Control II
(Internet Published) Oct 2000
The control of Tipplers and other so-called high flying varieties is like
money. A clever or lucky man may get it but it takes a very wise man to hold
onto it. A fortune may be squandered in 7 days. I have said with monotonous
regularity that any man who can release a squadron, platoon, flight or kit
of pigeons which will fly as a compact team to the altitude of 500 feet
minimum on the vast majority of days each year, has my respect. Even if the
time factor is only 2 hours. There are however, provisional exclusion and
certain standards. (1) After such exercises, the kit, squadron or platoon
must all come down together to the loft top or yard and the very soon
shepherded into the loft. This is what I call control. (2) Any individuals
that do not conform and have freethinking subversive ideas must be removed -
Preferably, with dislocated necks, because keeping these and breeding from
these will encourage a serious fault. Every bird must conform and respond.
Mother Nature in her infinite wisdom has no mercy for non-conformists.
Mostly they are ostracised and prevented from breeding or even starved to
death. Having gained the discipline with a kit of Tipplers certain
extremists techniques can be applied to brainwash such a kit on a few
occasions to do longer times. All too often this exploitation results in
marathon times, but the kit fails because it fails to drop and enter the
loft after the fly. The cardinal sin is extremism with no control. It has
all the sense and logic of driving a car with no brakes.