Buying Pigeon

With your loft erected, it is time to think of obtaining your initial stock, either to act as founders of your family of pigeons or as birds to race. If you have not already approached your local club, now is the time to do so. If you know a local fancier, contact him for the address of the club secretary; if this is not possible, the regional secretary will supply you with addresses of clubs in your area.

Once you have the address, telephone the secretary who will probably be only too pleased to help and who will advise you of the best way to start. Since you are still feeling your way, he will probably advise you to join the club as an honorary member; usually this will involve quite a small sum, say around 1, and will save you paying an entrance fee to the club until you are really ready. Being an honorary member will allow you attend the club meetings and activities and will provide for your immediate need, which is to meet and talk to practical fanciers who are usually willing to assist newcomer sin any way they can. Although as an honorary member you will not be able to take part in the business side of the club,you will gain insight into the administration and general running of the sport. The president or secretary will probably personally introduce you to the club's leading or champion members. Generally, each locality has its own outstanding or star fanciers; some may be owners of large lofts and possibly widely known, others are regularly successful in their own area with just a small team of birds and quite a small loft. In talking to these local successful fanciers you will begin to understand the necessity for keeping records in order to plan the breeding and management of your pigeons; for most will have built up their families of birds by a constant policy of eliminating any weaklings and of making sure that their breeding programme is directed towards obtaining success and maintaining quality.

The old saying, 'you have to learn to walk before you can run', is very true in pigeon fancying, and the friendship of successful local fancier can be the guiding hand whilst you relearning to walk. In addition, obtaining your stock from successful local fanciers ensures that the birds you start wit hare acclimatized to the local environment. Do not spend too much at first on buying the very best; you will make many mistakes in the first few years, and it is better to learn with cheap birds than very expensive ones. When you have per-feted your own methods of management and training, then is the time to buy the very best that you can afford. By then you may also have decided whether to specialize in sprint, middle-or long-distance races, and your choice of which strain to buy will in part be governed by your preference.

This is not to belittle those fanciers of national and international repute who regularly put up good performances in national races, and who concentrate primarily on just that. If you want to obtain birds from such fanciers, they often advertise in the pigeon-fancying press with details of these successful winning families, and they usually provide birds of high quality. Most fanciers with a recognized name in the sport can be relied on, and would never think of offering birds for sale which do not measure up to their own standards .Generally, the birds they offer in autumn and winter arc, as already mentioned, surplus to their requirements due to lack of accommodation or they are birds bred that year. These young birds, of course, have all their life before them. They may have taken part in two or three races but have not been over-strained and could be future champions.

To purchase pigeons and breed from them in your own loft.This includes old pigeons and those hatched the same year."To purchase young birds early in the season, say in March,April or May to train yourself.

To obtain eggs from the fancier of your choice as well as some ordinary birds to hatch and rear the youngsters .Remember if you do this that 'feeders' have to be bought and mated before purchasing the eggs from the fancier.

If you decide to adopt the first course and want to obtain birds which have succeeded in races and have flown long distances or won outstanding positions, do not be misled into thinking that you need birds of considerable age. Birds of two, three or four years may prove quite a solid buy, but birds of extreme age will probably be worn out or on the downgrade and would not be a worthwhile purchase, especially to the newcomer to the sport.

Personally, if I were starting again, I would adopt this first method; but the birds I would buy would be yearlings - those born in the previous year and which have completed one season's molting. These would mate reasonably quickly, an dafter two or three months of breeding you could reasonably reckon to 'break' or settle them to your own loft.Thus, providing you make your birds comfortable and happy in their new home - and nothing could be more conducive to calmness and happiness than raising their young in the quiet presence of their owner - you should be able to get them to fly from and back to their new home. However, there is always the risk of losing them and, if they have cost a lot of money, it may be essential to keep them as prisoners.

I would not advise a newcomer to go out and purchase with a view to breeding from them, particularly if he is keen to race young birds in his first season. For these late-bred birds - that is those hatched out of season, say in July, August or September - although usually less expensive,need time to mature before one uses them to breed.

This raises another important point which must be stressed- namely personal patience. Do not think you can rush things when trying to settle birds to your new loft. If purchasing yearlings, as suggested above, it is best to do so about the end of January and let them occupy one of the three sections of the loft for a couple of weeks or so before you mate them, or pair them, about mid-February. Let them quietly rear their first nest of youngsters without going out; then, whilst they are sitting the second pair of eggs, you can attempt to settle them as described below.

Patience is even more necessary if you decide, because of financial limitations, to buy your initial stock as late-beds. In this case you must be prepared to allow considerably longer for the birds to settle to their surroundings and to mature. It would, in fact, be advisable to purchase these birds in September or October of the year they are born; in this way you might be able to settle them to your loft and have them flying out before you consider mating them.

If you decide you want to follow the second course, my advice would be to purchase, say, six or eight young birds of about four weeks old. These will soon get used to their section of the loft and, although there will still be that anxious time which all fanciers go through annually - that of settling young birds - if they are given a good chance to see the outside of the loft and obtain a fair view of the immediate surroundings before they become too strong on the wing, the risk of loss will be considerably reduced.As described earlier, if you have a wire cage to cover the let-hoard, you can put this in place and remove the drop-holes so that young birds can go through the opening into the cage,where they can enjoy the sunshine and develop a knowledge of their surroundings. They can also become accustomed to any sudden movements and noises while nevertheless being shielded from them. After a few days, on a good but not too bright a day, remove the wire cage from the let-board before removing the Anti-bolts and retire a short distance from the loft to watch your birds. When the youngsters come out they will begin to flutter their wings, and in a few more days will he going up into the air and back to the loft.

You may have decided on the third method and purchased birds to use as feeders and obtained eggs from a successful fancier. When the eggs have hatched and the young birds have been reared successfully, the latter can be removed from the parent birds to the section of the loft earmarked for young birds, and the settling programme begun as for young birds bred from yearlings or older birds.

In settling yearlings after you have bred the first nest of youngsters, as previously mentioned, the wire frame again plays its part because, when they are not sitting, the birds can spend the time in the frame having a look around. When first allowing the yearlings freedom outside the loft, the best method is to place a bowl of water on the let-board so that the pigeons can take a bath. They really do enjoy this and, especially on a warm sunny day, will bathe and then lie in the sun preening themselves. Because their feathers are wet they will not be so strong on the wing, and will therefore be less likely to take off and lose themselves before they have a good`fix' on home. When I moved to a new loft some thirty year sago, I had four cocks and four hens to settle. During the time the birds were rearing the first nest of young birds, I placed the bath inside the loft. Then, when the young birds were about three weeks old, almost ready to wean, and the old bird shad just started sitting again, one Sunday I placed the bath Mona table a very short distance away from the let-board and retired inside the house to watch from a window. Very shortly the four cocks were out of the loft, into and out of the bath and lying sunning themselves on the let-board. One after another,as the time came for them to take their turn on the nest, they went back into the loft without any trouble. Soon afterwards the hens were enjoying themselves in the bath, then spent some time on the loft and two of them even took a flight around the loft; but at the end of the day all the birds were comfortable and happy in their nest-boxes. From then on-wards they were let out daily and only one strayed back to the old loft, just for one day.

But, of course, everything comes easier if the bird is of good quality to start with. How can the newcomer judge the right bird whichever method he chooses to follow when starting? Twosome extent he must be guided by the fancier or fanciers he goes to in order to obtain his pigeons. If purchasing older birds, seek out fanciers who, according to their birds' pedigrees and records, have shown themselves to breed pigeons to perform consistently. In buying yearlings,select birds which have shown a tendency to race consistently,even if not actually winning, as young birds. In other words,choose birds which have regularly been among the early ones back to the loft.

Selection of young birds really falls into two categories. If you intend to race the youngsters you purchase, they should come from proven breeders.

There are, of course, exceptions to this generalization and you will meet fanciers anxious to quote these exceptions. In addition, there are today several reputable breeders who are specialist stockmen particularly interested in breeding so that other fanciers can race their stock. Through the expertise of these fanciers, the blood lines of many champions have been blended in a way that was not known some thirty or forty year sago. These breeding birds are often housed in large stud farms which enjoy national or international reputation.