Again just a few tips (24-04-25)
I was always very punctual with the drinking water for my pigeons. The drinking troughs were disinfected daily and had to be dry for a while to neutralize protozoa (canker and so on).
For many years I also worked with a double set of drinking troughs. One in the sputnik filled with pure water, the other upside down. Twice a day I changed.
But after a visit to long distance man Jos Joosen I became less precise and that had everything to do with a look in the drinking troughs there. And... with age.
FOR AND AGAINST
Jos just adds water, the pigeons looked excellent so I also tried it in a loft. It remained without adverse consequences.
Would working with two drinking troughs be a waste of effort after all? And disinfecting once a week is enough?
Indeed, but on one condition. All pigeons must be healthy. Only one sick bird is enough to make everything fall apart.
Such a sick bird infects the water and the water infects other pigeons.
It reminds me of what a well-known veterinarian/pigeon fancier once confided in me. You really don't get paratyphoid from rats. But they can spread it if there are already some that are infected.
And it reminds me of what Dr. Lemahieu once confided to me: 'If pigeons are infected with what we call ornithosis, don't give them a bath. In no time you will have major problems. Do you know what some well-known champions do, by the way? They also pour in water, but always with a minimal amount of Halamid a well-known disinfector in the Netherlands. 'Minimal' is a knife point, or the amount of the head of a match.
Two nestmates 144 and 145. 'Never happened before' it says in the paper.
SELECTION
Fanciers who cannot dispose of pigeons exist. Without exception, they are losers who hardly win prizes. Not that you have to. Those pure hobbyists sometimes have more fun in their hobby than those men in all their stress who only want to win. Why are they bound to lose?'
Pigeon sport is a selection sport.
There are fanciers who do not attach value to performances in the year of birth. What...counts for them is: 'Arrive fit.' Now I once had a pigeon, the 145 (Ace Four), which did anything but. Henk Simonsz wanted to make an episode in pigeon magazine De Duif about Provincial National and Provincial winners and Ace pigeons that descended from this iconic breeder.
It would be THIRTEEN articles, so many real supers that descended from Ace Four he found, still to be seen online. Legendary pigeons like like Bubbles, Romario, Den Ad, Murphy's Law, Johnny Boy all stem from it.
BROKEN
The Ace Four once arrived with a dozen pigeons at the same time to win the ten first prizes from more than 1,000 pigeons. This from a short flight. Jos, who has come here for 35 years to watch the home coming of my birds, had remarked:
'There was one among them with whom you won't get far. It was already broken.'
Same bird was later also broken after a hard race from Etampes.
But this 145 got home much earlier than loft mates who looked so fit.
I once heard Bas V say that some descendants of his Bubbles (line Ace Four that he got from me) also had that 'lack'. 'Lack' by the way, because you could just as well ll talk about a good characteristic.
A pigeon that goes all the way under all circumstances.
BARLEY
Barley is controversial in pigeon sport, also because pigeons don't like it. Is what tastes good good for humans and animals? Just ask mothers with children who eat kilos of chocolate.
Barley is even said to be particularly good food for pigeons. The lamented Dirk van Dijck gave three weeks on a row no different.
It is also a good indicator when feeding. My mixture always contains some barley. If you made a mistake, fed too much, you could see it in the food bowl. There is still barley in it when the birds have eaten. It's easy to make that mistake when the weather is getting milder. This is easy to solve by taking the feeder off the coop for a while. In the loft of a champion is never food in the loft during the racing season.
Not even with men who feed full throttle. First everything should be eaten before feeding again.
VITAMINS
Vitamins are just as controversial in pigeon racing as barley. Scientists have never found a deficiency in pigeons that were given healthy food. Nevertheless, some fanciers continue to give it compulsively.
Rightly or wrongly, I will leave it in the middle. If it is administered in liquid form (or effervescent tablet) you have to be sure that it is drunk IMMEDIATELY. Because it loses its efficacy in no time. Especially in hot weather.
‘Naughty’ fanciers who sometimes export pigeons by plane to say America or the Far East will know what it is like. Crazy cost of 350 USD minimum. Per pigeon.
What has been tried several times is sending (fresh) eggs plus rings plus pedigrees. It never worked out. In hand luggage would be better. What they do is cut open buns lengthwise, take out a little bread, put an egg in it and close the bun again with a tiny rubber band around it. grees. Forbidden, but pissing against the church is not allowed either as they say here. Saves you a lot of money if... it works.
E C SYSTEM
Perhaps you remember the resistance to electronic clocking? Someone like Clique, who sometimes entered more than 300 pigeons, will certainly not have to think about clocking with rubber bands. More expensive, but what a convenience. For example, you want to know after a bad race whether birds have recovered for the next race. And especially after a 'smash'.
This is easy to check if you leave e c system clock on so that you can see which pigeons fall on the loft first after training. If it is always the same, it often indicates no form or not recovered. This also applies to pigeons that fly out last when you let them out, but you will have to check this yourself. These 'ec clocks' are also useful to check out the arrivals of training races.
'But then they usually arrive with a couple, don't they?' True. But even then, even two seconds earlier over the antenna can be a clue.
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