How to Select and Breed Champion Racing Pigeons?

Negligence while selecting the breeders may result in the production of youngsters of low grades. For success in the pigeon racing event, the intelligence and excellent physique of the pigeons are necessary.

So, how to select and breed champion racing pigeons? You need to select mating pairs from generations of winner pigeons. Besides, ensure the mating pair has excellent physical attributes, strength, and athleticism.

Throughout this article, we will provide you with an idea of the choosing criteria and strategies of breeder pigeons for producing champion racers. You also learn about the breeders’ and offspring’s caring and evaluation methods, respectively. So, keep reading!

Identifying Key Traits for Racing Pigeons

The racing pigeons are different from any other average pigeons. They are mainly famous for their ability to fly high and long distances. For success in any pigeons racing event, they must have some key traits, those are:

• Exceptionally excellent at remembering and  navigating the distance path and can get back to their home after racing
• Must have to be intelligent enough to overcome any difficulties that they will encounter while racing
• Must have an excellent athletic quality
• For the long-distance racing event, a pigeon with experience and intellect is preferable
• In a sprinting event, a pigeon will a good physique is necessary
• For short-distance racing, the pigeons generally have a fast speed
• The pigeons for racing should have a flexible back
• Their head and beak should be proportionate to their body
• They must have a good eyesight

Selecting Successful Racing Pigeon Pairs

While breeding pigeons, you also need to choose a pair that may give offsprings that have the potential to win competitive races. This process is crucial as you can’t assure 100% that the youngsters will be winner pigeons.

But there are some methods through which you can assume success in their mating process. Here, we are mentioning the ways:

Physique

You shouldn’t choose a pair that looks sick and doesn’t have a sound body. Always select a team with healthy, thick, smooth, and shiny feathers. Their wings must also have to be healthy.

Also, look if they have a flexible back. Because for success in a race, the pigeons must fly for an extended period, which requires a flexible back.

Generation Of Winner Pigenos 

You can decide whether a pigeon has the potential to produce successful offspring by only holding them in hand. Also, the genders of pigeons don’t affect their racing capability, but their genotype does. 

Generally, the generation of champion pigeons also has a high potential of becoming a winner.  That doesn’t mean non-winner breeders don’t have the potential to produce winner pigeons. But in this case, you can guarantee the results.

Therefore, always try to choose mating pigeon pairs from the loft with high-performance or champion pigeons. Thus, there is a high possibility that you will get a champion pigeon from a winning pair.

Trial 

Sometimes, you may not get a champion pigeon after only one mating. But after this, you shouldn’t give up on those breeders. 

The reason is the pigeons of the pair may not be genetically suitable for each other. They might pass on deleterious genes, or those genes are not complimenting each other. Therefore, you need to search for the correct click. 

Hence, we suggest mating the pigeon at least three times with different mates. If still, the breeder is not reproducing offspring up to your standard; you can give up on that breeder.

Athletic Character

For choosing a successful pair, you can look for their athleticism. You should select pigeons that can fly around their loft quickly and move around during flight with minimal effort.

Eye Color

Though eye color can’t decide the success of reproducing a successful offspring, you still need to consider it. You need to breed pairs with opposite eye colors. 

If you breed a pair with similar eye color, you may get offspring of washed-out and white eyes. These types of eyes can’t take bright sunlight for a prolonged period.

Matching 

You need to concentrate on the perfect matching. During this process, consider these factors:

• Always choose pairs with almost similar size
• Never breed a long-distance racing pigeon with a sprinting pigeon
• Avoid making a mating pair with an old hen. But you can select old cock due to their high fertility 

Breeding Strategies for Racing Pigeons

When you breed pigeons, the main goal should be producing offspring of great flexibility, genetic quality, and endurance. Hence, you should set strategies to eliminate all the incapable pigeons and focus on keeping only the capable. 

Here we are mentioning some of those strategies step by step:

• Step 1: Determine your objectives for mating the pigeons. First, consider whether you want to breed pigeons for sprinting, average-distance, or long-distance racing events. Each of these has distinguishing selection criteria. 
• Step 2: You should evaluate the physical attributes, strength, and performance of the pigeons before picking them as mating pairs
• Step 3: Check the physical attributes of the pigeons and evaluate them according to their conditions
• Step 4: Also, check the strength of pedigree by arranging fair races and then categorize them
• Step 5: You need to train and race your pigeons to improve and show off their capabilities
• Step 6: Keep a record of their evaluation based on their physical attributes, strength, and performance
• Step 7: After a period, check the record and only keep the pigeons that showed excellency during this period
• Step 8: If after three seasons, breeders can’t produce offspring up to the standard, you should eliminate them from the stock

Pedigree Analysis and Genetic Testing in Pigeon Breeding

Pedigree analysis is necessary for testing the potentiality of the success of pigeon youngsters. The reproduction method may impact the genetic quality of the offspring.

Here is a brief description of those methods and their impact on genetic testing:

Line Breeding 

This method can protect the qualities and genes of exceptional pigeons. In this method, mating between half sisters and half brothers occurs. Ultimately, you will get a breeder consistently producing champion youngsters even if it never won any match.

In-breeding

This method is mainly suitable for storing uniformity among the offspring. Here, you can breed the parents with their children or the brothers with sisters. 

There will be no extreme reduction in disease resistance and reproduction quality for several generations. But the inbreed pigeons will be sensitive to the weather, impacting their racing ability.

Outcrossing

Outcrossing is where you must cross between the families of two line breed pigeons. You may need to mate the outcross with several pigeons of your stock. If the outcross is appropriate, you will get excellent and champion offspring.

Super Breeders

In this method, you must mate between outcrosses from families of two line breeds. Then, you need to mate those offspring again with the stock pigeons. This mating process generally produces youngsters with excellent performance.

Caring for Racing Pigeon Breeders

You must care for your breeder pigeons throughout their mating seasons and even after the period. Several caring strategies are here:

• The mating season is pretty stressful for a breeder; that’s why you need to provide them adequate medication program
• Before several weeks of their mating season, keep the light of the loft turned on for almost 18 hours per day. This helps in the hormone buildup in the breeder’s body
• You should bath the breeders once a week for better hygiene
• Except during the mating season, you never stop training and racing your pigeons
• Train your breeder pigeons regularly to improve their performance ability and winning potential 

To understand this caring process better, check this YouTube video 

Evaluating Racing Pigeon Offspring

Generally, the picking of successful breeders starts even before their birth. So, evaluating the offspring is essential for eliminating the unfit and only keeping the excellent pigeons in the stock.

Here are some factors that you need to consider while evaluating the offspring:

• If the eggs don’t look smooth or good, then after hatching, the offspring won’t also be of sound health
• If the offspring looks unfit and ill, it will not end up becoming a champion pigeon later
• After 28 days of their birth, generally sound offspring are capable of living on their own. If they are still dependent on their parents after this period, it will take time for those offspring to reach up to the champion grade 
• If the offspring needs frequent medication, they are not fit for any competitive racing events
• Check their ability to fly and their effortlessness in flight

If you’re interested in diving deeper into the world of pigeon breeding, you may find our articles on pigeons’ distinctive nesting habits and pigeons’ nervous system and sensory capabilities intriguing. Our article on pigeons’ distinctive nesting habits sheds light on the intricate nesting behaviors and preferences of pigeons, providing valuable insights for breeders looking to create optimal nesting conditions. Additionally, our article on pigeons’ nervous system and sensory capabilities explores the remarkable sensory abilities and complex nervous system of pigeons, offering a fascinating glimpse into their cognitive and physiological capabilities.

Conclusion

Excellent quality of the breeder is necessary for producing winner pigeons for racing events. But how to select and breed champion racing pigeons? For this, you must choose breeders from the champion pigeon generations. 

Besides, you must keep training and racing your breeder pigeons to improve their ability further. Also, different types of mating methods have different impacts on the genetic quality of the offspring. Thus, you need to evaluate the offspring accordingly.