This weeks discussion of the week is…
What do you think the current state of pigeon racing is?
For example do you think pigeon racing is growing or dying and why, express your views and share with others your opinions on the current state of pigeon racing by placing your vote in the poll below then posting a comment in the comment section below this post.
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hi im an irish guy living in holland ,the racing here is goining very good a high standard with races ranging from 90 kilometers to 1400 .i am racing three years and had my first two wins at club level this year .and for my experince i have had some good results in holland.if people would like to contact me then please do to exchange [email protected]
In Philippines also i’ve seen the clubs grows, what we used here is SMS clocking and only one club here using he high technologiy clocking system but in fairness to them they help the small club through seminars and even selling YB’s at an affordable price. What we do with the YB’s is they becaome our stock birds where we can became our foundation birds in racing. In philippines , a 2 to 4 clubs who raced in same area, what we do is used only one training vehicle so expenses can be minimal and even in actual races. more young people now love to pigeon racing from the age of 8-13 years old thru street racing pigeons. So here in our country you can see lofts mostly top of roof of the house with a size of 4ft X 4ft or even smaller depending on the size of the area availability.
Yes we should also promote pigeons racing thru schools so the youg generation can appreciate the sports ( computers game can be addicted to young people nad resulted not going to school)not like racing pigeons they go home early and wake up early to see their pigeons.
Help also to those new in sport so they won’t get disappointed.
In India pigeon racing is growing…. here we have many clubs which successfully organize race every year… we race from 200km to 1100 km…
Not in the Philippines!many clubs are being registered big and small, and there are groups unselfishly helping the newbies and even filipino fanciers who are in abroad are extending help on tips even sending birds which are proven from their
own clubs abroad.
This is what the sport bringing it to us which is brotherhood.
In general I think decline is the word of choice. Our own little club is holding it’s own but all around the numbers are shrinking.The costs due to gasoline prices, insurances, mechanic costs, feed prices, all the medications and supplements(due to the new found airborn viruses) are all rising. Lumber prices and house prices are figured in also as young people cannot afford houses with yards anymore. People squawking about keeping pigeons and bylaws to keep the complainers happy are also players in the decline.Simply the sport that used to be able to handle fliers from all walks of life, now is to expensive for common folks to participate in.Computerized clocks and bands that are expensive as heck chase away the young and the retired alike leaving only the fast fading middle class and rich able to competively enjoy the sport anymore. Predators on the increase also adds disappointment and negativity to racing pigeons now, and people cannot justify cost and time spent to fun. Clubhouse bickering and poor sportsmanship is also prevalant now as people seem more transfixed on winning and selling pigeons for big bucks, than just having fun. Derby prices have gone through the roof limiting people that can participate in them also. The darkening system and widowhood systems all in the name of winning, stop or chase people away, who do not have time or room to be able to compete on an even keel anymore, also limiting the amount of people , who are willing to pay and never have a chance of winning. Until fun, ( a long lost resort in this game ) comes back as the most prevalant characteristic of pigeon keeping and racing, I can only see the overall numbers decline. I hope that I am wrong?
Doug sadly you hit the nail on the head i agree with all you wrote but you must read chris comments above and again i agree with all that he said and that bird dropping in was truely divine intervention.he is right we must stop whining and get up and do something like chris has stated.the road will be hard with plenty of uphill struggles crooked roads and pit holes.but if you think you got it tough let me give you some upliftment.im mid 40’s black racing in a racist area at the bottom of the table all season get little to no help from my club members but bitch bitch bitch.i always smile show them love and share info (sometimes) I learnt all i know about racing pigeons from the internet.my wife bought 6 birds unrung in a farm auction i lost 5 still got the 1 hen smart cookie (lifts bob wire and jumps out to go and fly).A club member gave me 20 birds to start the worst most useless bunch of racers i have ever had to race but i breed a 2nd fed 1st yearling from this rubbish.was going to start a family around this cock bird.went to work then recieved a call from wife that she put ferrets in loft as it was cold and that 1 got out and killed a pigeon.i left work to go home thinking it could kill all pigeons in loft but please not my 24 2nd fed winner.arriving home i raced to the loft only to find 24 dead on it nest on floor ferret escaped lucky for him.i asked wife why she had put ferrets in thier cage in the loft bieng a animal lover she said she thought they were cold and the loft was warm at night.who said love can’t kill.so what am i saying well it’s this i love pigeon racing always wanted to do it and now i am doing it and with all obstacles in my and my birds way will be overcome god willing good luck to all and fight the good fight.
What a marvelous sport we have! Forever! Feathered friends and great fanciers! My life has been so enriched because of both! All those times alone in the loft with just the birds. All the troubles of the world somehow banished. And what brotherhood I’ve observed and shared with devoted fanciers. Heitzman told me in his last year that he owed the birds for his long life. They called to him for his attendance on his darkest days. Loftus Green, having a heat attack in his loft after a life of being with them. Our sport has evolved into what it is just as many sports have taken on changes over the years. Even thoroughbred racing is far different from what it once was. I own so many tremendous memories of being with fanciers from all over the nation. Doctor Carbone paid for my wife’s and I first summer in Florida with the YBs I sold him. Gary Stone rescued me from a time of despair when I needed it most. Edna Scifres hated me and over the years we became the best of friends. That kind of turn around makes life. I feel we forget that ours is a sport of a certain brotherhood, an admiration of a bird that we feel stragely attracted to. The sport, whatever its become, has not drifted from that. It sometimes seems that the golden years were all long ago but they are here now. They are what you make them. Your attitude means so much. I forget to be thankful that I can have a single bird, that I am healthy enough to do all I can to watch it go from birth and into its life. Hearing the sounds of a coo, the sounds of wings slicing the air, that 10 year old cock bird that flaps your hand when you reach for his eggs. Our sport has alwaays been unique. Something innocent. Its a personal sport at heart. We all know that. I feel its an exciting time in the sport. More big races to be in tha ever. More real tests for you as a breeder. More communication from all over the world. Better birds over all. Twain said that if it was something that would take him in, then it wasn’t worth joining. I often feel that way. But then, Twain wasn’t a really pigeon man. Blessings.
Because of the economy in New York State, a small club cannot exhist with its own clubhouse and property due to the taxes and expenses. Combine this with few members and it spells a recipe for disaster. The only clubs that can survive are the ones who operate out of members’ garages and belong to a financially strong combine that keeps shipping expenses down.
I think we have to ask ourselves why it seems the pigeon hobby is in decline in most places? I think it has to do with a lack of interaction (public advertising). Years ago anyone who was interested in animals went to the local fairs and got educated by the local fanciers, often comming away with birds. Today I search the web for such local events and find not even gatherings of fanciers are advertising up comming shows. Nothing or next to it can be found. Those in, “the know” must be forgetting that there are those of us who have never been told. Do a web search on local sports for you kid and you’ll find where to sign up. Search on where pigeon folk hang out or display their birds and NOTHING unless it’s too far or too late. Take for example our local pigeon club. Do a search on “Sudbury Pigeon Racing Club”, good luck finding even a contact number. The internet is a very cheep way for fanciers to gather no matter the distance and the fanciers of the future WILL USE IT! When it comes to pigeons one would only be interested and drawn in because they have seen them, heard about them, or through Divine intervention. Most fanciers, self included, are not overly social, but we are highly adaptive people so while I can not speak for other I can speak for myself and the thoughts floating around in my head have added up to this, “you want folks to know about pigeons… go where they are gathered…bring the birds…teach them! To this ends I have made a new display with two layers. I am hoping to take the birds to as many public events as I can find. I am also hoping to take them to schools. Show them off and do releases. I’ve got my 10 year old daughter working on a simple, “How to care for Pigeons”, phamplet (with pictures she’s drawn). They would be given out to interested kids. I’ve built a website to advertize the wedding release business we’re starting and added to it a messagebaord for all the Fanciers who live in the northern parts of Ontario, Canada, or simular northern climates. Rather than whine about the lack of information out there I figure I aught to be doing somthing about it. Rather than complain about the problems associated the costs we need to find who’s out there and share the costs. Before the phone and the internet folks took the time to actually visit each other. So rather than complain about no one helping why not take the time to do a social call when they are able to accomodate you? Why not start your own pigeon blog? They are simple and normally 100% free. A blog is like an internet diary which others are allowed to read. Put down what you know and add to it once a week so other searching can learn. If you know where races, shows and such are list them on your Pigeon Blog so others can come out on race day with their kids in your area! Wouldn’t that be something!! Put a notice of up comming shows or races up at your local comunnity bulletin boards. (At the post office, super markets or corner store)Your going there anyways!If not hand your wife the notice and a stick pin… 🙂 If you live in colder climates and would like to be part of the solution you can add to the message baord at http://sudburydoves.com/theloftypigeoncoop/index.php ( I hope it’s ok to post that link here) If not please delete the link. But for crying out loud stop comaplaining and start doing SOMETHING… no one wants to join in a dying sport! All complaining does is put more nails in the coffin. You want to sell this sport… put on a smile, beam when you talk to folks, tell them how much your raising pigeons has meant to you. Do that and they’ll want PIGEONS! Most pigeon folk are of the opionon that you either get into pigeons young or not at all. I was in my early 40’s. How did I get hooked? Simple my daughter wanted a pet bird, we had cats so I said, “no”. Tucking her into bed that night she told me she, “I’m going to ask God for a bird.” I said, “Your going over my head eh. Ok we’ll see how that goes for you but we’re not having a bird in the house.” Three days passed and in flew a lost, exhausted, banded, racing pigeon. First time I’d ever seen a banded one. I fed and watered it and even built it a wee box to sit in. I captured it one night and read the band. The owner was located and she said we could keep the bird but eventually she believed it would fly home. Several months later it did. My daughter had her bird and now that I knew we could have one outside I arranged for some young Rollers. She’s had her strain of Rollers ever since. In the process I got hooked! I now have my own flock of white homers and am aiming at using them business wise. My wife has heard so much about pigeons it’s about driving her nuts. I can’t help it, it was Divine intervention! Oh so you want to see the sport grow…. reach the parents through thier kids! Hamsters and budgies and cats an dogs all come and go but there is something about pigeons that never leaves the heart. Maybe it’s that this hobby allows room for those who desire to do something wonderful with their spare time. Like create that perfect cross. Or raise the bar on the quality within their area. Or start a hobby business. You’ve got to admit this is one hobby where you the Fancier are the one in charge and in a world where that is hardly even a choice it sure is a refreshing and creative way to get your own way and reap the rewards! There is nothing like success and with pigeons your efforts can become very personally successful. Chris
HI TO ALL
MY NAME IS MONTY RESIDING IN SOUTH AFRICA.
I AGREE WITH MOST OF THE COMMENTS MADE.ONLY THE RICH CAN AFFORD TO BUY THE GOOD BIRDS AT AUCTIONS. THE REST OR THE NOVICE HAS TO SETTLE FOR THE MEDIOCRE BIRDS.
FANCIERS ALL AROUND THE WORLD TREATS THE SPORT AS A BUSINESS NOT A HOBBY AND THEY NOT WILLING TO HELP THE “NOVICE” SO THEY CANT AFFORD TO BUY GOOD YOUNGSTERS.
SO WITH THESE MEDIOCRE PIGEONS THE “NOVICE” GETS FLOWN TO PIECES IN THE FIRST YEAR OF RACING, WHICH BREAKS THERE MORALE AND GIVE UP. ANOTHER CONCERN ARE THE PRICES OF CLUB FEES,MEDICATION,TRANSPORT,FEEDS,ELECTRONIC CLOCKS AND RINGS. SO YES THE SPORT IS DYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope to present a counterpoint to the perception that the sport is dying or too expensive.
In the American Racing Pigeon Union, we see an average of 100 new members coming into the sport each month. Member loss is inevitable, considering various life and health issues. With current member loss, the net growth is between 2 and 3 percent each year, and has been that way since the AU began it’s promotion program several years ago.
Considering the uniqueness of the sport, the fact that an average of 100 new folks come in each month is astounding. Between 1/4 and 1/3 of the new memberships are family memberships. We have also seen an increase in the number of youth racing pigeon programs around the country.
Clubs have come up with clever solutions to the increasing cost of being in a hobby, and the community of flyers is good to share their tips with others.
Deone Roberts
AU Sport Development
http://www.pigeon.org