CONDITION AND FORM FOR RACING PIGEONS.
 

These two words are the two most misused and misunderstood words in the history of our sport. If we ask the average fancier what is the difference between condition and form, they either say that they are the same or they struggle to give a meaningful answer. Those that are in possession of my video “It’s All In The Eye” or have attended some of my lectures, will know that there is a great difference between the two and can be explained as follows: Condition is a monthly cycle and is visibly recognizable, it is mainly detectable by the down feathers and many fanciers go to great lengths to search for these and from which pigeon they are discarded. This is unnecessary as one can see the time of the condition cycle by looking for these on the side of the birds rump where they grow and are discharged monthly. They start as a bare patch in this area, become shoots, and discharge as a fully grown down feather in this cycle when at peak condition.

PIC 4	PIC 5
Pic 4. and 5 show the condition that the fancier is looking for, but is advised against doing. The condition can be recognized and adjusted to No 5 without disturbing this very important feather cover.

          PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB THESE BREAST FEATHERS.   

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The rosy pink in the mouth is also a good indication that all is well with the pigeon, for me it is a much better indication that all is well with the blood condition than looking at the pigeons breast, which can also be a dietary condition. Rather do not look at the breast and cause disruptions of feather cover in this sparse region. There is also the elusive red spot that sometimes tracks along the keel bone, some times it is there and sometimes it is not, I discard this as completely unreliable. Many birds are hyper active when at this monthly peak, and is another observation to look for, whilst a bird that is quick to go to the water drinker whilst it’s companions continue to gorge themselves at the food tray is another indication. All of these signs and many more however, all coincide with the cycle of the down feathers, which I believe to be the best visible indication of all, and that is why when I am asked to explain, I start by making the statement. CONDITION IS VISIBLE. Most of South Africans, and I would think New Zealanders and Australians fly the first eight weeks of the season on condition, because unless one knows how to cheat nature, there is no way to induce form in June and July in these countries when it is the heart of there winter season. This week we will concentrate on condition and the next article will be the one to explain form, so that it can be used to greater advantage than condition. I mentioned earlier that it is better to look in the mouth than the breast, and these are the reasons for this statement. If you look in the mouth of the bird and it is a very pale pink, then all is not well, it is showing signs of Anemia. If it is not illness causing this, a course of Red Cell will rectify the matter quickly. Many fanciers will part the breast feathers to see if the breast is pale pink or whether it is deep purple to blue and scaly. If your birds are fed on depurative at the beginning of the week the breast will be pale pink. Should you feed high protein right through the week, the digestive system becomes sluggish and the breast will become blue in colour with a blue tip on the tongue also. The grains we feed, and when we feed them are a science as I explained in article No1, believe me there are people who are winning with these archaic methods, but none of them are world champions, for champions progress with modern science. It is very bad practice to open up the breast feathers on a racing pigeon, this is the only weakness on a pigeon as they have no body feathers in this region. Nature left it void of feathers in this area to get the eggs next to the skin and up to body temperature for incubation. When humans developed the racing pigeon to fly considerable distances they did it without this in mind, and still today we interfere with this condition that the bird needs and tries to look after so meticulously. The racing pigeon spends a lot of time weaving these breast feathers together so that they will not open up in long forced flights. If you feel inclined to open these feathers to see if the flesh is pink, then you are left with a bird that can take up to thirty six hours (depending on disturbances) to weave these feathers back into place. This subject can cause arguments, I do not wish to get involved, my only desire is to make all aware of it, then it is up to the readers whether they accept it or reject it. Some will say what if the breast is blue or the tongue is blue? This is usually from wrong diets, and is a simple eating/blood disorder, which a strong dose of garlic in the water will soon put right.

Many will know of fanciers who are leading the points averages and suddenly the birds take a dip in performance and are out of the clock.

Panic sets in and they start throwing all kinds of junk at the pigeons to get them back to where they were. Most of the time the fancier is so desperate to keep them on top that he/she, unwittingly starts giving the birds too much of a good thing, in the hopes that this show of vigour will last, but sadly it has the opposite effect to what they are trying to achieve.

Here is some good sound common sense I was given many years ago, by a man who although dead and gone is a legend in the sport.

When you see an excessive drop in performance on a Saturday in your race team on a whole, the Tuesday following give garlic water twice that day, and NO FOOD. This is a forced fasting, and will rest and clear the digestive system. On the Wednesday you start the build up again as I explained in the previous article and your birds will be back to their successful winning ways on the Saturday. There is no need for this panic, RELAX and do it the commonsense way. YOU know your birds are good, YOU know your birds are not ill, YOU have just been too kind and over indulged them a little while chasing points.

In conclusion I ask that you the readers of these articles keep the question and answer column alive at the end of each article. Even if you have questions that are off the subject, we can use them to help others.  

In part one we mentioned form, but concentrated on condition, I have kept them separate as they need two entirely different approaches to make them work for you. As I said in the previous article, when I am approached to explain condition my opening statement is CONDITION IS VISIBLE, and when asked to explain form, my opening statement is FORM IS INVISIBLE. Once a fancier can accept this, he is well on the path to using both to his best advantage. The reader must understand, that there are many who will, and do disagree with what I am about to reveal, but let me assure you these people have never really mastered the art. They take short cuts and say, they still reach peak form, or that they fly widowhood ( a future article) and even make such remarks as, they fly Semi- Widowhood. Before continuing let me say there is no such thing as semi or half widowhood, one either follows it fully with the variations or it will not work, no matter what the critics say.
We explained that condition was more or less a monthly cycle, whereas form is an Annual cycle and has a time of the year when it will manifest itself naturally, but can be made to manifest itself at a time which is best to the pigeon fanciers advantage. It will increase this form over an average period of Seven Weeks, but can be increased to ten weeks. Once it is gone it is gone for the year, and nothing tried in this day and age or previously has ever been found to bring it back again that season. When a pigeon has reached its peak form, you can usually see an immediate decline in performance from then onwards, the more you practice this art the more you will come to recognize when it happens and when the decline is going to happen. The bird at this peak in his period of health will give the performance of his life if it has the necessary attributes. To send it again after this supreme effort can destroy its kidneys and liver and even the heart for life. I often wonder how many of us have butchered our best bird in the urge to get that extra win.
In the Northern Hemisphere the races usually commence in the Spring and Old Bird races last plus or minus eight to ten weeks. This allows N.H. fanciers to race one team and also to allow them to come into form naturally all at the same time, unless some are only earmarked for the long distance races and then must be brought into form a little later than the short to middle distance birds, The fancier who thinks he can do the latter in the one loft is kidding himself, and is not racing on form but condition. There will most likely come a time when a pigeon in a loft like this will hit form by accident and the owner spends the next couple of years trying to ascertain what he did right. Preparation for me is the be all and end all of great success, have you noticed that the classics are dominated in good lofts by the same pigeon at the same time of the year, several years in succession. Show me this fancier and I will show you a fancier that has mastered the art of pigeon racing. When he is accused of being a mob flyer he sends one bird to the National and beats all his critics. This happens , I can quote many cases that have been written about and recorded, I have every respect for the fancier who wins a National or scores well up in the prizes, but the person who makes a habit of it is the person to whom we must try and borrow a leaf out of their book. Unfortunately very few of these greats are prepared to make the same effort to help others. I once asked one of these great fanciers the reason for their silence, he explained that while they do not attempt to help they are respected by all, but once they try to tell others how it is done, they are subjected to verbal harassment, ridicule, insults and much more. Well, I am not one of the greats, but I am in possession of some of the greatest secrets known to the pigeon racing fraternity and will be prepared to volunteer this information to the people who would like to come along with me on these weekly articles.
In the Southern Hemisphere the pattern is very different, June ,July and August are the winter months and that is the commencement of our races also. Because it is very cold the birds do not wish to mate and some have not fully completed the molt, we can not go through the process of breeding young birds to follow straight on after the old bird races so we usually have twenty or more Old Bird Races. Because of this we need to induce three separate teams to hit form at three separate times slightly overlapping each other, one seven weeks batch or team taking over after the other. The S.H. fanciers that are not aware of this form pair up all their birds at the same time and the majority of these will then come into form at the same time. The records will prove me right that the fancier who fits this category will specialize at the period of ninety days after they paired up their birds and the rest of the season they will only have moderate success. If one only has moderate fanciers in a club or Federation it does not matter much, but if the competition is of world class standards then such a fancier can have no more than 40% highs and no less than 60% lows.
All of this may sound long winded, and I have tried to keep it interesting, my main object being to try and induce the fancier to see that we are using the knowledge available that we can liken to the tip of the iceberg. The other 66 % of the iceberg is where we need to be if we are to progress much further than we are already. In next weeks issue we will reveal how to make this all happen for you at the time you need to make it happen, in other words, you will be in control completely of which races a particular bird will give you of its best. This will take out a lot of the guess work of when to have your birds come into form. In the weeks ahead while still on the subject of racing we will cover Natural Methods and tricks, widowhood, Roundabout System, Celibacy, jealousy, purging, purifying, before eventually moving on to breeding techniques, eye sign, and many general everyday tips. I do not profess to know it all, but I will reveal the knowledge I have gained in my sojourn through the pigeon world. This article may appear to contain very little of value, but I feel that without this prelude or run up to the next article, we could easily miss the importance of form and its preference to only racing on condition.