PART 6 Rearing and Selection

Transcription

1 PART 6 Rearing and Selection By: Mick Bassett Rearing Young birds, to develop fully, need all that the adults do but more of it! Plenty of room to exercise, lots of fresh air, balanced diet, etc. They also do better if not stressed too much, depending on your Breed and the flock instinct of your birds. That may mean separate quarters for the young, where they can mature away from being chased around by adults still breeding, and where they can become independent and not keep chasing the parents for food! I find the young from some pairs naturally seem to integrate perfectly within the flock and don t need moving, others seem to get bullied or generally just get in the way of the other birds. Left: Both the Szolnock Tumbler (Black and White) and the Gumbinnen white head Tumbler (right below) are correctly marked. A pairing for the Szolnock could be a bird with less white on the head to balance the likelihood of the white head marking going too deep. No exact measurement in markings is used here in most Standards; there is some leeway as long as the markings are balanced. In most Breeds with 'Markings' once you start stipulating markings in exact cm. you exclude birds from Exhibiting that could also be very useful in Breeding and increase the number of Birds exhibited that make 'Unmatched' Pairs! That is bad for the Breed as a whole! Weaning When weaning, do not feed a too rich diet; the developing digestive system cannot cope! The Parents even to the last would have added digestive enzymes from the Crop secretions to the solid corn when feeding! Young birds actually need food with a lower food value but high digestibility for those first two weeks after separation. This gives the young birds digestive system time to develop correctly. Even the fanciers with BIG breeds that are worried about growing, are actually storing-up trouble for later when they give 'Rich' feed at this stage, which encourages 'unnatural' growth, which can cause breeding problems, bone problems and digestive problems later in life. A slower and more natural development is better and if correctly done,

2 the bird WILL reach its correct genetic size and weight and be healthier to boot! A set of show cages at this time I have found invaluable. A couple of youngsters per cage for 5 to 7 days (they always do best with company and an older young will also sometimes help a slower youngster) and you can be sure they are eating and drinking independently; they don t have to look for the food and water, it s there! Left: Volga (Wolga) Posture Tumbler. A 'classic' mating to retain Markings would be a bird like this, with a white beard, mated to a bird with white face markings. With this Breed birds with 'bull' (dark) eyes may be used in mating. To do otherwise would be to exclude too many otherwise Excellent Marked and Form (Shape) birds from a breeding programme. Right: Again with the Volga (Wolga), Birds may have a coloured back or a white back. BOTH are correct; to breed for one or the other is asking for poor markings, as they 'balance' one another! You can see that this bird with a white back also has a larger white bib, so the two birds could be mated together; one with a solid back, one with a white back and still maintain the Bib marking if that was preferred. The full white face marking (like a Lahore or Rezhev) will still occur in breeding - even with that 'Bib' mating! - as it is an integral part of the Breed Markings. Also they remember the cages and will be less likely to object when Show Training starts. This method is also good for all youngsters; Flying, Show or Pets. It steadies down any with a tendency to wildness and you can also worm or preventatively medicate them once you know they are feeding and comfortable in the pens. When you move them, either back into the main flights, or to a Young bird loft it is not a bad idea to put the food/water containers they have had in the pens in with them, at least for a few days; if distinctly coloured they will recognise them and know easily were to feed until they discover the normal feeding places and food/water containers. For this reason try not to keep moving these containers about! Selection We have already discussed the practical - but sometimes unenviable - methods of 'Selection' in a former chapter, so I won t go over that again. So you have finished breeding. Which adults are you keeping for next year? You can t keep them all! You won t have room for any of those Promising Youngsters they have bred, so you need to decide on Type and Pedigree what will stay another year. Selection comes first. Once the young have developed sufficiently to access properly, that is the time to do it, always allowing a couple of 'spares' up to pairing time.

3 Lahores, see the six photos below. To keep the coloured marking nice and tight to the beak - as in the Lavender (Silver in Europe) the Black, the Cream and the Blue you would NOT pair two birds together with the face markings of the Red or the Dun Lahores, while both markings and intermediate ones between the two are absolutely correct (no destructive measurements notice!). The 'less' colour, paired together would definitely result in ugly white foreheads and useless for breeding! These Birds (with less colour) could easily be used to an 'overmarked' stockbird (one otherwise very good but with too much colour on the Head/Face, so not an exhibition bird for that Point only). Again with Lahores, they are required to have the upper 1/3rd of the back Solid Colour. Birds with too much colour on the Back are useful stock birds and with careful show preparation, could also be exhibited. Above: Cream, right: Black. Left: Red. Right: Silver (Eur) or Lavender Left: Blue Right: Dun

4 The basic principles are the same whether you keep a few pigeons as pets, wish to Fly in competition, or Exhibit; you want to choose Birds to keep - or to go to other fanciers - that have certain, desired characteristics. The first selection must always be on health and vitality. You can afford to keep the odd 'favourite' that through age or accident is not within the above categories, but it is unfair to keep a pigeon that will not thrive and enjoy life. A youngster that is only just 'surviving' whether due to genetic or environmental causes will rarely survive to a fit healthy adult. You have hopefully selected the parent birds to produce what you are looking for in the offspring? Or the Person you obtained the Parents from has 'matched' them for you (some considerate Breeders will do this!). If you need pets and you feel confidant of finding 'good homes' for them, you need not look past the health and vitality bit, plus any features you may want to keep in your particular birds. Right: To produce the correct markings in this Breed, the Swiss Lucerne tigerhead one of a Pair generally needs to be a self Black with Rosewing. Also as the White increases with age, young exhibition Birds are not EXPECTED to have the absolute correct amount of white flecking on the head. It may be less. (Often with White Markings 'Less is More'!) This Breed also comes with Rosewing markings. On no account should two Rosewing tigerhead birds be paired together! You end-up with Pieds that are good for neither Breeding nor Show!

5 For Flying, you need to wait for them to mature enough to access their 'flying abilities' and for Competition Flying a certain amount of 'training' is needed in most Breeds; like an athlete, it doesn t just 'happen', although some may be more 'talented' than others! For Exhibiting, you come across a whole new set of 'this-that or the other'! One good reason for careful and rigorous selection is that, the better your birds are selected and bred from, the less you should breed that you cannot find a 'place' for. Depending on the pigeon this will vary enormously. Some markings and colours or ornamentations are notoriously difficult, however your final selection will still fall within two main categories for keeping or passing on: Exhibition birds and 'Stock' birds. An exhibition bird is fairly easy! You have the Show Standard; if the pigeon falls within that range, it s OK. A stock bird is something different however! Often they can be the most valuable pigeon in your loft. They should possess all the Breed Points in abundance, even in excess. They can however 'fail' in a 'Show' point, making them unsuitable for showing. This mainly affects the 'marked' breeds, but most breeds can benefit from a good stock pigeon that 'balances' the Show qualities. This 'balancing act' is especially important for most 'marked' Breeds, but also for all other Breeds. Crests and Muffs, Shape and Size, must all compliment one another, and don t forget Temperament! So all your 'unshowable' pigeons are definitely NOT wasted. Left: Starling blue with peak crest. With this variant and the Dilute Blue, you do not want the very narrow white Wing bars as wanted with the Black Starling (which would be comparable to the excellent bars on the Black Thuringian Wing Pigeon pictured). Narrow bars on the Blues and you would loose the Black edge (or Dark edge, as in the case of the dilute Blue) to each White Bar that is wanted. Left above: Blue Starling with peak crest. Right above: Black Starling. Left: Thuringian Wing Pigeon black.

6 With the Red Thuringian Wing Pigeon the white Bars are more difficult to get so narrow. This bird is good in this respect and this variance is allowed for in Judging. The two birds with White on the head the Starling and the Thuringian Monk - are desired with narrow bars, with the Monk marking more difficult due to the white flights and tail, affecting the overall amount of white markings. Above: Thuringian Wing pigeon red. Left: Thuringian Monk pigeon black. With the Thuringian Monk, some (few) white on the lower thigh around the joint, is tolerated, again due to the white flights and tail, upper and lower tail coverts. But with the Solid Coloured Starling (apart from the cap and the wing bars), that amount of 'leeway' is generally not tolerated for exhibition. In breeding (stock) birds, when the birds balance one another in other respects, that is a different matter!

7 A couple of examples Thuringian Whitetails: This is a breed that must have intense colour, plus a pure white tail AND a small, narrow forehead 'Snip' or Spot. Now if you breed two 'near perfect' Show pigeons together, what can you get? You may be lucky, but probably what will occur is that the White will 'increase'. The Snip will be too large, you will get unwanted white feathers in the thighs etc. Not always with that generation but certainly in the next! The usual measure to take is to keep that super Form and Colour pigeon that just happens to have one or two coloured tail feathers and may be 'missing' the 'Snip'! This 'balances' the pairing. Another Breed with a well developed Crest: You pair two super Show Pigeons together, what do you get? Possibly the crest is now too high, with too much feather, in which case it s often loose and open and defiantly not 'typical'. So for this you choose a partner for the pigeon who is still really good, but who's Crest is a set well but not as high; it will generally be composed of strong and thickly furnished feathers and will add substance to the 'perfect' crest of the partner. Some Colour Breeds need to moult into adult plumage before you really know what you have got, other Breeds need to 'mature' in form or Breed Points or show some 'promise' of what is to come. If you are inexperienced with the breed, find a successful breeder to ask; they might even help you select! But don t be surprised if you are just starting, that after their 'selection', you don t actually have that many pigeons left that they have been selected 'to stay'. To round of Whether you Fly or Show, you will need to find out the Genetic/Hereditary Peculiarities of your chosen Breeds. You don t need an in-depth knowledge of Genetics; basically you just need common sense! Even within the one Breed, different family lines will vary as to what is needed in selection. You can only learn this, either from other breeders (quicker) or by personal observation (slower!). It doesn t come in books, even those covering Genetics, although that does defiantly help somewhat! In some Breeds, you can 'sort' fairly early as with unwanted markings (other than those suitable as 'Stock' that is), but most need time. Few breeders, except the 'overconfident' can reliably 'choose' in the Nest, even those with years of experience! Copyright 2008 Aviculture-Europe. All rights reserved by VBC