THE RACING PIGEON.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 12, 15 January 1929, Page 14

THE RACING PIGEON.

TRAINING YOUNG BIRDS.

NOTES AND COMMENTS

The average racing pigeon breeder usually has a loft of 20 to 30 young birds after the conclusion of the breeding season, and as racing fees and costs attendant upon training a large team are particularly high it is necessary to cull out a number in order to retain the individuals likely to prove successful as yearlings. Certain fanciers cull out by the drastic method of consigning all their youngsters in one lot to a 50-mile stage, for the first jump. This undoubtedly is a quick way of reducing numbers, but as it is expensive and by no means certain in its results, the writer does not advocate this radical system. It is a fact' that a large bunch of young birds when in strange surroundings become panickv, lose their heads and become exhausted by flying at random all round the country, and only when, the flock is broken up do the individual youngsters commence to wander back. ' This then, is no sound test, rather does it tend to have a bad effect upon any young bird because of the mental unrest caused.

Kvery young bird should be trained in a scries of small stages, preferably in a small number at a time, and then when the whole lot have reached the 50-mile stage there should be two distinct tosses for the whole team. The birds arriving first will undoubtedly prove the best for % few weeks, as condition may have been a deciding factor, but it is well to treat the first dozen birds as the team from which to select the small racing team.

ft has been noted on many occasions that the slow but steady youngster usually turns out to be a reliable long distance racer, probably because it is of a plodding nature and has to use its own brains in finding the way home, being left behind in the first few tosses by the swifter and possiWy lighter type of bird.

There is no really hard and fast rulo whereby the brainy young birds can bo selected, and it is better to rely upon a sound system of careful training and racing with two small teams than racing with a large team, so that the individuals may be studied as to condition, feather and general points. <

The fancier who tosses a young bird untrained into the Te Kuiti or Palmcrston race, and then follow it with a toss to Paekakariki, may get his bird hack, but purely by the youngster tailing the more matured birds, or in other words being led back, and it is useless to surmise that the youngster shows any advancement so far as brains arc concerned, over the rest of the flock. The careful racing pigeon fanciers in England have a habit of conserving any really good young bird which has won at one or two stages, realising that as a yearling and a two year-old there will be a greater chance of winning several

races well worth while, plus the fact that as a breeder it will be worth a lot to the owner.

Jottings. The United Pigeon Fanciers' Club, Christchurch, have sold over 1000 rings this season and over £300 in importing birds from leading British breeder-;. The Tumbler championship will be competed for at their show in the second week in June. Over 15,000 birds are liberated at Bournemonth, England, in the Lancashire Combine race, and over 1,000,000 racing pigeons carried on the English railways for various* clubs during the year. Argument Is being carried on in England and Australia on the subject of puncture versus printing clocks. It ia stated that puncture clocks are now being insisted upon, due to their being unfakeable. The public buildings around the city show a marked increase of stray racing pigeons this season, particularly the Ferry Buildings, the National Bank and the Magistrate's Court. It is of interest to note how quickly they disappear at the approach of winter, entering local lofts for food, when lost birds are then notified to the various clubs. Occasional birds show an aptitude to weather out several seasons in the open, as, for example, a black and white magpie hen lost several years ago by Mr. W. Hanson, and still seen around the wharves. An imported black racer also lives on the Ferry Buildings, and a Whiteside hen prefers the wharf sheds to a private owner's loft. A small brown tippler hen living on the Magistrate's Court wai liberated by the writer six years ago in town to lose it, and now has several descendants to keep it company.

Club secretaries are requested to note that race results must be delivered or posted early enough to be in the hands of the "Star" office by 9 a.m. on Monday mornings.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. J.W. (Auckland). —Because a bird refuses to leave the loft, it does not become your property even though advertised, as it may be a Southern bird. Unfortunately there is no proper system of reporting lost birds as the majority of fanciers become tired of tracing owners, due to eo many strays. There is no reason why you -liould not breed from it, but it ie a doubtful experiment. Our readers who lose reaily valuable birds do report their numbers to "Quill" c/o "Auckland Star," simply because he keeps in touch with so many Southern Ineedcrs, who report to him any item of interest.