Pigeon racing
Pigeon racing is the sport of releasing specialized, trained homing pigeons, which then return to their homes over a carefully measured distance. The time it takes the animal to cover the specified distance is measured, and the bird's rate of travel is calculated and compared with all of the other pigeons in the race to determine which animal returned at the highest speed.
Pigeon racing requires a specific breed of pigeon bred for the sport, the Racing Homer. Competing pigeons are specially trained and conditioned for races that vary in distance from approximately to. Despite these lengths, races can be won and lost by seconds, so many different timing and measuring devices have been developed. The traditional timing method involves rubber rings being placed into a specially designed clock, whereas a newer development uses RFID tags to record arrival time.
While there is no definite proof, there are compelling reasons to believe the sport of racing pigeons may go back at least as far as 220 AD. It is recorded in the Mishnah that pigeon racers are forbidden from bearing witness. The Sultan of Baghdad set up a pigeon post system in AD 1150, and Genghis Khan used pigeons to carry messages to aid his military intelligence. The sport achieved a great deal of popularity in Belgium in the mid-19th century. The pigeon fanciers of Belgium were so taken with the hobby that they began to develop pigeons specially cultivated for fast flight and long endurance called Voyageurs. From Belgium, the modern version of the sport and the Voyageurs which the Flemish fanciers developed spread to most parts of the world. Once quite popular, the sport has experienced a downturn in participants in some parts of the world in recent years, possibly due to the rising cost of living, aging fanciers, and a severe lack of public interest.
One recent development in the sport of pigeon racing is "one loft racing", where birds are raced against each other under the same training regimen, from the same location. The principle being to find the best individual race bird irrespective of the race trainer. This will determine which bird is the most successful.
History
The pigeon is the oldest domesticated bird. The predecessors of modern-day racing pigeons were pigeons bred for their homing ability, primarily to carry messages. "Pigeon posts" have been established all over the world and while mainly used in the military, some are still in service today. Modern pigeon racing originated in Belgium in the mid-19th century. Racing pigeons were first developed in Belgium and England at the same time. They are the result of crossing of a number of other breeds, primarily the Smerle, French Cumulet, English Carrier, Dragoon, and the Horseman. From the high-flying Cumulet, the Homer received its endurance and its ability to fly for hours on end without tiring. From the Carrier, it inherited the ability to find its way home from great distances.The sport was aided by several new technologies of the era. The advent of railways permitted pigeons to be sent to distant release points quickly and at modest cost. In addition, the creation of mass-produced, sophisticated timing clocks brought accurate and secure timing to the sport. These clocks were designed with special compartments where an entry band, removed from the returning bird, was placed. When struck, the clock recorded the time and also placed the band in a compartment that could only be opened by race officials.
Before electronic communications, such as the telegraph and telephone, Reuters, the world's largest news agency, began as a pigeon service carrying closing stock prices between Belgium and Germany. This was basically between the western and eastern termini of the telegraph in Europe.
The most expensive pigeon ever sold was "New Kim" which was purchased for $US1.9 million by a bidder from China in November 2020.
Racing
Pigeon racing has been described as the "sport with a single starting gate and a thousand finish lines." In short, competing birds are taken from their lofts and must race home. The time taken and distance are recorded, and the fastest bird is declared the winner. Races are generally between and in distance. In the United States, flights of up to have been recorded.Provided it survives the many [|hazards associated with racing], a single pigeon could compete from about six months of age and still be in competition at over ten years of age. Such feats are uncommon; the average racing career spans three to four years. Hazards can also come from weather conditions on the day of the race. Pigeons can become grounded and disoriented, and therefore not finish the race.
In the early days of racing, paint was used to identify birds for owners. Belgium then developed an brass leg band, which was sent to racers in America to use. Since then, to compete in a race, it must wear a permanent, unique numbered ring or band that is placed on its leg at about five days old. For a race to be conducted, the competing pigeons must be entered into the race, usually at the organization's clubhouse, and taken away from their home to be released at a predetermined time and location. The distance between the bird's home loft and the race point is carefully measured by GPS and the time taken by the bird to return is measured using one of the two acceptable timing methods. Occasionally in some leagues, there are two divisions: one for the young birds and another for older birds.
Traditional timing method
The traditional method of timing racing pigeons involves rubber rings with unique identification numbers and a specially designed pigeon racing clock. The ring is attached around the bird's leg before being sent to race. The serial number is recorded, the clock is set and sealed, and the bird carries the ring home. When the first bird returns, its trainer removes the ring and places it in a slot in the clock. The time at which the ring was placed in the clock is recorded as the official time that the competing bird arrived home. From this time stamp, an average speed is measured and a winner of the race can be found.Although serving its purpose, this method has proved somewhat problematic for a few reasons:
- The pigeon's "official time" is not the actual time it arrived; it is the time the ring was removed, placed in the clock and recorded, which could be many vital seconds later.
- Exceptional pigeons may arrive home first on multiple occasions. Knowing it is going to have the ring removed speedily, which may be uncomfortable, the pigeon could be reluctant to enter the loft for the trainer.
Electronic timing method
In February 2008, the members of the Penygraig Homing Society Racing Pigeon Club in Wales won an award to fund a new electronic timing device. The club was able to obtain the device thanks to funding from the All Wales award initiative. Club secretary John Williams said: "The electronic timer certainly makes it a lot easier for us".
In conjunction with this new way of registering a bird's arrival, loft management software packages have been developed in the last 10 years to help fanciers with record keeping, producing pigeon pedigrees, publishing race results or keeping track of treatment and vaccination records.
One-loft racing
One-loft racing originated from local futurity races, in which the birds race home from the racing station to their homes, and also award prize money and bragging rights. Some pigeon handlers could be better than others when it comes to racing. Therefore, one-loft racing was created. One-loft racing is the process of training birds bred by many different breeders in the same loft, under the same trainer and in the same conditions. It is thought to be the fairest method of proving which bloodline or breeder is best and usually provides the highest amount of prize money. Pigeons are recorded by electronic timing systems scanning the birds as they enter the home loft with winners decided by as little as 100th of a second. The birds are all taken to the same release point and they return to the same home loft, so the winner is the fastest bird to complete the journey from A to B. One-loft racing is now becoming very popular all around the world with fanciers able to compare their bloodlines on an equal basis against the best breeders.Training
Racing pigeons are housed together in a specially designed dovecote or loft. From about four weeks of age until the end of its racing career, the racing loft is the pigeon's home and is where it returns to on race day.After 22 to 28 days in the nest, the young birds are removed and placed in a section of a large loft or in a smaller loft built for the purpose. After a few days of learning how to locate the water and eating by themselves, they are allowed to wander out of the loft and peck around in the garden. While doing this, they are constantly observing their surroundings and becoming familiar with them. At about age six to seven weeks, the birds will begin taking off, flying in very small circles around their loft and owner's house. As their confidence grows, they gradually wander farther and farther from home until they are out of sight and can remain so for as much as two hours before returning. When a few trainers fly their pigeons in the same area, these flying "batches" can number in the thousands. It does not help them much in relation to finding their home from long distances away, a fundamental of pigeon racing. As confident flyers, the young pigeons are taken on progressively longer 'training tosses', driven a distance away from their home and released. This method of training is a way to condition the birds mentally and physically to prepare them for the races. This practice of loft flying and tossing continues throughout a pigeon's career to keep their homing instincts sharp.
One of the most popular training systems is widowhood. This system uses the birds' desire to reproduce as motivation to try to give the bird a sense of urgency on race day. The use of widowhood is usually begun by first allowing the racer to raise a baby in their nest box. After the baby is weaned, the hen is removed and the nest box is often closed off. From then on, the only time these birds are allowed to see their mate or enter the nest box is upon returning from training or a race. This conditioning is a key element in many racing programmes.
Due to advancements in technology, researchers have been able to use small GPS devices to track the flight paths that their birds follow.