How to distinguish between good and bad carrier pigeons?

The eight ways to identify the quality of homing pigeons are: first surprise, second look, third measure, fourth pull, fifth weigh, six press, seven break, and eight touch

First surprise. Before inspecting pigeons, stand in front of a pigeon cage containing five or six pigeons. Use the method of suddenly waving your hands, clapping your hands, stamping on the ground or waving red cloth strips to scare the pigeons. Observe the behavior of the pigeons after being suddenly frightened. Performance. Excellent homing pigeons can always remain calm despite being frightened, showing a unique general style. After being frightened, they only move their feet a few times or blink their eyelids a few times. When frightened, people become panicked and have poor psychological quality.

Second look. First look at the appearance of the pigeon to see if it has aura. The homing pigeons raised today are because they have been eliminated, trained, released, refined and cultivated from generation to generation for hundreds of years, so that the quality and aura of the homing pigeons themselves have gradually improved. A racing pigeon with a pair of "intelligent looks" and agility is an excellent pigeon. You should never have any hope for a pigeon that looks dull at first sight. Secondly, look at the size of the pigeon. Homing pigeons used for short-distance racing should be medium or slightly larger in size. The front chest should be wide, full, and convex, and appear very full. The body shape does not need to be slender, but should be short and well-proportioned. Viewed from the front, its shape should be wider at the top and narrow at the bottom. A trapezoid, viewed from the side, is shaped like half of an equilateral triangle, and viewed from above, shaped like an equilateral triangle. Homing pigeons used for long-distance or ultra-long-distance racing should be medium-sized and have a slender and well-proportioned body shape. Viewed from the front, its shape is like a trapezoid with the upper bottom slightly wider than the lower bottom and its height slightly longer. Viewed from the side, its shape is as follows Half of an isosceles triangle, viewed from above, looks like an isosceles triangle with a slightly longer base. It depends on the structure, pigment depth, accumulation, thickness and pupil contraction of pigeon-type eyes. For pigeon-type eyes, yellow The eye circles of trachoma should be bright, wide, and white. The accumulation of sand under the eyes has a clear sense of layering, and the pupil contraction is regular. and three-dimensionality.

Three quantities. Hold a pigeon in your hand and measure the length of the keel and the distance between the keel and the pubic bone (egg gate). The length of the keel should be in proportion to the size of the pigeon. Taking a medium-sized pigeon as an example, the length of the keel should be about 7cm, and the upper and lower deviation should be within 1cm. Too long or too short is inappropriate. The distance between the end of the keel and the pubic bone, measured with the middle finger, is within one and a half fingers. The width of the front end of a person's middle finger is generally about 1.5cm, that is, one and a half fingers is about 2.2cm. Regardless of male or female pigeons, the pubic bone is It's important to feel carefully that the pubic bone is hard and one side is slightly curved inward. When flying long distances, homing pigeons not only have to withstand the pressure of the air, but also must accelerate the flapping frequency to generate lift and overcome the gravity of the earth. When flying violently, a strong expansion force will be generated in the body. Without strong bones it cannot withstand this pressure.

Four pulls. Pull the pigeon's wings apart to the maximum extent, and then quickly let go and put them back. When you pull them open, you will feel tight and powerful, with some toughness. When you loosen them, you will feel that they are recovered quickly, powerfully, and elastically. This means that the muscles of the wings are relatively developed. Developed muscles are the reason for increasing the weight of the wings. The premise of wing beat frequency. Secondly, check whether the main feathers and secondary feathers of the pigeon's wings are neat and tidy. If the feather surface of the entire wing forms a slightly concave fan surface like a goose feather fan, the air volume caused by flapping is large, the momentum is strong, and the speed is fast; again, it depends on Regarding the length, width and thickness of the ten main feathers of the wing, the one that is longer, wider and thinner is the best. It is best if the three outermost main feathers have the same and round heads.

Five weighs. Hold the pigeon in your hand, loosen the hand holding the pigeon, and weigh whether the weight of the pigeon in your hand is consistent with its small size. People measure standard weight based on a person's height, which has a scientific basis. Those who are over the standard weight are called obese; those who are below the standard weight are called thin. In the same way, if you have a medium-sized homing pigeon in your hand, its general weight should be 8-9 taels. A heavy weight indicates that the pigeons are too pampered and lack the proper amount of training. The pigeons are getting fatter rather than getting stronger. You must lose weight through intensive training and reducing the input of feed with higher fat content.

Six pressures. Hold a homing pigeon tightly in your hand, hold the four fingers on the bottom of the pigeon body tightly, and press the upper thumb on the back of the pigeon body. At this time, the pigeon's tail feathers will appear in two situations: First, the pigeon's tail feathers are still tightly bound. It is horizontal or drooping like a sword. Second, the tail feathers spread out into a fan shape and are upturned. Another way to identify pigeons is to hold the pigeon in your hand, let your hand naturally relax slightly and suddenly sink down. At this time, the pigeon in your hand will also appear in the above two situations.

Seven goodbye.

Open the mouth of the homing pigeon to see if there are zigzag cracks on the upper palate, whether the tracheal opening is larger, and whether the cracks are long and narrow. We know that when a homing pigeon flies, the greater the air density, the greater the resistance; the faster the flying speed, the greater the resistance. When pigeons fly in competition, in addition to breathing, the opening and closing of the mouth of the pigeon also plays an auxiliary role in breathing. The pigeons with open jaws help the racing pigeons to inhale and exhale smoothly when flying, and the frequency of wing flapping of pigeons with open jaws is relatively high, and the speed is correspondingly faster. Through observation of many champions, runner-up pigeons and pigeons that returned home quickly over long distances in our shed, we found that after returning home, their upper palates were all cleft.

Eight touches. The shape of the pigeon's keel is directly related to the speed of the pigeon. When the keel is flat or concave, the streamline on the back is high, resulting in small pressure on the top and strong pressure on the bottom, forming an upward lift force and a corresponding increase in buoyancy, which will reduce the speed. The keel is higher and convex, the pressure above is strong, but the pressure below is small. The pressure is high but the buoyancy is low, making it difficult to fly. Haste makes waste. The height of the keel of a homing pigeon should be moderate for its body shape, with a certain arc and streamline shape, so that it will encounter less resistance during flight and the speed will be faster. In addition, if you touch the feathers of homing pigeons, if they feel soft like silk and have powdery residue on your hands, their feathers are of good quality; if they feel rough and have no powdery texture after stroking, their feathers are of poorer quality. Pigeons with poor feather quality will have strong water-absorbent feathers on rainy days, thus increasing their weight and making it difficult for them to return quickly.