A Quality Pigeon

 

A QUALITY PIGEON

Looks can be deceptive, yet inbred birds of your own creative breeding prog can be beautiful in the eye of the beholder. I fell in love with my dark chequers 40 years ago. Balanced, silky birds with shiny, sparkling, coloured eyes are an aesthete’s delight. They inspire a career in racing and breeding. From a batch of latebreds I like to select the quality looking ones. However, my concept of a good one has evolved and changed. We have a simple race reality test for a bird as follows-the breeder must produce a Barcelona International timer and the racer must fly it as often as possible. These are tough and fanatical criteria to set, yet the strain building philosophy works well in our biased perspective. Always consider the apparent breeding origin of the bird, be wary of the flattering beauty!

Jim Emerton

TAME PIGEONS

The Iron Hen, my very first section winner from Clermont, would fly down the garden and sit on my head, as I walked about. She was dam of my top stock cock Dark Destiny. Generations of nice, pretty, quiet birds are down from that hen hatched in 77 - she was an uncrossed DVH Stichelbaut. I hate wild, highly strung birds, yet like them to live a free semi-wild life.Quiet, introverted pigeons are often best for beyond 500 miles, since they rest and conserve energy better and are more inward and interior as beings, in an anthropomorphic sense from the human perspective. Tame birds will sharpen and liven up on liberation from great distances, as the brain/survival instinct mode kicks in. The essence is harmony between man and the flock, in a safe environment, to look for that edge in racing and homing ability from great distances. We use any race under 700 miles as preparation only, yet enjoy studying form on the way with nice tame birds.

Jim Emerton

A BIG TEAM OF PIGEONS

With a cottage garden loft, and my racing regime, my team was small by the end of the year. A big flock of birds whizzing about informs me of a sprint-middle distance set up, a real marathon man always has a small team -it is an eloquent expression of obvious reasons. Beyond 7 to 800 miles selects for stamina and solo navigational ability, not group, flock flying. First place at Barcelona Int. is a remote possibility, as one in race time is a triumph over difficulty. My modern strain is forged on these birds, yet they still sprint as individuals within the family - our feeding philosophy produces some good ones at all distances, as hard results have shown. Good men tend to have several good birds due to the system - wise men make the right choices. I am always coaxing my chaps to progeny test each bird in the season. In a team of birds of say 20 to 30 a champion may exist.

Jim Emerton

FINDING A DISTANCE PIGEON

Top ones are uncommon - yet many make believe ones are sold on the commercial scene. I have invested in a few well bred ones to see the reality of their results. It is easy, develop a system that generates condition to fly 4 to 500 miles as yearlings and then send them all to over 700 miles as 2yr olds. Any birds in race time will be distance birds, irrespective of looks, handling and origin. I have maintained this fastidious approach for 23 years in the evolution of my strain, and hope that my mates will continue the rigorous selection philosophy and practice. Good birds over 700 miles are MARATHON birds. This is a purist approach - proof of the pudding, shit or bust racing. You can create personal theories in relation to the birds in admiration of the good ones - my approach is empirical and existential. Not for all this approach, which is tinged with a modicum of madness. You will treasure the good ones you evolve and the rare champion. There are some geniuses of the modern game like JIM DONALDSON/ VINCE PADFIELD and MARCO WILSON - bags of nails all.

Jim Emerton

APPLES THAT FALL FAR FROM THE TREE

We were looking at some of the historical ancestors of our strain, and some great names loom up from the distant past, the genes and shadows of which are relevant in 2016. You guess about the breeding value of the birds from the past, yet they are there. Some are famous, others not, yet the truth is that all performing birds of today are of mixed, diverse origins. What a mixture these modern named birds are in reality-the truth behind the illusion of commercial hype. Tracing what we know of Alois Stichelbaut, Dvh, Emiel Denys, and birds like Woodsider and Lancashire Rose - all in my strain - is absorbing. Given all this complexity, and to the purist, the love of the game lies in good to great performances of modern birds that can hack Barcelona Int. since you know these have stamina and sound navigational ability. I feel the mystery in the history of each good bird. Birds as good as The Marco Wilson cock, are very, very rare, and not as famous as they should be - extremists are a minority group.

Jim Emerton

Just arrived - lovely direct Dtr of 700 mile plus section winners of the great Jim Donaldson - a nice little swap!

One Loft Racing

One loft races are popular, social events, where birds are raced from different sources under one management regime. It can be lucrative, fun, risky and commercial. I will not enter any birds in these events, since it would be a departure from my purist principles that I have cultivated and cogitated over for 25 years or so. These are that that my birds must be bred to race Barcelona Int. - now in various locations at different distances beyond 700 miles into UK and Ireland. The benchmark of difficulty is my parameter and criterion for inculcation into the strain. We are a motley crew of mad monks, illuminated by a shared dream, romance and idealism. It is an extension of the old, traditional values, of the old sage, pipe in mouth, and corn tin in hand, sat sunning himself from the deckchair, seated in his rose garden. It is how the iconic birds in folklore and history were raced. My friends share mutual aspirations of excellence, to continue the dedicated work of our sporting ancestors like Alois Stichelbaut who parted in 1946, for his vision to fall into the grasp of Michael Descamps-DVH.

Jim Emerton