Bad omens (21-05-25)
Good results you can often predict ‘miles away’.
Or you think after a good result 'I should have known'.
Last year, for example, I won a first prize with a hen that could not stop training.
When all the hens were inside she stayed away for an hour or longer.
The same goes for poor performance, at least... if you want to see it.
‘For a good result the fancier is responsible’, some fool themselves. For a bad result, one thinks of many culprits (such as bad position in the truck), except for 'own fault'.
But most often people have doubts when things don't go according to plan.
Below are some omens that do not bode well and indicate some caution when you are going to basket pigeons, or worse, want to put money on them.
DOWN
Down throwing indicates good health, that is well known. Sometimes, however, that can stop from one day to the next. Not even one little feather to be seen anymore. This may indicate an emerging infection. In young birds; often Adeno/Coli.
An experienced fancier can see from the moulting pattern whether pigeons have been exposed to such an infection before. The moult has been disrupted, as it were, as you can see from the fresh new plumes and the dry old ones that have remained.
As far as throwing down is concerned, many have already been made happy with a dead sparrow, as they say here. In the box of one or more racers there is, just like that, an excessive amount of down in the morning. 'As if it has snowed.'
'This will be their race', they think, and some extra money is pooled. But it will be, 99% certain, a debacle.
Pigeons that suddenly throw an excessive amount of down had something wrong (so a thing of the past), but are now recovering. And that is not the same as recoverd. Three weeks later they are ok.
ALSO WRONG
I myself have been unpleasantly surprised several times by one or more pigeons that did not want to leave the loft when I let them out. They were not ready to storm out with long necks, you had to chase them out. Then I told myself that they didn't dare to go outside because they were so attached to their box.
Or that they were afraid that it would be confiscated by a loft mate . Never before has such a pigeon that did not want to train been able to pleasantly surprise me, on the contrary. The only useful function of such 'stayers' was to stretch the price duration.
BATH
Pigeons who like to take a bath are healthy, if they don't want to take a bath then you may have doubts, or so we think.
However, you have to be careful with that. The weather also has to do with it. In dry clear warm weather, when people feel like a bath, pigeons have less of that.
Pigeons prefer damp, rainy weather, it seems. A strong wind also seems to scare them off. Of course you have a problem if only your (racing) pigeons don't want to take a bath and those of fellow fanciers do. What also does not bode well is the lack of that well-known white layer of powder on the water after the bath.
TRAINING
The majority of good players attach great importance to training. Not so much the duration, as the way in which it is done.
Flying around the loft they don't call training, even if they do it for an hour. They have to move away and preferably not arrive together but in groups. The group must be torn apart, as it were. Once they have landed back, they should not sit still. Widowers have to coo around spinning loudly and quickly take to the air again with a lot of noise because of flapping wings against each other.
Sitting on the chimney on a neighboring building is allowed, but again... As long as they don't sit still. That is never allowed. Old not and young not. It indicates no form.
IN THE HAND
Pigeons in shape feel somewhat swollen. The flesh is pink, there is white poweder on the plumes and the legs are warm and pure.
The legs in particular are a perfect indicator. It is not good if the toes are dirty with scabs on the underside. It's better to keep such birds at home, they don't win a prize. It may sound strange, but the rings must also be clean. I very rarely open the beak of pigeons, let alone pull the wings and legs apart like some foreigners do. There is a single exception: When I have doubts. Then I look in the throat to see if it has the desired color and if there are any mucus threads to be seen. In that case, a pigeon stays at home and is given a pill against canker. Of course not all birds will be cured for more days in full season. I mentioned in another article the difference between putting up a pill or medicate through the drinker for more days.
SPRING
Proven good pigeons that are always late from training before the season is another thing. You don't understand. What's wrong?
Pigeons that used to perform like this and have already experienced so much that now ‘can’t even follow’ the much less experienced yearlings?
Indeed not normal, and no matter how difficult it is, keep such a bird at home. Enthusiasts tend to think 'it will come, it has to be a bit warmer. Or further.' However, that rarely happens. Never seeing such birds again happens much more often. It's better to stop them because there is a reason for being late every time.
Many European fanciers cannot stop laughing when they see foreigners grading birds like this.
FIRST RESULTS
Last year at the beginning of April, I was informed of the enormous numbers of pigeons that some had entered and the few prizes they raced. I wrote on my blog 'you don't have to race those first races well, even bad is allowed, but... Very bad is not allowed.
'Very bad' is for example 3 prizes from 90 pigeons. Or something like that.
That will be a lost year, one could read.
By stopping or clearing out, you save yourself a lot of misery every week. Such pigeons are sick or worth nothing. Often both.'
Of course none of those men who performed hopelessly in the first race followed this advice, maybe I wouldn't do it myself, but now they know better.
This year there are such lofts again. Possibly they don't care, the Olympic idea 'participating is more important than winning' dominates and the fanciers in question are happy in their own way. They enjoy seeing each pigeon arrive. Also from latecomers. They are the pure hobbyists, the real ENTHUSIASTS.