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More mistakes (24-09-22)

Fanciers who are successful are sometimes suspected of knowing a lot about pigeons, which also applies to people who write about pigeons.
I'm one of them and therefore dare to put that into perspective. Because believe me, even the greatest champions sometimes find themselves in despair watching their training pigeons because they do not train as they would like.
And they wonder what they did wrong and what they can do.

A LITTLE
Let's say this: Those people know a bit more about pigeons than beginners and fellow sportsmen who keep on losing.
What typifies the latter is that they continue to make the same mistakes. Mistakes that the champions don't make. Sometimes small, seemingly silly, but they can have major consequences.
Actually, that's kind of normal for novices and you can certainly not blame them. For almost all sports and hobbies there are courses for beginners.
It is different in pigeon sport. The beginner is immediately thrown into the deep. In other words, from his first day as a fancier he has to compete with the seasoned professional. And is at the mercy of so many lies in misleading advertising for pigeons and products for pigeons. Rarely is him given a helping hand or pointed out to mistakes they make.

 GRIT
Take Jan for arguments’ sake. Long way back for the third time in a year a pigeon fell through its legs. Such a thing can happen, but not to three birds in one year time. I asked him if his pigeons got grit.‘Of course.’
But when I visited him once, a lot became clear. Jan went to the pigeon loft and came out with a bowl full of grit. "Don't I give them grit? Come on. The problem is that my pigeons don't like it. This bowl is still as full as it was a few months ago.”
Again one who does not understand I thought and I said: 'You should empty that bowl on that sidewalk in front of your loft when rain is expected. Release your pigeons after the rain and see what happens.
A little while later I saw him again and how kind he was. The birds had plunged into the grit like the Apostle Paul did to the Corinthians. 

EXPLAINED
Then I told him about what every fancier should know. About the very tiny dust particles that pigeons spread, which can be clearly seen when the sun's rays enter the loft. Or if you run your finger over the top of a ‘false ceiling’.
Those dust particles that pigeons spread attach themselves to everything, including the grit in the loft and then the pigeons no longer like it.
It's that simple. Grit is important, but it doesn't belong in a jar in a loft. Just give a little bit of 'fresh' two or three times a week and they'll eat it.

 PROVERB
In Netherlands they say 'what a farmer does not know, he does not eat'. You could say the same about pigeons. Think of cheese, peanuts and so on. But… have they tasted it a few times, they devour it.
'My pigeons don't like it' you sometimes hear about mineral powder.
Do not like mineral powder? Come on!  If you administer it properly you have to be careful that they don't over eat!! 'Administer properly' means give small amounts and  refresh often.
Leaving it in the loft for two days is already too much in damp weather.
What you can do is place such a jar with mineral powder on a heating element. Such as those used to prevent freezing of drinking water.

 

 Such jars in a corner in the loft? Wrong !!!

 TRAIN
Racing pigeons have to train. But that happens to some so compulsively that they take nothing into account.
For them the birds MUST “be in the air” for an hour or so every day. Even in hot weather and late in the evening when it rains.
Wrong of course. It is those fanciers who, when they go basket the birds, put their baskets in full sun, panting and stoning.
Training in the evening when it rains means that pigeons go into the night wet and because they do not move in the dark, they will remain wet. A perfect way to disrupt them.

NO BATH
I remember that fancier who never gave his pigeons a bath. "Wasn't necessary for his birds’, he said. He regularly dipped them in lukewarm water and then gave them  a massage.
The man meant oh so well, but what he didn't realize was that thus the intended goal is not being achieved.
Pigeons will 'put up' the feathers when they spontaneously take a bath. If the fancier immerses them in water, that does not happen and the water does not reach where it should be.

ALSO SENSELESS
Many wonder or ask others if they can do something to support the pigeons during the moulting season.
I've been racing pigeons for half a century and have never done that.
The moult is a natural process that occurs automatically by shortening days where healthy pigeons can do without help. What is ok if you are only satisfied when the birds receive some kind of supplement is Sedochol. It will not harm the pigeons and the same goes for tea, garlic, vitamins and some other supplements.
Sometimes you read something like 'on Monday garlic, Tuesday Sedochol, Wednesday tea’ and so on.
If it makes sense at all, it certainly isn't if you give it one  certain day of the week. Better is a kind of cure of about a week. But will you win even one more prize with that stuff? I doubt it.  

TRICHOMONIASIS
Trichomoniasis is a bit controversial. Even vets and the greatest champions differ on how to handle it. Also because it is no longer the dreaded plague of the past when it was feared for such a great resistance that it became uncontrollable.
Now lots of fanciers no longer cure at all. Sometimes even on the advice of the vet. But be careful.
I myself cure once a year, before the season, and then for a week. Wouldn't it be better to give them a tablet or pill? I do not think so. If the birds are (slightly) infected, they will be 'canker free' for much longer after a cure than after taking a pill.

 TEA
And what about tea? Tea? Hmm. Let the fanciers give their pigeons tea, I would say. As long as they do that, they stay off drugs.

 

 'Comb Maegh A S' is me. When you performed like hell for half a century you have a right to speak. In this race I entered ONLY SEVEN yearlings. The 7th bird won 29th prize. The two third of the fanciers that participated were still waiting for their first bird. 


 

Comb Maegh A S is me. Result in very hard weather against over 2000 birds. 16 birds were entered. 14 prizes were won.

 

18-732 was the 3rd best yearling of ALL Belgium at Middle Distance. (3rd National Ace KBDB).