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Again good to know 5. (04-01-2022)

Again: Good to know (5)  

 As I got older I started to experience pigeon sport differently. I was once so obsessed with pigeons that they kept me from sleeping.
The night before flying days I was tossing and turning in bed and on Monday I was already thinking about the weekend that followed. Especially the wind. You are of course different, much sportier, because you know what I always hoped?
That the wind blew in my favor and others were hurt. How unsportsmanlike can a man be.To fall asleep I had a method other than counting sheep. 

SLEEPING TOOL
I tried to imagine which pigeon was in which box and started in the top left of box one. When I was at the bottom right of the last box and not yet asleep I started at the front again, but now I tried to remember the ring numbers of the pigeons.
In the fall I already started pairing on paper. Man, I put together so many couples until late in the evening that ‘could not else than produce supers.’ But times changed. 

NOW
Now it happens that my wife has to wake me up on flying days and with pairing I also became much easier. After all, too often I experienced that most good pigeons were the product of chance. In my own loft and with others.
Now I know with certainty that no one can put together a couple from which the good ones will automatically roll.
And if you are so lucky as to breed such an extra pigeon, there is no guarantee that the parents will ever give a pigeon that is just as good.At all costs, pairing a cock with a hen that you have in mind for him is for me a thing of the past.

CLIP RINGS
But with that 'getting easier' came the problems. For example, I started to doubt which cock lived in which box and with which hen.However, I found something to make it easier. Both pigeons of a couple now get a clip ring of the same color.
A ring of that color also hangs in the box where that couple lives.Handy if you have many pigeons of the same color, blue for example, but also if you have to leave the care to others.
If you are short of colours, you can also put the clip rings on the other leg or, if necessary, put on two such rings. Gaston v d Wouwer was a man who ‘worked’ with clip rings.

RESERVE LOFT
So never force a pigeon to accept a partner, especially no racers. A forced partner simply cannot be motivating.
As far as breeders are concerned, American researchers established that with birds sexes that find each other spontaneously, i.e. pairing 'out of love', give more vital young. That was not the case with pigeons, but why should it be any different with pigeons?
By the way, you can always have stubborn pigeons. Then an empty loft is useful. It is best to put the cock on it first and a little later the hen.
Usually you have your pair and you can put them back in the loft. 

SECONDS
In certain sports, for example bobsleigh, hundredths of a second make the difference. It is reminiscent of trapping after the flight. That is becoming increasingly important.
A single second can even be decisive in National Long Distance races. And that's going to get worse. Even that one round round the loft when they get home can no longer be tolerated and will become more and more fatal.
A sports companion whose pigeons always lose time when they get home from a race blames it on the loft. Yes, it is always something, never yourself.I have already seen lofts in low houses in working-class areas where pigeons had to make an 'impossible' trap, but they did. 

MY METHOD
In the time that fellow fanciers considered me as a kind of artist when it came to young bird racing, I proceeded as follows. When the youngsters trained I filled the feeders and when I called them in I would stand right under the fall board on which I deposited some grit, peanuts and ‘sweets’. Amazing how quickly they knew that.

'Creilman'  who two weeks on a row won Provincial Creil in the 90-ies. One of the supers from the damous pair Mattens x Sissi. 

After some time seeing me alone was good enough for the pigeons to come down to land. Because they knew what I had put on the landing board.When most were inside and their crops were filled, the food bowl was taken away.
Those who were still outside were no longer looked after and I certainly did not wait until they were inside to feed them. Then you would reward them for their bad behavior too.
“Pigeons must behave themselves” Adriaan Janssen from the brothers) always said.

 MORE WRONG

There was more wrong with the man whose babies trapped so badly.He wanted to show me some birds and as soon as he opened the door of the loft some of them rushed out of the loft in panic.He closed the window but then it really started.Inside you heard a hellish noise and through the window you saw the plumes flying around. Poor fancier and poor pigeons.“Could it be the loft?” Come on.

ALSO THAT
By the way, I never went into the loft without a ‘snack’. Then I put some sweets, peanuts and grit on the perches. When I extended my hand, a young pigeon immediately flew towards it because it knew what that meant.
This man mentioned before grabbed his babies between the legs or against the window, sometimes by the wing or just a leg. How stupid. That way you lose all credit and regaining trust is very difficult.
How can you expect a baby like that to storm in after the flight?Some are reluctant to grab their young for road training. Handy fellow sportsmen  teach the birds to walk into the basket. It is also possible to make the lofts dark(er). 

HOLD AND LET GO
Sometimes you see how fellow sportsmen hold a pigeon very clumsily and then let it fall clumsily from their hands.
Someone who does that here won't handle a second one. Some respect please! They do not realize what an enormous effort it takes from the pigeon to land neatly on its feet.It is best to let them fly off your hands at the height of their seat.It is clear that you have to start creating a good bond early on.
You will really do well if you can grab each pigeon with one quiet movement and better still with ONE hand. Fanciers who hold BOTH hands above their heads and then suddenly strike in a sudden movement have no feeling for animals or pigeons.
They are not champions and never will be.  

In the middle:  Adrian one of the Bros. Janssen: 'Pigeons always should behave.’