WINTER  RATIONING??

 

This often takes place with cheaper food and less of it and the birds kept in like pets. We do not follow this practice, as the birds are growing body and feather throughout the winter in the UK. We season them with a good mixture, pellets and Supersix in the water - hens out one day, cocks the next. I like good bodily and instinctual condition every day from October to March and then no rationing is needed for the hens to lay in March and April. I do not buy cheap barley, yet this often in Pellets - a superior food for pigeons. I came across pellet feeding in the 60s and it is common food now, as are peanuts popularised by Eddie Newcombe. Winter nutrition and lots of it should be balanced and plentiful. I build up the reserves in the racers during the winter and muscle is matured through racing as the fat level declines - no thin birds with us, unless they have raced hard. My article is geared towards the distance and marathon men and is best suited to types of natural system in the traditional style, which has never died.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

PREPARING THE BIRDS FOR BREEDING

 

Many birds will carry worms, canker producing trichomonads and some bacterial pathogens. Against these and to reduce the count we treat after racing and before pairing. On completion we liquid feed with Supersix - a very active product. I like G10S pellets, a high protein mix and matrix for egg production and squab rearing. The basic feed can be enhanced with hormoform, peanuts and seed. I find this feeding to be optimal for several rounds of young, which will grow like mushrooms. Birds that have been out all winter will be in better condition than prisoners, which must have access to aviaries. I put the bowls into the stock pairs on December 5th and the racers paired as love mates in March. All simple, clear and straightforward - basic husbandries needed.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

WRITTEN PEDIGREES

 

I have spent hours writing them out and will have made errors. They are only as good as the person creating them, are they not? From a genuine man, there is often some accuracy on the breeding side, yet errors on the ring codes and script are frequent. Just what is there to believe, with money and reputations at stake? Pedigrees are an expression of the human element - accuracy, attention to detail and honesty. I do like scanning them and once saw a bird whose parents were 2 hens. Like pictures of birds they are parts of the sport and worth a shrewd and cautious look.  A man with his personal strain of good birds is worth a look and his peds. may reflect his hard work in producing the colony. When buying birds, proceed with caution.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

GETTING STARTED WITH PIGEONS

 

On establishing a nice, big, airy, dry spacious loft and perhaps a separate stock loft, it is time to source some birds. My way now would be to befriend a top man at your chosen distance and communicate closely with him. If genuine enough, he may see a spark of potential in you. Mentor you, or breed you say 5 pairs of latebreds from his best performance birds. Actual results will be the arbiter of selection, not the appearance of the birds. Breed like mad off these birds and race all the progeny as far as you can in the local club to gain experience yourself. With success you can get more and more ambitious with racing - then see what you can do. I started with gifts from peers and having an eye for a good one went to Louella and rang the Ponderosa, as the studs do have some top ones of great bloodlines. With experience you learn how to trade and swap good birds and who’s who in the sport to be dealing with. Some of my 7 originals I did pick on handling, the rest were bought on trust of John and Michael Massarella and Ponderosa. With time I got to know some great fanciers to source my rare outbreeding experiments on the inbreeding programme. Your racing will produce the types you need.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

REAPING WHAT YOU SOW

 

Without getting biblical or too rural, I have a belief that fanciers who plan well ahead harvest the treasures of their hard work. Next years 2 yr olds are this years yearlings. It is key to having new candidates evolving that you can select by racing them. The ones you spot with potential are cultivated for later and for marathon racing it is often the plodding, slowest birds in the build up shorter races.  A degree of single minded singularity will reward you and a champion may be born. It may be wise to start at the bottom of the ladder and progress in a linear direction towards more ambitious race targets. If you find a producer pair or two and then improve the system, some good ones will emerge. Pigeon racing is a step into the dark in to the minefield of the unknown.

 

Jim Emerton