Secret #1: Cull Heavy
When cutting back, forget all about names, strains, cost, etc. There are two kinds of pigeons: GOOD ONES AND BAD ONES. “Bad” pigeons cost us more money than “Good” pigeons! We spend a lot of money on feed, supplies, medicine and training; as well as time on poor birds only to be paid back with disappointment and heavy financial loss.
Only birds that have shown potential should be kept for future racing or breeding. This means pigeons that are consistently racing or producing birds in the top 10% of your race schedule. Therefore, forget about giving a pair “one more chance”, and finding an excuse for that “special cock or that expensive hen.” Secret number one “Cull Them.”
Secret #1: Cull Heavy By Bob Prisco
The Leading Online Pigeon Racing and Racing Pigeons Magazine – The Pigeon Insider
Some of my best breeders over the years have come from brother or sisters that were not good flyers at all and some times you cull them and the next year you get a wake up call but one thing is for sure you can’t keep them all at least i can’t i have a small team Brad.
Culling is a must! But only after the goal is clear before your eyes. Remember: there are surprises when you make options for progenie test. You choose them by the performance of their descendants instead of their own. The association of two birds both of them belonging to a medium standard, in some cases surprise. By the luckiness of their traces association (adding to the other) it may result in something rare, I had that myself more than once. On this regard the F1 presented me top performers. I chose the inbreeding approach. The F2 settled what I thought would be impossible. The F3 kept the same high standard. The F4 was faithfull to its origin and so on. So, this homozigous family was stablished on the association of two mediun parents. I know, the good luck part is present, but this shows that genetics is a science to spend time over and over. The pleasure for such a discover can not be spoken of. Try to stablish at least three families of homozigous. So, you can foster the three cross miracle. They will keep you on the top!
i can tell you one thing.i learned the hard way never cull a breeding pair if you still have some off there offspring in the racing loft.The racers become champions and when you look for there parents they are already out off your breeding loft.i will only take the breading pair out if i lost all there youngsters.
Keep good records I was culling one time and did away with this hen. Later to find out that she was the mother to my bird of the year, the following year after I culled her
bad luck. I like to add late hatchs to my breeding program, I have had some outstanding breeders this way. They are brother and sisters to my winners. but I cull the late hatchs very hard with body confirmation.
you must do the above to improve your flying and to win races, you must go through your records every 3 years. and cull out the duds.
Yours in the sport TREV
Agreed in part. Culling is an important tool in the fancier’s modus operandi. Birds that are below set standards are a waste of time and feed. However, some caution is necessary here. Well bred yearlings should not be culled. Too often a youngster or yearling may not do well but can develop at two years to become a champion. Birds older than a year that constantly fail to be high on the race results sheet should be culled. Some fanciers get a kick out seeing their birds return after a long hard race even when they are often late and well off the pace behind the leaders. These “also fliers” should be culled. True fanciers are interested in birds that “race” not birds that just “home.” These “homers” irrespective of bloodline should be culled. They should not be bred from.
culling must be done i have had many flyers tell me that i am to hard on my birds but i want to breed winners if a pair does not produce something great i will be changed but a bird must produce a top flyer in 2 yrs or it is out of my stock pen i do let the basket tell the story it must be done no matter what you paid for the bird i will kill them and not sale them to someone else as my name and reputation is important to me
you must not be from the states the reason im making that asume is you said you kill your birds if it were here in the U.S.A Peta would be all over you . (if they knew it )
in fact that is one of the reasons Peta is against racing it don’t matter to me i rather see you ring them than to starve them so please don’t kill the messenger
i dont think it is that easy plenty of duds breed good birds u hear of people breeding great birds from strays so what is a stray it is a bird thats not up to the task on the day ,it may have been hurt or not kept in good health and of course becomes a stray.
This is where breeding comes first before racing u find the breeders before u throw them away that is why the pedgree is the most important criteria when selecting birds to start with.u dont have to race them first they are not always ur best flyers
Geoff
It sounds so simple, and yet so few fanciers actually do it. The average fancier only does an average job at selecting.
hi
i do agree, let the basket do the culling also breed off your best preforming pigeons like Winners to Winners and you can not go Wrong Thats what i do and my preformances the last 2 Years has Excelled. Also i bring in a cross to try also
Also the loss off young birds is because off not enough Education You must Do a lot off That