What is the recipe for success at the sport of long distance pigeon racing this is done at 500 miles & over.?

Question

i would like to know from fellow fanciers what their recipe for success is at theses distances i mean 500,600 miles and over ,and what family(s) ,strain(s) are best suited to these kind of distances . thank you.

Answer 1

Correct training, feed, and good birds (strain names are pretty immaterial so long as they are from good long distance families) are important, and a family that can succeed on your course.  A long distance winning strain that has been developed on a flat, level course over the span of years might not be one to fly a mountainous course against a strain that's been developed for that one.

One thing I always, always look for is a soft wing (personal prejudice perhaps) but an older winning flyer showed me years ago that birds which would "lay their wing in your hand" usually did much better at the distance than did those that "snapped it back".  Color is pretty immaterial (though I try to watch for any in the family that might wind whip their flights excessively)

Some fly widowhood, some natural (a good hen on just hatched squeakers is hard to beat even with a good widow c**k bird).   I've done both and seen both win.

Feeding on the curve also helps as does correct training (which seems to vary on different routes - that's something you might have to check with your local flyers).  So does making sure they're hydrated correctly for the flight.

One hugh part of the recipe is seeing that the birds love their home and feel secure in it.  

If you want "strains" - which I've found over the years often really aren't what people say they are (how many times have you heard the "It's Janssen - it's mom was out of so and so" and they sort of ignore the sire? or the grandsire? or any of the others in the family line?"

Look for flyers who are currently winning in the distance and terrain that you want to fly in.  Ask them - often if they're not your direct competitors (and sometime even if they are) and if you are polite, you will get a direct and useful answer for yourself.  

in addition to checking out some of the larger longer races here in N. America, you might simply want to Google the Barcelona National pigeon race to get results of some fo the long distance birds and strains presently flying in Europe as well.  You might also want to Google Australian pigeon races - they fly some really long distance races there as well.

Below I've listed the website URL for one of the people who flew the Barcelona and places pretty high up and their birds.

http://freialdenhofen.de.tl/Race-Results...