My idea
I always frown when people tell me they have so many friends. I myself have just a few. But those are good friends.
And is not that what matters?
One of those good friends is Omar from the Middle East.
A FAVOUR
Some time ago he asked me to buy a real good bird for him at an auction.
The man whose birds were auctioned was also a friend and understandably I knew his birds pretty well.
Omar knew this and therefore he had asked me to go to the auction (I would have gone anyway) and told me what price he was willing to pay. That was a good price and I thought chances were 50-50 I would be able to buy a good bird for that amount.
So to the auction I went. When I got there I was shocked. Never ever had I seen so many people and for a moment I thought chances were nil to buy a bird.
Eventually I got home with the bird I had in mind plus two more. And they were all pigeons that I liked. Was the auction a failure?
Certainly not. Birds were sold for real much money but in my opinion that was paid for the wrong birds.
BACK HOME
Back home I had a careful look at the birds and yes. I still liked them.
I studied the pedigrees and they too were very promising.
Then I asked the breeder what he thought.
'You have the cheapest birds but theoretically the best' was what he said.
I had another look at the birds.
And I studied the pedigrees again.
Time to mail Omar. I wondered when the breeding season would start in his country. If not real soon I would not mind breeding some babies from the birds I had bought.
'They are yours. I can wait. Ship them after you have babies from them" Omar said.
"I love you Omar" I thought.
I believed in those birds and there is something more that you should know.
I bought pretty many birds in the past, I traded birds and I got birds for free.
An what was the final result?
Most of the best birds I ever imported had not cost me anything!
Would the same thing happen with these birds?
I mated them with the best I had (that is what you should always do when importing pigeons), and now I can only do one thing: Wait and see.
This bird was a super breeder indeed. It had a fantastic record itself but also
his father (145) was a fantastic racer and so was his sister (144) and many
related birds.
OTHER
John is another friend. He is pigeon crazy and loaded with money.
Whenever good birds are available he tries to get them, regardless the price.
The pigeons in his stock loft must represent a fortune by now.
Still he is far from a champion. I think he has not got the feeling.
Past winter he again bought a real super. It had cost him a fortune but that was the last thing that would bother him.
When he called me directly after the auction I congratulated him heartily. This bird had even performed better than the others he had bought before.
I told him he really had a unique pigeon and my words must have flattered him.
He said he would come the next day to bring me the bird, as he would let me use it far some months.
Now you may think "what a lucky guy you are" but you are wrong.
I was not lucky, on the contrary, I had a problem.
And why was that? I just did not want the bird, even though its results were incredible. My problem was how to explain that without hurting him.
Thanks God I managed to do that.
WHY
And now, dear reader, YOU may have a problem. Now YOU may wonder why I was happy with the first birds that had never seen a basked from the inside.
And why I was not eager to use that super bird with the numerous first prizes.
The answer is simple:
I found chances were great that the cheap birds from the auction would be great breeders.
And I could not imagine that the other, the expensive one with the fantastic record, would be any good. Why did I think so?
The birds from the auction indeed had no record, but both their parents were good racers, or better fantastic racers, and so were the grandparents and some of the brothers and sisters.
The expensive bird, the one with the incredible record, was something else.
It was the only bird in the family that had performed well. No good racers among the parents, the grandparents or brothers and sisters.
Super birds that have no good relatives are rare, I know.
And what I also know is that chances are about nil that such birds will be good breeders!
THE LESSON
If you plan to buy a pigeon to improve your family do not only look at its prize list. There is more to it! For business this is different of course. For that purpose the prizes that a bird won are good enough.