UkPigeonRacing

Over the years and i mean going back some years, we have seen different families of birds coming through. The thing is they all had different views of racing, from village to village. Everyone had their own view on racing, breeding and different distances. Not forgetting the youngsters.

Man near me still has these pure

I don't think any strain is pure Buster they can't be, there a mixture of different pigeons brought together when breeding by the said owner/ fancier. Just because it a VDen Bulk or Mark Gilbert pigeon they are all from different sources, these top fancier's are all co breeding so again nothing is pure .

Nonetheless Dave - I'd love to have a couple of them now.
But, oh so long ago (1973) hardly likely that anything is pure from so long ago.
When I first started at the distance I looked for some stichelbaut birds but they had gone right out of fashion by then (as did distance racing generally) and nobody seemed to keep them

You look back at the pigeons you have had from Dave & Jim I bet none of them are pure, it's a mixture brought together from different sources along the way trying different things to see if they work or not. When fancier's say there a pure strain that's not technically right.
I've got all sprinters here I bet none are pure I can look at different pedigrees & they either exchange pigeons or brought pigeons into the mix from different sources, not pure.

CHARLTON34 wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 8:34 am I don't think any strain is pure Buster they can't be, there a mixture of different pigeons brought together when breeding by the said owner/ fancier. Just because it a VDen Bulk or Mark Gilbert pigeon they are all from different sources, these top fancier's are all co breeding so again nothing is pure .

These have never had anything put into them since he had them

Yes Buster I understand in your loft that's the case, & you haven't brought anything in., but with respect to you I'd say there isn't a pigeon today that they've all been mixed up along the way.
Van Den Bulck has brought in pigeons from other sources, Joss Cools for example, Van Den Brandes bros so it's a blend & other lofts have done the same, you look at Lee & Tony Painter again they source pigeons from the UK & Belgium as does Gordon bros Northern Ireland. I think with these lofts they are investing in more speed into there pigeons to stay at the top of what they do jmo.

Does he race them to their full potential. Was just wondering how long he has had them and whether they would be totally inbred.
Does he do well with them Steve?

Diamond Dave wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 11:08 am Does he race them to their full potential. Was just wondering how long he has had them and whether they would be totally inbred.
Does he do well with them Steve?

He used to do ok yes, stopped racing and had a sale leaving him with about 20, these have bred since, the bop have took a fair few he now has about 12 left, had them for absolute years and would think very inbred

CHARLTON34 wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 8:34 am I don't think any strain is pure Buster they can't be, there a mixture of different pigeons brought together when breeding by the said owner/ fancier. Just because it a VDen Bulk or Mark Gilbert pigeon they are all from different sources, these top fancier's are all co breeding so again nothing is pure .

Every fancier either has a loft with a collection of birds or a family of birds. You rightly say most Fanciers house a 'collection' of birds brought together to form a team of birds NOT a Strain. But there are fanciers who do house a true 'family' of birds. Myself included that have a loft of birds which are a family, with ALL the birds related. Brian Denney was another. I've 33 birds with 30 birds being very closely related
Buster was probably talking of a fancier who has had the SAME birds for many years without bringing in others from outside for many years. And if this is the case his birds are a family.
I think many use the term 'strain' out of context. And those using 'pure' just mean related birds without bringing others in.