Marathon Pigeons Into The West Of England

Jim Emerton

Ten years into the experiment it is deemed to be a success. It is so difficult to clock birds out of Barcelona International, with the added distance that is normally the case, as most of the early birds are in Eastern and Central England. However, with 9 clockings between us we have created a strain of marathon bred birds to ourselves. Being purists we have given away many specimen birds to enthusiasts in the game and a few racing studs. Good birds are given between people-I like that aspect of the sport-the secret being to get to know the right people.

Inbreeding To Barcelona Performances

The ybs we stock are all from our own Barcelona International performance birds. Paired together we concentrate the performance values-it is the secret with inbreeding, and is NOT just a case of pairing close relatives together. You end up with a pedigree peppered with marathon results to form a strain of your own at little cost. Why keep buying in fresh birds to outbreed like most people do? Go as close as you like, testing each bird to the limit to prevent inbreeding depression. I have maintained this view for 43 years.