are offered for sale every year?Ask the champion from your region how many really good pigeons he has from, say, 2017, then ask how many youngsters he ringed that year and you know what I mean. And nobody knows better than the champions themselves how much waste they also generate.Of course the sales managers also know that, but it is simply their job to promote the goods as well as possible. That is the case throughout society. With everything.The mistake many make is that in case of a super pigeon, they think the brothers and sisters are also super. Fortunately, it is not that simple. If a couple gives a super, you have no guarantee that it will ever happen a second time.

Is 07-721 a good bird or not? In 2020 it won 1st from Sermanies with a lead of no less than 8 minutes against 2,071 pigeons. (That means pigeons from other fanciers. I myself won 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on from 2,071 birds).