Shewmaker Genetics

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Site last updated on 03/21/2010

I suppose we never learn it all and, if the truth were to be known, I suspect most of us forget some of the most important lessons before we even take advantage of them. Listed here will be the ten most important lessons that I think I have learned. Come check it out from time to time because I am sure it will undergo  updates as I keep trying to figure out this sport! I will be adding a new one every few days until I get the whole list published.

1. Birds can not compete if they are not healthy. Just about everyone knows this. It is the details around this point that took me awhile to really understand.
   
   First of all, birds that are not healthy do not always look ill. In fact they can look and feel perfect and still not be healthy. I suspect that a good percentage of the birds that are lost fit into this category. In the absence of significant stress, the symptoms of their disease(s) are subtle or not evident. Flying for a few hours in good air, at comfortable temperatures and without winds is not really very stressful for a well conditioned and exercised pigeon. Such a pigeon may return from the shorter and/or easier races in a time that is not that far back from the winners. Put that same bird though in a tough race or one in which it gets lost and the stress brings the effects of the disease(s) to the forefront. When this happens the bird is not capable of maintaining a competitive race speed and can even be lost all together. Combine this with the fact that a flying team consists of a group of birds which often have a similar health status and these conditions can lead to large losses. Large losses or not, you can be sure that the winners of large competitive races are in either perfect or nearly perfect heath.  
   
   Secondly, good health is not merely the absence of illness. It includes among other things an intestinal flora that is balanced and which consists predominantly of “friendly” or beneficial bacteria. The cells of the tissues and organs must be well nourished reflecting a steady diet that is not only balanced with the right amounts of proteins, carbohydrates and fats but also contains sufficient amounts of required vitamins and minerals (which are not always available in useful forms in grains). There are other factors contributing to the state of good health, but these two are probably the two most often mismanaged by many flyers.
    
2. Don’t Overcrowd!!! This has to be the number one mistake most people make. I like 25 cubic feet per bird (a little less if there are no babies). That may be a overly generous, but it gives you an idea of what I consider not to be over crowding. You can get away with a higher density if you have excellent ventilation, but even then I still prefer to stick to this number as the ideal.
    
3. The 1% Rule. The numbers will vary depending upon your gene pool and your breeding program, but the rule is essentially the same for everyone - the vast majority of the birds we raise are not good enough to be retained for breeding. And, the vast majority of the birds we put into the breeding loft are not going to prove out as good enough to be kept for breeding.
   
   Just to keep myself in the right frame of reference, I look at every crop of youngsters expecting, at most, only one in a hundred will make it to the breeding unit. I think of every pair as unproven until I can be convinced otherwise. Of course you can error on either side of this “1% Rule”, but most people are far too lenient. Failing to set and keep to a high mark will drastically slow your genetic progress. 
   
   Number 4 is coming in a few more days.