It's the brooding season in full swing, and even the "wild pigeons" outside the bedroom window that receive my daily feed show signs of hatching, and I believe that in a month and a half or so new faces will appear.
Regarding pigeon breeding, a fancier left a message at the end of my article to the effect that "Are good pigeons born or bred?" I think that's a good question, so this article revolves around that topic.
Guppies and ornamental shrimp
Most of the friends who like to raise pigeons also love other small animals, and I will communicate with you some of the breeding phenomena of guppies and ornamental shrimp, which are more common in aquariums.
These two small aquariums are loved in addition to their beautiful and small appearance, but also have the characteristics of strong fecundity, and a large part of them are eager to enjoy the fun of "harvesting cubs", and specially select those pregnant and giving birth female fish or female shrimp holding eggs.
According to the general situation, most of these conceived fish and shrimp can be produced smoothly after they are bought, and most of the fun of ordinary aquarium lovers can only stay in the initial stage of "Tian Ding", because with the extension of time, most of us will find that these offspring are far from the previous generation of commercial fish and shrimp whether they are in shape or texture, even if some individuals can barely raise to adulthood, and then reproduce more than one generation.
Even seemingly inconspicuous aquariums are an easy-to-understand and difficult to refine science, and they are more sensitive than pigeons, so improper pairing, daily light, water temperature of the fish pond, the content of the bait, and the density of rearing will have an "immediate" impact on the offspring.
It can be seen that the owner's expertise in the animals he raises and the countermeasures he takes have a great impact on the animals.
Fortunately, pigeons are not as sensitive as aquatics, but how many pigeon owners in the pigeon world have died up after a few excellent breeding pairs have aged, and how many champions have achieved nothing in breeding.
"Southern Orange and Northern Citrus"
The ancients used the phrase "southern orange and northern citrus" to illustrate the phenomenon that orange trees in the south become citrus when they move north of the Huai River, as a metaphor for the mutation of the same species due to different environmental conditions.
I found that whether it is the "Pigeon Training Method" written by Song Iwata in Japan in the 50s or the book written by Taiwanese fanciers in the 90s, combined with the current behavior of fanciers, they all have the highest quality evaluation of Belgian and Dutch pigeons.
Although pigeons are a very adaptable animal, modern pigeons still originated in Belgium at the earliest, perhaps we can think that Belgium as the birthplace of pigeons and the neighboring Netherlands have a more suitable cultural customs and climate for breeding pigeons, because pigeon racing in these places developed earlier, some detours in pigeon racing they have already tried, so they have a more mature and more objective conducive to pigeon improvement and breeding format.
For example, in order to prevent large-scale loss of pigeons or to prevent flying injuries to young birds, they limit the maximum distance of young birds racing that year to 450 km.
Because Europe has a relatively cool climate, there are more than half a year in a row where pigeon clubs of different sizes can hold weekly pigeon races of different lengths, as well as various races in the middle distance and above with national titles, and in order to select the really strong pigeons, they have also developed a selection system of various levels of ace pigeon.
Another interesting phenomenon in Belgium and the Netherlands is that fanciers there are not as interested in the origin of the champions as our domestic fanciers, but more interested in the loft design, loft management and training methods of the winners, which shows that they have a deeper understanding of the environment in which the pigeons are raised and the long-term work of "breeding".
Breeding is a systematic and long-term affair
At present, many fanciers' understanding of pigeon breeding is still stuck in AXB, or the single dimension of "dragon born dragon, phoenix born phoenix".
The late military pigeon professor Chen Wenguang advocated "combination of breeding and combination of breeding method" in his own book, which means that even if you have a good pigeon breed, you must have a set of breeding and training methods to show the excellent quality of a good breed in the competition.
If "breed separation" even obtains good breeds, these breeders will inevitably lead to a deterioration of quality in the transmission from generation to generation, and eventually become mediocre people with empty "good blood".
Therefore, I have always suggested that it is best for fanciers to "import" a set of loft management methods of the original pigeon owner at the same time, or to find out in advance whether the daily management of the original pigeon owner's loft is also suitable for their daily working time schedule before introduction.
Because as far as I know, it is also a race distance winner, some pigeons are relatively slow and hot, and it takes a lot of home flights and many external training sessions of about 100 km to reach peak form.
In contrast, some pigeons only need regular home flights and a small amount of short-distance training to have the potential to win a first prize.
"Winning a first prize" may be difficult for most fanciers, but "winning a championship" for fanciers who want to become breeders is really just the beginning.
Because as far as I can see, many champions are short-lived, and there are many champions who are breeding, and there are many lofts that need to be constantly introduced and made in large quantities to maintain their results, so there are not too many true pigeon breeders.
With the current environment and not talking about breeding, just if you want to play well by yourself, you may wish to abandon the portal view and look at the pigeons with better results than your own in the same line and competition system, even if you can't buy them, you can also use it as a reference direction for your future pigeon breeding. Or listen to what the famous artists of both virtue and art have said in the past, less unnecessary arguments, and more thinking when alone.
END
Text|Lin Xuguo
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