At 57 years of age, I have been very fortunate in my life to be successfully involved in various competitive sports – HUMAN AND ANIMAL. Only in the pigeon sport have I ever heard of evaluating athletes by “EYE SIGN”. I have never witnessed nor heard of coaches, owners, general mangers or parents looking into the eyes of their players, young children or livestock with a “jeweler’s loupe” to see if they were going to be a good performer, top breeder, sprinter, long distance athlete, etc.
I have owned, raced and bred horses. I have gone to several top sales and auctions, and I have never heard or witnessed an eye sign theory to select racing or breeding stock in horses.
The same applies in dog racing, fighting chickens, dog fighting or other types of animal competition that is legal or illegal. Nobody has any theories or evaluation procedures with eye sign. WHY? Because they would be laughed out of the sport for such a theory. It is ridiculous for those sports or competitions, and it is just as silly to believe they can be used in the pigeon sport to help with success.
I read advertisements about eye sign specialists, racing eyes, sprinting eyes, distance eyes, eye sign pairing and mating, graders, teachers and scientific research about eye sign. Only in the pigeon sport do some fanciers believe and practice these methods. Of course, there are other methods we also use in the pigeon sport for evaluation and culling that many have faith in, such as wing formation, strong or weak back, soft or hard muscle, throat configuration, color of toe nails, short or long keel, and maybe 20 more physical characteristics that are used as methods of selecting breeding or flying stock.
In all of these theories never do I hear mention the one major requirement necessary for the racing pigeon to be successful: The ability to find his way home, “HOMING ABILITY”. The intelligence and navigation skills to be 100-600 miles from home and race and navigate to return home to his loft the same day. Without this ability to home and navigate, all the other qualities mean nothing. Yet the graders, teachers, master breeders, specialists, etc. never seem to be concerned about this one aspect of our sport.
Can they grade intelligence, heart, determination, motivation or desire just by handling a bird, opening his wing, looking at the throat or looking into the eyes? PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK! YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS AND REALLY BELIEVE THIS IS POSSIBLE! To spend your money and time applying these methods to achieve success is foolish.
Like I said before, only in the pigeon sport do these experts exist (self proclaimed experts). WHY? Because we in the sport look for any short cut to success. There is none. The only way to be successful in this sport is the old fashioned way, to work for it, and earn it.
The sad thing about these so called experts graders and eye sign experts is that I truly believe they think they have the ability to select birds by their methods.
Only in the pigeon sport can they find individuals gullible and naive enough to listen and sometimes practice their methods. No other sport or competition would consider such theories with a straight face.
We talk about our sport being on the decline, and there are many reasons for it. What a shame if a new flyer gets involved with one of our eye sign experts, and spends his time and money on their methods. After a few years, if he stays that long, with little or no positive results, we lose another potential fancier and maybe a few of his friends.
Yes, I am being hard on these individuals because I TRULY BELIEVE THEY ARE HURTING OUR SPORT for some small financial gain or a personal ego trip, or both.
As I have said in many other articles, you have the best graders in the world, the training basket and race day. By training and racing your birds you will be evaluating yourself as well as evaluating and culling your birds.
You as a trainer may need some improvement in different aspects of the sport: feeding, training, medication, trapping and loft management. It is hard for us to accept the blame for poor results or heavy loses. We much rather blame the birds, the weather, the transport company, or some other area, but not our own abilities or methods.
To select breeders and flyers is a very simple procedure. PERFORMANCE should be your only criteria. Does the bird come from a winning family, generation after generation of excellent race results? If the answer is yes, then the bird is worth taking a chance on in the breeding or flying loft.
Performance means the type of results necessary to compete in your area: speeds, distances, weather and land conditions. If the bird’s family has shown that it can be competitive, that is all you need to know. Forget about his eyes, wings, back, muscles, throat or keel.
Occasionally I will go to a auction, especially if it is sponsored by an excellent flyer and offers birds with race records. I see these domestic birds, some with multiple diplomas, sell for much less then birds with foreign bands and no race results. The excuses are that he is to long, has no chest, has a weak back, has no breeding eye, etc. FORGET THOSE THEORIES! The bird has already proven itself in race competition with multiple diplomas. He has the ability, and he has already proven it. You would have no problem taking a chance on breeding this bird with another performance bird with the same ability.
“SAME ABILITY” means proper breeding: speed to speed and distance to distance. If the bird has multiple diplomas at various speeds and distances that is even better. You really should not care about eye sign, or how the bird handles.
The sport is changing everyday. New ideas and theories are advertised, sold and practiced. However, the basic principle still applies: no homing ability and navigating skills, no positive results. You cannot find these abilities by looking into the eyes. Regular training and racing and selecting breeding and flying stock for performance results and bloodlines is the only path to success.
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Article Written by: Bob Prisco
I like your article. I am not a eye sign man, but do like a good colored eye. with a small pupil
on breeding racing pigeons or horses They must have the ability to fly or run fast I have studied the
race horse and the race pigeon in order to pick out the faster pigeons and horses before they go into training and what to look for in breeding. There are certain phisical attributes which are necessary
to win races. One of these is the large heart. With out a big heart you will not win the longer races
Very few can tell which pigeon or horse has the the large heart or how big the heart is In horses the heart varies in a regular saddle horse the heart size is 7 1/2 pounds a throughbted horse has a heart
of 8 1/2 pounds a big advantage how ever a horse that wins the Kentucky Derby will have to be 15 pounds to win the TRIPLE CROWN tthe horse will have a 18 pound heart
pigeons also have different size hearts the faster long distance pigeons will have the large hearts
Their has been millions of dollars spent trying to crack the code on the large heart
I have developed a method to tell the heart size in the thoroughbred horse and can tell which horses
have the large heart by looking at them then a more accurat way to tell the exact heart size. basically speaking the horse will tell you if it has a big heart The same goes for a pigeon
I have been flown to the big horse sales to select horses.
on pigeons I was able to win the big combine futurity by 2 hours the 500 by 4 hours I did not realize what I had done I was happy to win My two brothers using the same principles won every race in their clubs
The art of breeding is a science no matter what any one says, if the pigeon or horse dont have the
necessary traits it cannot win I have written articles for racing magazines in Australia USA Canada
I am currently working on breeding the race horse with the large hearts I have had the top breeders of
the throughbred horses come visit me. I find the more you know about selection the better your chances of winning. There are some things needed some of which I have never read any articles on. Any way its
a learning experiance. of note I have ran the heart size on over 8,000 horses last year a couple of years back I found there was a horse named American Pharough rhat had the large heart and predicted he would win the triple crown California chrome had won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and every one figured he could not be beat I ran the heart size of California Chrome and found he had a heart of 15 pounds I ran the heart sizes of the horses in the Belmont and found there was a horse named ther was a horse named Tonalist that had a 17 pound and told my friends Tonalistwould beat California Chrome in the Belmont and he did California chrome went on to win $14,000,000 California Chrome was entered in The Pegasus World Cup with $12,000,000 prize money and was ihe odds on favorite I ran the heart sizes of the horsesin the race and found a horse named Arrogatev had a heartb of 17 pounds that would beat California Chrome and he did. This is just a Sample of what can be done if you know what to look for.
The only pigeon that wins races is a pair of pigeons that won race after race due to the parents, grandparents and great grand parents that did the same. With good health,good training and the right feeding you will be on the top of the sheet. Being flying racing pigeons for 40 years. We all like a pigeon that looks good and win races and when you have a pair or two that can produce winners year after you will stay in the sport as long as I have.
Aloha Denis
HI
I believe that he is right
Very good. Thank you
In my humble opinion you couldn’t have said it better, best to best and forget the rest, I have only one theory and that is the basket theory. If l am asked to show my pigeon with the best racing eye in my loft I will go and catch my 5 x winner, of course not even knowing what its eye looks like. Bruce Fordyce’s kids do stand a better chance than Os Durandts than being long distance runners, but I don’t have to look in their eyes to see if this might happen, I will merely let them race against each in a marathon to see who are better runners.
excellent and true
HI
Best racing pigeons coming from basket.
Interested in learning about the facts in pigeon eye
Altyd nice om te hoor hoe die manne mekaar uitkak en opdonner
Wow this article has opened up a can of worms, I guess like in life what works for one person does not necessary work for another.
For many years I have gone into my flying loft after the racing season and pay close attention to the birds left in the loft. One always gets the exception to the rule BUT all the birds seem to have a similar build, certain back type, certain wings, vents etc etc and they all seem to have above ave to good eye sign.
I’m a stats and percentage person and taking the above into consideration I asked myself why keep (or breed birds) without those characteristics, inclusive of above ave eye sign, as I will just be reducing my chances of performance.
I would like to think I know a little about eyes – definately not everything as there is so much to learn about the eye. There are 3 comments I would like to make which would be food for thought:-
(1) I have yet to see a good racer that wins over 400km that has not got a good eye,
(2) I have also found that at least one breeder (preferably both) must have good eye sign to breed good racers,
(3) I have managed to walk into a complete stranger’s loft and selected his best 2 race hens and stock cocks on their eyes.
Taking all the above into account one must bare in mind that I also look at their wings, backs, vents, body etc. I mean to select a person like Os du Randt or Jannie du Plessis to run and win the comrades would be as stupid as asking and expecting Bruce Fordyce to be a top quality prop. That being said I would think Bruce’s kids would have a better chance at being long distance athletes than props and visa versa.
Another point of interest is that I select most of my stock birds as babies before they are even weaned.
Eye Sign is B.S….Mate best to best and the “Basket” will do the rest…It’s that simple.
Flylong: The basket! What happens when you get a smash toss. Do you think only the good ones get home?
What happens when the birds have underlying diseases. Do you think the best get home?
Pigeon racing in Hawaii (unlike Florida which is a blow home capital of the world.) If you only rely on the basket then you will have to buy new breeders every year. A fancier can get wiped out at 50 miles because it is over real ocean. At 220 miles most birds have been lost and on any given race you can loose any given bird due to the ocean crossings. But if you are in Florida then you can use the basket because they have clubs like Unit 10 who flies about 20 races a season under 150 miles and only on fair weather days. Those that do well in the races are sold to __________they sell them to because they do not want to loose them. So your basket test is 150 mile races 20 times a season till they sell the bird. But if you look at the results their participation is a low as 3 lofts competing, as soon as 400 miles comes up they are down to very few pigeons. There is more to pigeon racing then having a truck, birds and a screened cage. We have lost and will never regain the knowledge that the great strain makers strived to achieve by racing long distance races. And that is no B.S.