Ad Schaerlaeckens: more mistakes

Pigeon Fanciers who succeed are sometimes suspected of knowing a lot about pigeon and the same goes for those who write about pigeons.

I am one of them, and therefore I dare to put this into perspective. Because believe me, even the greatest champions sometimes find themselves desperate when they watch their pigeons fly around the loft and notice they’re not training the way they’d like.
They wonder what they did wrong and what they can do about it.

A LITTLE

Let’s put it this way: those people know a bit more about pigeons than beginners and fellow fanciers who keep losing.
What characterizes the latter is that they continue making the same mistakes—mistakes the champions don’t make. Sometimes small, seemingly silly mistakes, but they can have major consequences.
In fact, this is completely normal for beginners, and you certainly can’t blame them. Almost every sport and hobby offers beginner courses.
It’s different in pigeon racing. The beginner is immediately thrown into the deep end. In other words, from day one, a novice fancier has to compete against seasoned professionals. They are at the mercy of countless lies in misleading ads for pigeons and pigeon products. Rarely are they offered a helping hand or told what mistakes they’re making.

GRIT

Take Jan, for example. A long time ago, for the third time in a year, a pigeon collapsed at his feet. That can happen—but not three birds in one year.
I asked him if his pigeons were getting grit. "Of course," he replied.
But when I visited him once, many things became clear. Jan went to a fancier’s shop and came back with a bowl full of grit. "I don’t give them sand? Really? The problem is, my pigeons don’t like it. This bowl is still as full as it was a few months ago."
Another one who doesn’t get it, I thought. I told him: “You should dump that bowl on the pavement in front of your loft right before it rains. Then release your pigeons after the rain and see what happens.”
A little while later, I saw him again—and how friendly he was! The birds had thrown themselves into the grit like the Apostle Paul into the Corinthians.

EXPLAINED

Then I told him something every fancier should know. About the fine dust particles pigeons spread, which you can clearly see when sunlight shines into the loft or when you run your finger across the ceiling.
Those dust particles settle on everything—including the grit in the loft—and then pigeons no longer like it.
It’s that simple. Grit is important, but it shouldn’t be kept in a jar in the loft. Just give a small amount of fresh grit two or three times a week, and they’ll eat it.

PROVERB

In the Netherlands, we have a saying: “What a farmer doesn’t know, he won’t eat.” You could say the same about pigeons. Think of cheese, peanuts, and so on. But… once they’ve tasted it a few times, they devour it.
“My pigeons don’t like mineral powder,” you sometimes hear.
They don’t like mineral powder? Come on! If you give it correctly, you’ll have to be careful they don’t eat too much!
“Give it correctly” means offering small amounts and refreshing it often.
Leaving it in the loft for two days is already too long in damp weather.
What you can do is place the jar of mineral powder on something warm, like those used to keep water from freezing.

TRAINING

Racing pigeons need to train. But for some, this becomes so obsessive that they ignore everything else.
For them, the birds MUST be “in the air” for about an hour every day—even in hot weather or late in the evening when it’s raining.
Wrong, of course. These are the fanciers who, when going to the club, put their baskets in direct sunlight.
Training in the evening during rain means the pigeons enter the night wet, and since they don’t move in the dark, they’ll stay wet. A perfect way to knock them out of shape.

NO BATHS

I remember a fancier who never let his pigeons bathe. “It wasn’t necessary for his birds,” he said. He regularly dunked them in warm water and gave them a massage.
The man meant well, but what he didn’t realize was that this didn’t achieve the intended result.
Pigeons fluff their feathers when they bathe on their own. If the fancier dunks them in water, that doesn’t happen—and the water doesn’t get where it should.

ALSO POINTLESS

Many wonder or ask others if there’s something they can give pigeons during the molting season.
I’ve been a racing pigeon fancier for half a century, and I’ve never done anything special during molt.
Molting is a natural process triggered by shorter days, and healthy pigeons can handle it on their own.
What’s fine—if you’re only satisfied when the birds get some kind of supplement—is Sedochol. It won’t harm them, and the same goes for tea, garlic, vitamins, and other supplements.
Sometimes you read something like, “Monday garlic, Tuesday Sedochol, Wednesday tea,” and so on.
They’re okay—but definitely not if you give them on a fixed day of the week. It’s better to do a kind of week-long treatment instead.
But will you win more prizes with these things? I doubt it.

TRICHOMONIASIS

Trichomoniasis is somewhat controversial. Even vets and top champions disagree on how to handle it.
It’s no longer the dreaded plague it once was, when resistance was so feared that it became uncontrollable.
These days, many fanciers don’t treat at all—sometimes even on the advice of vets.
But be careful: I myself treat once a year, before the season, for a week.
Wouldn’t it be better to give a tablet or pill? I don’t think so. If the birds are (slightly) infected, they’ll stay “tricho-free” much longer after a proper course than after a single pill.

TEA

And what about tea?
Tea? Hmm. Let the fanciers give tea to their pigeons, I say. As long as they’re doing that, they’re staying away from medications.