Ping's Pigeons

1. Always keep good records! There is no way to consistently better your loft, birds and results when you don’t have records. From the very minute a bird enters your loft it should have a paper trail. Everything that bird does from training, breeding, racing, health, results and everything in between should be recorded. 2. Good health is 75% of the equation! Just like any athlete, racing pigeons need to be in good health to perform at their peak levels. There is no sense of buying top class birds if you don’t keep them in top condition. A sick and unhealthy “world-class” pigeon is in the same category as a losing pigeon. So, keep health a priority 3. The basket never lies! This goes hand in hand with number one, you may have your favorites in your loft, you may have birds who you think “look” amazing but in the end results speak louder than words. Training tosses will always show you who your best birds are. Again, this is why it is also important to keep good records. 4. Qualit

     Six months ago, nagkasakit si De635. It started only as a simple sipon tapos naging halak. Palala ng palala hanggang nag going light na. But during that time kasagsagan ng katamaran ko sa pagkakalapati. Hindi ko sya pinansin. At one point papasok ako ng office nakita ko si De635 parang mamamatay na. Wala lang di ko pinansin. Pag uwi ko akala ko patay na sya pero natutulog lang sya. Tapos nun nag i-improve na unti unti. After so many months ganun pa rin sya, payat, me sipon, me halak. Then just a few days ago naisip ko lang ulit. Pag nga pala me sakit akong kalapati pinaparisan ko gumagaling. Pinarisan ko. Pag gising ko kinabukasan, as in no trace of sickness. Biglang biglang nawala. Sumigla agad. Asan na sipon saka halak mo De635? Lalake lang pala hanap mo he he

     You hear this all the time "Pag mabilis sa training, mabilis din mawala sa derby". Sa totoo lang, based on experience, its true. Although I think minsan kaya rin mabilis yung kalapati sa training sinusubuan agad kasi ng mga vitamins at kung ano anong gamot kaya ang tendency mag-mabilis yung kalapati. Maybe because hinahabol nila yung pooling pero ano ba gusto ng fancier? manalo sa pooling o manalo sa derby?       Actually mahirap din naman talaga i-explain bakit mabilis sa training pero nawawala na pag sa derby na mismo. For me patalinuhan na lang ng kalapati yun. Yung mabilis umuwi for sure alam mo na binibigay na nya lahat ng lakas nya para makauwi agad. While yung consistent lang sa uwian, alam ng kalapati na malayo pa uuwian nya kaya the pigeon is phasing. Lipad lang sya. He's conserving energy para meron pa sya lakas lumipad. Big factor siguro dito yung linyada ng kalapati. In time makikita mo yung traits na to sa hawak mong linyada. If you hardly win poo

     What is the right age for our YBs? Usually I breed around January to March, but sometimes inaabot din ng April for my young birds for North Race. So by race time they should be around 7 to 8 months. My breeding for south starts around June July. For some they breed earlier, especially south gusto kasi nila me edad daw pag pang south. If I will give an advice I'd say yung 1st batch you breed earlier, then stop, then breed the second batch young, para makita mo kung yung line na hawak mo mas magaling ba pag nilaban mo ng me edad o bata. Madami din kasing disadvantages pag me edad. First pag nag breed ka early, ang tagal mo aalagaan mga yun, plus pag nag mature na namamares na sila. Ang nakikita ko lang disadvantage sa bata pag nagkasakit at namatay medyo mahirap maghabol ng kapalit. So its your choice. Younger or older?

     I never realized it but I forgot to post this. I'm having senior moments. I was aware of this pigeon show weeks before but I never really threw serious thoughts about joining. It was scheduled on the 8th of September, a Saturday. Friday at the office, I was telling my officemates that a pigeon show is gonna be held at the provincial grounds where I work. I was thinking of joining but I have a reunion of sorts with my friends so I was a little hesitant to participate.       When I woke up the next day there was an urge to join, so I went to my loft and I was sorting thru my pigeons and choosing who I want to bring. Pero ayokong isali ulit yung nanalo ko na dati sa Genetix, I want to challenge my self. so I chose three. The Opal Bar (on the picture), a BFRC Summer Race finisher, he flew Sta. Ana, Cagayan twice but did not clock, a black and another opal. On my way to Malolos, there was a sudden thought. Parang nasimplehan ako sa dala ko. Nothing spectacular. Baka pagdatin

     So Larry settled for 71st out of 83 live birds in BFRC's North Race of 2018, so I guess this race di lang kailangan complete clocking ka, you need speed too. But my warriors were never speed birds so OK na ko, my aim naman is to have birds that completes races. Maybe later I will have to learn how to motivate pigeons to come home faster.  Aurora - 949.86 Ilagan - 986.35 Quezon - 870.30 Tuguegarao - 802.07 Gattarran - 1,111.52 Aparri - 749.40 Sta. Ana - 1,095.38       Nga pala, wala ng sumpa sa barako (celebration), first time ko naka pag race ng Mariano na cock nag super set winner pa,  pumarte din sya sa Off Color Category and Battle of the Champions. Another info, full sister nya sila Pinky (Solo Champ OB Category BFRC 2014) and Trina (15th Overall YB Category MMFC North Race 2015). Now you can enjoy life na Larry, breeder ka na he he.

     What a week! Parang ang dami nangyari me nakaka inis, nakaka frustrate, pero generally masaya pa din naman. Last lap ng GWRPA na and out of all my pigeons yung live ko pa nagka one eye cold. when I came home from work last Tuesday night nagulat ako di kumain yung live ko sa GWRPA, nung hinuli ko nagulat ako magang maga mata nya, Ayaw nya gumaling kahit ano gawin ko, what's worst gumagaan sya almost papunta na ng going light. Pero I have no choice but to load her. I kept thinking sya na lang pag asa ko maka pwesto this year kasi yung live ko sa BFRC barako ha ha, tapos 2 laps pa.      Last Wednesday half day lang sa office, while I was driving sa NLEX naisip ko sige direcho na ko ke Noble bili na ko cages, pagawa ko na loft ko. After ilang years na dilapidated loft ko ayusin ko na. Ginawa sya ng Saturday and Sunday. Natapos loft ko around 4 p.m. Sa dami ng ginagawa ko nawala sa loob ko wala pa pala ako pauwi ha ha. Yung live ko sa GWRPA expected ko na na di kakayanin and

     Last week I was expecting four live birds from Isabela, all of them made it back in time, but when I caught this redbar warrior nagulat ako kasi me nakabalot na packing tape, tapos me nakasulat " good luck sa race Larry Cruz", omg nahuli na pala kalapati ko, buti clock pa din sya, I went on facebook and searched for his name, I found one living in Pampanga. Pigeon fancier din sya, pero di ako nag message, i dont want to assume it was him. Parang nakahiyan ko din. Today, Tuguegarao lap kami, i was telling somebody na I wasn't expecting my redbar to make it kasi tumukod na sya last week sa Isabela baka di na kayanin Tuguegarao. I was wrong. Clock sya! But the 1st thing I check baka meron ulit note sa paa nya, wala naman ha ha. So thank you to a certain Larry Cruz for being such a good sport, di pa natin alam kung ano mangyayari kasi there are several laps to go pa, pero my warrior was given a chance to make it home twice, for now. Muah

    Yesterday, October 14, 2018, was full of hurdles. Lahat na lang naging pahirapan, Out of the six birds i flew in BFRC sa Isabela lahat nakauwi, sa text nagka problema, ayaw pumasok kahit ano gawin ko, i backed it up pero kinakabahan pa rin ako. I tried clocking them sa site ng MAVC ayaw din pumasok, down ang system. Pero di ko tinigilan hanggang mag send.      Tapos muntik na ko me katayin sa asar na kalapati. My red checkerd cock na live yb, ob and off color warrior, pangalawang kalapati ko na dumating, nagloko ayaw pumasok, Ang ending sya pinakahuli kong na i-clock. Kung ano ganda ng pauwi ko sa BFRC ang panget naman sa GWRPA. But in all fairness sa kalapti ko 30% lang ang nag clock sa Laoag lap ng GWRPA. It was a smash race. Dalawa lang napauwi ko out of six live birds. Tapos out of nowhere bigla dumilim bumagsak malakas na ulan, at this time isa pa lang clock ko, i saw from afar me pa dive na kalapati. It was mine. But because of the heavy rain pagdapo nya sa bubong di n

     I think more than 2 years na ko tinatamad magkalapati, I don't know why. Gone are the days na inaantay ko yung pinakahuli kong kalapati na darating from training, ngayon dumating lang unang kalapati ko pasok na ko sa bahay. Yung mga araw na pag load nang friday halos di ka na mapakali kasi gusto mo na mag Sunday. Wala na yung nerbyos while waiting for my birds to come home from derby.  Nung 3 months bumaha samin araw araw me time di ko na pinapakain kalapati ko, What amazes me is during this time na halos pakain lang ginagawa ko sa kanila, i managed to win pa rin sa pigeon show na sinalihan ko. Di nagbago condition nila. I felt guilty tuloy, despite ng kapabayaan ko pinanalo pa rin nila ako. Derby na ulit ngayon, kahit gano kabigat katawan ko pinipilit ko pa rin gawin yung conditioning na nakasayan ko na. Buti na lang years ago ginawa kong simple yung program ko, may I say pang tamad na program, yung walang masyadong chechebureche.       Akala ko nga pag dinamihan ko yu

     Weeks before I even thought of joining the Genetix Bird Show held at PHA Headquarters, I was checking out my pigeons in my breeding loft, Madilim sa breeding area ko kaya minsan di ko masyado napapansin yung ibang kalapati. Pichon pa lang yung saddle ko nung nilagay ko sya dun, Madalang ako humipo ng kalapati kaya nung nakita ko na matured na pala sya na curious ako na hawakan, I thought ang ganda na pala nito, I went up my flying loft kasi usually dun ko sila kinukunan ng pictures, habang nag pi-pic ako bigla na lang sya lumipad tapos shoot sa butas ng trapdoor. Paglabas nya ng trapdoor diredirecho sya nag ligid. While I was watching my saddle fly sabi ko patay na, medyo kulob yung breeding area ko wala sya idea sa environment nya mawawala na to for sure. After ilang ikot nya nawala na sya sa paningin ko. I texted my friends baka mahuli nila kako kasi wala naman pupuntahan. After ilang minutes nakita ko ulit nagliligid. Siguro dahil na rin nakakulong lang di naman sya tatagal

      Last year I tried for the very first time to join a bird show at the Pigeon Expo. I knew nothing back then. I went home without even a consolation prize. It was heartbreaking, I kept asking myself "ako lang pala nagagandahan sa kalapati ko ha ha". But during the competition itself, nag observe talaga ako, ano ba hinahanap nila? I realized a couple of things. Its not just about the color, kasali din hipo, how they stand, most importantly, yung condition specially the feathers. Ah sabi ko next year try ko ulit, apply ko yung mga observations ko.      I chose 3 of my warriors to compete, i had no expectations. Sabi ko enjoy ko na lang kasi last year nag expect ako. Competition day came, I was overwhelmed. Pano ko mananalo dito ang dami sumali. Sabi ko pa sa kausap ko Opal pa nalaban ko pinakamadami sumali sa Opal Category, including Benito Go Que who everyone knew had the best Opal around. Pag sinabi mong Opal you think of him.Habang nag iikot na mga judges nakakaka