# How to choose babies for one loft races



## mauimiho (Jun 21, 2011)

Aloha everyone and Happy Holidays!
New at this...but any info on how to choose which babies you send to one loft races. Or how early in their growth stage....can you handle them to find the qualities you want?


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

I am a new flier but I would think you would not learn a lot from handling young birds for one loft races to find qualities, You need to test the pairs that produced them and find out what they produce

Then from there establish what type of birds each pair produces, Hard, middle, sprint, long, etc.

Once you know your pairs and what they produce you then would look at the one loft races you wanted to enter, research what type of terrain, weather etc is involved in any particular race and choose your best suited birds from there.

As far as choosing the right nest mate from that pair, I guess that comes down to timing and in some ways luck, You hope that the pair you have nominated to be the breeders for a one loft race produce a bird that is good at the right time needed to send the bird, As we all know, there are not many pairs which consistently produce winners out there, I think a pair to fit that description would be one in a million so to speak


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## mauimiho (Jun 21, 2011)

Many thanks for the info NZ Pigeon. I do have a couple pairs that I have had good results from. Just was wondering if there were a way to get a more better understanding than just sending every baby from that certain pair to a certain one loft race. For sure I know that any pair will not consistently be producing good birds all the time. We all wish they did...lol.


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## jwbriggs (Jul 30, 2009)

mauimiho said:


> Aloha everyone and Happy Holidays!
> New at this...but any info on how to choose which babies you send to one loft races. Or how early in their growth stage....can you handle them to find the qualities you want?


I think you may could come up with a variety of answers on this subject.

As stated in NZ Pigeons' post it has a lot to do with the testing of YB from your breeding pairs to find the results you are looking for.Testing, Testing and more Testing. 

Its all a big roll of the dice starting with your breeding pairs and whether you are going to single pair them in individual cages or turn them all loose in a loft and let nature take its course. Once you have an understanding of the characteristics your breeders produce you can start to decide what races you would want to send them too.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

At least 3 years of good record keeping on all of your breeders and young racers. Some pairs will produce better racing hens or cocks. This can help if you have color sex linked breedings. I am using red hens to blue cocks for this.


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## V-John (May 15, 2008)

ace in the hole said:


> At least 3 years of good record keeping on all of your breeders and young racers. Some pairs will produce better racing hens or cocks. This can help if you have color sex linked breedings. I am using red hens to blue cocks for this.


Never really thought of this, that is a great idea.


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

Colors also can dictate quality some pairs all the BB will be good pigeons but the BC offspring will be average or below average or you just loose them but the BB are out of this world.


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## Rod Hultquist (Aug 23, 2009)

Just sending youngsters off unproven breeders is nothing more than a crap shoot at best. I agree with Ace,"good record keeping." Once you determind which breeders produce competitive young birds, who to select for the OLRs will be much easier.


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

Lets start from the beginning.....You have to have sprint/middle distance pigeons....They are best to purchased from people who race Young Birds only...You get the best you can afford,and breed as many as you can hold in your loft,without OVER CROUDING.....Pick out the best,and send a few to a couple of OLR`s.....You race the ones you keep...After 2 or 3 years,you will have a pretty good idea where you best flying birds are coming from....There`s no easy way to accomplish this....UNLESS....You have bokoo money(Very rich),and you buy birds that cost $10,000 ea and up....Alamo


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Alamo said:


> Lets start from the beginning.....You have to have sprint/middle distance pigeons....They are best to purchased from people who race Young Birds only...You get the best you can afford,and breed as many as you can hold in your loft,without OVER CROUDING.....Pick out the best,and send a few to a couple of OLR`s.....You race the ones you keep...After 2 or 3 years,you will have a pretty good idea where you best flying birds are coming from....There`s no easy way to accomplish this....UNLESS....You have bokoo money(Very rich),and you buy birds that cost $10,000 ea and up....Alamo


*Stay with "There's no easy way to accomplish this...*

Even if you pay $100,000 each and up. Without testing the young first it is still a crap shoot. There are many flyers who tried to buy there way to the top but very few made it.

I plan to breed my way to the top...


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

ace in the hole said:


> *Stay with "There's no easy way to accomplish this...*
> 
> Even if you pay $100,000 each and up. Without testing the young first it is still a crap shoot. There are many flyers who tried to buy there way to the top but very few made it.
> 
> I plan to breed my way to the top...


Agree, last year a very well known breeder bought the best birds he could get "and I'm sure money was no object" and sent the young to the Sun City race. The were all first time breeding, when the final race rolled around he only had one bird left out of 9. I'm willing to bet he had way over $10K in the birds.

Breed your best prove them, then send them off to an OLR
Dave


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## Kastle Loft (May 7, 2008)

All this advice is good and relevant. I think, though, the OP's question may be more along the lines of choosing which birds out of the nest? That's the way I read it anyway.

Certainly breeding records is the first step in the process. I wholeheartedly agree with that. But you have to start somewhere. If you have untested birds, then send them to the less expensive futurities and band races and send them to friends to who fly the style of races that you intend to enter later for the bigger competitions. As mentioned above, you need to research which races you want to enter and know whether or not your bloodlines are competitive in those kinds of races (Is it hot? Are they blow homes or head winds? Mountains? Water crossings? etc.)

Once you have proven breeders that can make babies that are consistently competitive, then you have to decide which of their babies to send. In other words, I think you are asking about how to grade a baby that is perhaps only 30 days old, which is generally the age at which you would send them. 

If that is what you're asking, here's what I look for: 

*Size*: I don't like to send large birds to OLR. So I look for medium to small birds, especially if you are sending to hot climates. 

*Strength*: I do believe you can tell if a bird is strong or weak at this age. Don't send birds with weak backs or that lack strength.

*Vitality and health*: If a bird is dull, lacks energy, has poor feather development, don't send it. 

*Intelligence*: Can you see intelligence at 30 days? In some cases, I believe you can. It takes observation. Is the baby eating out of the food cup alongside it's parents at 21 days old? Does it have an attitude or personality? Those birds, IMO, are the smarter ones.

I take notes on all the birds I send out and more or less give them a sentence or two description. I like to look back at the end of the season and see if what I observed has any correlation to their performance. This year, my best bird in the Gulf Coast Classic series was top 8-12% three times but clocked too late to be in the money in the final race. My notes about that bird from April 1st, 2012: 



> Sent to GCC on April 1. Medium bird. The more aggressive and defensive of the nestmates. Nice silky feathers. Of the three going to GCC, this one seems to have the most going on in his head.


I also like to send nest mates but that's not always possible. I think it's safe to say that most nests do not have two great babies. And if they are both similar in physical and apparently mental abilities at 30 days old, I could very easily send the wrong baby. Send both and they will both be tested under same/similar conditions which will then also give you more reliable data for analysis.

I hope that's along the lines of what you were asking. If not, you probably already got some good answers from the others.

I'd love to hear from others about how they choose babies from the nest and if they like to send nest mates, etc.


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

As for sending nest mates .......I've never done it until this past year. What I considered my best hen was getting pretty old and I chose to send three of her babies. Two went to the same handler (he had success with one of her babies once before ) and the third went to another race. The first two flew well but just out of the money and the third made a few bucks. I made my choice just on past performance....I've never had the guts to send one from a new cross. I really have no idea how to choose right out of the nest.....sometimes I make a good choice and then others either surprise me or disappoint me. I wish I had a template to fit them in and go from there. The thing I know for sure is that just because they fly well for me here at home with the way I handle them doesn't mean they'll do well in other situations. It's the fun thing about this time of year, trying to make plans for the coming year.


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

First To Hatch said:


> Colors also can dictate quality some pairs all the BB will be good pigeons but the BC offspring will be average or below average or you just loose them but the BB are out of this world.


Can you explain the science on this one, Colour genetics comes down to odds, simple as that, So does racing genetics, I guess the odds would say, if that pair can produce "out of this world" BB's then they could just as likely produce a good BC. With sexes that's a little bit different but colour, I'm not convinced.


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## mauimiho (Jun 21, 2011)

Thank You so much Kastle Loft! Just the info I'm looking for. This my 4th year with these breeders, and they have been ALMOST consistent. Also thank you to the rest for the great info and help! Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to ALL!!


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

NZ Pigeon said:


> Can you explain the science on this one, Colour genetics comes down to odds, simple as that, So does racing genetics, I guess the odds would say, if that pair can produce "out of this world" BB's then they could just as likely produce a good BC. With sexes that's a little bit different but colour, I'm not convinced.


You'll get a pair someday that throws one color that produces good young but the other color is no good. I didn't pull this fact out of my butt I noticed it and asked about it many club members have seen the same things many of whom have been flying since the 50s and 60s.


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