Questions (04-11-24)
Rarely heard so much whining about paratyphoid fever than in recent months. What many find a big problem is that you get as much different advice from veterinarians (somewhat exaggerated) as there are veterinarians. A well-known Belgian specialist vet: 'I advise you to start with one of your lesser pigeons. Needle him and if he immediately becomes deathly ill, you will probably have a problem. Then have manure examined in the lab, but that does not give 100% certainty. If salmonella is not found, that does not mean that there is none, in which case I am in favour of vaccination. But also just grafting. If there is a proven infection, you better cure AND (then) inoculate.’ Is he right or is he wrong? Opinions may differ, but this man has a good reputation.
FINAL SELECTION
Selecting youngsters has always been easy for me. I was only paying attention to the result, but even the greatest champion can have problems with that. If, for example, ALL babies performed well.
Adding a loft is the last option. What you can do in such a case is rely on pedigree and appearance. Also, it can best happen that the youngsters collectively fail. That none of them seems to be any good, while the quality is unquestionable.
For famous Bas V, the young birds' game was once his Achilles' heel. With a lot of losses as well. Now he also excels with youngsters, but he doesn't select, he keeps all his young and for two reasons.
a. Ignorance. (Even Bas: 'I don't know it either.')
b: The knowledge that some pigeons that didn't perform as youngsters can still be very good as old birds. Although the opposite happens more often: Youngsters that performed well to fail as old ones.
But not everyone is able to keep all, if none of his youngsters performed well.
Then you may have a problem, because you can assume that there is quality among them. Then natural health can be the norm when it comes to selection.
O L RACES
Which One Loft Race I can recommend I am repeatedly asked. Can't speak from experience in that regard. Do know that Rui Emilio (Algarve Gold Race), more or less a friend, is a very correct person. That is very IMPORTANT to know when making choices.