[fresnobirdman]

hi to all,

i have a question that is weird,
i have tryed to think this through but dont have enough birds to conduct this though, and i have only been in racers for a couple months now,

i think that the majority of you guys know about soft colors and hard colors,
its color balancing,

since racers dont have that much colors to balance each other out,
will a racer pigeon get some soft colors if you guys breed bb to bb over and over again. will the youngs get some soft colors and not stay in the air for long?

i ask this because in roller pigeons if you breed the same color over and over again you will get the soft colored birds, and their feathers will easily fall out with the slightest tug or pull,

so i want to know if you guys color balance with racer?

 

[RodSD]

We don't have that theory in racer. We like silky feathers and if their feathers will pull out easily, then they are probably molting. But since we control molting using light and darkness technique, it should not happen. If it does, you don't race them.

In racer using inbreeding technique might give birds to be less vital or their performance weakens so we can cross them with some other family/strain. I have observed that doing that "perks" them up and they ended up with renewed energy or performance. Doesn't always work, but...

We don't breed color to color. We breed performance to performance and other things we believe is good combinations. I have never observed that soft color result you are talking about. It sounds more like too much inbreeding influence to me.

 

[SmithFamilyLoft]

hi to all,

i have a question that is weird,
i have tryed to think this through but dont have enough birds to conduct this though, and i have only been in racers for a couple months now,

i think that the majority of you guys know about soft colors and hard colors,
its color balancing,

since racers dont have that much colors to balance each other out,
will a racer pigeon get some soft colors if you guys breed bb to bb over and over again. will the youngs get some soft colors and not stay in the air for long?

i ask this because in roller pigeons if you breed the same color over and over again you will get the soft colored birds, and their feathers will easily fall out with the slightest tug or pull,

so i want to know if you guys color balance with racer?

I confess, I am ignorant of the theory of hard/soft colors. Quality of feather is important, and there is a certain feel to "silky" feathers which are desired. I have suspected that diet and enviromental factors, in addition to genetics play a role. But, I have never attributed such things to colors....with possible exception of very lite silvers. There the feather quality on the flights were showing excessive wear after a few races. Don't know if that was simply that bird, or the color, or some other factor.

I have some lines within the family which have many generations of blue bars to blue bars. But have never seen this "soft color" as you describe.

 

[MaryOfExeter]

Color has absolutely nothing to do with racing ability, unless you breed for it. The only color I know of that will cause any problem, is brown, because weaker feathers are associated with the color, and they may bleach and fray in the sun.

Otherwise, I'm pretty sure feather quality is controlled by other, greater things than colors.

 

[RodSD]

Some roller fanciers seem to be noticing that and developed this soft/hard feathers theory. So they like to breed pigeons of different colors. Apparently these feathers will not survive the rigors of rolling in the air and the performance of the birds suffer. I still don't know what to make of it. I don't know whether it is genetic or something else.