Guide to Buying Racing Pigeons—Part Three
Purchasing Ace Pigeons
One way to go for the ‘big’ money is to buy the ace pigeons of certain race competitions. In Europe, each year at the end of the racing season, the champion birds are put up for sale. These champions can go for record sums. Unfortunately, many of the great racing pigeons are failures in the breeding loft. Few champions have gone on to produce similar champions.
Using a first ace pigeon for breeding is no guarantee that first ace pigeons will be produced. Very often, it is the pedigree that is most important. A family of birds that has a history of producing a high percentage of first ace pigeons is a good family to purchase from. Pairing a high quality hen from the widowhood loft with a high quality racing cock bird from the loft, especially if the birds are related, could result in some above average pigeons.
Purchasing Birds from the Breeding Loft
Ace pigeons may be nice to own and are great for advertising, but the average pigeon fancier does not need ace pigeons to compete at the highest level. Birds purchased from the breeding loft, albeit somewhat risky, may actually be quite suitable. It really depends on why the birds were moved into the breeding loft and subsequently being sold.
One reason birds are being sold from the breeding loft is that they just didn’t perform to the owner’s expectations. Chances of those birds performing well for you are probably slim.
Other reasons older birds are for sale is because the pigeon fancier prefers to breed only the very young birds. If this is the situation, you can probably purchase a previously high-impact pigeon for a pretty reasonable price, introducing some high quality genetics into your loft.
If you do happen to get this type of bird, consider putting their eggs under younger foster parents. Quite often the reduced performance of bird offspring from older parent pairs is the result of not lack of genetic quality but a lower level of care that the older parents give their babies.
Finally, you might be lucky enough to purchase great quality birds from lofts that are being completely sold out. Typically, all of the records are available for the best pairs in the loft, along with the records of the best results. Sales like these can yield a gold mine for pigeon fanciers looking to buy.
Purchasing Racing Pigeons at Auctions
In the U.S. especially, purchasing racing pigeons from the auctions of convention and futurity races is an option. Frequently, the top position birds are sold after the race conclusion, quite often for relatively small sums of money. It is not unheard of to be able to purchase these birds for as little as $75 to $100. This is a bargain for a trained and race-proven bird.
Once you have the bird, you can phone the breeder and ask to purchase the pedigree for it. Typically, breeders are hesitant to simply give the pedigree away. As a beginner, offer to purchase the fancier’s stock after the futurity or convention race. You can soon build a loft of high quality pigeons this way.
I think your chances are better when it came from a family that perform. It is in the gene pool. Some of my best breeding pigeons never compete in any races and the well known Tom Lock of South Africa breed from a family that produce winning pigeons. He also breed stock pigeons and never fly them. I also think that many champion breeders were culled because of our ignorance. I realy enjoy these articles. Thank you!!
Hi Chris,
Great article! I go by the old saying, “the basket is the best selector”. Most fanciers over here, (Trinidad) get hooked on strain. Let’s say a pigeon that has pedigree that came from a reputable fancier, the fancier can call a big price for the bird. But seeing that the person who purchased the bird may not want to get rid of the pigeon because he/ she paid a high price for it, and the pigeon fails to produce a champion, would still breed the pigeon and sell it’s off spring just because the parent pigeon has a long line of pedigree.
Hi Chris, I bought a complete round of racers(100) from Willie von Beers in Germany. These birds are all related to “Birdy” the best bird ever to race in the million dollar race in South Africa.It immediately had a great impact on my results. I send 1 baby to the SAPIR one bird loft and that became the ace bird. A friend of mine send the nest mate to this one to the same loft and that won the final race. I also send another baby to LTT sales race which is flown over 4 races my bird won the last 2 races over 700 km.
I think pedigree play a big roll
Hi I’m nathan from south africa and had started with my pigeons recently and thanks to my friend justin who has been racing a long time is helping me a lot and thanks to the grate articals I read gives me more help keep it up
Very interesting site
Hi everyone. At the end of the day you have to be fortunate or just lucky to get good breeders from newly purchased birds. Buying proven breeders is a certain way to get a good start on things but how many of us can afford this. The best options for most of us are the clear out sales or simply buying cheaper birds in volume from reputable pigeon breeders to improve our chances.
Hi my name is Saartjie and i am from south africa. I am keen on starting with pigeon racing and is privilaged enough to have to pigeon fanciers working with me. I really am intrested in flying the roundabout system as explained by Jack Barkel. To my regret i cant find anyone in south africa using that system or doing the widowhood system. I need to find a fancier that is so i can purches my first birds of them. Is there anyone that can help me?
That’s correct, try to look for more information and read more on pigeon article and analyze it carefully separate the wheat from the chaff .
Keep it up! Good reading so far…
Many too often, birds bought for a hefty sum of money proved dissapointing in the breeding loft…This goes to show that price for which a bird may be purchased is not a guarantee to winning. Try to establish objective selection criterias when acquiring or assessing birds as possible infusions to your family of birds. This will help to avoid impulse buying. This is something you can build on and help to set the directions to constantly improve your stocks.
Cheers!