Q: About stray pigeons
A: Homing pigeons are often lost in bad weather, if you give feed and water to the bird as soon as the bird regain strength she will try to fly back to home, provided the bird is not injured. In order to know who the owner is, you have to catch the bird and get the numbers and letters on the leg band then contact the national organization American Racing Pigeon Union (AU) at 1-800-755-ARPU or 405-478-2240, someone there will help you locate the owner.

Q: New to the sport, have a lot of questions about pigeons
A: The best resource is still in your local library. The best way to get answers to a specific question is to subscribe to the Internet Pigeon Mailing List. Click here to subscribe. You can send your questions to all pigeon fanciers on the mailing list.

Q: Can you help beginners?
A: I'd like to help, but you have to be specific about what kind of help you need. I am sorry that I can't offer you free pigeons because there are high demand for my birds, if I give one bird to each request I'd have no birds left. For AU members, call AU at the numbers listed above and ask their Help-A-Beginner program.

Q: Do I sell pigeons ?
A: This is not a commercial loft. I call myself a casual, recreation racer. I never advertised to sell pigeons, because when money are involved things sometimes go sour especially among total strangers. I keep no more than 50 pigeons in the winter, usually after the racing season I do sell or trade a few birds with fanciers of the same caliber. The price of my young bird each are 1/10 of the cost of their parents, price on inquiry.

Q: What's a good pigeon ? Where do I go to get them ?
A: No matter how much you spent, there are no miracle pigeons that will make you a winner overnight. There may be miracle lofts that's bone dry and warm with plenty of fresh air, and there are racing systems that will give you an edge and make you a fierce competitor. The best advice I can give is try to be a good fancier first. Learn how to keep your pigeon healthy and how to distinguish good pigeons from bad. When you are ready, buy a round of late hatches from a non-commercial loft that has the same breeding and racing philosophy like yours, and have the breeder band these birds in consecutive numbers.

Q: Where did you acquire your birds? How do you select?
A: Over the years I have bought National ace-pigeons, multiple first place winners, parents of the winner, so called "golden pairs", direct Janssens, ... most fanciers have reasonably good birds these days, my experience was most birds available on the market are no good. Outstanding pigeons only come once in a while, unless the fancier is quitting, no one sell their best birds.
I can't tell you where I go to buy my pigeons these days, but I can tell you how do I select which may increase your chances of getting some real good pigeons:

Don't:

  • Don't buy from loft that's breeding from stock they purchased elsewhere. Go to the source.
  • Don't bother to go to any loft that has more than 100 pigeons.
  • If the birds are really good, they don't need to advertise.
  • Don't buy birds from young bird specialists that didn't win a prize as old birds. Buy from fanciers that race their birds as young bird and old bird for several years, and later on use them as breeders.
  • Any birds that's bred for stock, bred for sell, or never flown.
  • Anyone has a lot of birds and claim all their winners are down from the same pair.

    Do:

  • Strive to find a performance based inbred/linebred family that has been time tested.
  • The best pigeon breeders I know are not Doctors, Phds, Geneticists, Scientists or rich people that can afford to buy the most expensive pigeons. They are usually simple people, sometimes with little education. People who won't do anything against nature, and know the Tao of nature. A lot of them grew up in a farm, they were associated with animals since birth. They usually don't win all the races but they were there almost every race, and every once in a while they win a tough one with enormous lead. They usually don't medicate and like to use natural means to bring their birds into top form, and for all the money in the world they most likely won't sell you their best pigeon.
  • Be humble, If you think you are better with pigeons than the breeder, you don't need to buy their birds. Try to learn and follow their breeding techniques or methods.