As I said, I am a big fan of Alan Wheeldon’s articles. I think that he and Ad Schaerlaeckens are the kings of modern racing pigeons literature. Well, I’ve just discovered an article by Alan which left me with my mouth wide open and a big WOW! :)

Here are the key points of Alan’s article:

  • It’s about Ron Sampford’s loft, considered the smallest loft in Europe (8 foot by 5 foot). That is the only loft! All the stock birds, racing birds and youngsters live there.
  • Total birds: 7 couples of old birds and 6 young birds
  • He rarely loses a bird and has incredible results
  • He has really tough inbred birds. One year he only bred ONE young bird! That bird completed the whole racing program.
  • He only feeds beans – WELL, please use the comment feature below this article, I really don’t understand how can those pigeons race(and race well) just on beans.
  • What does he put in the water? …. just water. :))
  • No medicines or vitamins are used. He just vaccinates for paramyxovirus.

Enjoy the full article. It is really relaxing to read such stuff. I really think that when I’ll start racing again, I will use this method.