Credit: Bob Prisco
Source Credit: Pigeon Insider
Dear Fanciers,
In pigeon racing, every serious fancier wants to improve year by year. Improvement does not come only by buying new pigeons or breeding more youngsters. Real improvement comes from proper selection, honest evaluation, accurate records, and removing unproductive birds from the racing and breeding program.
In this article, the word culling means selecting carefully and removing birds from the breeding or racing team when they do not support the loft’s goals. Every fancier should handle this subject responsibly, humanely, and according to their own club standards and personal principles.
1. First Decide Your Loft Goal
Before selecting or removing any bird, a fancier must first know what he wants to achieve.
Every loft cannot have the same goal. Some lofts focus on sprint races. Some focus on middle distance. Some focus on long distance. Some fanciers want young bird race success, while others want old bird performance or breeding station quality.
Possible loft goals may include:
- Winning young bird races
- Winning old bird races from 100 to 600 miles
- Performing well in average speed competitions
- Specializing in sprint races
- Specializing in long distance races
- Flying futurity races
- Building a breeding loft for quality racers
2. Accurate Records Are Very Important
No fancier can improve without proper records.
Every breeder pair should have clear records of their youngsters. Band numbers, parents, race performance, training results, health condition, losses, and consistency should be written down.
Important records to maintain:
- Breeder pair details
- Band numbers of all youngsters
- Training performance
- Race results
- Losses during training
- Health issues
- Loft flying behavior
- Ease of settling and handling
3. Evaluate Each Breeding Pair Properly
A breeder pair should not be judged from only one youngster. A proper evaluation needs enough offspring.
A good method is to raise at least:
4 to 6 youngsters from each pair per year
If possible, give a breeder pair around two years to prove its value. In two years, the fancier may have around 8 to 12 youngsters from that pair to evaluate.
This gives a much clearer picture of the pair’s real breeding ability.
4. Health Is the First Selection Point
Good health is the foundation of a good racing pigeon.
If a breeder pair repeatedly produces weak youngsters, poor growth, poor feather quality, sickness, or birds that do not develop properly, the pair should be seriously questioned.
A quality breeding pair should produce youngsters that are:
- Healthy
- Strong
- Active
- Easy to settle
- Good around the loft
- Able to train properly
- Able to recover well
5. Look at Training and Homing Ability
A racing pigeon must not only look good. It must have natural homing ability.
Youngsters from a good pair should train easily, loft fly freely, and return confidently from tosses. They should learn quickly and show intelligence.
Important questions to ask:
- Do the youngsters settle easily?
- Do they loft fly well?
- Do they train confidently?
- Do they return from road training?
- Do they show good direction sense?
- Do they think for themselves?
6. Race Result Evaluation
Race performance is one of the strongest ways to evaluate a family.
Not every pigeon will win, but a good breeding pair should produce youngsters that can compete regularly and show consistent quality.
Look for:
- Birds that race week after week
- Birds that finish in good time
- Birds that appear in the top percentage
- Birds that recover well after racing
- Birds that remain consistent in different conditions
7. Do Not Keep Birds Only for Sentiment
Many fanciers find selection difficult because they become emotionally attached to birds. This is natural. Pigeons are part of our daily life, and every bird has value in the fancier’s heart.
But a racing loft has limited space. If unproductive birds are kept for too long, they may block the progress of better pigeons.
A serious fancier must balance love with discipline.
Keep birds that improve the loft. Do not allow weak selection to reduce the quality of future generations.
8. Small Quality Team Is Better Than Large Numbers
A common mistake is keeping too many breeders and too many youngsters.
Large numbers create many problems:
- Overcrowding
- Higher feed cost
- More disease risk
- More training difficulty
- Harder evaluation
- Less individual attention
- Poor loft control
A good fancier with 30 to 40 quality young birds and 20 to 30 old birds can often compete strongly against much larger lofts.
Quality is more important than quantity.
9. Avoid Overcrowding in Breeding and Racing
Overcrowding can destroy a loft. It affects health, form, recovery, and performance.
When too many birds are kept, the fancier cannot properly observe each bird. Weak birds hide inside the team, and good birds may not get enough individual attention.
A clean, controlled, and well-managed loft will always give better results than an overcrowded loft.
10. Single or Double Toss for Evaluation
During training, group flying can sometimes hide the real quality of a pigeon. Some birds simply follow the flock.
To evaluate true homing instinct, fanciers may use single tosses or double tosses when suitable. This teaches birds to think for themselves and not depend only on the group.
This method can help identify pigeons with:
- Real orientation ability
- Independent thinking
- Strong homing instinct
- Confidence away from the flock
11. Breeding From Performance Background
A breeding loft should be built from birds that match your racing goals.
If your goal is long distance racing, breed from pigeons with long distance background. If your goal is sprint performance, breed from sprint-quality families. If your goal is all-round racing, select balanced families with consistency.
Do not breed only from names, color, beauty, or price. Breed from birds that have useful performance value.
12. Questions Before Keeping a Breeder Pair
Before keeping a breeder pair for another season, ask:
- Did this pair produce healthy youngsters?
- Did the youngsters train well?
- Did they race well?
- How many were lost early?
- How many are still in the loft after two years?
- Did any youngster show top performance?
- Does this pair support my loft goal?
13. Selection Must Be Honest
The hardest part of pigeon racing is not buying birds or training birds. The hardest part is honest selection.
A fancier must be honest about:
- Which birds are improving the loft
- Which birds are only taking space
- Which pairs produce quality
- Which pairs repeatedly fail
- Which birds are kept only for emotion
Conclusion
Culling unproductive flyers and breeders is not about being harsh. It is about protecting the future quality of the loft.
A successful racing loft is built through clear goals, accurate records, strong health, good homing instinct, race performance, and strict but fair selection.
Every year, the loft should become better than the previous year. That is the purpose of selection.
A small team of quality pigeons, selected with honesty, can beat a large team without direction.
Credit: Bob Prisco
Source Credit: Pigeon Insider
Regards,
KPRF Committee
Keelakarai Pigeon Racing Federation