Guide to Buying Racing Pigeons – Part 1 of 6
Buying in Volume
In this six-part guide to buying racing pigeons we will cover four approaches to replacing or increasing and improving your racing stock. The first approach we will discuss is buying in volume. Buying in volume is the least expensive way to buy racing pigeons. Some fanciers buy a large number of late-hatch babies, while others prefer to purchase the pigeon eggs from a breeder.
Selecting the Right Breeder
Before you purchase any eggs or hatchlings, you need to evaluate the breeder. Study the breeder’s loft from some time before you make the decision to buy. Some criteria you need to evaluate:
- Breeder’s overall reputation
- Outcome other fanciers have had with this breeder’s birds
- Examine race and futurity records of the breeder’s birds for:
- Success of the loft within its own competition
- Racing success of the breeder’s birds sold to other fanciers
Continue to gather information. Talk with the breeder/fancier. Inquire as to his most successful pairs of breeders thus far. This is important to know. In lofts the size of 40 to 50 breeding pairs, the breeder should have at least eight or ten outstanding pairs that produce a higher percentage of offspring than the others.
When you have identified the top pairs in the loft, and you are satisfied with this particular breeder, make arrangements to purchase their young. Many fanciers will allow you to come and choose the young while still in the nest, so be certain to copy their band numbers for future verification.
Dealing with New Breeders
You may not want to limit yourself to established breeders when buying racing pigeons. If you find an excellent young pair of breeders, particularly a pair that has produced two or three great racers, you may want to purchase the babies. Quite often they produce a higher quality bird.
European Breeders
You may have the opportunity to travel to Europe to purchase racing pigeons. Prior to your travel, thoroughly research the breeders you are considering. The top lofts in Europe will most likely not sell you their best breeders or best racers, but they should be willing to sell their young. Be sure to buy from pairs with the high percentage of success to improve the odds that you will get good birds.
Middle-Distance Racing Pigeons
Personally, I like to purchase middle-distance racers. These birds have the ability to fly 300 to 400-mile races as young birds. I find these races to be the most lucrative. So, it certainly benefits me to find birds that can do that. This is something you may want to consider.
Disadvantages of Buying Young Birds
Of course, the obvious disadvantage with buying young racing pigeons is the unpredictability. There is no guarantee in how they may turn out. On average, fewer than 20% of all racing pigeons turn out to be suitable racers. So, keep in mind, out of ten birds you purchase, only two may be ‘keepers’. But, if you are dealing with reputable fanciers, you can buy about ten young birds for the price that one proven racer will cost you. That’s where the value lies.
Potential Advantage of Buying Young Birds
Though, overall, you have to buy many more ‘unproven’ birds to get suitable racers, you may strike gold with finding real gem among your purchased birds. If this ‘gem’ was in the hands of the original owner, you wouldn’t be able to buy it of any sum of money.
listen guys please dont complicate things with the racing.the things that are manditory in racing pigeons….
1)get the best birds you can afford(any breeder worth anything will give you good birds because no breeder wants his name link with bad birds.
2)get the loft right,make sure it is airy but not draughty make sure its dry,no leaky roofs or windows.try to get the loft facing south or south east so it gets the sun into the loft.
the racing loft should be closed in ie once the birds have finished their exercise the loft is shut down.they must not see out no aviary for them to sit in they must be in their boxes.
the young bird loft is diffrent,get them in a trap to see their location,get them trained to come in when they are called and the ones that dont,dont give them full feed the next day they will be first in the loft.
3)the food getting the balance right can be hard to get,but once you do it is great.the birds fly longer and harder and once called come in.birds that are flowen to food dont come to much.
thats my slant on pigeon racing,once again if you need any more imfo just reply and i will get back to you.
good luck on and all
dougie
Hello Dougie. I enjoyed your comments. I just wanted to know how you call your birds in and do you feed individually or all together. Thanks Tom
very informative DOUGIE F tnx for that info about choosing a breeder. i race and train my pigeons my problem is they are all gasp for breath what will i do so my pigeons will race great. plss. help me any one can answer my problem. more power to pigeon insider and to chris… john
I had breeders sell me some bad birds when i got into racing. They sold me garbage show birds as racers for big money since i didn’t know much about racing back then. When i found out after words i had to get rid of all of them and buy the best i could get my hands with research.
just getting started what is the best method to traing young birds to come back to the loft when called
M&D EVANS in uk known around world ,just take a look at the results with birds from them .
sound advice for any flyer new or old and you have much better odds of getting that dream pair for the average flyer
Good article, some good comments, some are kinda silly, keep it up!
I am very greatfull for all the info you guys provide. All this info is so helpfull. Thank you and may god pless you.
Usually it’s better to buy young birds in the fall when you can get some good youngsters from the top of the breeders …the best flyers in Europe never will sold you youngsters from the top of their birds in the spring …if you wanna test them in the breeding loft you will have a chance to discover some very good breeders …but don’t put them in the races they will get lost …!!!
magaling ang tip ninyo sa pagbili o pag pili ng ibon, sakin ang problema ko ay pera na pambili ng magandang racing pigeon, gud record ng racing pigeon gud price din di kaya ng budget ko, kaya nanghihiram lang ako ng breeder..
Yes it is good to obtain the best birds you can obtain . It is hard to start off with our wonderfull hobbie.The studs are to expencive. you need to go to the best flyer in your club to obtain birds , he may bread you his last round of birds.The best birds are the ones given to YA.
We tend to identify a loft whose birds we want to buy from and then we go and buy a round from there main birds in May time, we then sort through these birds over a couple of seasons to find the best ones.
we only buy old birds if we no the seller or it is a entire clearence sale.
All the best for 2011
John Gladwin
Formula 1 lofts based in the UK and the USA
good day Sir/Madam
i am Dennis Nallas from Philippines,i would like to ask some contact persons whose a pigeon fancier near in Kawasaki Japan,i am just new in pigeon racing and i would like to acquire some good breeders. I would be very grateful for some information that you can give me. thank you very much