In the sport of pigeon racing, there are three key indicators that a fancier has at their disposal to gain a higher percentage of picking winning racing pigeons. These three indicators are what ultimately separate those fanciers who can pin-point champions consistently, and those who just cross their fingers and “hope” that their birds will be good. These indicators are also the difference between a competitive fancier and a hobbyist.
Surprisingly many fanciers do not deploy these methods and use them to their advantage. However, this is fortunate for you because it will allow you to take a more scientific approach when assembling your race teams and allow you to edge out those fanciers who decide to take the “short-cut” and simply wing it.
Racing pigeons is no different than any other sport…
Do you think thoroughbred horse trainers pick any horse to send to the derby?
Do professional sports coaches choose any player to be on the starting squad?
Would a performance racing team use any ol’ driver for the Daytona or Indy 500?
The answer is a hard NO!
All of these examples rely heavily on performance data to make the best picks possible and fanciers should and need to look at their birds in the same way if they want to increase their odds of winning races and staying competitive.
So, what are these three key indicators that we are talking about…
Key Indicator #1: Hand Bird Selection
This indicator will allow you to assess a bird’s physical attributes and body characteristics.
Key Indicator #2: The Basket
This indicator will allow you to assess a bird’s performance.
Key Indicator #3: Record Keeping
This indicator will allow you to collect data from the first two indicators and pinpoint your best birds with laser precision.
When used together, these indicators will massively increase your success rate for picking winning racing pigeons and developing a winning racing loft. And they will help you pinpoint and increase the speed at which you can effectively build your team.
For the sake of information overload, we will be focusing on Key Indicator #1: Hand Bird Selection in this particular article series.
Many fanciers believe that the physical attributes and body characteristics do not matter as long as you listen to the basket, however listening to the basket alone will only give you half the picture.
Here are a few examples to illustrate why hand selection is so important to picking winning racing pigeons.
What’s the difference between a Honda civic and a Lamborghini? They both share the same basic function of taking you from point A to B but the Lamborghini is built for speed while the Civic is not. The differences between the two are within their physical attributes and characteristics. Racing pigeons are no different, you may have two racing pigeons that are seemingly the same however when you look at the details you may find that one shares better racing attributes over the other.
Looking at the basket alone will only tell you which of your birds are best within that certain group. In the basket there will always be a stand out however, that standout may not necessarily be the best in your loft.
For instance, going back to our previous example, if you put five Civics together, yes there will be a Civic that is a standout over the others but in the end that standout is still a Civic. On the other hand, when you hand select first you have a better chance of picking the Lamborghini’s of your loft over the Civics. Remember, the worst Lamborghini in your group is still better than other fancier best Civics.
The key to being successful in this sport is being able to consistently identify the best birds.
This is why some of the most prolific and decorated fanciers in our sport are masters at hand selection.
Hand selection is also a great skill to master as sometimes it may be the only tool you have at your disposal when buying new stock. For instance when buying stock at an auction, you won’t have the basket or records to rely on when making your buying decision. In these cases, hand selection is your only tool to help pick the best stock possible.
So, what attributes would one look for when hand selecting pigeons?
It all comes down to three main categories, the skeleton, the muscles and the feathers.
To break it down further, within the three main categories there are 8 key areas of focus when hand selecting, those areas of focus being…
- The Tail
- The Rump
- The Skeleton
- The Muscles
- The Feathers
- The Feet
- The Neck and Head
- The Eyes
To assist you with the hand selection process, we put together a free pigeon evaluation report that you can use when hand selecting and assessing your birds. You can download it now for free by clicking here.
In the end, when you perfect hand selection, keep your eye on the basket and record great data you will become an expert at picking winning racing pigeons and will easily propel yourself to the top 5% of flyers in the sport. Practice this method of hand selection as often as possible on as many birds as possible.
Diversity and large numbers of birds are the best way to perfect this technique and when you do you will see the caliber of birds in your loft and your results in the sport soar!
Enjoyed this article? post your comments below and share your best strategy for selecting stock.
