BREEDIN .

PARATIONs

rr; rnrning . . . t .
obin s will fertil e th e rr eg.gs far m ore oft en if you nm them
jac .
g aw ay the long pant fe th
. breeding . This rnhea.nsh.cuhttin d h ab ers
for t 1g s, an t e fea the rs fro m the
ba ck tro m. ~ t e,r reast
t/1at grOw · .
. t orow ov er th e11 ve nts .
tha the ir fl igh ts and 1 .1
- find it ea sie st to trim the m if I ho ld
1
en my th~ mb an d fo~ efi ng er, ~it h my little fin ge r hook: ~
::iet we
on e win g 101nt. Wh en t1p pe ? up ~1 de do wn , this ho ld throws
into
ir legs forward an d ma ke s tnm m,
ng rat he r simple .
the skin.
ve ry close to the
Next you should eit he r plu ck , or trim
1
 in a circle abou t the size of a silver dollar, the fluff feathers th
grow aroun d the immediate area of the vent. Do not bother th~
feathers that grow directly off the vent closure , as the birds us 8
these feathers as feelers when mating.
I trim t~e fli~hts and tail l~s.t. I_ hold the bird with its flights
over the tail a~ ,n normal po~1t1on1ng. I c_ut the flights straight
across at the hne where the tips of the wing coverts cover the
rump. I cut the tail where the rump coverts extend the furthest.
Since I use individual breeding pens, this helps the birds move
around more freely. It al so helps them negotiate in the nests J

and it make s it easie r for the cocks to get their tails under the
hens when mating.
Some fanciers still trim the Chain off. I do not see any ad-
vantage unless the bird is incredibly close at the face. I remate
birds all season, and dislike looking at chopped up birds. I think
those who do this, do it to help the birds feed young. I use feed-
ers in my program.

Feeders
The most valuable pigeo ns you will own will be your feed-
ers. Without these you will not likely raise very many Jacobins.
Unless you want to pay some one else to raise your Champions ,
you will require feeders. Some fanciers get rid of their feeders
each year and bring in new ones, I assum e to save feed mone y.
They lose that mone y and far more in lost young, sickness and
aggravation.
Talk to other breeders to get good feeders. Oriental Frill
and African Owl breeders often have terrific feeders. So do En-
glish Short Face Tumb ler breed ers . If you can get a few
squeakers from their best pairs you will have a good stari. Do
not expect birds to be good "feeders" ju st because they are
Homers or Rollers , or Flight s, th ough th ese varieties often make
excellent feed ers . Others to consider are Indian Fantails , West
of England Tumblers , Lebanons and many rare varie ties. If you
are determined to have beautiful feeders that represent a par-
ticular breed, contact the Rare Breeds Pigeon Club. There are
some rare varieti es that make excellent fe eders. Dragoons were
the first (and perh aps only) feede r breeds. being crea ted in th e
17th century frorn Enqli sh Carrier crosses to foster parent th e
 then popular Engli~h Carr iers. However, good feeder
traits besi des setti ng to term and feed ing the nest shave rnany
To my know ledg e, there are no bree ds of . ·
and bred for pare nting qual ities only. It seem s ~ge~ ns selected
1
tor show or fligh t q~al ities . I have neve r hearde0~ :~ys sel~c
ho killed a ct1ampIon beca use it was a poor P Y fancier
W . . k . aren t on the
nest. This Is the grea t wea ness of usin g
I h
any partic
uIar breed
. . h
as feeders. An d t h 1s Is w y ave deve lope d my own fa m1.1.1es of
. II f J b.
feeders especIa y or aco ins.
I have been sele cting two fami lies of feeders for aim t
twenty year s now. One fami ly is bred dow n from Racing Hoi!r
stock. The othe r is a mix of bree ds that are Brown Almond (and
many thanks to John nie Blain e for that mutation). These are
about the size of Old Dutc h Tum blers , whic h mak e great feed-
ers, and look a little like shor t face d Wes t of England Tumblers ,
though I have neve r own ed a Wes t, and I do not know of a short
faced variety of Wes t. The y are sma ller than my Homers, and
eat less. Thus they give me mor e valu e for the feed they eat.
Both families of feed ers are very depe ndab le, and their parenting
qualities are high ly refin ed. The y will take any baby in their nest
and I have not seen a scal ped baby in man y year s .
Your feeders' look s have abso lutel y noth ing to do with their
value. Perhaps the all time grea test feed er I have encounte red
~as known as the Ugly Coc k. And he was truly UGLY. He looked
like a pigeon built by com mitte e. But there was neve r a squeaker
left hungry in his coop . He had earn ed his own coop , just he, his
of
~ate and lots of orph aned babi es. I got ever y youn gste r out
a
nirn th at Tracy Park s wou ld give me. And toda y when I see
really ugly young feed er baby you know wha t? I keep it. lt th e
Only re ason you keep a feed er · a grea t f ee d er,
' is beca use It· Is
th
enl You are mak ing the right deci sion s.
d n both my fami lies of feed ers I have sele cted for birds th at
o not fight , d 0 not hara ss or scal p youn g , will · b
the fl feed any ba Yon
0 or o I· t· ht my
hand w ' r _n their nest. They are calm , and do not 1g th8
co0 . hen Sitting; they do not fly off the nest when I ente r
nd
andPf, a generally are not the leas t bit fligh ty. They will take d
88 d aim hous e
·
1 lind,· • ost any baby at near ly any age and when
r.
Vldua 1 . ' ' . th h
th ~ wire T Pens som e even feed one anot her's babi es roug
th
· hese are high stan dard s. But I only keep feeders a t
measure up, and th e next generation nlwo ,. . cc .
birds that I keep. y_, , Hrio: i frorn th1, b,i,
11

Managing Your Feeders

There is always the problem of coordin atinq no I I-
are the feeder's eggs timed with your Jacobin :s 0 ~: :·?:~w clori,,
to know your feeders, and spend some timfi tr~iningg'" th omprop you fJijt
. t· .
erly, you can use th 1s ,ming e1ement to great acJvan ta~ . ·
Take young feeders in their ea rlies t nests and giv~~h ,
baby 1·ust when they quit. If they have left the nest f~rce th ern
ern a
to
. ,
see the baby, ~old them next to the nest. If the hen has just
given up, she will go back when ~he sees a day or two old baby
wiggling around. Also, put the pipped shell next to it. This will
stimulate her instincts. The cocks usually go along with what-
ever the hen wants (like people, eh?). I have even left a flash-
light in a nest, angled into a corner so it is not too harsh a light,
but enough so that the hen eventually sees and respond s to the
baby. She almost always takes it.
Next nest, at 12 days or so of incubation, give them pipping
eggs for two days, and then a baby to raise. Make sure they
have a pipped shell in sight. You may need two or three same
size babies to do this if the pair does not get milk at first. With
several babies you can switch them around between parents
that have milk. The pipping egg is nature's signal that a baby is
hatching; it bumps the parent's breast while sitting, and helps
stimulate the milk. A hatching egg pips for about 24 to 36 hours
before it hatches. If you are juggling eggs to teach your feede rs,
they will usually get their own milk within a day or two.
If you continue to force your feeders to take any young at
any time, they will learn to feed whatever comes their way. If
they refuse, or kill off-timed babies, they will not make the grade
as top notch feeders. Get rid of them.
The principles at work here are that pigeons are as much
psychological creatures as biological. The milk comes at 17 to
18 days because nature teaches them that is when the eggs
hatch. If you teach them differently, they will learn what you teach
them. I once had a pair that would not quit the nest. They actu-
all_y se~ 42 days once before I had a baby for them and they
raised it up, soft milk and all. The pipping egg se rve~ as a bio-
 lan t to pro du ce mi lk but th at st1r .
log ica l sti mu ' trast t n Ulant can
· · u
b at,·on . In con
,y time du nn g 1nc p • come
ar d pairs ge t m,.1k at 3 da ys of incubatio o the air· above , I have at
ha . n, too It 1
rea l Y pa y o ff big wh en yo ur be st .", s a lot of wo rk ,
but it can • h an y 't ee ders . Now yo u can see wh
pai r s egg s are out of
t1·me wit 8 n kep
Y I keep
t th .
m f ers
Y eed
rga
from ye ar to year. ou g an d Mc No eir feeders for
.
their de pe nd a~ ifit y. ~o u sh ou ld too
feeding tend .
Watch tor bir ds withh su pe r na tur al '" enc ,es I h ~ve
. d en s ov er th e ye ars that will f ·
und a few w1dowe
fo t· d I h I bre ak up pairs usuall f thing
eed any
tha· t .sq ueaks. I 1n t 1ernt w en
• ' Y or other
. rat ion s the hen . t
l'.lsons an d be ca us e o sp ac e co ns ide 1s ossed
re •
sh e can do no dama . y ou can ge
·nto a pen of yo un gs ter s wh ere
Ch.

•
1
keep such a wid ow ed he n ,n the we an ing pen and when you
, tru st he r to keep them fed .
throw in the yo un ge st sq ue ak ers
t like pe op le, so me bir ds are mo re ma ter na l than others ,
Jus
e is a treasure .
and when yo u fin d su ch a bir d, sh
rha ps you will want some
1spoke of a we an ing pe n, an d pe

f)ie
Perilckentaube
Von {)r. Paul Tn1b cnltac h

-- - ~ ~~ ......,<·.••.:,. _-., ..:0,.

:~,~
(
l
\
\ '1 :-:);\

\ , ·,

-~~lft ,;,;,fY2'- -..

(·
.-OV&r fr . benbach .
om D,e PerOckentaube by Dr. Paul Tru
clarification. Young Jacobins ne ed a littl e boost before being toSSed
.
I keep a small pen or two of the
in with the rest of the young birds .
squeakers to eat and drink
youngest youngsters to teach the
d sta rts fig hti ng , it is ou t of this little paradise for th~
Once a bir
ha ve on e of the su pe r he ns I referred to earlier. this
babies. ff you
pe n is no t as im po rta nt, bu t yo un g Jacs need a tra nsi tion
weaning
d. So me wil l refus e to ea t on the ir own . I have had such birds
perio
the matter.
and finally came to a resolution on
stupid that it would not eat
I decided that any bird that was so
les s co dd led , sh ou ld rea p the be nefits nature provides. In my
un
op the y do , ... or rat he r did . It se ems selec tion has elim inated
co
ght add.
this weakness, rather naturally, I mi

One last consideration.

cobins raise a few yo ung
When switching eggs, I let the Ja
to ruin my best hens each
each season. I do not feel obliged

111 Clu ti
obin Zt t th o I Uflt l W('Stt~rr1 J.i l' t)l,
Blue 0 .C . fl 123, Be st Ba rre d ,Jac
b H:111u11 e ,.
show. Tom nci ch judqinq . Bred by l~o
 ar with rapid pumping. I would not breed f
yet value them h'19 hi y, and since
· rom the b. d ·
I do, 1want to k tr s 1f I did
nO k eep them .
wyears. It also eeps the cocks balanced to fee d out aactive
yo
a
fe . ,
r now and then. It 1s tnerapeutic for an abused b.1rd cock ung-
ste
and I have seen many so abused. I once got a tam · Cream or
hen ' Id ous
coo at.a hen. It took seve ra 1months
s0 abused he. wou not beven • . .
. the odd bird pen to ring out his instincts, and then he got
1n d' .
. terested in bree 1ng again.
in The time advantage to pumping birds only amounts to about
two weeks on average, and you can spare it now and then.
consider it took good mo~ey, or lots of breeding effort, to get
the birds you risk by pumping , and odds are that one extra nest
will not replace an established breeder. Be patient.

John Waters. author of The Jacobin: Its Breeding. Ma nagement. .. Jnd E~ !lih ~!L.,n
 The following quote . sums
. up, in th e most literal sen se , th e
very ess~nce of bree d 1ng pigeons, or any other species . 1 have
included ,t for those of you who may appreciate it. The "varia-
tion'' Huxley refers to may be as general as a peak cre st, or as
specific as the breeder can define, within the finest distinctions
in a wel l developed and cultivated family of championship
Jacobins. For those of you who plan to succeed in Jacobins
take note of this fact: No words have ever more clearly defined
the very basics of Roy F.G. Boug's breeding programs.

"You see that these facts illustrate perfectly well what may
be done if you take care to breed from stocks that are similar to
each other. After having got a variation, if, by crossing a varia-
tion with the original stock, you multiply that variation, and then
take care to keep that variation distinct from the original stock,
and make them breed together, then you may almost certainly
produce a race whose tendency to continue the variation is ex-
ceedingly strong." Professor (Thomas Henry) Huxley, Lectures
on "The Phenomena of Organic Nature," as cited in Tegetmeier
(1868, p. 34).

To some of you this may seem as clear as a bell , and to

others it may be a bit obscure. Not to worry, though , I have seen
Master Breeders puzzle over these remarks . And so for those
of you, a moments comment. If you mate Racing Homers to-
gether, you can expect to raise Racing Homers .
If you mate Fantails to Racing Homers, you will not expect
to raise either Fantails or Racers. Likewise, when you mate you r
Jacobins together, you expect to raise Jacobins from them ·
!hese varieties are one level of Huxley's "variations," and mat-
ing like variations together produces more of the same.
 how specific you can get in selectin g these variation
'"Jus t ·
r is a test of your skill as a b ree d er. P au I M cNorga n used s,
I1oweve , J
t II us that it is The Test of bree d er ,s s k'II 1 • ust as Jacobin is a
to ~ tion in the pigeon categor y, so "hard feather ed Jacobin " is a
vana ·
ca egory. A ~ d b ree d'ing nothing but
vari ation within the Jacobin t
hard feathered Jacobin s togethe r greatly increas es the probability
that you will "prod~c e a race '-;,hos~ t~nden cy to conti_nue the
variation is exceed ingly strong, which Is to say, they will breed
more of tt1e san1e.
Each variation within the Jacobin catego ry that you can iden-
tify, select and isolate in your breedin g program is one that you
can reproduce consist ently to your advanta ge. The same pro-
cess applies to faults, except that you elimina te from your pro-
gram , the birds that show faults.
Then , what Huxley is saying, as it applies most specifically
to breeding top quality Jacobin s, is that by identify ing, selecting
and breeding only from those benefic ial variatio ns such as tall
station , hard feather, thick mane, rich color, etc., then, (let me
repeat) by breeding nothing but the same togethe r, you can ex-
pect to raise plenty more .of them.
Additional perspec tive, in the most genera l sense comes
from the most simple logic. If you rate your birds according to
the Standard, and assign each bird a percen tage of the total
points of the Standard, then each bird will have a value that
relates directly to its quality compar ed to the Standard~ and to
each other bird you have rated.
Again , in the most general sense if you mate two 90% birds
toge th er, you can expect ' ·
them to raise more 90% birds. But 1·t
~iu rnate a 90% bird to a 60% bird (i.e., a cull) , you might more
asonably expect to raise 75% birds· better than the 60% par-
ent, but no where near as good as the 90% parent. But since
you already h
T ave g 0% birds,
·
why raise any 75% bir · ds ?
·
. he closer you get to mating all 90°1<O birds to other go 01/o
birds the g
u. ' rea t er are the chance s of you raising •
all 90 0110 birds. ·
sing only th e best birds isolates those best qualities wi th in
Your progra
. rn. A nd blending Huxley' s comme nts with t h.is con-,
cept 1f you "b
(i ' 0 ~eed from stocks that are similar to ea~ h 0 ther' .
.e_., 901/o quality Jacobins) and from them get a variation, (1.e.,
an improve . d those
ment, or a 92% quality Jacobin ), and then bree
 yo .
h .variation together , u wIII tend to increase
,, the .improved
.,,jth
and contmue t at improvement in your br d. program.
. ti h . ee ing
And that 1s exac y ow 1t is done

r;lll
, . ;_y

·<_)'.;~
.,~r~.
.',:, -~
. :-~.~!,•'

:~;~
" ..:\.

.,-~~~ilf
Jacobi d d'1 16 10 2 Trea tise , 1765.
3 F n evelopment through the years. 1. Aldrovan • 1956 • •
. Ulton. 1876. 4. Lyell , 1887. 5. Hill. 1940. 6. Boug, ·
 . gs Breeding Strategies and Theories
cing Mat
Ba Ian . . fin orite
'
topic in any bree d o f pigeon,
·
and I can-
This Is my av · f h J b' f
·irne on this part o t e aco 1n ancy. Here
t pend enoug h t
no s . . only the basics. I have covered these topics in
in articles you will t·in d .In Fu rth er Rea d.1ng, and in
we will discuss
th
greater
.
dep
. the American Pigeon · J ourna I co Iumn w orld of
Particular,
.
in · h W Id
Pendulum Breeding , and t e or o acob1ns, Cen- f J ·
JacobIns,
tering Matings. . .. .
First, your matings must be balanced . That word 1s very im-
por1an t , ·sn't
l it? This does not mean mate a long loose feath-
·
d bird to a short, tight feathered one. It does not mean taking
ere
one with no proper Chain an d mating · ·t t ·h
I o one wit a strong
Chain, but horrendou s Mane.
It means that where one good bird fails a little, you counter-
balance that fault with a suitable strength in another good bird.
In this way, all the qualities that make up the perfect bird are in
one or both parents. The fewer faults you have to counterbal-
ance, the better the mating.
What this means in breeding theory is that the best stock
bird is the best show bird. The best breed the best. Very rarely
do culls breed champion s, and when they do, it is usually just a
sport. Good birds bred from culls usually breed what they came
from, so breed from the very best and you will have far less to
worry about.
What I see too often is the newcome r will try to outsmart the
breeder he bought from, and switch the matings around. Sooner
or later he gets around to doing what he paid his money for~ and
th
en he raises some good ones. The breeder who sells you
good b. d · ·
tr s will benefit from your success. He will be happy to
~e~-r~u do well. He may not have mated them up the best way,
1 6
~ .
10 8 is wrong, it is a mistake he would have made in his own
wh · t ive his words the benefit of the doubt. It is a critical part of
a you pay for.
In subsequent
side · . years you mate up your own birds, get out-
Op1nIons and t d
Mak ' ·
s u Y the early results in the first d
e constant ev 1 · roun s.
to rnak . a uations of each mating and do not be afrai·d
e mid season changes.
I keep my mar
.
are more cons ·... ings very close in relationsh ip. Such matin~s
st
' ent and more predictab le. Parallel matings wi th
 ·rds of similar types and relation ships to oth .
b' I If er mating . pro-
duce similar resu ts. you balance your rn t' s w11t
have lots of similarly good young from Si~tr· th
en you Will
The best of these are next season's breeders' ~~y related pairs.
0
that the best of the siblings to your best bird. wil~~=i !;en found
youngsters, even better th an the top bird . s ._. the best
I have found parent X offspring , aunt x neph
nd
ent X grandchild , cousin X cousin , half sibling x h:w lf · ~brl~ P8 r-
. . b . s, inq ::}nd
similar n1atIngs to e very successful. While a care full -
Y se 1~ch~d
outcross can b e very use f u I, they should be few an d far bA-
tween. Others try !o keep the relationships a bit more dista;t
and do not_mate birds any closer than cousin s. Closely related
matings bnng the fault~ to the surface very quickly. They also
bring the strengths out Just as fast. As you develop your skills.
and talk to breeders at the shows, you will form your own
breeding philosophy.

Focus On Faults
Critical evaluations of your birds are a necessity. It is easy
to think about their strengths. And it is misleading and deceiv-
ing. You must counterbalance their weaknesses if your matings
are to work. The strengths will take care of themselves. Focus
strongly on the birds' faults and you will make much more suc-
cessful matings.
tf you cannot identify your bird's faults, you cannot mate
them up successfully, which means you are not likely to suc-
ceed as a breeder. You must develop the abil ity to see your
birds' faults, and concentrate on those weakn esses as you mate
your birds together.
I have learned this lesson from a dear friend , Tracy ParkS ,
who only briefly raised Jacobins, but was at the very top in Ori -
ental Frills. He did not refer to his birds by band nuniber, nor by
· . .
th eir . d b I·t 10 ~t outstandiny
wInnIngs. He refe rred to each b1r Y sn V .Trac
fault. Thus a bird that m ost breeders would give blood for , f Ylt
' · t d that au
might call "the bishop wing ed hen ." But unders an ·
might well be the only fault th e bird had . bird's
f The key here is that as you identify ao fo~tl ~; ~~~ coun-
d
aults, when you mate them up you will be min u '
teract those same faults.
 Above all , keep accu~ate records of which you~g are out of
. . It is impossible to evaluate your matings without
wt11ch pairs. 1 h' d ·
accura terecor ·
ds sometimes a fau t 1nte
.
at 1n years past w•, 11
surface in later generations. Records will help you trace it down,
and breed it out of your birds. Keep records!

How Many Pairs? .

How many pairs do you need to raise the best bird you can
produce? One . The best bird can only have two parents, so the
question really boils down to _how w~II can you mate up what
you have to find that o~e pair. Obv1ou~ly, then, I am not too
i,npressed with the fancier who only raises a few good ones
from a great many pairs. In most colors I have rarely had more
than five pair, and in developing Almonds, I have never had
more than three breeding pairs.
Now this is worth some thought. It may seem transparent to
many of you, but others have some trouble with this idea. If you
are developing Almonds and have several prospective Almond
cocks and several prospective Kite hens, you can rank the
Almonds 1st through 5th , say, and the Kites similarly. Then re-
solve to mate up only 3 pair, and select only the best birds to
mate up. Of course that means only those ranked 1st, 2nd or 3rd.
Now, on rare occasions, you might actually need to use the 4th or
5th bird because of some dastardly fault all your top birds show,
but an overall slightly inferior bird does not. So allow yourself one
lower placing bird if absolutely necessary. If you mate your best
~lmond to your best Kite , and 2nd to 2nd, etc. , how much chance
is th ere that 5th to 5th, or 10th to 10th will produce better young
than the top three pair?
In practicality, you often mate 1st to 2nd 2nd to 3rd, and 3rci
to 1st , or some other mixed assortn,ent b~cause you need to
co u~teract each bird's fau Its, but more than 5 pairing only serves
to dilute th e qualities of all the matings. The fewer pairs you
hav~' th e better the mate each bird will have and the higher th e
quality of each pair. If you are mating your b~st cock to your ath .
10th or 12th t b ·
. ' e c., est hen you are wasting his breedmg po-
1
ential. Your best bird r11 ay ,;ever see the best mate. You hear
~ys lanient th at th e old ch ar11p never raised anything good.
ell , it may be th at th e old champ was always mated to the old
 ha9• If you only have a v~ry few pair, the old champ will be
mated to a top mate, and will more likely produce more champs
like himself.
So, how do you, as a newc ome r, kn ow wh ich are bP. t t
breed from? The best s~ow bird is the best stock bird. syo~ If
want to prod uce show birds , you will have to breed them fr
ow birds. If you use lesse r birds because they are suppOS o~
5h k b' d ·11 ·
edly good stoc ir s, you w1 raise more of the same , i.e., stock
birds. occa sion ally s~ock birds throw a good show bird. Occa -
sionally good show birds throw a stock bird. It does not take a
nuclear scien tist to figure o~t which side of that form ula you
want to be on. Bree d your winners from winners .
The temp t~tio ns you wi_ll fe~I to keep more pairs develop
from faulty logic . If four pair might produce a great bird , th e
odds are bette r with eight, or even twelve pair. Right? Wron g.
The odds are bette r that you will spend too much time trying to
raise birds that will not do you nearly as much good as the ones
you are negl ectin g. You raise more young overall, but fewer
from th~ pairs that reall y coun t. If you discipline yourself to th e
top 4 or 5 pair, you will force yourself to mate only the best to
the best, and incre ase the likelihood of raising more of the same .
The shot gun appr oach to breeding, using 20 or 30 pair, only
holds you back . Som e succ essfu l breeders do it, and raise a
few good ones ever y year. No wond er though, that a good one
should surfa ce, even by accid ent out of 100 or more you ng. A
breeder's skill surfa ces when he can raise just as many top birds
out of 4 pair as the othe r can raise from 20. Further, if you apply
the logic abov e, keep ing only a few pair raises your od?s th~t
the pairs getti ng your valua ble (and less diluted) attention will
raise more youn g per pair. And that translates into n1ore bett~,~
youngsters, and fewe r poor er ones . Fewer youngsters, but highe i
quality acro ss the board.
. To mak e such a simp le prog ram work , you need ~nly a few
th ings. First, the dete rmin ation to keep only th e beS t bird s rnated
t~gether. Seco nd, the skill to rank your top bi rds over your ~e~ser
th
b1rd s. This Han dboo k is desi gned to help you do at. Opini?ns 1rd
from judg es, and expe rienc ed fanci ers will also help o
y_u . Th '
~ou need a grou p of relat ed birds . That mea ns bloodl_ine st breed-
ing. The clos er they are related, the bette r. My en ti re ud of
 . comes from three birds; one very outstanding cock, and
Jacobins fully selected hens. One hen is a full sister to the
two ve~dc:;:
coc~, a
other a 2nd or 3rd cousin. Like begets li~e. but the
re reliable if your birds are related. Bloodline related
rule
. 1s tar mo · , an d 'th · ncy that
d true to the bloodline w1 a consiste out-
birds bree
crossing cannot match .

Knicks and Knacks .

some very kno'Nledgeable pigeon breeders feel there is a
k ack some sort of hidden, maybe even mystical, quirk of for-
t~~,e tl;at some breeders have. Those with this knack can make
the right matings, called a knick, to raise the best young, and
this distinguishes them from the less successf ul breeders.
1 am not persuaded that such a knack exists, though I know

some matings knick better than others. Good matings produce

many consistently top notch young, not just a flash in the pan,
or one good one we call a sport. I have had some enormously
successful matings in my career to date, and find that each one
was the .result of lots and lots of hard work.
Further, the best of these good matings are the result of
successfully studying and manipula ting a closely knit family of

j ;,
:-1.. .::r,
-~.
.~ , :.
., .. " . -~ - , ,<, '
' -f<.,,:_
. -: : ~~.
~.J• ;."' t.·.:. .:
... , 11,.~ , .... -}~ :__ :.
Doug G'b . ' "{w,; -:, · , .
Dr I son , Ed Bachrna
ew Lobenstein watch P;n , Jules de Brenni of Australia, Louie Christener and
ul McNorgan judge at a Pageant of Pigeons show.
related birds. Thus you can mak~ seve ral parallel matings through-
out your prog ram, and each will be good . But one w·,, 1
b b
· h ' tt ern o f re Ia t·1onsh1ps,· th ef est. .1
Findi ng t 1s pa and learn ing how
bree ds is a lot of hard work . That work is wh at ' be li·e e rtthm , Y
- 1 , ve o 8rs
some time s call a knac k .
But a knac k is som ethin g you have or do not havP,. If SIJr, _
cess is a knac k , t h en G od gave it to you , and yo u hacJ n 0 th inq • t
· W k . ti . n
1t. ~r 1s sor11 e 11n~ w e can all do, an d all rP.ap h n -
do with 8
efits from . It 1s also so111eth1ng to be very proud of. vVhe ther
your work prod uces youn g that impro ve th e quality in you r loft
or a succ essfu l show bird, you can be very prou d of that effort .
Jack ie Glea son, the come dian , said it very well on a television
show once when aske d if he was proud of his success at co m-
edy. No, he said, God mad e him funny, what was there fo r him
to be prou d of? But acco mplis hmen ts that he had worked for.
those he was prou d of.
The poin t is that age old wisd om, you will get out of things .
acco rding to wha t you put into them . If you do not wan t to tr'/
very hard , and then need an excu se for your shortcom ings. then
you can say the othe r fello w has a knack. But if you w o rk at it, 1t
w ilt be you that the othe rs say have "it."
Ther e are som e thing s abou t all this work that are uncan-
nily fair. The hard er you work , the more successful you will be .
You may not have the best stock , but you can impro ve wha t you
have , or buy bette r and work from there. Also , as you work yo ur
way up the ladde r, the hard er it gets to impro ve your birds . It is
relat ively easy to impr ove on medi ocre birds if you mate them
up caref ully. You will not likely see any champion s ou t of these
matin gs, but you will learn volum es throu gh the effort. O_ nce yo u
have start ed raisin g some top bird s, it is pretty tough to ,n,p ro ve
on them ! That ' s very fair. It all ows the newcorne r roorn to tet3I
succ essfu l. Enjo y it wh ile you can . . .
008 1
I rece ntly beca m e frien ds with a newcorner wtio ridd
l b tt · birds d i l J
'
· .
work ing very hard fo r seve ral year s to breeL e e r , t , 1
had brok en into the fin als at an ann ual rn eet with a BeS Your g
. Irnost t oo k RLlse rve C ha111p1 on , too ..
B 1rd. A very big win . He a v
·t· trorn cwu o,
army tern ,c youn y . .
Here he was thou gh w ith an o f
to go trorn tht:3re . He
' ' . h
three relat ed mati ngs, and no idea w· ere . . d,· k ;1\
' t shoo ting 1n the ar . "'
Was doin g prett y w ell , but felt he was JUS
couple of experienced fanciers who should know better were try-
ing to pick his better birds off the top, and he was more than just
a little confused. It is hard to know what to do when you have lots
of quality. It take s a lot of work to mate them up right. The up side
is that if you will keep the family line pure, and breed from only the
ve ry best birds , you can learn how to mate them properly.
In closing this section I want to remind you that these are my
views and other fanciers may have different ideas. Sometimes
those ideas are based on well supported facts and theories. Other
times they are pure fantasy. I remember an old time breeder tell-
ing me that most fanciers stay up nights trying to figure some
new angle to ruin themselves. Well, he did not actually say "ruin"
(I've chosen a kinder word).

r I
1

~ ncialusian hen , shown here at the 19H4 annual Pacific Jacobin Club held at
:1°ck~on, CA. Best A.O.C. of show. Drew Lobenstein judging, commented,
Tl 11 8 1~ th e best And alusian bred to date" . Bred by Art and Debbie Hayes .