What you will need to Race
By Tom Domanski
Overview
| This section is intended to inform a new fancier of what is required to raise, breed, handle, train and race pigeons. If you have never raced homing pigeons and are just curious what pigeon racing is all about, check out: Racing Part 0.5 What is Pigeon Racing? This is an exciting sport that can be shared with the entire family. If you have a love of animals this is definitely a sport for you. The nature of pigeons can very calming and an incredible stress reliever. The are many people who have pigeons just because they enjoy the birds but do not necessarily race. Pigeon racing is an art and it takes time to become competitive. If you are interested in taking the next step and becoming a fancier who races homing pigeons here are some of the things you will need to get started. Racing Pigeons You will need to have homing pigeons that are banded with a seamless metal band of an approved organization. You may want to check out this section: Breeding Part 6 Finding Stock Birds If you intend on racing, you will want to have the best birds you can afford or find. Pigeon racing is competitive and you will want birds that are proven to compete at distances from 100-600 miles. Pigeon Loft You will need to have a pigeon loft for your birds. The main difference between keeping homing pigeons and racing homing pigeons is now your pigeons are more like athletes as you will be exploring the competitive nature of the sport. You loft will need to be healthy, well ventilated and dry. You will eventually need to have it broken down into sections for old birds, young birds and breeders. Check this section: Pigeon Lofts Mentors You will need to have someone to give you advice and guide into the art of racing pigeons. If you do not know anyone yet, find a club and you will find lots of fanciers that will be willing to give you a hand. At some point, you will need to have an established fancier, or mentor that will be available for questions and advice. You may want to check out this section: Mentors Loft Accessories Along with the loft, you will want to have the right accessories in your loft, to include nest boxes, water dispensers, food hops or dispensers, etc. Check out this section: Loft Accessories Training Crates/Transportation Racing Pigeons need to be trained and developed. You will need to have crates to transport them and a means of transporting your birds from your home to the release points. Check out this section: Training Crates/Transportation Pigeon Clocks When race birds return home from a race they need to be clocked. This is the official time that they finish the race. You will need to have a manual or elctronic clock to time the race birds in … manual clocks are more labor intensive and you have to travel to a club or clocking centre after the race to have your clock read and your time and resulyt worked out. In contrast electronic clocks – which are more expensive – mean the birds dont have to be handled to remove a rubber race ring, and because the results can be registered immediately over the internet, there is no need to go to a clocking center as the results will have already been worked out and posted |