News

The cause of high losses of pigeons in One Loft Races

It is well known that losses of pigeons in One Loft Races is high, and Victoria Falls is no exception. We can now show conclusively what we believe to be the main causes of the losses.

Over the past 8 seasons of racing at Victoria Falls we have tried to find the answer to high losses. We know some factors for all races are,

1. Pigeons are moved from the loft where they are bred to several others before arriving in the race loft. This can take 2 months or more.
2. High density of pigeons with the associated health problems when mixing of pigeons from different regions.
3. Bad weather conditions.
4. Sunspots and increased communication microwaves.

Factors contributing to losses at Victoria Falls OLR and some others include,

1. Hot weather. Dry arid conditions with limited surface water.
2. Strong cross winds.
3. High population of falcons and other predators.

Main reasons for losses

Some or all of these factors play a part BUT through our research we can conclusively show the principal cause is none of these, but rather the excessive age of pigeons sent to the race.

This year the pigeons were graded on arrival by age according to the position of the primary feathers on the wing. Many pigeons were way advanced in age when they arrived and certainly far older than the ideal for shipping to a new loft. It is well known that receiving old pigeons into a foreign loft results in high losses. This is particularly so when they have been previously trained and even raced at their original loft. When there is a high percentage of older pigeons mixed with even young pigeons the older pigeons lead the younger ones astray resulting in both old and young birds getting lost.

Another important factor which is commonly known is that old pigeons that are not trained or raced at a young age don’t develop the homing instinct well and easily get lost if they are raced. Most fanciers have experienced occasions where a pigeon is placed in the breeding loft without first training and if the fancier decides to place the untrained pigeon back in the race loft it is normally useless as a racer. This situation is no different in an OLR where pigeons as old as 11 months are sent to the race. Some fanciers say unless pigeons are settled and trained at a young age they are “stupid” and find it difficult to navigate.

The intakes at Victoria Falls are from October 2024 to January 2025 and most breeding would have been planned. Please be aware that if the birds are too old they have a high chance of failure. 45 to 60 days should be the target age at shipping.

Some fanciers breed early in the year and send the mature pigeons to OLR as this is normal for them. We advise these breeders to pair up and breed late bred pigeons to increase their chances.

VFWC has an innovative and exciting solution to solve the problem of receiving pigeons that are too old. Please watch out for these developments which will be announced soon.