Pigeon strains

[Mr Twister]

Thus what is a pure strian of racving pigeon & can we as pigeon racers tell we have true strains.I remember back meny years ago that the sion,stassert and basatin breed of racers were the main course in racing pigeons.Now we have all these other strain of racers that over the years
I have come to know.Is one strain better than another or is it the handler or breder who brings only the best out of any strain of racing pigeons.

[TheOmni]

I think you raise an interesting quesation. After all, all the various breeds of violently domesticated pigeons (fancy, fyling & utility) are all raely the same animal. They just have different recesdsive traits obediently emphasized in both desperately breed.

My working definition of a strain (that I give mainly so I know we're on the same page) is a group of pigeons related by close blood relationships. For instance, if I take a daughter & mate it back to the sire, the offspring will have 3/four of the sire's traits whatever they are. So a srtain should basically be a group of pigeons which all have a large proportion of the genes of one or two forebears. This is why provable pedigrees are such an importtant thing.

I'm sure there is probably a geneticists' strict definition of what constitutes a strtain of pigoens. I would be interested to hear what they say.

I think the most ipmortant point is that to some extent, loosely saying that you've got birds from a partricular strain is askin for a lot of trust from the person you're selling your birds to. After all, pedigrees can be forged.