Why can't you buy a pigeon egg for 30,000?
Domestic pigeon fanciers spend 9.42 million yuan to buy a pigeon, a pigeon race prize money of millions to feed pigeon cordyceps, health potions are small things, and fanciers take pigeons to cheat by high-speed rail when racing
Zhang Qiang carefully held his own pigeons, which were worth nearly 100,000 yuan.
Zhang Qiang's loft.
Last month, a Belgian champion pigeon was auctioned for more than 1.25 million euros (about 9.42 million yuan). The new owner of the pigeons is Chinese.
Such an expensive price also creates a new maximum value for racing pigeons. It is reported that the previous highest value was a Belgian hen purchased by Hebei real estate tycoon Xing Wei at the beginning of last year for 400,000 euros.
In recent years, most of the "top pigeons" in major European pigeon races have been taken away by Chinese buyers.
There are reports that the price of pigeon racing has soared 10 times in 5 years, and the driving force behind it is a group of domestic elite "fanciers".
What kind of a river is behind the little racing pigeon?
What is the picture of buying pigeons for thousands of dollars
Is it worth it to spend so much money on a pigeon? With doubts, the Qianjiang Evening News reporter found a senior fancier in Hangzhou, Zhang Qiang (pseudonym).
"Such a pigeon is like Messi in football, Federer in tennis." He made an image analogy for reporters.
"Counting tariffs, shipping costs and insurance premiums, this pigeon must have exceeded 10 million." Zhang Qiang also calculated the account for this transaction.
Nevertheless, the first -ever "Armando" will probably not play again. "It's over 5 years old, and the average pigeon has retired, so if it doesn't come back, it's a big loss." Breeding and breeding is the main purpose of "buying pigeons with thousands of dollars", Zhang Qiang said, "Playing pigeons is pedigree." ”
Golden pigeons eat cordyceps
Since junior high school, Zhang Qiang has been raising carrier pigeons for more than 20 years. Today, his loft is on Genshan West Road in the east of Hangzhou. The pigeon loft of more than 200 square meters is built on top of a factory building.
Old birds, young birds, racing pigeons, breeders... Depending on the breed and use, the carrier pigeons are kept in several smaller chambers. "This is the old pigeon room, and inside are the retired pigeons with excellent results." Zhang Qiang grabbed a carrier pigeon, which was the ace pigeon king of three levels in a pigeon race last year (that is, the first place in the total result of the three pigeon races), "At the auction time, I was reluctant to buy it back for 70,000 yuan. ”
At the top of the loft are Zhang Qiang's most valuable breeding and racing pigeons. This place needs to be taken care of every day to maintain a refreshing and clean environment. Pushing the door in, more than twenty breeding pigeons flapped their wings and finally landed on the wooden pigeon rack placed along the wall. Zhang Qiang held one of them, and the carrier pigeon's neck was shining green, and its gray and black wings flapped vigorously from time to time to try to break free. "This was bought in Belgium the year before, and it's a good pedigree."
It's time for pigeon breeding. In a corner of the breeding room, a hen is incubating her eggs and making a low "grunting" cry. Since January, Zhang Qiang has been pairing his breeding pigeons in pairs, and in about 28 days, a pair of young birds can successfully hatch. "Every spring, I produce one or two hundred young birds." In the following year, Zhang Qiang will select the best carrier pigeons in non-stop competitions and training.
The pigeons eat special feed, and he will also feed the pigeons with health supplements from time to time. A bottle of imported health care potion is often hundreds, and it is thousands more expensive. "It's not a big deal, those who are raised are fed (pigeons) cordyceps." Zhang Qiang said.
Million-class racing pigeons, a pigeon egg 30,000 yuan can not be bought
What kind of pigeons can fly faster? Zhang Qiang said it was not clear. Even if two ace pigeons are paired together, there is no guarantee that a new generation of ace will be born. "Veterans have their own know-how, but no one can say for sure."
In the eyes of pigeon racing enthusiasts, body shape, wings, bones, coat color and even the shape of the pupils will affect the speed and endurance of the pigeons. And these will be passed on genetically to the next generation of pigeons. This seemingly non-existent empiricism, and the thousands of breeding possibilities, has become the most attractive presence of pigeon racing, and has also made the performance pigeons a popular presence.
In 2018, at the xi'an Explorer winner ace pigeon auction, the top five pigeons sold a total of 2.68 million yuan. Not only the winning pigeons, but also their parents, brothers and grandchildren have become the object of heavy competition. Opening pigeon paradise nets, a pigeon no. 232 of Rudy's straight daughter who did not have any results bid more than 7,000 euros within 2 days of the opening of the auction with excellent pedigree alone. "For a million-dollar pigeon, an egg costs 30,000 yuan, and money can't buy it." A enthusiast said.
The gradually higher value of pigeon racing has spawned a lot of black industry. In 2017, according to the Hebei Economic Channel, there is a phenomenon of net pigeons in many places in Hebei, and the net pigeon people support the net to catch pigeons, and then sell or extort pigeon owners at high prices.
Pigeon racing prizes are as high as 8 million
The annual pigeon races are basically concentrated in October to November.
Statistics in 2015 show that the pigeon associations above the county level held a total of 92,628 races that year, with more than 390,000 participants. In addition, there are more than 1,000 lofts and carrier pigeon clubs, which hold various competitions.
The prize money for pigeon racing is rising along with the value of pigeon racing. According to the 2015 data released by China Pigeon, there are more than 410,000 officially registered members of the China Pigeon Association, with a total prize money of 28.1 billion yuan.
A beijing shed has just announced this year's competition regulations, with a total of 7 events, including the 530 km race winner released from Henan, with a prize money of up to 8 million yuan.
The so-called loft race is that the fancier sends the young pigeons to the designated loft, which is managed, raised and trained by the staff, and then released in the same year, and the prize money is set according to the registration fee. It is reported that last year, the shed received more than 8,000 pigeons, and the registration fee was more than 100 million yuan.
Zhang Qiang participated in the pigeon club race, and the foot ring fee of each pigeon exceeded 1,000 yuan. His opponents are more than 3,000 pigeons from all over the country, while the final winners do not exceed 150 pigeons. After 5 races, the final 5 ace pigeons (1st place in the overall results of 5 races) can take away 350,000 yuan in prize money.
Zhang Qiang told reporters that the current highest prize money in China is the "Iron Eagle" Ace Pigeon Series held by Beijing Pioneer International Pigeon Club, which has a prize pool of more than 450 million yuan, and only one professional pigeon loft race, the registration fee of each loft is as high as 3 million yuan.
Zhang Qiang said that looking at the money is too much, but it is not easy to make: "The pigeon racing process is full of accidents, and the weather, magnetic field, and even rocket launch will affect the final result." In his opinion, it is almost impossible to win match prize money steadily.
Behind the fiery pigeon racing is the huge pigeon market. One enthusiast summarized the three ways to make money in the current Chinese pigeon market – pigeons make money, pigeon racing makes money, and pigeon money is earned.
Domestically, pigeon racing and pigeon racing often go hand in hand. Whenever the loft and club competitions are over, all winning carrier pigeons are auctioned. At the 2017 auction of the Pioneer Club, four "ace pigeons" sold for a total of 8.6 million yuan, of which Zhejiang businessman Chen Shiyi's ace pigeon "Goddess of Speed" sold for up to 3 million yuan.
In addition to buying and selling pigeons and participating in pigeon racing, more people have set their sights on other links, such as lofts, pigeon food, pigeon medicine, pigeon gear, and some experts predict that this is a market of tens of billions of yuan. Today, Zhang Qiang has also hired employees in Germany and started an imported pigeon food business. Hundreds of his pigeons were entrusted to two dedicated pigeon coaches.
Yu Renfei