Devo1956 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2023 9:35 am
A bit of a write up on birds eyes.
Sprinting Eyes
Most all race winning sprinters have one common denominator in their eyes; the iris, but more specifically the iris color. 99% of the winning sprinters eyes are all a very bright, intense, fiery red. The color circle of a sprinting eye is best if they are clean-cut with no dust or lines and should have good width with strong depth of color. This color circle paired with the intense, fiery red iris makes for a strong sprinting eye.
Middle and Long-Distance Pigeon Eyes
Middle and long-distance racing pigeons are birds that win from distances between 300 to 700 miles/1120 km. In these birds the eye coloration tends to be very rich as if to jump out at you.
These long-distance eyes also don’t need to be as clearly defined as the sprinters eyes. These eye colors and circles tend to blend together and they come in all colors and shades. You will also find a lot of long distance eyes which contain dust especially in the iris.
Breeding Eyes of Pigeons
This is where eye sign plays a most important role in the breeding selection. We will start with the iris the breeders must carry the strongest iris of all with the deepest color possible. No matter what shade it is, depth of color is the most important quality here.
Most Good breeder’s eyes also contain metallic qualities in the coloration of the eye and should seem to almost sparkle when you look at them. Now within the circle of adaption we find a major element to a good breeding eye “the inner rings”.
Racing Pigeon Eyes
The more inner rings the better the breeding quality of the bird. The inner rings look like thin grey or black lines lying over the color circle. The inner rings should also be accompanied by a strong “mountain range” dark colored peaks and canyons throughout the iris and a good, rich outer circle being the same color as either the color circle or circle of adaption.
Avoid These Pigeon Eyes For Selection
There are some racing pigeon eyes sign that are no good to us as fanciers. You should get rid of any pigeons that have over large or small pupils. The pupil should be proportionate to the rest of the eye. You should also cull pigeons with thin color circles and birds with thin circle of adaptions.
Pigeons with weak or dull iris pigmentation and pigeons with no outer circle at all are also eye qualities to avoid in your pigeons. Just by sticking to these parameters you should be able to improve your stock in a couple of breeding seasons.
Article Summary – Racing Pigeon Eyes
There are a few key points to racing pigeon eyes that are very important to remember let’s take a look at a few of them, General, Success will not happen overnight,
Do not base decisions solely on eye sign, eye sign is only a piece of the puzzle.
Practice makes perfect.
Use eye sign for breeding purposes first and racing purposes second.
Whatever the color might be the iris must always be strong, rich and deep and we must see a good number of peaks and canyons (mountain range) in the eye.
The circle of adaption must always carry the breeding sign; the inner rings.
The metallic color circles are the best producers, but always look for the mauve/pink in the violet series of the eyes.
Just like the breeding eye the iris of the racing eye must be rich, strong and deep.
Look for wide color circles that run out well and meet up with the outer circles.
Important Pigeon Eye Information
The fiery red iris makes for a strong sprinter while the liver red iris is more suitable for long tom extreme distances. Just remember the information here are only guidelines, do not set your heart on a pigeon just because they possess some of these qualities in the eye.
Racing Pigeon
A strong racing pigeon must also have qualities in it such as good ancestry, strong body, size and shape, feather quality so on and so forth along with proper training, feeding and healthcare regimen.
It is the eye sign teamed up with all these other qualities that make for strong pigeons. It is also important to remember that you must be very careful when reading the eye because some qualities can be easy to misinterpret, and you could end up getting it all wrong in the end, but if you practice and follow these simple guidelines it won’t be too long before you get the hang of it.