In addition to the shape, the depth of the keel is also one of the key points of investigation. In the first article of this paper, it has been described in the classification of "body type". The depth of keel determines the cross-sectional shape of carrier pigeon carcass, and different cross-sectional shapes of carrier pigeon carcass will also affect the flying ability of carrier pigeon. For example, homing pigeons with flat carcasses have shallow keels, less attachment to pectoral muscles, thin body, insufficient instantaneous explosive power, light weight, insufficient acceleration energy and too floating flying posture. Pigeons with thick carcasses have deep keels, many attached pectoral muscles, strong bodies, greater instantaneous explosive force, good flight inertia and, of course, increased flight resistance. The carrier pigeon with equilateral carcass has moderate keel depth and pectoral muscle attachment area, and its explosive power and sustained flight ability are between the above two pigeon types, so it is the most reasonable and widely used one.
Texture of keel
Keels should be as hard as iron. Press the pigeon's back bone and keel with the fingers holding the pigeon at the same time, so as not to move, and at the same time, don't struggle, so that the bones can withstand continuous high-speed flight. If it is clear that the pigeon's skeleton is easily crushed and the trapped pigeon tries to break free, it shows that its skeleton is too weak, and such a pigeon can't adapt to long-distance races and flying difficult competitions.
Requirements for pubic bone
Morphology of pubic bone
The requirement of pubic bone is that its position should not be longer than the extension line of keel radian, which is conducive to maintaining a streamlined shape curve. If the position of pubic bone is hung on the extension line of keel radian, the muscles and strength of waist and abdomen are weak, and nine times out of ten, it will lead to poor balance. From the genetic point of view, pubic ptosis is also an atavistic phenomenon, which is most likely to occur during near-blood reproduction.
The shape of pubic bone is mostly eight-shaped (the end is close to the middle), and the bench shape (two pubic bones grow in parallel) is rare. As far as flying distance is concerned, the figure of eight is suitable for short-distance events, and the bench shape is more suitable for long-distance events. In fact, it is not practical to deliberately pursue a certain form of pubic bone, because there are too few homing pigeons pulling the stool-shaped pubic bone, and in reality all kinds of pubic bones have won prizes. It is important that the requirements for pubic length and toughness are different.
The length of pubic bone is from the end of keel to the end of pubic bone. Usually the pubic length refers to the distance between it and the keel, and the length of this distance has a strong connection with the speed. Crossing fingers between keel and pubic bone is fast for medium-sized homing pigeons. Generally, only one finger can be stuck in this gap, and even better, no finger can be put down. If it is more than one and a half fingers, it will not be much higher at high speed. In addition, the length of keel is not proportional to the gap between keel and pubic bone, and the gap may be large for pigeons with short keel; On the contrary, it is often too large. Of course, this is not a good phenomenon, but a fatal flaw.
The degree of pubic closure will also affect the flight speed of homing pigeons, which is also the most important of the "five tights" that are usually said and required. The pubic bone of excellent homing pigeons will be closed tightly, but it will not be closed well. If the gap is too big and too loose, homing pigeons will not fly high and their ability to fly continuously will be affected. For the female pigeons who will compete, it is more important to pay attention to the tightness of their pubic bone. Because the egg has not been restored to its original closed state, it is not suitable to participate in the competition, otherwise it will easily fall and suffer internal injuries.
(2) the texture of pubic bone
The pubic bone of a good homing pigeon should have good strength and elasticity. Of all the bones of homing pigeons, the pubic bone should be the most fragile and vulnerable, so it is very important to require a certain strength. When you gently press the end of the pubic bone with your fingers, you should feel that it has a certain hardness and good elasticity; The pubic bone is too weak, and the fingers are easy to touch and the speed is not fast. As for the humerus connecting the wings, different lengths will affect the frequency of homing pigeons flapping their wings, which has always been the focus of homing pigeon lovers. Although there is a way to determine its length accurately, it will take some effort after all. In fact, the length of the humerus can be measured and compared quickly by pinching the humerus with the thumb and forefinger, relying on the feeling of fingers stuck in the humeral space and combining with the body shape of the pigeon being held.
muscle
The muscle strength of the pigeon's chest, waist, abdomen and back determines its flying speed. Different muscle types determine the pigeon's specific flying ability, whether it is more explosive or more endurance, or somewhere in between. It is known that these different movement characteristics are controlled by red and white fiber muscles, and their proportions are different in pigeons. The results reflected in the hand feel can be expressed by three characteristics: hard, medium and soft. It is difficult to have more white muscles. Moderate (neither too hard nor too soft) means that the proportion of red and white muscles is moderate, and soft means that there are more red muscles. Who can correctly identify these three muscle types means that pigeons with short, medium and long flight ability can be accurately distinguished. Therefore, it is also an effective way to quickly identify the flying ability of homing pigeons by learning to distinguish the "type" of the muscles of the pigeons with the sensitive touch of fingers.
The concept of softness and elasticity
Usually, the muscles of an excellent homing pigeon are often required or described as "soft and elastic". In fact, this requirement is too high. It is difficult for ordinary pigeon breeders to get used to this kind of pigeon, and they may not understand what kind of homing pigeon can really be called "soft and elastic". So instilling this demanding concept into people from the beginning is too vague for most pigeon lovers. In fact, both "softness" and "elasticity" are two requirements, and not many pigeons can really reach this good state or keep it for a long time. The muscles of most homing pigeons can only reach one of them for a long time, that is, the soft state. Only when they are in the peak period will their muscles become elastic, but their elastic retention period is very limited.
Stiff muscles
This is a muscle that is not soft enough. It stands to reason that the muscles attached under the keel are very rich (quite thick), so pressing the muscles of pigeons with your fingers should be able to press them deeply. However, the muscles of this pigeon can only be pressed down a little (the surface part can be pressed) or have the feeling of not being pressed, so the muscles of this pigeon are hard. This kind of muscle carrier pigeon is equivalent to the muscle ability of human sprinters, but its explosive power is too strong and its endurance is too poor. The best flight distance is within 500 kilometers. When it exceeds this flight limit, its muscles are in danger of pulling. Although the muscles of long-distance pigeons without racing calendar are also hard, the hardness is not as strong as this pigeon.
Soft muscles
Pressing this pigeon's muscles with your fingers has no hardness at all, and it feels like it can be pressed to the end. Usually, the muscle elasticity of this pigeon is slightly poor. Carrier pigeons with this type of muscle are equivalent to the muscle ability of human long-distance runners. They lack explosive power and have good endurance. The easiest flying distance is 800- 1000 km.
When touching the muscles of this pigeon, it will give people a specious feeling: can such soft and inelastic muscles fly? In fact, this is the case for thousands of pigeons whose state has not been adjusted, especially for tired pigeons who have just returned. Only those pigeons whose state is close to or adjusted to the peak stage will be elastic. In quite a few opportunities, the pigeons we can contact are not pigeons that are about to enter the competition and are in good condition, but pigeons that are not participating in the competition or have just flown back. Therefore, softness but lack of elasticity is the norm and the most basic feature of thousands of kilometers of pigeons.
Moderate soft and hard muscles
This kind of muscle gives people a sense of touch, whether it is soft, hard or elastic, which is between the first two. You can press it, but you can't press it to the end; It is not very soft, but it has some elasticity, but it is usually a long way from the feeling of "soft and elastic" at the peak. Carrier pigeons with this kind of muscle are equivalent to the muscle ability, explosiveness and endurance of human middle and long distance runners. The easiest flight distance is more than 600 kilometers, and some difficult projects within 500 kilometers are also capable of winning high rankings. Yi Fei 1000 km race can still win prizes. This kind of muscle pigeon often produces some all-around racing pigeons suitable for multi-level and full-course events.
The flying ability of ultra-long-range pigeons is not particularly strong, but their muscle fatigue recovery ability and overload ability are stronger than other types of pigeons. Although their muscle types are absolutely the same as those of short-distance pigeons, they are no different from long-distance pigeons. Therefore, the method of distinguishing the flying ability of homing pigeons by hand feeling is not suitable for ultra-long-range homing pigeons.
For beginners, when learning to identify the muscle types of homing pigeons by finger feeling, they should start from short-distance and long-distance homing pigeons. Learn to master the feelings of hard and soft pigeons respectively, then experience the feelings of pigeons with moderate soft and hard muscles, and then experience the elastic characteristics of pigeon muscles near the peak, so that it is easy to master and find the feelings as soon as possible and avoid detours. When you touch the pigeon's muscles with your fingers, you should stick to the same hand. For example, you usually hold a pigeon with your right hand, feel the shape of the keel with your left hand from under the pigeon body, and touch and press the muscles of the pigeon with the fingertips of four fingers. You can't feel it when you change hands back and forth at will. No matter how clever the pigeon owner is, he also uses his own specific hands to identify muscle types and their advantages and disadvantages.
tendon
It is not enough to distinguish different types of muscles. In the same type of muscle, it is impossible to accurately find pigeons that can fly faster. It is necessary to learn how to recognize muscle strength.
Although the original meaning of the word "muscle" in the dictionary still refers to muscle, it refers to ligaments, tendons and those muscles that cling to bones in the field of homing pigeons. Different kinds of pigeons have different tensile strength, toughness and strength. Even pigeons of the same type are somewhat different. Muscular, muscular pigeons will be faster, more powerful and faster when encouraged to flap their wings. Muscles are not strong enough, the frequency of flapping wings is slow, the strength is not strong enough, and the speed is naturally not fast.
The difference between the advantages and disadvantages of most tendons in pigeons can't be touched by hand, but the strength can be tested by hand feeling.
Pigeons with strong muscle strength can feel the feeling of pulling their wings with their hands (not the feeling of rigidity), and they can also feel their strong underground pressure when raising their arms with their hands; Open the wings and you can see that the wings are shaking faster and faster; The best pigeons, without spreading their wings, can immediately feel the pigeon's body trembling like an engine, accompanied by the feeling that its legs are obviously pushing hands. This is the performance of excellent short-distance fast pigeons, such as the orthodox Jensen pigeon, which has this obvious feature; Of course, there are a few excellent long-distance pigeons. If you have a long-distance running pigeon with "soft and elastic" muscles and a strong sense of muscle strength, you will have too many chances to win prizes in each competition. This is also the magic weapon of the highest realm of racing pigeons, which is "long pigeons pick fast and fight invincible all the way".
feather
Pigeon feathers are not only different in color, but also in texture. Even pigeons with the same feather color will have differences in feather color and texture. For example, tile gray pigeons have bright gray, slate gray, garbage gray and black gray. Feathers with different textures can adapt to different climates. For example, we usually think that bright gray is easy to achieve results in the weather that is easy to fly; In fact, light and shade (garbage color) is only a superficial phenomenon given to us by color difference, and its essence is different feather quality, and color difference is also one of the evidences for reference when judging its feather quality. This shows that feather color and feather quality are objectively interrelated. Therefore, when identifying the feather characteristics of pigeons, it is sometimes necessary to refer to some characteristics of feather color.
In the classification of feathers, there are the following categories:
1. Thick feathers
This feather is thick in texture, and its wings can be seen through weak light, lacking transparency; Touch the small fluff on the pigeon with your hand. The velvet feeling is not strong enough and the texture is thick. Pigeons with too thick feathers will also give people the impression that their feathers are too fluffy, rough and not compact enough.
2. Thin feathers
This is a kind of feather with very thin texture. When the wings of this feather are unfolded, it can be seen through weak light, and the transparency is very good. Touch the little fluff on the pigeon with your hand. It has a strong velvet feeling and a tight texture. Visually, it can give people a good impression of dense, slender and very compact feathers. Feathers are tools for pigeons to fly, while Xiaoyu is used to keep warm and slow down the air resistance during flight. Although the thickness of feathers has certain influence on its flying speed and athletic ability, it is not absolute. The key issue is the following two differences.
3. Silty feathers
As the name implies, pink pigeons will have more pink feathers. Generally, lighter and brighter feathers are mostly powdery feathers, such as white, mostly gray, light raindrops, red wheels and crimson pigeons. The powder on pigeon feathers plays a role in protecting feathers and reducing air resistance to a certain extent, and the amount of powder will also determine the ability of feathers to resist wind erosion and rain intrusion. Compared with oily feathers, this kind of feather is much worse in wind erosion resistance and moisture resistance (water bath can wash off powder). Just like the most common "sharp strip" phenomenon, it often happens on silty feathers. This is because the adhesion of powder to feathers is limited. After flying at high speed or for a long time, the powder will be "brushed" by the wind. If you continue to fly, there will be "sharp strips" and feather stagnation, which will increase flight resistance. Similarly, when flying in wet weather, the speed at which the powder on the pigeon feathers is scraped off will accelerate the feathers to become wet, the flight resistance will increase, and the physical strength will drop rapidly, making it impossible to continue flying. Experienced pigeon racers can judge whether a pigeon has flown or how long it has been flying by the amount of powder left on its feathers. In addition, the pigeon with powdery feathers, once the powdery quality is obviously lacking in a certain period, indicates that its constitution or health is problematic.
4. greasy feathers
Pigeon feathers are not all powdery, and some are as oily as waterfowl or waterfowl feathers. The feather surface of oily pigeon is covered with a layer of grease, which has better wind erosion resistance than silt, and its most special function is to have certain waterproof ability. Pigeons with oily feathers, such as deep raindrops, shallow raindrops and garbage-colored gray pigeons, are generally dark or garbage-colored, and are not as bright as pigeons with powdery feathers in vision.
Although the oil on feathers is not as good as powder in reducing air resistance, it is better than powder in resisting wind erosion and rain invasion. Therefore, compared with pink feathers, pigeons with oily feathers can't catch up with pink feathers in dry air or short-distance races. Pigeons with oily feathers can fly more easily in humid air or in long-distance races, as well as in races where flying is difficult and requires specific endurance, because their feathers keep a good shape, flight resistance will not increase, and the average flight speed is more balanced and easier to fly. Only from the feather situation, it is very important for long-distance flying pigeons, especially for long-distance flying pigeons, to be rich in oily feathers with strong oiliness.
Before that, we often felt that the depth of feather color had a certain relationship with the length of flight distance, but the reason was not always clear. Therefore, pigeons of various feather colors are often found in the shed of ordinary breeders. When participating in the competition, the short-distance events make the feather color of the event lighter, and the long-distance events make the feather color of the event darker. After understanding the different properties of powdery and oily feathers, it is understood that the difference in feather quality is actually at work. Therefore, even if pigeons with a single feather color are raised in the future, such as gray pigeons, as long as there are differences in powder and oil quality (bright gray, garbage gray or black gray with color difference), you can always use a feather color to make the events from short to long, or even long. It's just a pink-feathered pigeon that flies in short and medium distances, and an oil-feathered pigeon that flies in long and above competitions.
Besides referring to the lightness difference of feather color, there are two ways to distinguish whether a feather is powdery or oily:
(1) Hold the pigeon down and gently wipe its chest and abdomen along the hair direction. Pigeons with more powder on their clothes are powdery, while those with less powder are oily. The premise of using this method is that the pigeons must be healthy and have not participated in the competition; Pigeons who are in poor health, have just taken a shower or just returned from a competition have little powder on their feathers, so this method cannot be used.
In addition, because the characteristic of powder is adhesiveness, and the characteristic of oil is adhesiveness, when encountering dirty substances, the feather pigeon will only lose some powder, but it is not easy to get dirty; Pigeons with greasy feathers are more likely to stick to the soil. According to this feature, under normal circumstances, it is powdery pigeon and some oily pigeon that keep the appearance of feathers clean.
⑵ In addition to hair follicles, part of the oil on feathers is taken by pigeons from the oil glands at the tail and coated on feathers. Although the oil glands of pink feather pigeons also secrete oil, in contrast, the oil glands of pink feather pigeons are more developed and secrete more oil. Because there is a difference between the parts that pigeons habitually smear on their bodies and the ability of feathers to absorb, as long as they pay attention to observation, uneven oil stains can still be seen in some parts. For example, the big feathers of pigeons spread out, which are oily feathers on the upper part of the eighth main feather, and some oil stains can be seen; It's clean, without any oil stains, not oily feathers. In addition, the big feathers of oil-feathered pigeons should be dark (even gray-feathered pigeons), and the small feathers of gray-feathered pigeons often have a circle of "fish scales" with obvious colors, while pink-feathered pigeons rarely have such dark logo edges. Of course, if there is something wrong with the pigeon's health, the secretion of its oil glands will be hindered, or the supply of oily feed will not be available for a long time, and the oily feathers of the pigeon with oil feathers will be reduced or disappeared.