PIGEON NOTES

Hutt News, Volume 2, Issue 44, 10 April 1930, Page 9

PIGEON NOTES

PONITS ABOUT PEDIGREE.

WHY ARE GOOD RACERS BAD TRAPPERS!

It is-well to go through one's birds now and take stock. You will probably find you can reduce 'some useless 3ub- j jeets, reduce the com bill and maka room for next season's breeiing operations. If you have kept a record of each biro 's performance this will now prove most interesting and valuable. If yon, have a bird that stands out as a racer from the rest, ma* i a study of it. Look up its pedigree. Study its physical properties and compare them with the birds it has outclassed, if you have kept a record of its performances, the condition in which it 'was sent to the races and the weather conditions it had; to contend with, you will probably -discover why it Jias flown, so well and perhaps why on some occasions-it has won. Half the battle in pigeon racing, is to know when your birds win, why they win. --■•.• _ THE TRUMP GAUD If you do not know Ayhy a bird wins,•how can you work to achieve success with the same bird on another occasion.^ Pigeons like horses, dogs and men, have their moments for greatest efforts, and the-secret of success is knowing when that moment has arrived. This knowledge is the trump card of the successful pooler.. Undoubtedly, pooling is becoming the most important part of pigeon racing now-a-days. A well kept notebook will supply you with valuable information on these points. — ■ . ROGUES If as a beginner you find you have' one or two birds capable of holding their own as racers in good company, my advice is take the greatest'care of them. Use them or their parents if you have them as your chief stock getters. There is something over and above even sound physique and condition tnat makes a winning pigeon. There are crowds of pigeon of fine physique that that" will not put out the full extent of their power on the wing no matter how good their condition. They are like some - racehorses—rogues, or as old fanciers say they have become artful. They fly well enough and are reliable, enough as - ■ far as homing is concerned^ but they are content to keep with the crowd, they will. not break away and lead. - . THE WINNING TYPE But the other "type is the exceptional' one. From the moment it is in the air it strives to get away, from the mob." Often enough this type is of nervous disposition. Tame enough with its owner, but it will often feed on the outskirts of the crowd if these are handfed. When, it | claims a nestboxor a perch it sticks to j it. It Gioes not chop and change like ordinary happy-go-lucky specimens. Even, when exercising on the wing I have j known such birds single themselves out from.the flock, and when in extra good form continue flying on their own when the others have, pitched. • / ' BAD TRAPPERS Unfortunately it is these very traits which, transform them into bad trappers. How often it happens.that a fancier's' best, racer is a bad trapper? In my opinion, it is the characteristics which go to make a real racer which tends to bad i trapping. ' Such birds pay for nursing and humouring. One of the greatest assets in ! a fancier's composition is the ability to recognise such a pigeon early in its career. Some fanciers aTe so gifted in this respect t>hat they can sometinres spot them in their squeaker stage. When they do it is the beginning of the making of a champion, for undoubtedly training and treatment during tlie whole of its career play an important part in the making of a racer.