In going along with the pigeon racing promotion theme in this weeks discussion of the week we would like to know,
How did you get involved in pigeon racing or pigeon keeping in general?
You see, if we could figure out what got you interested in pigeon racing or pigeons in general for that matter we might be able to duplicate that to get more people interested in the sport and hobby. What worked for you should work for others right?. You already know my story you can read it here (About Me), I didn’t know anything about pigeons but when I realized how interesting and amazing they were I was hooked.
So go ahead and post your comments I’m looking forward to reading them! and see what we can do to help promote this great hobby of ours.
Discussion of the week, How did you get involved with pigeons?
Learn the champions secret winning pigeon racing formula
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My brother was a pigeon fancier but stop due to working schedule, so by the age of 15 I started it myself as a hobby buying here and there looking for good pigeon , by the time I realize that mostly fancier dispose off bad pigeon and what I’ve got, I again try to look for another set of good pigeon this time it should be with papers proving its a winner but to no avail so I decided to quit the sports its useless and never to come back again,many times some fancier persuaded me but to no avail, until one day my neighbors is quitting the sports and offer me all his pigeon at first I rejected it coz what’s this another bunch of low class birds its useless and a waste of time, but the moment he show me the result and papers it catch my eyes and there I started it again which is in 1998
Jacques, First and foremost if you need help do not communicate in Afrikaans as no one will know your need about the problem you have. I bet there is thousands of fanciers on this website that will be glad to help you in giving you advice and solving your problems.
Rule one of a pigeon is to be 100% healthy and this has nothing to do with its fitness
2. Fat pigeons is called chickens as they don’t prefer to fly well. They are lazy 4 grams of feathered blobs.
3. Fit and healthy pigeons is not given away freely as in your case, especially in South Africa.
4. It is best if you can visit via appointment the champion loft in your area and ask questions plus list down in what is said. You don’t speak, you listen.
5. Also ask if you can buy off his champion birds eggs. As it is much cheaper than buying some of his pigeons. Here I would buy 1 egg of two different champion pairs. Seeing you got pigeons, they can breed that eggs out for you.
Me and my brother has learned from our belated uncle in choosing your pigeons from other fanciers before you part with your hard earned cash.
1. Pick the pigeon up in question and feel it in your hands for muscle tone, should feel ripples of its muscles and wing feathers. Should feel smooth and silky and close spaced
2. Pull its mouth slowly. Any resistance you feel means this pigeon is stubborn and strong.
3. Tip the pigeon upside down and split its keel feathers with your two fingers. Its keel bone should be straight and its colour should be whitish in colour. Check also the colour of its skin as it should be almost red in colour
4. Its whatle the nose of the pigeon colour should be a off white colour. Almost white.
5. Open its mouth and look down its throat for ailment such as yellow colour is most of the time canker
6. It also must have dry feet that is also clean
7. Check its poo. If it is loose something is wrong. If it is solid then its okay but also check for worms in it
8. Now you want to check its medical records
9. Then you want to check its race results. Race results in Federation, Combine and National levels. We don,t take note in club races as it is not relevant to us because the club fanciers is just a bunch of bragards
10. Check out his loft in cleanliness, is the pigeons happy, stress free, active or not
11. Do not fear to ask any question regarding the pigeon you want to buy. He need to sell but you are the owner and boss over your money and not the fancier in question.#
12. Never buy 2 or more pigeons from one loft but buy just one and that is it. Number 2 pigeon is off another loft far away from number one’s pigeon loft.
13. Good pigeons comes from cross breeding and not line breeding or any other breeding method
14. If you want the best of the best pigeons to race with then buy from those who win first place in a national races such as the Comrades races, Sun City million dollar races, Board races.
Send me your personal email address and I might enlighten to you more know how. For the fitness of A pigeon there is loads of factors involve. Is PLZ Port Elizabeth of what? My next email to you about fitness of a pigeon will be to your personal email address. This could be my longest email in enlightening you about fitness of racing pigeons.
Hello Chris and Everyone,
I got interested in pigeon keeping in general when I learned of the pet potential of these birds. I have an indoor ringneck dove named Paz (who’s fourth anniversary as my companion is coming up in June) that has given me an everyday drive to learn as much as possible about doves and pigeons, not only about the domesticated pet species but also the exotic/wild species and their entire zoological genus (Columbidae) in general. This educational journey has brought me to learn about how us human beings have related to them throughout history, and how our cultures have been shaped by them which in turn has shaped some of their species. This entire endeavor has brought me a deeper appreciation for, and understanding of, doves and pigeons.
I got into racing pigeons via my cripple uncle who had raced his pigeons. Me and my brother had to clean entire interior and exterior of his racing pigeon loft plus change drinking water 7 times a day, every day as long as we lived in the house. The feeding is twice per day. I hated it as no chance to go and play with my friends street games. My uncle was one of them in WW2 in flying pigeons in the war effort for the queen.
After the war he brought home 10 racing pigeons that he trained during the WW2. They are Barkers, Stashaerts, Guernseys, Cattryse and huyskens Van Reel. Sadly he passed away last year at 92 years old.
I’ve inherited his racing pigeon loft and all that comes with it. No money though. My brother take now care and race them for me and him. The reports I get back from my brother is most times eye watering good due to my belated uncle’s breeding method, strictly cross breeding only. The same goes for my brother and myself. Today 10/03/2012, my brother had put in a race 5 racing pigeons to fly a distance of 550 miles. They came in by taking the first 5 places leading the competition by full 5 minutes. My brother could not believe his eyes and we won all the money. It was a Fed. race. I’ve changed the old school clock to a brand new Linell ETS clock and linked it to Comproware Hawkeye racing pigeon loft management pro pc programme. This is what my uncle never had.
I live now in England and my brother in South Africa. I shop here what is needed and send it over to my brother. Such as racing pigeon eggs off the best of the best pairs of pigeons. In my next email I explain what I mean by best of the best.
HELLO EK IS OOK VAN SA BLY IN PLZ ,EK HET NOU NET BEGIN VLIEG ,HET N PAAR DUIWE VAN VRIENDE GEKRY ,WAT EK VANDUIWE AF WEET IS MIN JONG ,AS JY OF JOU BROER MY KAN HELP SAL EK BLY WEES ,EK WIL NOG STEEDS WEET HOE KAN N MENS SIEN AS N DUIF FIT IS. DANKIE
My Father has always kept pigeons. All my life there has been pigeons in the garden. I like racing pigeons and kept the sport going. Followed on in his footsteps if you like.
I was brought up in a border school, my friens there used to keep pigeons. When they got fed up with pigeons i started taking care of them but I was not interested in racing pigeons until I went to a friend’s house and he told me that the day before he raced pigeons from 570km and it was a bad race and few pigeons returned. I asked him if I could go to the roof and see if any pigeon would come back. So he made me a cup of coffee and I went to the roof. About ten minutes later I saw a pigeon struggling in the wind and he fell about 4 meters in front of the loft and he walked the last bit as he had no strenght to fly.Although I am not much of a winner but I like pigeons very much and I always remember that pigeon struggling to return HOME. AND I WAS HOOOOKED
well my partner started off with the birds in 1986,did not do any racing after the first year due to working all hours. Then in 1994 I had lost my job and took over the birds and got hooked. my first year with the youngsters, we took them training a few times then one day we took them and never had one bird home.I went to bed crying very upset that my babies were all lost.In the morning most of them were on the roof.That year I took 11 prize cards in the club.I just love my birds and my partner don’t have much to do with them now that I am loft manager lol.
I was 6 years old when I got hooked. My older brother had racers and quit. One day a bird came back and I wanted to take care of it. He had no mate so I went town by the brides and cought a few to keep him company. Then one day a Ed Schmidt came to my house and gave me a beatufull B. Ck. Spl. Hen. I was hooked. He gave me a names in the club that were in my bicyle range and away i went visiting. I formed a jr.club of about 8 kids and we had a blast. I recently talked to one of my friends from 40 years ago and he rememberd not only his best birds number but also mine. After 40 years of not seeing one another. What these pigeons can do for the young is amasing. I started back into pigeons after the vietnam war and got married. We had our first child and decided to get a few birds. That was 37 years ago and our club in a very remote area of Wisconsin is doing great.
A great backyard hoppy. Bill Lind
I was about 6 years old when I first saw, and fell in love with the pigeons. The beautiful colours on their necks and everything about them, I was hooked. My father built me a tiny loft when I was 11 and I got cull racers, tumblers, anything with wings, they were all fabulous to me.
I left school and home at 15 to become an apprentice jockey. It was many years later when I had retired from horse racing and re married that I found a young bird that had been forced down by a storm. The owner said I could keep her, and she was the beginning of 10 years of great enjoyment racing pigeons. I developed a small widowhood team, just 9 cocks, which raced very well. I am great fan of small, quality teams rather than huge mobs and survival of the fitest.
My wife and I moved from New Zealand to Australia 7 years ago, and I dispersed my pigeons. For the last year or so I have been helping a friend with his racers, and am starting to get a few of my own again. A very good friend is breeding me a couple of pairs of exquisite Jannsen-Van Loon youngsters, which I hope will be the foundation of a new family.
I think being a top pigeon racer, as opposed to a pigeon keeper, is a gift. All the money in the world, the best loft, the most expensive pigeons, the most modern drugs, none of it matters if you cant think like a pigeon, if you cant see them communicating with you.
Pigeon racing is a great sport, but I fear it will die out unless steps are taken to make it more suitable for today’s fast paced time poor world. That is a subject for another thread.
I got into pigeons when i was only 8 years old. I lived on a farm and we had pigeons in an old grainery. I had always enjoyed watching them one day i noticed a bird with a band. My younger brother and i went out that night and caught it. My father knew some racing pigeon men at his work he said that we had to get it back to it’s owner. And we gave it to these men. We later caught more wild pigeons had them for several years. Later we moved to town and a man moved in a few houses away. And he got us into fancy pigeons. Two years later my dad took me to see the men who had the racing pigeons. One of them only lived a few blocks away he talked with me almost every day. I went to watch them come home from the races and i was hooked on then. After 30 plus years i still love them.
Hi all i got involved in pigeons when i was 17 years old i started off with roller pigeons then one day went to a guys house that had racing pigeons that is when i changed over to racing pigeons been in the sport for 4 years now and loving it
Hi I got involved with racing pigeon when I was 5 years old. My dads uncle had racing pigeon but the loft was above an outer building, I was only allowed to see them when he was there. this meant that i could seldom see them. Across the road from where we lived
was a Dr who also had racing pigeons and i would spend time watching the pigeon fly almost everyday I watched the birds fly, on some occasions he would see me and asked if i had pigeons and I would say i no i do not have any pigeons. A couple of weeks later he saw me watching his pigeon fly again, he called me over and asked if i would like some of my own, I immediately said yes. However my father had gone to South Africa looking for a better opportunity so i had to ask my grandfather if i could keep the pigeons in this garden. he agreed and I went back to the Doctor and said yes i can keep some pigeons, he gave me 6 young pigeons new born, this was in March 1961 I have had pigeon ever since. In 1964 we moved to South Africa and a year later got pigeon from a fancier across road from us and my father help me build a wooden loft back them he also enjoyed watching me have so much fun I would spend hours in my loft mating my pigeon, catching them a put them in my home may baskets put the basket on my bicycle and riding for about an hour and releasing them i would ride home as fast as i could so that i would see them come home. I was never lucky enough to see them arrive because they alway beat me home. We then moved to Westville in Natal where the Jones brother live 2 house away from us. I had liquorice all sort of pigeon by then. I love watching the Jones pigeon flying around so i started talking to them and told them that loved watching their pigeon flying they asked me if i would like some pigeons I said yes they said to me that i must clean the loft once a week for 6 months and train the pigeon in the afternoon then they would give 12 babies, by this time i was 13 years old and immediately agreed to do as they requested. this was 1969. in 1970 I raced pigeon as a junior in the Pinetown racing pigeon club. and have raced ever since in Gauteng and now in Florida Roodepoort.
I think a common theme is that most who now have pigeons, got a start with them as kids. So to my way of thinking, the more kids that can be exposed to pigeons the better will be the future of our sport and the fancy in general. The future is theirs and so it is with our future as well.
i agree with you 100% i hope my grandchildren will get hooked as well im trying my best
Hi all I live cape town south africa and when I was a boy everybody had pigeons all the kids. It wasn’t long before I had some too. All of us use hang out together to see how had the best birds and the coolest lofts that was made completely from old wood found around the neighborhood. And most of us had a daily task of cleaning a loft from one of the fanciers in our city and today I race againts some of those great names.
Hi Chris ,I dont have pigeons but friends of mine have and i like the sport.I work for a company that manufacture animal supplements,i am the head manufacturer for 12 years now and my friends kept asking me do we do anything for pigeons, which we did nt so after a while i decided to set up my own business doing pigeon supplements and have started with 3 products which are of very good quality and very reasonably priced.I am based in Dublin Ireland and pigeon supplements seem to be all imported into Ireland so my employer kindly gives me the manufacturing facilities, and the Q.C. lab sample and test each product for me,so he has been very helpful and generous in helping me get started.The products are now in 3 shops in Dublin and have just recieved an order from South Africa for the start of the new year.I registered my company in October and started in November at the Dublin pigeon show and we are doing very well to date.
hi i got interested is pigeons when i was a teenager i had my coop on the apartment building where i lived in ny i had my pigeons trained so much, that when i had to tear the coop down the pigeons kept coming back. how do u sex a pigeon ?
One way of sexing pigeons is the hen bird has a short toe. When you hold the 2 toe back on the left leg you will see that 90% of the time hens have a slightly short toe. Cock normally have the some length.
Kind regards
Richard