The Book Revisited - page 5 

While we work to modify performance through training, do you think that we can modify the behavior of an individual pigeon?

This is an interesting question. To be honest, there is a lot of time that goes into pigeon racing. If you start out with pigeons that act a certain way and they prove to be successful for you, then those are probably the pigeons you want to own. With a lot of work, you can make a wild bird tamer, but there is always going to be that day when you are in a hurry and you defy the trust you have built and you will be back to square one with that pigeon. Consequently, it is probably better to work with pigeons that start out fitting you and what you want to do. When I was a kid, I had the time to work with each individual pigeon, but today, I do not have that kind of time, so it must be more of a team effort. For me it probably works out better if the pigeons remain somewhere in the middle of the road in terms of their temperament. I actually prefer pigeons that are aloof but not afraid. They do not need to sit on my shoulders, but at the same time, catching them should not turn into a life and death event for either of us.

Give us your thoughts on “flyaways”.

Personally, I have never had such a thing happen to me and I really do not know what to make of it. Certainly, when they are young and they get up and are going, they can do some crazy things. Fortunately, these things occur infrequently, but when they do occur, I am sure it is memorable for the fancier that experiences it. I have talked to several fanciers that have “flyaways”, and most of them had overcrowded conditions when it happened. I am not saying that is the total answer, but it does appear to be common amongst those that have experienced one. 

If you really watch pigeons exercise, you will see that they like to work in groups of 30 to 70 pigeons. Any fewer, and they tend to quickly lose their motivation, any more and they tend to have trouble maintaining a coordinated effort. When pigeons feel crowded, I believe that they let off something of a distress signal that encourages them to want to disperse from their loft until they reach some lower number that they feel more comfortable with. Think of it like bees swarming. I believe that this is at least part of the reason that one-loft races tend to lose so many pigeons early on. Nature has designed pigeons to be social creatures, but at the same time, Nature knows that when too many pigeons get together, there are going to be health issues. If you go to the park, you will often see large flocks of pigeons standing around with each other, but come nightfall when they return to their nest, they do not all roost together. Instead, they break into smaller groups of three or four pairs in any one location. If you stick to the simple rule of a maximum of one pigeon per two square feet of floor space that is six feet high, most of these types of problems will go away.

Today there are a lot of what I call bible DVD’s out there describing step by step exactly how to race pigeons. What are your thoughts on this?

Well, pigeon racing is something of a formula and so it is certainly possible to learn a little from seminars, DVD’s and books on the subject. However, it is pretty important to realize that pigeon racing is not like a pair of socks where one size fits all. The physical and environmental differences between courses can make a very big difference in the outcome of any system. What works in one place will, at the very least, have to be adapted to another place. I have helped select fanciers around the world with their racing, and in no case have we ever been able to use an entire method in two different locations without significant adaptation. Something as simple at the difference between a headwind and tailwind course is enough to change the entire approach.

I have not found knowledgeable fanciers very willing to give up their true hard earned secrets, in part because secrets are not that easy to come by. I remember reading books on widowhood when I was a kid. They all said about the same thing, which was nothing, or at least nothing useful. After purchasing three of these books, what I learned was that if I really wanted to know something, I would need to figure it out for myself. Yes, I have learned a lot from my teachers, but that knowledge would be comparatively small compared to what I have learned on my own.

Let me make an important point here. Even when you obtain a secret from another fancier, you rarely learn the ins and outs behind that secret. The providing fancier has learned these secrets over a period of time, usually a long period of time, and even he can’t remember all that went into learning the secret in the first place. If he can’t remember these things, then he can’t pass them on to you, so what you have is a secret without foundation. 

Part of the enjoyment of this sport should center around learning about the sport. If a fancier is incapable of learning on his own, then he probably shouldn’t be a champion in the sport in the first place. Today, fanciers take a lot of pride in winning, but little pride in being knowledgeable about the sport behind the winning. When you spend too much time trying to win, you spend too little time trying to learn. I have thrown away many races trying to learn something that I felt would be important to know somewhere in the future. Today there are too many fanciers that know where the medicine bottle is or where their car keys are, but too few fanciers that are knowledgeable about the sport.

We have brought you part one of “Book – ReVisited”, and we hope to post part two of the interview in the near future. Book has already hinted that part two will be considerably more technical and deal with a different look at his thoughts on breeding techniques     

Ali
 

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