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Quills/re leeNo. 1 is looking good now as primary one is/has being replaced. I did look at quill size and - longer and slender is what she has, now her folks have thicker quills as well as her "brothers and sisters" (she has 3).
Will try her again on Sunday and see!!! Would there be any "recipe" for quill strength? 
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To off set faults You would put her over to a thicker quilled bird. Meaning a stronger featherd bird. Then as she breeds You get a certion amount of birds that have better feather and some that do not. As you breed up the birds to selection of breeding you work towards breeding the better birds. Then you reduce the over all weaker featherd birds. Its no different then breeding towards better quality in the birds. I would on the finer featherd birds remember not to race them out hard. But just up to say a 250 race spareing there feather condition. As you watch the birds on there performance break down You will learn there feather type and when its best to hold or pull them from the races. And remember to allways try to off set physical faults. giving the birds the tools to work with. Good luck.
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Another point of view, not to take away from Re Lee, is to not breed from those birds which do not have the ideal feather type which you want in your colony. My reasoning is you may be able to produce better feather in the offspring by pairing this hen to a cock with much more ideal feather, but you still allowed the poor feather gene into the line.
This may eliminate alot of breeding canidates, because when you are trying to be very "Picky", you have to go through alot of canidates to find one which has all the right stuff. The more picky you are, the faster you will advance. I use to say that I would only breed from the top 5%, which would mean only 1 out of 20. Turns out that the math does not always work out that way. Last year I had to sift through about 65 so called "good" birds, in order to find 1 that was "perfect". My thinking is this will set those genes that I want faster. Well that is my two cents anyway. 
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That holds some truth as it gets hard to pair birds based on quality. But when self birds blacks reds yellows ect Were better defined on color . Thaty course harder feathers in many was reduced to a softer feathered bird. Now and as even in pied or white flighted birds if not watched the feather becomes weaker by less of a strong quill. So by breedinga stronger feathered bird agin In the color line. You go back To a breeding program. That brings it back You are not set a weak gene you are bringing either back or setting a harder feather on the birds once agin. You do not keep each and every bird As you will notice you look for improved feather in the young keep the improved birds for future use. As time goes you eliminate the weaker feathered condition. Fast way would be back cross color to a hard color that is near what you want. For blacks I would locate The sooty black in homers that most often still maintains a decent feather. It is easyer to use this to improve by. You even notice on whited flighted birds. If not controled the white and the colored feathers start getting weaker. By getter softer. Agin I have noticed that the quill becomes thinner really seen towards the end on the flight feathers. Over all weaker feather. Does not mean the bird can not race. It means its not a hard weather bird nor a distance bird As it will have feather breaks the more its work in the races. So it should be raced less and it will do best there. A pigeon must have the tools to compete in the sky. And then the mind and will power to get home as fast and as best it can. The best looking bird may not be the best race bird But a bird that looks good and has the will the desire to get home bred into it. It does hold up race after race. So breeding for proper feather quality becomes a trait over looked by many That reduce chances for a strong program.
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Points taken!
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Easy for you to say Jiggs !!
Re Lee is so far advanced in some areas, that I have to read his posts several times !!  He appears correct, based on my level of understanding. But I have made the choice to eliminate those birds from breeding consideration if they have been unable to fly a race based on feather condition. I may be wrong in the shorter run, but in the long run, I want YB's that can fly the entire season. Anything less then ideal, can and will be raced, but making it into the breeding loft, is another matter. Entry into the breeding section, means the exit of another bird, so I want to avoid those weak feathered birds as much as possible in the future, even if it costs me a win or two now. 
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Warren that is perhaps the better method. But when a person finds there self dealing with colored birds. That have not been managed as well on feather quality. And they want to raise and fly color bred birds. They have little choice but to work on improveing feather. There is getting to be many colors in racers now. And several of those colors do not compete as well. Often its feather break down. Hard feather should be looked at when breeding these colors.
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Re Lee,
Color and feather is something that I have been paying a lot more attention to in recent years. As you may know, my particular family line comes in a limited number of colors. Various shades of red, but a high percentage of red velvet, also red bar or so called silver, and a blue velvet normally referred to incorrectly as black velvet or sometimes just called dark check. In the past, I was breeding some highly sucessful, yet very lite silvers. They were very beautiful, but their flights were extremely close to white. Before the season was over those flights were a real mess. I had a choice of enjoying good preformance, but a very limited number of races, or I could begin some corrective action. Color has now been added to my list of considerations, when before I would really dismiss color consideration. Any thoughts or ideals now about pairing silvers together has been taken off the list of options. I am now making a real effort in my pairings to improve those flights not only in terms of quality, but in terms of color issues. For me, this means attempting to increase the number of blue velvets over silvers, in the population. This will be a long term project, since a number of my very key foundation cocks are silvers. On some, this is less of an issue, since they have alot of blue/black ticking or are of a darker shade, more like a mealy, and the feathers are excellent. But, it is something I pay attention to, where alot of racing fanciers don't have to concern themselves with such issues. Now if I have a very lite silver, the preformance is going to need to be really exceptional in order for me to breed from it. Unless I am going to be in a situation where all the mates for this bird can be blue bars, velvets, or checks. I hear what you are saying about the various more rare colors. I doubt if they will have any serious impact on the race sheets. The reason is if the main consideration is breeding color, rather then a fast racer, they are going to lose out to those who focus on speed.
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I have dark checks that are a lot more hardy than others, as I do mostly see the darker feathers have a lot more "strength" in them.
Now with Number One that was now my first test as to get good flyers that have a lighter feather as well as ussually being a bit smaller. I took a dark check (dad) with a couple of wins under his belt and paired him with a blue bar with small dashes of white on her head and upper body/back. Number one came out but I was not expecting the white primaries that accompanied him. I see that they do take strain and even though he is the best bird I have on "paper" he does not shape up. I have taken those points you guys gave into consideration and I am hoping to breed number one with a good hen and will monitor their feathers and see!!!
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Warren. As you know Red vevelts in the past held up pretty fair on there feather condition. I used to keep some myself. Now on raceing homer silvers. And bleed towards lighter colored flights. I would think red vevelt times silver would help keep the basic color going. Silver times silver is where the lighter feathering came from. You seee it at times in rich colored red velvets but controled. I would use red v, times silver. You put in the blue line And it being black velvet with is a sooty blue. you off set the color. Now could you put red velvet on to the blk. To work there then back to silver To improve yes it would help boith colors. NOT seen so in the first generation. BUT 2nd you get color back But i know people that fly reg colors and breed and fly the newer and self colors. They say they like color in the loft. They have to work on the hareder feathering I have talked about. And jiggs as for white flights. Agin White flights if hard feather is bred it flies and flies. To me white being a milky And crops up as you inbreed the birds I like to see the flights slightly boxed on the ends Shows me a stronger wing. Those flights that come to a fine point seem to break down more. Less end resistance i think. But I have been a wing man on racers for many years. Good wide feathers that flex. Wide covert overlap off set wings on cock to hen that carry what you look for a thin quill lets the ribs on the feathers pull apart lets the feather grow thinner sometimes where you can just about see through it. Dark checked birds Are just closed pattern blue check. So going back to blue just retards color for a short time but will improve feather IF NEEDED .
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