12-20 - Tuesday

THE BEGINNING OF THE 2012 CALENDAR YEAR IN THE SPORT OF RACING PIGEONS IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA USA

In many parts of the world, the month of November marks the beginning of the Racing Pigeon Sport.  The beginning of the calendar year can be calculated by counting backwards from January 1^st of each year.  January 1^st is the day by which most fanciers should receive their rings or bands for the upcoming year.  Prior to January 1^st, youngsters are too old to be rung with the new year’s rings (although I have seen 30 day old squeakers rung with a new band with no ill effects to their foot and leg).  In order for youngsters to be hatched and rung with new rings, breeders should be coupled about December 1^st each year.  In order to couple breeders on or about December 1^st each year, breeders may need a series of medications in order to put them in top health for the new breeding season (unless they are in perfect health prior to December 1 according to a veterinarian or keen microscope).  If medication is required for the breeder’s health, a medication series should begin during the month of November.  In addition to medication, our breeders are placed on a light system during the month of November in Oklahoma USA because of the onset of winter and the number of daylight hours that are continually shrinking.  Because of lighting and medication for the breeders, each new calendar year in the Sport begins some time during the month of November for us and for many other fanciers.

Today is December 20^th at our loft.  The breeders were medicated in November.  The lights increased the daylight hours to about 16 hours per day.  The breeders were coupled around December 1^st.  Youngsters will be hatching soon.  As they pip and hatch, the study that we have placed in our pairings manifests itself in each new youngster.  During the months of September and October, we renew the study of our pairings based upon the race results of our young birds.  Which pairs bred the best young birds?  Which pairings should we repeat and which pairs should we re-couple or eliminate?  All of these questions require study based upon empirical results demonstrated by young bird results.  Results come from our own races, the race results of futurity races, and the results in races of other fanciers racing our pigeons.  The Scientific Method and empirical results guide our decision-making the same way it does in any other sport or in any other endeavor in business and industry.  The scientific method requires that hypotheses are created based upon a body of knowledge.  In turn, these hypotheses are tested.  Based upon the test results, the body of knowledge is verified or modified.  It should also be stated, however, that we sometimes base our decisions on hunches or intuitions based upon our knowledge and experience of many years in the pigeon sport.

In your loft, you may have learned that the children of Pair A tend to breed children that breed very good racing pigeons.  This statement is part of what we call the general body of knowledge in your loft.  It is generally known that Pair A breeds very good breeders.  But if you breed 6 children each year from Pair A, you may not know which of the 6 children are the very best breeders.  It takes empirical testing to know which of the 6 children are the very best breeders.  The breeding ability of each of the 6 youngsters represents a hypothesis.  The hypothesis is that Youngster 1 of Pair A breeds good youngsters.  If the children of Youngster 1 are raced against the children of each of the other 5 youngsters, then the race results should demonstrate which of the 6 youngsters are the very best breeders. 

As you can see if you followed the logic of the last paragraph, we base the majority of our breeding program on science using the scientific method as our guide.  For those of you budding scientists out there, you may realize that since we can’t usually breed each of the 6 children to the same mate (some may be males and some females), the scientific process is contaminated or confused with “intervening variables” such as the breeding quality of each of the mates of the 6 children.  Is the breeding quality of each mate exactly the same?  Or are one or two of the mates much better breeders than the mates of the other children?  Did one or two children “nick” with their mates more profoundly than the other pairings?

Because of these "intervening" variables that cannot be adequately controlled or reasonably understood during the breeding season, if we like the children of Pair A equally well, we will give them several breeding seasons before we completely judge them in order for us to couple them with several different mates to try to mitigate the effect of "intervening" variables that are part of the breeding process.

That is why each youngster that hatches during the next several weeks is so important to us.  They are most important because we love each and every one of our pigeons.  But each youngster is also important because each one represents a clue to answering the hypotheses about the quality of our breeders.  Each youngster is a clue.  Each youngster represents the hope that our hypotheses are correct - that we are correct - that we are good at what we do.  Our pigeons are a mirror of us – our worth – our abilities – our hopes and dreams – our efforts – our lives.  And ultimately, this is why we love and honor the Sport of racing pigeons.  By testing our pigeons, we test our own self-worth.  And isn’t this one of the most important aspects of a great hobby?   

To be continued.........................................................................Thank you.................................................................Jeff and John Lamberton