LEARNING FROM FERAL PIGEONS

 

They have much to teach us with their habits and behaviours. Their survival skills are large, breeding around the year and being omnivorous from chips to bacon butties. When fielding they will flight out from the towns to the countryside in rain, fog, wind and snow and I love to see them do so.  The instinctual, primal urge to survive is great and our good racers demonstrate similar life traits, since we fly them on open loft. The main colour of ferals is dark chequer and there will be good evolutionary, survival reasons for this on a genetic level. The immune system in some of the rural ferals is sky high and sparrow hawks have difficulty catching them, due to their alertness and avoidance tactics.  The sharpest doves I observed out rough shooting were Stock Doves - not woodies - with rapid acceleration and jinking. The countryside is the university of instincts and perceptual skills, the boys adventure playground. In my old loft at Holtby, ferals and the odd crow came in and out and sparrows in the 70’s and 80’s - we were like hillbillies.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

SERIOUS JUDGEMENT OF A PIGEON

 

Choosing a good one under your system is very simple.  If it breeds good ones then all is fine and likewise if it races to your satisfaction.  Any other qualities, traits, dreams and opinions may have helped in the process, but until proven are all at the human level. We send all our birds over 700 miles irrespective of our judgements before the race, or how good we think they are. You want birds to perform at your distance and send them and see feels like a good way to start. I do judge latebreds out of the top racers to be worth breeding from, especially if pretty, balanced birds with silky feather. There are certain more racy types as a show homer will not race marathons.  Type will be similar in closely related birds, yet the inner abilities will be variable and individual. It is wise to concentrate on performance birds only.

 

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

THE GREAT UNKNOWNS OF PIGEON RACING

 

We have some lovely birds of good origins and few good ones and rare champions, why is this so??  In marathon racing this is how it is, a fact which we can only speculate over. My conclusion is that the good ones had the inner qualities that we need-these can not be seen, yet inferred. The successful ones have it and have prevailed under race reality conditions. You can look at a bird until you go dizzy and will never know it.  The mystery of racing remains, hence the fascination with the sport. As close you can get to the essence of the game is to race all your birds out and study the remainder - the sport is about the racing not just the keeping of beautiful, well bred birds.

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

WHEN TO STOP A RACER

 

Young birds can be stopped after 100 miles with impunity. These can be grown on, moulted and allowed to mature into promising yearlings. I would stop yearlings at the 450 mile mark and then rest them for the season. Keep older birds going while they exhibit race power and ability, although some of my best birds were stocked for breeding in the height of their career. If you stop the best, they will found a strain for you, where real esoteric knowledge is learned. Our good hen with 3 times Barce. Int. to her name is scheduled to go again as a 5yr old. She is a big hen with lots of stamina being a gdtr. of Joe’s Delight - Tarbes 720 plus miles. Stopping is a test of the acumen and foresight of the fancier and happens between the eyes. 

 

 

Jim Emerton

 

 

 

RACING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DISTANCE AND MARATHON RACING

 

I regard distance as being between 500 and 700 miles, with marathon coming in over 700 miles.  There are many pigeons that will race 500 to 600 miles on the day of liberation and some against the wind. It is lovely to see them drop in the twilight with the local lights on, if there are any. If conditioned well some of these will get up the next day to be timed over the 700 mark, yet this is normally a skill of the specialist, with esoteric feeding knowledge. Distance pigeons will be nice and buoyant in the hand and well rested before the event and may come from many sources and people and families. Marathon birds of real quality are rare, sent loaded with body and fat reserves for what is a migration, which may take over a week to the home loft. They exhibit rare qualities of navigation and endurance and are always worth breeding from.  In our strain we concentrate our breeding around perceived good marathon genes and then at least our breeders will have some tested ancestors. We have yet to produce the perfect pigeon - it is a distant dream.

 

 

Jim Emerton