It is now difficult to buy pure Meulemans racing pigeons because they have self-destructed in Europe. The racing pigeons of this pigeon breed may be good for both short distance and long distance. The best crossbred pigeons for racing pigeons. However, in most European racing lofts, they have very strict requirements on the performance of racing pigeons.
So much so that it is impossible for anyone to want to preserve pure Meulemans pigeon lines. They are always looking for pigeon lines that can win in today's racing pigeon racing. This is why many racing pigeons are crosses between different pigeon lines. the next generation.
I consider myself very lucky to be able to purchase this series of Meuleman racing pigeons. At that time, I purchased a son of Kadet, and this son soon became a very good breeding pigeon. I also imported a grandson of a military cadet, and I named him The Captain.
The Captain’s excellent bloodline is almost all over the United States. He can be said to be a quite magical sire. After that, I bought another excellent breeding sire named Bonte. These racing pigeons were very influential breeding cocks at the time. Recently, there was a descendant of a pigeon named 176 Frill. I sold twelve of its descendants in two years to twelve different fanciers. Bought them, and every one of these pigeon fanciers has a record of winning championships because of the descendants of this racing pigeon. When pigeon fanciers have such excellent racing pigeons, they will not worry about not having good pigeons within ten years.
I breed this racing pigeons very carefully, and I also like to use pure lines, although this is a method rarely used by pigeon fanciers today.
Why does Horst prefer inline breeding? Because that's how I was raised, and I've been doing that for 20 or 30 years.
Every four to five years I have at least one new racing pigeon in my loft. Excellent, we are creating American pride, we will have a whole line of good pigeons because of it, and this is how we develop our own line of racing pigeons. I personally do not use a shotgun approach to achieve this goal. Because that would cause too much burden; Nevertheless, in fact, every year I consider whether to cross a certain pigeon line, but in the end I resist doing it .
When pigeon fanciers have the opportunity to visit Europe, you will find that many fanciers are destroying Meulemans racing pigeons because they continue to do the work of crossbreeding. I hope to keep this A line of racing pigeons, but unfortunately it seems easier to cross them than to keep pure lines.
Is getting the results we want more important than accomplishing something we can be proud of? Hester couldn't help asking.
old van den Busch and Janssen female
Yes, I think purebred animals are more advantageous in breeding, because they are bred with closed genes, and when they are used for breeding, the results obtained will be more consistent As always, , but this breeding method also has its adverse effects, because it may be a breeding disaster.
Many people talk about how to do inbreeding and inbreeding, and then pair the best daughter with her father pigeon. If pigeon fanciers really do this, it will really be a disaster, because it will affect the animals. How can there be good results in breeding without common sense and knowledge?
The situationis talking about people who usually don't race the racing birds they breed, they just want to find shortcuts in breeding, which is useless and often causes trouble. Breeding must be carried out carefully and properly to produce good results.
When pigeonfanciers try to use inline breeding, the racing birds in their lofts must be above average, otherwise their best results may only be It's just the average level of the general racing pigeons.
Nowadays the most popular slogan is "Racing Performance". Suddenly, our standards for looking at the physiological characteristics of racing pigeons have suddenly changed. Those physiological characteristics are like It is a broad and powerful arm, the pubis must be brought together, or it may be a wide and jagged eye, etc.
Now no one dares to say that we understand a lot. At best, it may be better than before when we evaluated racing pigeons. I think the standard for measuring racing performance is relatively clear. And be honest. If there is any knowledge of selection and breeding, it will come from years of experience and observation. This experience and observation comes from many successes and failures, many trials and errors, and common sense about animals. However, the final evaluation must still come from the racing pigeon cage.
However, the ultimate evaluation criterion for pigeon owners for racing pigeons is the pigeon owner’s own preference for racing pigeons. Only in this way can the pigeon owner develop a hobby under the pressure of daily work. Just like some pigeon fanciers like white pigeons , some pigeon fanciers like ornamental pigeons , and even some pigeon fanciers like racing pigeons with zigzag eyes, they can all train their own racing pigeons according to their own preferences. , but when pigeon fanciers are breeding in these relatively alternative directions, don't care too much about the results of the competition, because your breeding direction is contrary to the racing results of racing pigeons.
Horst is always introducing new varieties of racing pigeons for testing. He once introduced Jan Aarden racing pigeons, but now only a few are left.
He said: "I once had Some very good Jan Aarden racing pigeons, but I don't really like them, even though they are very beautiful racing pigeons. This breed of racing pigeons is good at the long distance, but only in the long distance. 20% of all our competitions, here, we raise racing pigeons because we want to raise the kind of pigeons that can compete with others. No fancier would want to breed only a single distance racing pigeon
But take them! crosses are a great idea, they are a very good breeding element. In my loft, I have 1/4 Jan Aarden racing pigeons. The flying results are very good! 》
Old Vandenbusch
Heckmen’s Jan Atten once made a very good racing pigeon. The source was a spotted pigeon named “Arnold” with the ring number NL85-8577890. The hen, Arnold, is the granddaughter of Dolle, the world-famous breeder of Jan Aarden. This hen has participated in 17 national races and won 17 prizes. This pair produced the winner of the Gulfcoast Classic in 1990. The same pair produced the third prize in the same event the following year. In 1992, this hen produced the second place pigeon in this competition.
Heckman also imported racing pigeons from the Imbrechts. Heckman said: “Imbrechts are like most long distance racing pigeons. Most of the racing pigeons are on average. Only a few are better racing pigeons. There are too many B-level racing pigeons in this pigeon breed, but not many A-level racing pigeons. Of course, only the A-level pigeons can survive in my loft, but the number But it was much lower than we wanted, especially when we were racing young birds. Also, I was lucky enough to have a pair of breeders from Imbrei, which were really good.”
Horst was asked when he went to Europe whether he wanted to import breeding pigeons that already had breeding results or if he just wanted to buy these breeding pigeons. The next generation, he said: "The breeding pigeons that have already had breeding results are rarely sold, and I always look for super breeding pigeons among these breeders. Of course, the chance of buying them is very high. Small. ‖
Like others, I will also import a single excellent racing pigeon, just like the last Meulemans racing pigeon I imported, when this racing pigeon The pigeon came to my hands across the ocean, which made me feel very excited.
Because it is a descendant of a close relative and has a very good racing record, I paid a lot of money to buy this racing pigeon. Maybe I paid more than this racing pigeon. The value at that time, but when I saw the name of Meulemans Golden Pair appeared five times in its pedigree, I desperately wanted to own it. This racing pigeon was fourth nationally in the middle distance in the Netherlands that year. , the race in which he won the first prize was entered against more than 12,000 pigeons.
When I get a racing pigeonthat is a descendant of close relatives and has very good racing results, I will use it as the main force of breeding. If this racing pigeon is the offspring of a crosscross, of course it would be good, but I think my idea is better and the probability of success will be higher. So this is why I like to buy this type of racing pigeons, not the mixed breed racing pigeons.
Heckman's breeding method
There are three main mainstream racing pigeons in the Horst loft: Janssen, Meuleman and Hackspans (Heckman and Spannenbergs). His Janssens are speed birds, Hackspans are long distance birds and Meulemans are all distance birds. But recently, the distances that Heckman races with the Meulemans pigeons are getting longer and longer.
cadet
Because he is one of the few professional racing pigeonbreeding experts in the United States, he owns quite a number of breeding pigeonpairs, with a total of 51 pairs in the loft. of breeding pigeons, and 12 polygamous breeding males. On this scale, he has at least 80 young birds every year, and he usually flies 65 of them.
Polygamous breeding males are usually paired with three breeding females in a cyclical manner. After laying eggs, they are handed over to nanny pigeons for incubation, and then the next female pigeon is put in. In this way, each female pigeon can have at most one Eggs are laid once a month.
His breeding rule is: the eggs of a polygamous breeding sire are more important than the eggs of 50 other pairs of breeding pigeons. When a breeding sire is upgraded to a polygamous breeding sire, all the eggs he owns are more important. The fertile eggs will be handed over to other breeding pigeons for incubation.
He said: I once had a new pair of breeding pigeons, but they didn’t produce even one offspring in two years because they were always doing the job of nanny pigeons. Sometimes I felt a little pity. Although these 50 pairs of breeding pigeons are bred five times a year.
Why should polygyny be used for breeding?
Breedingbreeding is the beginning of theracing pigeonrace. All the important breeding pigeons will be influential racing pigeons and I hope to get more offspring from the nursery pigeons, which is why these pigeons have This is why experimental pigeons or breeding pigeons that have not yet produced prize-winning offspring are used as nurse pigeons. This method allows me to add the most outstanding next generation racing pigeons in the shortest possible time.
And don’t split your super pair. After the hen has laid her eggs, give her eggs to the nanny dove to incubate. Let the hen rest. While she is resting, mate the cock. Get a new hen. When we confirm that this is a breeding sire with potential, we can use this method to obtain different offspring of two hens, which makes it easier for us to judge their merits.
How does Horst choose a polygamous stud?
When these sires want to be upgraded to polygamous sires, they must first be paired with two hens. If I have any doubts about the genetic ability of a breeding sire, I will pair him with another hen, up to two other hens. When a breeding male fails to produce outstanding offspring within two years, he will be eliminated. How can
be called a successful next generation?
A racing pigeon must win prizes through a headwind race before it can be recognized by me. I don't pay attention to races that are easy or have a tailwind. If pigeon fanciers don't care about such standards, you are kidding yourself.So, when I tell you that this pigeon was raced over 400 miles, that means the race was in wind speeds of at least 15-20 miles per hour.
White Nose
Although Herst practices polygamous breeding, he has no particular preference for male pigeons. "I own a variety of hens because I think hens are very important for breeding. You must have hens in very good condition to breed the next generation. , a hen in poor condition cannot produce excellent offspring. The hens selected as breeding lofts must be in perfect condition
. That is why many pigeon fanciers can only breed excellent offspring from young hens, because young hens are healthier and more energetic.
If I have doubts about the health of a hen, I will not let her participate in breeding. This is an important condition for breeding. I will also let old hens breed, but their offspring will only be used as breeding pigeons and will not participate in competitions. The pairing time is around June to July.
Horst has another breeding strategy. He said: "I use the offspring of new pairs and young pairs because I want to find new generations in this way. Breeders, I think this is the only way to find them. When I find a good breeder, it means that the young bird has a good racing record. , and have bred excellent offspring.
Although I use this method, I do not breed too many young pigeons. I use them to breed the next generation. , so I always hope to discover new excellent breeding birds, and this way can strengthen the lineup of my breeding loft. As long as the fancier reaches this level, it is easy to use this strategy, it just takes some time. 》
If I have a pair of breeding pigeons that do really well, or a pair of racing pigeons that people buy from me that do really well, I tend to copy that pair. The method for excellent breeding pigeons is to use their brothers and sisters, or other racing pigeons with related bloodlines, to pair them in a similar bloodline pairing method. The results of this method have been really good in the past few years.
Copysimilarsimilar bloodpairing method will get betterbreeding results than using inbreeding method. If the fancier's pair of excellent breeding birds comes from two different pigeon lines, the effect will be even greater.
only needs to pair its brothers and sisters together in a similar way. If this pairing has a close blood relationship and can produce excellent offspring, then this pair of breeding pigeons will be more popular.
For example, in 1987, I bred two young birds, Atlas and Agnes, from a pair of Meulemans breeding pigeons. Half of their grandparents' bloodline is the same, and these two young birds both won the championship record in the federation's 300-mile race that year.
So soon after, I went to visit Willivan Berendonck, where I bought the parents of Atlas and Agnes, and I bought three sisters from that hen pair, and two half brothers from that cock pair, Both new pairs proved to be excellent breeders, especially the half-brother of Atlas, who later became one of the most influential breeders in our Meulemans pigeon family.
I always hope to eliminate the bad characteristics of racing pigeons, but the characteristic of 176 Fril1's chest curly hair always appears in its offspring. Before I sold it to my friend Wally Tienprasid, he was bred for me. Out of six excellent breeding pigeons. Later I learned from twelve different fanciers that the descendants of Frill's had bred champion pigeons for them.
Meulemans
Wally paired it with four different hens in four years, and each pairing produced the next generation of the federation champion for Wally. Fortunately, we finally had the opportunity to bring him back to my own loft, where he is now being bred to the next generation.
Another brother and sister pairing of Atlas and Agnes gave us the 1989 Great Lakes Classic winner, and we raced Pete Ciolino with a descendant of a Fril1 sister, which won the Paterson Air DerbyChampion. I have been doing this copy-matching method for thirty years.
Recently I discovered a very rare breeding pigeon. It came from the Leuris pigeon loft in the Netherlands. One summer, I imported Klak172 from this pigeon loft. It was about one year old at the time. It was the best breeder in that pigeon loft. Son of pigeon old Klak. His half-brother No. 55 was the best racing bird in that loft, winning 14 first prizes and 12 second prizes.
Klak172 I paired it with a daughter of the old Klak. In the autumn of that year, the daughter of this pair won the championship hen prize in our area. Later, this championship hen became the provincial champion and the fourth national champion. There are 18,000 racing pigeons participating in the competition.
Since I imported this racing pigeon, it has been paired with five different hens and has bred six excellent offspring for me. Of these six racing pigeons, four have won first prizes, the fifth has finished fifth in a special race, and the sixth has bred the next generation of the champion.
I feel very lucky. One summer I was able to purchase its mother pigeon, its sisters, half-sisters, the mother of the champion hen, three half-brothers, and three sons. The origin of all these racing pigeons is the old Klak.
When racing pigeons have such a close blood relationship and can perform excellent competition results, it is almost certain that they will definitely continue their excellent genetics.
Horst is just like us pigeon fanciers who are digging for gold in the sand to find the super breeding pigeons that are bred every year. He hopes that a diamond will appear among them.
"He said: There is no such thing as a perfect racing pigeon, they always have some small flaws. But it is always fun to find diamonds in the sand."
For Horst, diamonds in the sand what does it mean?
"First, it must have good muscles, be elastic, and feel hydrated.
Second, the racing pigeon must not be too heavy. Its buoyancy, volume and weight will all affect this condition.
Thirdly, it should have short forearms, and the distance from armpit to elbow should not be too long.
The fourth point is that the racing pigeon must have very good feathers, which should be as soft as velvet."
"Yes. , I also like racing pigeons to have beautiful eyes, but I don’t pay much attention to the eyes of racing pigeons. Who doesn’t like racing pigeons to have beautiful eyes? If you visit my pigeon loft, you will see that my racing pigeons have beautiful eyes. Eyes of all different colors."
A few years ago, a man named Rochester Minnesota advocated ophthalmology, which led to many profound discussions on this subject. The fancier was often unable to answer some questions about the way in which racing pigeons were graded. Tell a reason, sometimes just say simply: "Because I like this condition."
At the time, I thought this statement was a bit like an escape answer. Maybe this knowledge has its usefulness. Compared to what I originally thought, the racing pigeon breeding evaluation I now use no longer makes any evaluation of the eyes of racing pigeons, or adheres to the eye breeding standards proposed by others.
While I believe so and do not consider eye marks as a criterion for pairing, I do not allow dull, inactive, or faded eyes into my breeding program. Undoubtedly, I strongly dislike racing birds with large pupils, and an honest racing pigeon breeder would never sell a racing bird with this defect.
I like pigeons with sharp, nice color distribution and unique eyes that can be passed on to the next generation. It would be a good idea to consider this trait.
When pigeon fanciers come to visit me, sometimes they feel that I pay a lot of attention to the eyes in my pigeon loft. Let me stress again, we all love dove eyes with a nice color, but I am not particularly particular about the eye shape.
If I had a federation champion pigeon and it had green eyes, that would be like the icing on the cake, it would make people feel good.
I hope that pigeon fanciers involved in the sport of racing pigeons will feel proud of the racing pigeons they have made. Is green eyes really a requirement for racing pigeons to win prizes? If any fanciers think that, then damn it, it’s not at all, can green eyes really breed champions? Who doesn't want this.
I think the biggest burden for racing pigeons to participate in competitions is that they have a large tail, which will cause great damage to the racing pigeons when flying. When a fancier’s racing pigeon has this characteristic, it will not be a good racer. Pigeon's. Because nine out of ten champion pigeons have contracted tails, we sometimes hear some pigeon owners embarrassed to say that the tails of his racing pigeons are not wide enough.
END
Text | Translation | Chen Rang
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