# Old Bird Management Styles



## Kal-El (Oct 10, 2008)

I recently had a conversation with an older gentleman in my club regarding old bird management styles. He said he never sent yearlings to any races further than 400 miles. For us, this is the Midwest Classic. He also said that he progressively increases the distances as they get older. For example, yearlings go no further than 400 miles, 2 year old birds go no further than 500, and all birds over 3 years old go the distance of 600 miles. His theory is that like young birds, he treats his old bird racers with the same increments in distance. He says it effectively teaches his birds to handle the longer distance races.


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

A lot of guys in my club do that as well.


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

Yeah, and I guess, but then you look at the AU database and see a lot of 600 mile races won by yearlings, many that are up for national awards such as long distance ace, marathon ace, etc etc. I think that if a bird is healthy, motivated and in shape then they can go.


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## koukoukou (May 12, 2011)

The older the bird the harder it is to lose, the older the bird the more experience is has.


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## rpalmer (Mar 10, 2011)

Matt Bell said:


> Yeah, and I guess, but then you look at the AU database and see a lot of 600 mile races won by yearlings, many that are up for national awards such as long distance ace, marathon ace, etc etc. I think that if a bird is healthy, motivated and in shape then they can go.


Maybe you could list a few. I haven't found any yet.


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## jpsnapdy (Apr 4, 2010)

Matt Bell said:


> Yeah, and I guess, but then you look at the AU database and see a lot of 600 mile races won by yearlings, many that are up for national awards such as long distance ace, marathon ace, etc etc. I think that if a bird is healthy, motivated and in shape then they can go.


The AU database should keep track of those that never make it too.


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

jpsnapdy said:


> The AU database should keep track of those that never make it too.


That's a valid submission I believe


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

jpsnapdy said:


> The AU database should keep track of those that never make it too.


Along with all the 3+ year old birds as well right?


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

I just went and looked at the Long Distance Ace Category on the AU website for the 2011 Old Bird Season which should be about finished as of right now. *147 of the 329 birds* which qualified for this award were yearlings. Yes, you read that right, nearly half of the qualifiers were yearlings which many of you would not have flown at all in those races. That says it all for me, if they are motivated, healthy, and in shape they will fly those races.


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

Also, the top 4 positions in the Marathon Ace pigeon award are yearlings.

17 of the 43 qualifiers for the Marathon Triple Crown are yearlings, including 2 of the top 3.

I'm not sure what other evidence many of you would like to see?


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

So why is it like this ? Taking a guess that motivation may increase over the years, still, is it because the yearlings are more physically capable ?

Or putting it in other words, a pigeon is more likely to win in the first year and then the chances go down ?


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

sreeshs said:


> So why is it like this ? Taking a guess that motivation may increase over the years, still, is it because the yearlings are more physically capable ?
> 
> Or putting it in other words, a pigeon is more likely to win in the first year and then the chances go down ?


My guess would be that a lot of those yearlings get stocked and don't have a chance to fly the races again as 2/3/4 year old pigeons.


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## jpsnapdy (Apr 4, 2010)

Matt Bell said:


> My guess would be that a lot of those yearlings get stocked and don't have a chance to fly the races again as 2/3/4 year old pigeons.


Could be, or that the older birds become slower with age.
In any case these statistics are precious. And yes, seriously, all data could be kept since hard disk space is becoming cheaper. It would definitely help us improve.


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