Together we know more (15-03-24)
Together we know more
If you play well and some even read your pieces, that does not mean that you know much anything about pigeons. I try to be as little pedantic or teaching as possible. So 'try'. Because sometimes you can't escape it.
People ask questions, ask each other questions and ask me questions. I don't have an answer to many of them, but I do have an answer to a few. Which is also a good thing after so many years of pigeon sport.
Moreover: Together you know more than one.
CLEAN
v D is retiring, wants to start with pigeons, but, as he says himself, still has to learn everything. In particular, whether it is necessary to clean the lofts daily.
Preferably. But that is a matter of a few minutes for a normal stock of pigeons.
It is best to put a 'ground cover' on the bottom. For example, straw or lava grain. This means you absolutely don't have to clean it every day. It's better to do that on 'bare' wood. With a ground cover you not only save time, but the loft climate is also more pleasant. Otherwise, test it out. One section for youngsters you clean every day, in the other you put straw, for example. You leave the connecting door slightly open and then see where the pigeons prefer to be. Of course, that is in the best loft. And that is the loft where they will most easily take shape.
ANNOUNCED?
A G had heard that when X went somewhere to talk about pigeons, he first let himself be announced by his wife who introduced him as 'the Michael Jackson or The ambassador of the pigeon sport'. Or 'the phenomenon'.
For example, X had once wroite that flight attendants on the plane recognized him because of his television appearances. And that in Saudi Arabia, where no dog knows English, hundreds of fanciers had come out to speak to him. And G was angry about a few other things.
I replied to him (G) that I didn't believe everything. I advised to do as I did. Say goodbye to that Face Book thing and above all not get excited.
If that sweetheart admires himself so much, let him do it. If he feels good about it, that's fine, right? The world will only become a better place with another happy person.
BANDAGE
For that Antwerp guy, 2023 was a year to forget as soon as possible. A loved one is seriously ill, he is constant sick, quarrels with the neighbor and other misery. And to make matters worse, a bunch of pigeons that had not performed at all.
Could all that be the cause of poor performance?
Could that be transferred to pigeons?
Never say never, but believe None of that. It is true that there is a connection between the condition of the fancier and that of the pigeon.
Hear William Geerts, never hindered by false modesty, say: 'I will continue to race pigeons well as long as I stay healthy myself.'
Pigeons need attention and it's hard to give it to them when you have so many worries that it gets in the way of normal functioning. But I can't prove anything.
MEGA
Racing with a hundred or hundreds of pigeons keeps people busy. Not everyone is happy with these foreign fanciers in Antwerp, nor with the amount of money that is paid for pigeons these days.
Are those 'mega-lofts indeed destroying the sport?'
I hardly believe that. Would so many fewer fanciers have dropped out if it hadn't been for those big lofts?
That they are the cause of quitting for some will be. But I don't rule out the possibility that others don't stop because of those big lofts.
Because, for example, they can continue to basket close to home. Without the many pigeons from that mega loft in the club, birds would not be picked up anymore.
In the meantime, dozens of fanciers have been able to turn their hobby into their profession. That only pays off with a lot of pigeons. After all, you are better off on the publicity route if you are often on the results.
Because 20 pigeons 'on the first sheet' simply makes more of an impression than 3 pigeons, even if those 20 prizes were from 100 basketted pigeons and it meant 3 out of 3 for the other. Foreigners fall for it even more.
It seems to me that something needs to be done. For example, two results.
With only a basketing limit one is too late. It should have been done for half a century. The consequences of half a century of collective snoring by KBDB and NPO under the watchful eye of a pack of dozing regional administrators can now no longer be undone.
One can discourage mass basketing by giving fanciers less freedom. For example, by obliging them to put them on the loft list where they will race for a whole year. What some people are doing now, depending on the wind direction, determining where they are going to basket is actually unacceptable. Because of being so unfair to fellow fanciers who don't have that opportunity. And then I talk about the possibility of being able to basket at two or three locations for one, and only one for the other.
TOSS
We'll start again soon. How often you have to toss old ones is mainly asked by beginners. I don't think much. Or, more concretely, that about four times is enough.
I know, some also drive a lot with old ones, but that it can be done without is proven by daily practice.
And youngsters? There is no immediate answer to that. That depends entirely on their condition; This means whether or not spontaneous training at home.
Fanciers whose young refuse to train of their own (and there are more of them than you think) and fly from the house to the loft and vice versa should be much more careful than fanciers with youngsters who disappear from sight for an hour or more after being released. With such you don't have to make those super short lap flights, you can even start at 10 km. But only with 'such'.
If you treat youngsters who don't train a meter like that, you call doom upon you.
And after those 10 km? That, in turn, depends.
If they are at home for you, you can continue.
If not, then again to 10 km, if necessary a third time. Some assume that pigeons 'learn the way' by flying from known point to known point.
That's a misconception. At least, that's how I think.