ADENOVIROSES AMONG PIGEONS When the well-known adenovirus in the past could only be found with young pigeons (adenovirosis type I or “classical adenovirosis”), in more recent years it also occurs with old pigeons (adenovirosis II or “necrotising hepatitis”).
The latter form is much worse than the former because it can cause a lot of death among the old pigeons ; both diseases have become in only a few years two of the main infections among pigeons. Taking into account the enormous impact on our pigeon population and for the sake of our hobby I think it’s useful to examine what we already know about this disease. The obvious questions a pigeon fancier asks are : what are the symptoms and what can I do either to prevent or to treat the disease.
But first of all we’re going into the cause and the course of the disease.
As stated the origin of the disease is an adenovirus ; this virus has been described with several birds ; mostly it doesn’t play an important role in pathological processes except for some diseases, two of which among pigeons. The viruses can easily be located through microscopic examination, on the basis of their typical structure ; it’s very difficult though to isolate (=to breed) them. More than 20 years ago the classical adenovirus type I was found in our regions ; since then it has also been described worldwide. The worse form, the adenovirosis type II has only been found since 1992 (also for the first time in Belgium). The main difference with adenovirosis type I is that also old pigeons can be infected and that the course of the disease is much worse as it causes much more death, while there’s no efficient treatment possible ! It’s a rather frequent disease occurring all through the year.
Adenovirosis type I infects, as stated earlier, especially young pigeons ; the virus is very often introduced in the cote by a strange pigeon or after contact in the travel basket ; it is excreted with the manure and hence can infect the other young. Because the intestinal wall is seriously damaged, germs that normally live in the intestine get the chance to proliferate enormously ; in this way they probably damage the intestinal wall even more and can enter the blood circulation. The typical symptoms of adenovirosis type I are ; the illness occurs very sudden and typical is vomiting heavily, diarrhoea, a very bad condition in general, a large part of the young pigeons are infected (there’s a very fast infection within 3 to 5 days) but mostly only a few pigeons die. Very often it lasts only 5 to 10 days. Additional E.Coli-infections will make the disease last longer ; so it’s of utmost importance to treat these additional E. Coli-infections as quickly as possible ! The recovery of the pigeons that suffered the disease can take some time, probably because of the slowly recovering liver-cells caused by the multiplication of the virus in the liver-cells. It should be taken into account when training the pigeons. Another rare syndrome of the adenovirus type I can be seen with youngs in the nest ; typical is that some pigeons stay behind and only few die.
The virus with adenovirosis type II is capable of causing massive liver necrosis with a characteristic course as a consecuence : there are very few symptoms as the pigeons die within 2 days. The only symptom that is sometimes seen is vomiting and yellow diarrhoea. The number of dead pigeons can sometimes be very high what makes that the disease sometimes develops dramatically. Remarkable is that the pigeons that aren’t infected after about 5 to 6 weeks stay healthy without any kind of symptom.
The possible diagnosis can be made based on the symptoms mentioned above after which an autopsy, if desirable, can give a definite answer through hystologic investigation of the intestinal wall or liver ; in this way you can exclude other diseases such as parathyphoid, hexamythiasis, intoxification, streptococcus, acute Coli-sepsis.
As far as the extermination is concerned : there is no efficient vaccination available. Whenever you find adenovirosis type I with young pigeons, it is absolutely necessary to treat the secondary Coli-infections as fast as possible ; most of the young pigeons are carriers of this germ. Avoiding stress (transport, training, …) is also important. For adenovirosis type II the general rules are hygiene, ventilation, avoiding overpopulation … These are essential to keep the risk of infection as low as possible.
As a conclusion you could say that there is only little information known about these viruses and the origin of these diseases. An important reason is that it’s very difficult to isolate the virus. The fact that old pigeons don’t become ill in case of adenovirosis type I could be explained by a well-formed resistance ; summer young and late young that don’t suffer the disease in their year of birth often expose typical symptoms in the year after ; you will never see this with pigeons that suffered the disease in their year of birth.
As stated in the introduction the impact of both adenoviroses on our pigeon population is enormous ; hence the development of a good vaccine would be more than welcome.
Dr. Carlo Gyselbrecht
e-mail us at [email protected]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The latter form is much worse than the former because it can cause a lot of death among the old pigeons ; both diseases have become in only a few years two of the main infections among pigeons. Taking into account the enormous impact on our pigeon population and for the sake of our hobby I think it’s useful to examine what we already know about this disease. The obvious questions a pigeon fancier asks are : what are the symptoms and what can I do either to prevent or to treat the disease.
But first of all we’re going into the cause and the course of the disease.
As stated the origin of the disease is an adenovirus ; this virus has been described with several birds ; mostly it doesn’t play an important role in pathological processes except for some diseases, two of which among pigeons. The viruses can easily be located through microscopic examination, on the basis of their typical structure ; it’s very difficult though to isolate (=to breed) them. More than 20 years ago the classical adenovirus type I was found in our regions ; since then it has also been described worldwide. The worse form, the adenovirosis type II has only been found since 1992 (also for the first time in Belgium). The main difference with adenovirosis type I is that also old pigeons can be infected and that the course of the disease is much worse as it causes much more death, while there’s no efficient treatment possible ! It’s a rather frequent disease occurring all through the year.
Adenovirosis type I infects, as stated earlier, especially young pigeons ; the virus is very often introduced in the cote by a strange pigeon or after contact in the travel basket ; it is excreted with the manure and hence can infect the other young. Because the intestinal wall is seriously damaged, germs that normally live in the intestine get the chance to proliferate enormously ; in this way they probably damage the intestinal wall even more and can enter the blood circulation. The typical symptoms of adenovirosis type I are ; the illness occurs very sudden and typical is vomiting heavily, diarrhoea, a very bad condition in general, a large part of the young pigeons are infected (there’s a very fast infection within 3 to 5 days) but mostly only a few pigeons die. Very often it lasts only 5 to 10 days. Additional E.Coli-infections will make the disease last longer ; so it’s of utmost importance to treat these additional E. Coli-infections as quickly as possible ! The recovery of the pigeons that suffered the disease can take some time, probably because of the slowly recovering liver-cells caused by the multiplication of the virus in the liver-cells. It should be taken into account when training the pigeons. Another rare syndrome of the adenovirus type I can be seen with youngs in the nest ; typical is that some pigeons stay behind and only few die.
The virus with adenovirosis type II is capable of causing massive liver necrosis with a characteristic course as a consecuence : there are very few symptoms as the pigeons die within 2 days. The only symptom that is sometimes seen is vomiting and yellow diarrhoea. The number of dead pigeons can sometimes be very high what makes that the disease sometimes develops dramatically. Remarkable is that the pigeons that aren’t infected after about 5 to 6 weeks stay healthy without any kind of symptom.
The possible diagnosis can be made based on the symptoms mentioned above after which an autopsy, if desirable, can give a definite answer through hystologic investigation of the intestinal wall or liver ; in this way you can exclude other diseases such as parathyphoid, hexamythiasis, intoxification, streptococcus, acute Coli-sepsis.
As far as the extermination is concerned : there is no efficient vaccination available. Whenever you find adenovirosis type I with young pigeons, it is absolutely necessary to treat the secondary Coli-infections as fast as possible ; most of the young pigeons are carriers of this germ. Avoiding stress (transport, training, …) is also important. For adenovirosis type II the general rules are hygiene, ventilation, avoiding overpopulation … These are essential to keep the risk of infection as low as possible.
As a conclusion you could say that there is only little information known about these viruses and the origin of these diseases. An important reason is that it’s very difficult to isolate the virus. The fact that old pigeons don’t become ill in case of adenovirosis type I could be explained by a well-formed resistance ; summer young and late young that don’t suffer the disease in their year of birth often expose typical symptoms in the year after ; you will never see this with pigeons that suffered the disease in their year of birth.
As stated in the introduction the impact of both adenoviroses on our pigeon population is enormous ; hence the development of a good vaccine would be more than welcome.
Dr. Carlo Gyselbrecht
e-mail us at [email protected]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to breed good pigeons?
By Ad Schaerlaeckens
With the publisher of this paper I was discussing the contents of a pigeon magazine. I write in many of them and I can assure you that that is far from easy as far as foreign countries are concerned. In my own country it is not such a problem as I know what fanciers like to read about. But writing for countries on the other side of the world where the sport is so much different is another story. 'David', I said, 'you must help me.
Tell me what people in the Far East want to read about. If I would know that would make it a lot easier for me to write.' 'Could you write how to breed good pigeons' was his reaction. My mouth fell open. For a moment I thought 'what a stupid question' but that was just for a moment. When I was a student my teacher used to say: 'There are no stupid questions, there are only stupid answers'. 'How to breed good pigeons?' The more I thought about this question the more sense it made. It proved that he realised how important quality is. Many fanciers (not the champions though) seek successes where they should not seek them. They believe too much in medicine, secrets or 'the magic bottle'.
And I think it is the same everywhere in the world, my country included. Whereas many of my fellow sportsmen have been searching for better medicine, better vitamins and better vets throughout the years I have always been after better birds. Of course you need luck now and then. But how important luck may be, there must be more than that. Because 'why ', one might wonder, 'is it so often the same people that breed good pigeons again and again whereas others do not even breed one decent bird in a lifetime?'
LUCKThat good luck is a factor though I will show you by something that happened recently. Co Verbree, one of the best fanciers in Europe, was at my place to buy two grandchildren of my 'Sissi'. 'That was a legendary breeding hen was not she?' he said, 'maybe the best in history'. I thought it a bit exaggerated and too flattery. 'Yes it was a good one' I agreed 'but you still need a lot of luck'. 'Many of her descendants were sensational winners indeed but certainly not all. With the birds you are buying you have a good chance to be successful but no more than that. I cannot guarantee the birds are any good and if I would know for sure that there was a super among them you would not get it. It is as simple as that. 'To whom do you tell' Mr Verbree's reaction was and added: 'You know I had that best All Round bird from Holland for the Olympiad in South Africa.' Of course I knew. Mr Verbree: 'In the year that I bred that Ace I bred 5 more babies off of the same parents. They were all good, I daresay supers. So you can imagine I mated the pair again in the year that followed. I bred 10 babies off of them and I had great expectations. You know what the result was? Not one of these 10 birds was any good. On the contrary, they were ten pieces of shit. Can you imagine that?' I could. Because things like that happen more often. But Mr Verbree had more interesting things to say: 'An American importer bought my Olympiad bird for a crazy price. But shall I tell you the truth? Despite his sensational results this bird never gave a good baby. Honestly speaking that was the reason to sell him. One of his brothers however, a bird which was not a good racer is one of my best breeders. So I think I did a good thing: Sell the racer who was a poor breeder and keep his brother which was a good breeder.'
GOLDEN COUPLEI know some Japanese pigeon men who only know two words in English. You cannot blame them for that, they may have other great qualities than speak English. Those two words are: 'Golden Couple'. But couples that only give super pigeons? They only exist in the mind of not-realistic day dreamers. Why do you think champions in Europe nowadays breed far more babies than they did in the past? Because they began to realise how much luck you need indeed to get that super bird. But as I said it is not all luck. To show this I will tell you the story of that Belgian champion. Normally I like to mention names to make statements less vague and for the credibility of the articles. In this case I prefer not to do it as it might hurt his reputation. And the Lord did not create humans to hurt each other.
EXAMPLE
Every serious fancier occasionally wants to improve his family by importing other birds to cross with his. To optimise chances to a successful crossing it is very important that you are aware of the shortcomings and faults of your own birds. So there was this Belgian guy, a short distance champion and a great one who was bothered by questions such as the following: - Why are my results no good when I enter birds at longer distances? - Is this a matter of physical faults and if so which? - Would there be a possibility to find a solution, for example a successful crossing? Though I myself cannot see if a pigeon is good (nobody can) I mean I can see if a pigeon is no good or what shortcomings it has. I saw his birds. Fantastic models and good muscles but much to my surprise the same thing was wrong with all of them: The last flights of the wings lacked suppleness, they were not flexible. He did not quite understand so I pointed at two pigeons who had broken their last flights. He shrugged his shoulders as if he wanted to say: 'So what? That is just an accident which may happen to any bird.' 'It may' I said, 'but not easily to good birds'. You must be able to bow the last flights between your thumb and forefinger without breaking them. That refers to flexibility which is an absolute must for birds that have to handle the longer distances. You should pay attention to the wings of a bird after it has flown for many hours in a hard race. You will see a light bow in the last flights. But what if these are so stiff that they cannot bow? Then they are handicapped, flying will be more difficult because of those stiff flights and the bird will be fatigued sooner than birds with supple and flexible flights in the wing. The Belgian champ got the message and what he did was import birds with supple and flexible flights, he crossed them with his own and only two years later he got pigeons that could handle the longer distances too. So it cannot be repeated enough how important it is to realise the shortcomings of your own birds, only then you can do something about it, improve the quality.
A mistake many fanciers make is import birds that have the same faults as their own. Such a thing inevitably leads to destruction of a colony.MOST ACES ARE CROSSINGSMany pigeon people from the East and America like birds of a family, so inbreds. This idea is not that bad provided such birds are used for breeding and not for racing. Nearly all super birds both in Holland and Belgium are products of crossings. In the eighties I had my 'Good Yearling' and birds related to him. I wanted to keep this line kind of pure, I also bred real good birds now and then but much to my surprise some people who bought pigeons from this 'Good Yearling bloodline' bred better birds then I did myself. And they got my birds. Just in time I realised why. They crossed my inbred birds with theirs. So what I did from then on was the same: I did not care about having a family any longer and crossed my inbreds. One of them was my 'Sister Good Yearling'. Unlike her brother she was a poor racer. And also a poor breeder, at least that was what I thought. Till I gave her a partner of quite different blood and the first baby of the new mating won National Orleans 1st prize (1985). Unfortunately she was pretty old already when I realised her breeding value. Such a thing often happens to many people. When they find they have a real good bird one of the parents is killed, sold or too old.
WRONGWhen people want to buy birds it is very often the same story. They want, say six pigeons for arguments' sake, and those should be three hens and three cocks. In this way they can form 3 couples. I have learnt this is not the right way to act. If I import (buy) birds I will mate them with the best I have myself, so birds which already had proven they have the potency to give good children. It is a much faster and more direct way to be successful than mating imports with imports. If you mate an import with an import you mate a question with a question. If you mate an import with one of your own proven breeders only the import is a question.
APPEARANCESAnd what about the appearance of birds? They must have soft feathers in the first place. And they should not be too big. Beware of big birds. The modern racers are of a smaller type than some decades ago. They must have a good balance, 'lie well in the hand' as people say and they must slope a bit forward when handling them. Of great importance is also a strong skeleton. You can judge this by putting some pressure on the breastbone (the lower part of the body). If the bird makes a noise like it is snoring that is a bad sign. These qualities I mentioned are an absolute must. But here we have a problem: The fact alone that they have these qualities does not make them good pigeons. Also bad pigeons may have soft feathers, a good balance, a strong skeleton. However if they do NOT have these qualities they are bad pigeons for sure. So it is not maths, you cannot turn things around. A philosopher once said: All cows are animals but all animals are not cows.
MORE EXAMPLESMost champions have two, three or four good bloodlines. Their Ace birds are mostly products of crossings of them. As they are champions already they do not import or buy many birds but just a few in some cases no more than one or two yearly. Mostly they do not even pay for them but just trade. Remember Houben and Verbruggen. They traded just one bird, crossed the bird that they got from each other with their own and this resulted in an explosion of super birds in both lofts. The same happened to Engels and van Hove Uytterhoeven. Both already got good birds they got better ones after they had traded birds and crossed the imports with the best they had in their own loft.
ALSO GOODWhat most champions in Holland and Belgium also do is change the matings every year. Some (even the Janssen Brothers) even during the year. For some mysterious reason the quality of the babies of good couples gets down when such a couple has been mated for a long time. I myself give my best cocks also two or three different hens every year. It stands to reason that birds are only fit to be paired when they are in the best condition possible. Fanciers often wonder why they breed several good pigeons in one year and that there are years in which they do not even breed one decent one. The explanation is probably the condition of the parents. A study has shown that many good birds are bred from yearlings. This does not mean that old pigeons do not give good babies though. The problem with old birds is the poorer quality of the crop milk. This year I made the mistake to have a 1992 cock feed his own babies. Some did not grow into nice birds and it was me who was to blame. What I should have done is undersit his eggs under other (younger) birds so that these would have fed the babies after the eggs had hatched. But making mistakes is nothing to be ashamed about. You only have a problem if you are not aware of it for the simple reason that in such case you cannot correct yourself. What distinguishes the losers from the winners is that the latter know what mistakes they made and will learn from it. If you do not know your own shortcomings and if you are not aware of the mistakes you make you won't get one step further.
© Ad Schaerlaeckens
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ad Schaerlaeckens
With the publisher of this paper I was discussing the contents of a pigeon magazine. I write in many of them and I can assure you that that is far from easy as far as foreign countries are concerned. In my own country it is not such a problem as I know what fanciers like to read about. But writing for countries on the other side of the world where the sport is so much different is another story. 'David', I said, 'you must help me.
Tell me what people in the Far East want to read about. If I would know that would make it a lot easier for me to write.' 'Could you write how to breed good pigeons' was his reaction. My mouth fell open. For a moment I thought 'what a stupid question' but that was just for a moment. When I was a student my teacher used to say: 'There are no stupid questions, there are only stupid answers'. 'How to breed good pigeons?' The more I thought about this question the more sense it made. It proved that he realised how important quality is. Many fanciers (not the champions though) seek successes where they should not seek them. They believe too much in medicine, secrets or 'the magic bottle'.
And I think it is the same everywhere in the world, my country included. Whereas many of my fellow sportsmen have been searching for better medicine, better vitamins and better vets throughout the years I have always been after better birds. Of course you need luck now and then. But how important luck may be, there must be more than that. Because 'why ', one might wonder, 'is it so often the same people that breed good pigeons again and again whereas others do not even breed one decent bird in a lifetime?'
LUCKThat good luck is a factor though I will show you by something that happened recently. Co Verbree, one of the best fanciers in Europe, was at my place to buy two grandchildren of my 'Sissi'. 'That was a legendary breeding hen was not she?' he said, 'maybe the best in history'. I thought it a bit exaggerated and too flattery. 'Yes it was a good one' I agreed 'but you still need a lot of luck'. 'Many of her descendants were sensational winners indeed but certainly not all. With the birds you are buying you have a good chance to be successful but no more than that. I cannot guarantee the birds are any good and if I would know for sure that there was a super among them you would not get it. It is as simple as that. 'To whom do you tell' Mr Verbree's reaction was and added: 'You know I had that best All Round bird from Holland for the Olympiad in South Africa.' Of course I knew. Mr Verbree: 'In the year that I bred that Ace I bred 5 more babies off of the same parents. They were all good, I daresay supers. So you can imagine I mated the pair again in the year that followed. I bred 10 babies off of them and I had great expectations. You know what the result was? Not one of these 10 birds was any good. On the contrary, they were ten pieces of shit. Can you imagine that?' I could. Because things like that happen more often. But Mr Verbree had more interesting things to say: 'An American importer bought my Olympiad bird for a crazy price. But shall I tell you the truth? Despite his sensational results this bird never gave a good baby. Honestly speaking that was the reason to sell him. One of his brothers however, a bird which was not a good racer is one of my best breeders. So I think I did a good thing: Sell the racer who was a poor breeder and keep his brother which was a good breeder.'
GOLDEN COUPLEI know some Japanese pigeon men who only know two words in English. You cannot blame them for that, they may have other great qualities than speak English. Those two words are: 'Golden Couple'. But couples that only give super pigeons? They only exist in the mind of not-realistic day dreamers. Why do you think champions in Europe nowadays breed far more babies than they did in the past? Because they began to realise how much luck you need indeed to get that super bird. But as I said it is not all luck. To show this I will tell you the story of that Belgian champion. Normally I like to mention names to make statements less vague and for the credibility of the articles. In this case I prefer not to do it as it might hurt his reputation. And the Lord did not create humans to hurt each other.
EXAMPLE
Every serious fancier occasionally wants to improve his family by importing other birds to cross with his. To optimise chances to a successful crossing it is very important that you are aware of the shortcomings and faults of your own birds. So there was this Belgian guy, a short distance champion and a great one who was bothered by questions such as the following: - Why are my results no good when I enter birds at longer distances? - Is this a matter of physical faults and if so which? - Would there be a possibility to find a solution, for example a successful crossing? Though I myself cannot see if a pigeon is good (nobody can) I mean I can see if a pigeon is no good or what shortcomings it has. I saw his birds. Fantastic models and good muscles but much to my surprise the same thing was wrong with all of them: The last flights of the wings lacked suppleness, they were not flexible. He did not quite understand so I pointed at two pigeons who had broken their last flights. He shrugged his shoulders as if he wanted to say: 'So what? That is just an accident which may happen to any bird.' 'It may' I said, 'but not easily to good birds'. You must be able to bow the last flights between your thumb and forefinger without breaking them. That refers to flexibility which is an absolute must for birds that have to handle the longer distances. You should pay attention to the wings of a bird after it has flown for many hours in a hard race. You will see a light bow in the last flights. But what if these are so stiff that they cannot bow? Then they are handicapped, flying will be more difficult because of those stiff flights and the bird will be fatigued sooner than birds with supple and flexible flights in the wing. The Belgian champ got the message and what he did was import birds with supple and flexible flights, he crossed them with his own and only two years later he got pigeons that could handle the longer distances too. So it cannot be repeated enough how important it is to realise the shortcomings of your own birds, only then you can do something about it, improve the quality.
A mistake many fanciers make is import birds that have the same faults as their own. Such a thing inevitably leads to destruction of a colony.MOST ACES ARE CROSSINGSMany pigeon people from the East and America like birds of a family, so inbreds. This idea is not that bad provided such birds are used for breeding and not for racing. Nearly all super birds both in Holland and Belgium are products of crossings. In the eighties I had my 'Good Yearling' and birds related to him. I wanted to keep this line kind of pure, I also bred real good birds now and then but much to my surprise some people who bought pigeons from this 'Good Yearling bloodline' bred better birds then I did myself. And they got my birds. Just in time I realised why. They crossed my inbred birds with theirs. So what I did from then on was the same: I did not care about having a family any longer and crossed my inbreds. One of them was my 'Sister Good Yearling'. Unlike her brother she was a poor racer. And also a poor breeder, at least that was what I thought. Till I gave her a partner of quite different blood and the first baby of the new mating won National Orleans 1st prize (1985). Unfortunately she was pretty old already when I realised her breeding value. Such a thing often happens to many people. When they find they have a real good bird one of the parents is killed, sold or too old.
WRONGWhen people want to buy birds it is very often the same story. They want, say six pigeons for arguments' sake, and those should be three hens and three cocks. In this way they can form 3 couples. I have learnt this is not the right way to act. If I import (buy) birds I will mate them with the best I have myself, so birds which already had proven they have the potency to give good children. It is a much faster and more direct way to be successful than mating imports with imports. If you mate an import with an import you mate a question with a question. If you mate an import with one of your own proven breeders only the import is a question.
APPEARANCESAnd what about the appearance of birds? They must have soft feathers in the first place. And they should not be too big. Beware of big birds. The modern racers are of a smaller type than some decades ago. They must have a good balance, 'lie well in the hand' as people say and they must slope a bit forward when handling them. Of great importance is also a strong skeleton. You can judge this by putting some pressure on the breastbone (the lower part of the body). If the bird makes a noise like it is snoring that is a bad sign. These qualities I mentioned are an absolute must. But here we have a problem: The fact alone that they have these qualities does not make them good pigeons. Also bad pigeons may have soft feathers, a good balance, a strong skeleton. However if they do NOT have these qualities they are bad pigeons for sure. So it is not maths, you cannot turn things around. A philosopher once said: All cows are animals but all animals are not cows.
MORE EXAMPLESMost champions have two, three or four good bloodlines. Their Ace birds are mostly products of crossings of them. As they are champions already they do not import or buy many birds but just a few in some cases no more than one or two yearly. Mostly they do not even pay for them but just trade. Remember Houben and Verbruggen. They traded just one bird, crossed the bird that they got from each other with their own and this resulted in an explosion of super birds in both lofts. The same happened to Engels and van Hove Uytterhoeven. Both already got good birds they got better ones after they had traded birds and crossed the imports with the best they had in their own loft.
ALSO GOODWhat most champions in Holland and Belgium also do is change the matings every year. Some (even the Janssen Brothers) even during the year. For some mysterious reason the quality of the babies of good couples gets down when such a couple has been mated for a long time. I myself give my best cocks also two or three different hens every year. It stands to reason that birds are only fit to be paired when they are in the best condition possible. Fanciers often wonder why they breed several good pigeons in one year and that there are years in which they do not even breed one decent one. The explanation is probably the condition of the parents. A study has shown that many good birds are bred from yearlings. This does not mean that old pigeons do not give good babies though. The problem with old birds is the poorer quality of the crop milk. This year I made the mistake to have a 1992 cock feed his own babies. Some did not grow into nice birds and it was me who was to blame. What I should have done is undersit his eggs under other (younger) birds so that these would have fed the babies after the eggs had hatched. But making mistakes is nothing to be ashamed about. You only have a problem if you are not aware of it for the simple reason that in such case you cannot correct yourself. What distinguishes the losers from the winners is that the latter know what mistakes they made and will learn from it. If you do not know your own shortcomings and if you are not aware of the mistakes you make you won't get one step further.
© Ad Schaerlaeckens
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cher Ami
(Dear Friend)
The ability to communicate is essential to soldiers in the field. Without communications to their commanders or support units in the rear area, soldiers on the front line can't send messages about their progress, request needed supplies, or call for help when things reach their worst.
During World War I, messages were sometimes transmitted by wire (telegraph of field phone), but two-way radio communications had not yet become available. Sometimes a unit was ordered to attack over a broad and often difficult terrain, making it impossible to string the wire necessary for communications. In these situations, a field commander often carried with him several carrier pigeons.
Pigeons served many purposes during the war, racing through the skies with airplanes, or even being fitted with cameras to take pictures of enemy positions. But one of the most important roles they served it was as messengers. An important message could be written on a piece of paper, then that paper neatly folded and secured in a small canister attached to a pigeon's leg. Once the pigeon was released, it would try to fly to its home back behind the lines, where the message would be read and transmitted to the proper military planners.
The United States Army is divided among several different specialties, the men from each specialty trained for a particular kind of work. Infantrymen are trained to fight on the ground, artillerymen are responsible for the big guns, armor refers to the men who fight in tanks, and the Air Service was the name for the group of soldiers who fought in the air during World War I. One of the oldest of these groups of soldiers was the members of the U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS. Since the birth of our Nation, it was these men that were responsible for insuring that messages between all units, (including messages to other branches of service like the Navy and Marines), got through. The Army Signal Corps identifies itself by a torch with two crossed flags. These represent SIGNAL FLAGS, a common way that messages were passed using code.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the Army Signal Corps was given 600 pigeons for the purpose of passing messages when it couldn't be done by signal flag or field phone. The pigeons were donated by bird breeders in Great Britain, then trained for their jobs by American soldiers.
During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the 2-month battle that finally ended World War I, 442 pigeons were used in the area of Verdun to carry hundreds of messages. This is how the system worked:
When a commander in the field needed to send a message, he first wrote it out on paper, trying to be both brief and yet as detailed as possible. Then he called for one of his Signal Corps officers, who would bring one of the pigeons that went with the soldiers into battle. The message would be put in the capsule on the birds leg, and then the bird would be tossed high in the air to fly home.
The carrier pigeon would fly back to his home coop behind the lines. When he landed, the wires in the coop would sound a bell or buzzer, and another soldier of the Signal Corps would know a message had arrived. He would go to the coop, remove the message from the canister, and then send it by telegraph, field phone or personal messenger, to the right persons.
Carrier pigeons did an important job. It was also very dangerous. If the enemy soldiers were nearby when a pigeon was released, they knew that the bird would be carrying important messages, and tried their best to shoot the pigeon down so the message couldn't be delivered.
Some of these pigeons became quite famous among the infantrymen they worked for. One pigeon named "The Mocker", flew 52 missions before he was wounded. Another was named "President Wilson". He was injured in the last week of the war and it seemed impossible for him to reach his destination. Though he lost his foot, the message got through to save a large group of surrounded American infantrymen.
Cher Ami
Probably the most famous of all the carrier pigeons was one named Cher Ami, two French words meaning "Dear Friend". Cher Ami several months on the front lines during the Fall of 1918. He flew 12 important missions to deliver messages. Perhaps the most important was the message he carried on October 4, 1918.
Mr. Charles Whittlesey was a lawyer in New York, but when the United States called for soldiers to help France regain its freedom, Whittlesey joined the Army and went to Europe to help. He was made the commander of a battalion of soldiers in the 77th Infantry Division, known as "The Liberty Division" because most of the men came from New York and wore a bright blue patch on their shoulders that had on it the STATUE OF LIBERTY.
On October 3, 1918 Major Whittlesey and more than 500 men were trapped in a small depression on the side of the hill. Surrounded by enemy soldiers, many were killed and wounded in the first day. By the second day only a little more than 200 men were still alive or unwounded.
Major Whittlesey sent out several pigeons to tell his commanders where he was, and how bad the trap was. The next afternoon he had only one pigeon left, Cher Ami.
During the afternoon the American Artillery tried to send some protection by firing hundreds of big artillery rounds into the ravine where the Germans surrounded Major Whittlesey and his men. Unfortunately, the American commanders didn't know exactly where the American soldiers were, and started dropping the big shells right on top of them. It was a horrible situation that might have resulted in Major Whittlesey and all his men getting killed--by their own army.
Major Whittlesey called for his last pigeon, Cher Ami. He wrote a quick and simple note, telling the men who directed the artillery guns where the Americans were located and asking them to stop. The note that was put in the canister on Cher Ami's left leg simply said:
"We are along the road parallel to 276.4.
"Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us.
"For heaven's sake, stop it."
As Cher Ami tried to fly back home, the Germans saw him rising out of the brush and opened fire. For several minutes, bullets zipped through the air all around him. For a minute it looked like the little pigeon was going to fall, that he wasn't going to make it. The doomed American infantrymen were crushed, their last home was plummeting to earth against a very heavy attack from German bullets.
Somehow Cher Ami managed to spread his wings and start climbing again, higher and higher beyond the range of the enemy guns. The little bird flew 25 miles in only 25 minutes to deliver his message. The shelling stopped, and more than 200 American lives were saved...all because the little bird would never quit trying.
On his last mission, Cher Ami was badly wounded. When he finally reached his coop, he could fly no longer, and the soldier that answered the sound of the bell found the little bird laying on his back, covered in blood. He had been blinded in one eye, and a bullet had hit his breastbone, making a hole the size of a quarter. From that awful hole, hanging by just a few tendons, was the almost severed leg of the brave little bird. Attached to that leg was a silver canister, with the all-important message. Once again, Cher Ami wouldn't quit until he had finished his job.
Cher Ami became the hero of the 77th Infantry Division, and the medics worked long and hard to patch him up. When the French soldiers that the Americans were fighting to help learned they story of Cher Ami's bravery and determination, they gave him one of their own country's great honors. Cher Ami, the brave carrier pigeon was presented a medal called the French Croix de guerre with a palm leaf.
Though the dedicated medics saved Cher Ami's life, they couldn't save his leg. The men of the Division were careful to take care of the little bird that had saved 200 of their friends, and even carved a small wooden leg for him. When Cher Ami was well enough to travel, the little one-legged hero was put on a boat to the United States. The commander of all of the United States Army, the great General John J. Pershing, personally saw Cher Ami off as he departed France.
Back in the United States the story of Cher Ami was told again and again. The little bird was in the newspapers, magazines, and it seemed that everyone knew his name. He became one of the most famous heroes of World War I. Years after the war a man named Harry Webb Farrington decided to put together a book of poems and short stories about the men and heroes of World War I.
G.I. Joe (March 24, 1943 in Algiers - June 3, 1961 in Detroit) is possibly one of the most famouspigeons in world history, serving much of its life in the United States Army Pigeon Service as one of over 54,000 pigeons in the force.
In World War II, G.I. Joe saved the lives of the inhabitants of the village of Calvi Vecchia, Italy, and of the British troops stationed there. The village was scheduled to be bombarded by the Allied forces on 18 October 1943, but the message that the British had captured the village, delivered by G.I. Joe, arrived just in time to avoid the bombing. Over a thousand people were saved.
In November 1946, G.I. Joe was presented with a high award, the Dickin Medal for gallantry.
A complete list of pigeons awarded
"THE DICKEN MEDAL"
NEHU.40.NS.1 - Blue Cheq. Hen "Winkie"
MEPS.43.1263 - Red Cheq. Cock "George"
SURP.41.L.3089 - White Hen "White Vision"
NPS.41.NS.4230 - "Beachbomber"
NPS.42.31066 - Grizzle Cock "Gustav"
NPS.43.94451 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Paddy"
NURP.36.JH.190 - Dark Cheq. Hen "Kenley Lass"
NURP.38.EGU.242 - Red Cheq. Cock "Commando"
NPS.42.NS.44802 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Flying Dutchman"
NURP.40.GVIS.453- Blue Cock "Royal Blue"
NURP.41.A.2164 - "Dutch Coast"
NPS.41.NS.2862 - Blue Cock "Navy Blue"
NPS.42.NS.15125 - Mealy Cock "William of Orange"
NPS.43.29018 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Ruhr Express"
NPS.42.21610 - B.C. Hen "Scotch Lass"
NU.41.HQ.4373 - Blue Cock "Billy"
NURP.39.NRS.144 - Red Cock "Cologne"
NPS.42.36392 - "Maquis"
NPS.42.NS.7542 -
41.BA.2793 - "Broad Arrow"
NURP.39.SDS.39 - "All Alone"
NURP.37.CEN.335 - "Mercury"
NURP.38.BPC.6 -
DD.43.T.139 -
DDD.43.Q.879 -
NURP.41.SBC.219 - Cock "Duke of Normandy"
NURP.43.CC.2418 - B.C. Hen
NURP.40.WLE.249 - "Mary"
NURP.41.DHZ.56 - "Tommy"
42.WD.593 - "Princess"
USA.43.SC.6390 - "G.I. Joe"
PIGEONS IN MILITARY
In ancient times pigeons were the fastest way to send messages. There are writings that report that the Persian King Cyrus used birds to send information, and the Greeks used homing pigeons to send news of Olympic victories. During the eighth century in France, only the nobles had homing pigeons and the birds were considered a symbol of power and prestige, until the French revolution changed things so that the common man could have them. Even Julius Caesar used homing pigeons to carry messages of importance.
In 1870 the Franco-Prussian war broke out and Paris was surrounded and cut off. The people in Paris figured out they could use hot air balloons to carry baskets of homing pigeons and other letters out of the city and the friendly French in the countryside could send messages back into Paris via the homing pigeons. This allowed the trapped people of Paris to communicate and maintain their hope and morale during the war. It was about this time that microphotography was developed in England, but used to great effect in this war to exchange many military instructions quickly via homing pigeon. The microphotography allowed a pigeon to carry as many as 30,000 messages to be carried by a single bird! The four month siege of Paris saw 400 birds deliver nearly 115,000 government messages and about a million private messages according to historians.
By 1914 when the war to end all wars (WWI) broke out the European armies were widely using homing pigeons in their war communications. United States General John Pershing saw the birds in use and ordered the Army Signal Corp to begin putting together their own pigeon communication system. It is believed that over half a million birds were used by the warring armies as reliable communication. These special birds had a 95 percent success rate in WWI delivering their messages and proved to be a lifeline for the troops on the front line. Remember this war was before modern radio and the telegraph was the other more-modern option for communicating. But this wire based system was easily cut in two or tapped into by enemy forces if given the chance. Others used the homing pigeon like aircraft pilots on recon missions, sailors off the coast, and even tanks on the move. WWI was the height of homing pigeon used for military purposes. There were many pigeon heroes and several of these war birds received medals.
One of the most famous WWI pigeon stories to be told is that of the ”lost battalion” in France that was saved by a pigeon named Cher Ami. This 600 man battalion was being shelled and wounded by friendly fire because they advanced too far into enemy territory. Their only hope of communication was by bird and Cher Ami gave it his all. The German soldiers saw the bird take flight and began firing upon the bird wounding it but not enough to take away its will to fly the 25 miles back to the command post. It arrived with one eye shot out, a bullet in its breast and most of the leg missing that had the message capsule still attached – hanging on only by a tendon. The message stopped the shelling and the battalion was later saved. After healing, Cher Ami went on to receive an honorary service cross and taken back to America and lived until 1919. Later he was mounted and then placed on display in the Smithsonian Institute.
When WWII broke out in the early 40’s the homing pigeon was brought back into service on both sides of the war. Many people do not realize that the head of the SS, Hemlic Hemmler, was also head of the national pigeon organization at one time and felt that the Nazis would benefit by taking over the national pigeon organization and the use of its members and birds. The Germans had 50,000 birds ready for use when the war had broken out. Unfortunately for America, the US Army Signal Corp did not maintain its pigeon program and to rebuild it from scratch. The Corp solicited birds from fanciers that were willing to donate them, and looked for new draftees that had a poultry or pigeon background to work as pigeoneers.
Although the radio was developed at this time to carry voice, whereas Morse code was used in WWI, the homing pigeon was sometimes an excellent choice for communicating while maintaining radio silence. As one might expect radio direction finders were used by both sides to locate and try taking out each other’s forces. The homing pigeon was also found to be a capable airborne means flying a camera over enemy locations to learn more about troop strength and location. A camera was mounted underneath the pigeon behind enemy lines and allowed to fly home where the camera was examined. These photos might show actual troops and equipment or if flying over a German town might show certain type factories or other military targets for bombing.
Spies on both sides used pigeons to carry information and sometimes the birds were asked to fly the English Channel between Great Britain and France. The English and the Germans developed their own falcon program to intercept birds but they were just as likely to intercept one of their birds and stop the intended communication from ever arriving.
WWII came to an end and in 1956 the US Army shut down the Pigeon Corp. The service of the homing pigeon went dormant until the 1970’s when the US Coast Guard started using them again but in a different way. During the 1940’s pigeons in a Tufts University lab had proven the exceptional ability to pick out certain shapes and colors in exchange for food. The US Coast Guard decided the same abilities could be useful while searching for men and equipment in open waters so they set up some testing using a small observation bubble on the bottom of some their helicopters stationed near San Francisco. This project called Project Sea Hunt used three pigeons that faced 120 degrees from each other so that they covered the entire 360 degrees under the helicopter. The pigeons were 92 percent reliable in finding the test subjects or objects where humans were found to be in the 30-40 percent range. The project never got out of the testing phase and was ended in 1983 due to federal budget cuts so the birds did not get a chance to actually save any lives.
(Excerpts taken from the History Channels production called Animals in Action, and Jerome Pratt’s book titled Courageous Couriers.)
GimpyMonday, Feb. 24, 1941 From the day he got his feathers Gimpy was a superior bird. Master Sgt. Clifford Algy Poutre, the lean, leathery boss pigeon man at the Signal Corps pigeon lofts on the Jersey flats at Fort Monmouth, liked to say that the Army would hear from Gimpy some day. His breed was right. His father, old red Kaiser, captured in a German trench in the Argonne, is still the oldest military pigeon in the business (24 last month), and his Scotland-hatched mother had good blood in her.
Related ArticlesSince Sgt. Poutre gave Gimpy the job of instructing younger pigeons last fall, he has turned out 150 graduates, trained to fly back to the trailer lofts as straight as a crow. Taken farther and farther away each day from Monmouth, he led them back unerringly to the loft, showed them that a pigeon can fly with a message capsule on leg or back. Last week, on his twisted right leg, three-year-old Gimpy stumped among a new class of 52 youngsters, fixed them with a hard eye.Gimpy got the game leg that named him before he was two years old. One wintry day he was released in Trenton, got lost in a snowstorm, went over Brooklyn just over the housetops, finally ran out of ceiling. He cracked up in a backyard and broke his leg. Set by a man named Somervell (who had pigeons of his own), Gimpy's leg turned out badly, but within two months he was back on the job with a name instead of a number. Last spring Gimpy worked in the maneuvers in Louisiana, lost three of his 17 ounces in the fierce heat, but always came in with the tissue-paper message that front-line men had put in his capsule. And in the fall, when the Signal Corps started breeding and training 3,600 new birds, Gimpy was promoted to an instructor's job.
Among the 1,000 Army pigeons in the Fort Monmouth lofts, Gimpy is as monogamous as the next old soldier. His mate is a three-year-old hen named Matilda. He ran her out of his nest four times before they settled down. Today, like any suburban pigeon, he sits on the eggs six hours a day while Matilda gets a rest.
Gimpy's only fault is that he likes to land on the way home, sometimes leads his recruits into a grassy plot for a rest and stroll, while he stumps around, gabbling officiously. But no one in Fort Monmouth's pigeon company will admit that these fine feathered soldiers ever hitch rides on Army trucks.*
-As Major Leonard Nason charged last fortnight in a denunciatory book, Approach to Battle. "Dependence on pigeons as a means of signal communication," said he "is leaning on a broken reed." Week the book was published, Major Nason was ordered to active service.
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(Dear Friend)
The ability to communicate is essential to soldiers in the field. Without communications to their commanders or support units in the rear area, soldiers on the front line can't send messages about their progress, request needed supplies, or call for help when things reach their worst.
During World War I, messages were sometimes transmitted by wire (telegraph of field phone), but two-way radio communications had not yet become available. Sometimes a unit was ordered to attack over a broad and often difficult terrain, making it impossible to string the wire necessary for communications. In these situations, a field commander often carried with him several carrier pigeons.
Pigeons served many purposes during the war, racing through the skies with airplanes, or even being fitted with cameras to take pictures of enemy positions. But one of the most important roles they served it was as messengers. An important message could be written on a piece of paper, then that paper neatly folded and secured in a small canister attached to a pigeon's leg. Once the pigeon was released, it would try to fly to its home back behind the lines, where the message would be read and transmitted to the proper military planners.
The United States Army is divided among several different specialties, the men from each specialty trained for a particular kind of work. Infantrymen are trained to fight on the ground, artillerymen are responsible for the big guns, armor refers to the men who fight in tanks, and the Air Service was the name for the group of soldiers who fought in the air during World War I. One of the oldest of these groups of soldiers was the members of the U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS. Since the birth of our Nation, it was these men that were responsible for insuring that messages between all units, (including messages to other branches of service like the Navy and Marines), got through. The Army Signal Corps identifies itself by a torch with two crossed flags. These represent SIGNAL FLAGS, a common way that messages were passed using code.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the Army Signal Corps was given 600 pigeons for the purpose of passing messages when it couldn't be done by signal flag or field phone. The pigeons were donated by bird breeders in Great Britain, then trained for their jobs by American soldiers.
During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the 2-month battle that finally ended World War I, 442 pigeons were used in the area of Verdun to carry hundreds of messages. This is how the system worked:
When a commander in the field needed to send a message, he first wrote it out on paper, trying to be both brief and yet as detailed as possible. Then he called for one of his Signal Corps officers, who would bring one of the pigeons that went with the soldiers into battle. The message would be put in the capsule on the birds leg, and then the bird would be tossed high in the air to fly home.
The carrier pigeon would fly back to his home coop behind the lines. When he landed, the wires in the coop would sound a bell or buzzer, and another soldier of the Signal Corps would know a message had arrived. He would go to the coop, remove the message from the canister, and then send it by telegraph, field phone or personal messenger, to the right persons.
Carrier pigeons did an important job. It was also very dangerous. If the enemy soldiers were nearby when a pigeon was released, they knew that the bird would be carrying important messages, and tried their best to shoot the pigeon down so the message couldn't be delivered.
Some of these pigeons became quite famous among the infantrymen they worked for. One pigeon named "The Mocker", flew 52 missions before he was wounded. Another was named "President Wilson". He was injured in the last week of the war and it seemed impossible for him to reach his destination. Though he lost his foot, the message got through to save a large group of surrounded American infantrymen.
Cher Ami
Probably the most famous of all the carrier pigeons was one named Cher Ami, two French words meaning "Dear Friend". Cher Ami several months on the front lines during the Fall of 1918. He flew 12 important missions to deliver messages. Perhaps the most important was the message he carried on October 4, 1918.
Mr. Charles Whittlesey was a lawyer in New York, but when the United States called for soldiers to help France regain its freedom, Whittlesey joined the Army and went to Europe to help. He was made the commander of a battalion of soldiers in the 77th Infantry Division, known as "The Liberty Division" because most of the men came from New York and wore a bright blue patch on their shoulders that had on it the STATUE OF LIBERTY.
On October 3, 1918 Major Whittlesey and more than 500 men were trapped in a small depression on the side of the hill. Surrounded by enemy soldiers, many were killed and wounded in the first day. By the second day only a little more than 200 men were still alive or unwounded.
Major Whittlesey sent out several pigeons to tell his commanders where he was, and how bad the trap was. The next afternoon he had only one pigeon left, Cher Ami.
During the afternoon the American Artillery tried to send some protection by firing hundreds of big artillery rounds into the ravine where the Germans surrounded Major Whittlesey and his men. Unfortunately, the American commanders didn't know exactly where the American soldiers were, and started dropping the big shells right on top of them. It was a horrible situation that might have resulted in Major Whittlesey and all his men getting killed--by their own army.
Major Whittlesey called for his last pigeon, Cher Ami. He wrote a quick and simple note, telling the men who directed the artillery guns where the Americans were located and asking them to stop. The note that was put in the canister on Cher Ami's left leg simply said:
"We are along the road parallel to 276.4.
"Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us.
"For heaven's sake, stop it."
As Cher Ami tried to fly back home, the Germans saw him rising out of the brush and opened fire. For several minutes, bullets zipped through the air all around him. For a minute it looked like the little pigeon was going to fall, that he wasn't going to make it. The doomed American infantrymen were crushed, their last home was plummeting to earth against a very heavy attack from German bullets.
Somehow Cher Ami managed to spread his wings and start climbing again, higher and higher beyond the range of the enemy guns. The little bird flew 25 miles in only 25 minutes to deliver his message. The shelling stopped, and more than 200 American lives were saved...all because the little bird would never quit trying.
On his last mission, Cher Ami was badly wounded. When he finally reached his coop, he could fly no longer, and the soldier that answered the sound of the bell found the little bird laying on his back, covered in blood. He had been blinded in one eye, and a bullet had hit his breastbone, making a hole the size of a quarter. From that awful hole, hanging by just a few tendons, was the almost severed leg of the brave little bird. Attached to that leg was a silver canister, with the all-important message. Once again, Cher Ami wouldn't quit until he had finished his job.
Cher Ami became the hero of the 77th Infantry Division, and the medics worked long and hard to patch him up. When the French soldiers that the Americans were fighting to help learned they story of Cher Ami's bravery and determination, they gave him one of their own country's great honors. Cher Ami, the brave carrier pigeon was presented a medal called the French Croix de guerre with a palm leaf.
Though the dedicated medics saved Cher Ami's life, they couldn't save his leg. The men of the Division were careful to take care of the little bird that had saved 200 of their friends, and even carved a small wooden leg for him. When Cher Ami was well enough to travel, the little one-legged hero was put on a boat to the United States. The commander of all of the United States Army, the great General John J. Pershing, personally saw Cher Ami off as he departed France.
Back in the United States the story of Cher Ami was told again and again. The little bird was in the newspapers, magazines, and it seemed that everyone knew his name. He became one of the most famous heroes of World War I. Years after the war a man named Harry Webb Farrington decided to put together a book of poems and short stories about the men and heroes of World War I.
G.I. Joe (March 24, 1943 in Algiers - June 3, 1961 in Detroit) is possibly one of the most famouspigeons in world history, serving much of its life in the United States Army Pigeon Service as one of over 54,000 pigeons in the force.
In World War II, G.I. Joe saved the lives of the inhabitants of the village of Calvi Vecchia, Italy, and of the British troops stationed there. The village was scheduled to be bombarded by the Allied forces on 18 October 1943, but the message that the British had captured the village, delivered by G.I. Joe, arrived just in time to avoid the bombing. Over a thousand people were saved.
In November 1946, G.I. Joe was presented with a high award, the Dickin Medal for gallantry.
A complete list of pigeons awarded
"THE DICKEN MEDAL"
NEHU.40.NS.1 - Blue Cheq. Hen "Winkie"
MEPS.43.1263 - Red Cheq. Cock "George"
SURP.41.L.3089 - White Hen "White Vision"
NPS.41.NS.4230 - "Beachbomber"
NPS.42.31066 - Grizzle Cock "Gustav"
NPS.43.94451 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Paddy"
NURP.36.JH.190 - Dark Cheq. Hen "Kenley Lass"
NURP.38.EGU.242 - Red Cheq. Cock "Commando"
NPS.42.NS.44802 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Flying Dutchman"
NURP.40.GVIS.453- Blue Cock "Royal Blue"
NURP.41.A.2164 - "Dutch Coast"
NPS.41.NS.2862 - Blue Cock "Navy Blue"
NPS.42.NS.15125 - Mealy Cock "William of Orange"
NPS.43.29018 - Dark Cheq. Cock "Ruhr Express"
NPS.42.21610 - B.C. Hen "Scotch Lass"
NU.41.HQ.4373 - Blue Cock "Billy"
NURP.39.NRS.144 - Red Cock "Cologne"
NPS.42.36392 - "Maquis"
NPS.42.NS.7542 -
41.BA.2793 - "Broad Arrow"
NURP.39.SDS.39 - "All Alone"
NURP.37.CEN.335 - "Mercury"
NURP.38.BPC.6 -
DD.43.T.139 -
DDD.43.Q.879 -
NURP.41.SBC.219 - Cock "Duke of Normandy"
NURP.43.CC.2418 - B.C. Hen
NURP.40.WLE.249 - "Mary"
NURP.41.DHZ.56 - "Tommy"
42.WD.593 - "Princess"
USA.43.SC.6390 - "G.I. Joe"
PIGEONS IN MILITARY
In ancient times pigeons were the fastest way to send messages. There are writings that report that the Persian King Cyrus used birds to send information, and the Greeks used homing pigeons to send news of Olympic victories. During the eighth century in France, only the nobles had homing pigeons and the birds were considered a symbol of power and prestige, until the French revolution changed things so that the common man could have them. Even Julius Caesar used homing pigeons to carry messages of importance.
In 1870 the Franco-Prussian war broke out and Paris was surrounded and cut off. The people in Paris figured out they could use hot air balloons to carry baskets of homing pigeons and other letters out of the city and the friendly French in the countryside could send messages back into Paris via the homing pigeons. This allowed the trapped people of Paris to communicate and maintain their hope and morale during the war. It was about this time that microphotography was developed in England, but used to great effect in this war to exchange many military instructions quickly via homing pigeon. The microphotography allowed a pigeon to carry as many as 30,000 messages to be carried by a single bird! The four month siege of Paris saw 400 birds deliver nearly 115,000 government messages and about a million private messages according to historians.
By 1914 when the war to end all wars (WWI) broke out the European armies were widely using homing pigeons in their war communications. United States General John Pershing saw the birds in use and ordered the Army Signal Corp to begin putting together their own pigeon communication system. It is believed that over half a million birds were used by the warring armies as reliable communication. These special birds had a 95 percent success rate in WWI delivering their messages and proved to be a lifeline for the troops on the front line. Remember this war was before modern radio and the telegraph was the other more-modern option for communicating. But this wire based system was easily cut in two or tapped into by enemy forces if given the chance. Others used the homing pigeon like aircraft pilots on recon missions, sailors off the coast, and even tanks on the move. WWI was the height of homing pigeon used for military purposes. There were many pigeon heroes and several of these war birds received medals.
One of the most famous WWI pigeon stories to be told is that of the ”lost battalion” in France that was saved by a pigeon named Cher Ami. This 600 man battalion was being shelled and wounded by friendly fire because they advanced too far into enemy territory. Their only hope of communication was by bird and Cher Ami gave it his all. The German soldiers saw the bird take flight and began firing upon the bird wounding it but not enough to take away its will to fly the 25 miles back to the command post. It arrived with one eye shot out, a bullet in its breast and most of the leg missing that had the message capsule still attached – hanging on only by a tendon. The message stopped the shelling and the battalion was later saved. After healing, Cher Ami went on to receive an honorary service cross and taken back to America and lived until 1919. Later he was mounted and then placed on display in the Smithsonian Institute.
When WWII broke out in the early 40’s the homing pigeon was brought back into service on both sides of the war. Many people do not realize that the head of the SS, Hemlic Hemmler, was also head of the national pigeon organization at one time and felt that the Nazis would benefit by taking over the national pigeon organization and the use of its members and birds. The Germans had 50,000 birds ready for use when the war had broken out. Unfortunately for America, the US Army Signal Corp did not maintain its pigeon program and to rebuild it from scratch. The Corp solicited birds from fanciers that were willing to donate them, and looked for new draftees that had a poultry or pigeon background to work as pigeoneers.
Although the radio was developed at this time to carry voice, whereas Morse code was used in WWI, the homing pigeon was sometimes an excellent choice for communicating while maintaining radio silence. As one might expect radio direction finders were used by both sides to locate and try taking out each other’s forces. The homing pigeon was also found to be a capable airborne means flying a camera over enemy locations to learn more about troop strength and location. A camera was mounted underneath the pigeon behind enemy lines and allowed to fly home where the camera was examined. These photos might show actual troops and equipment or if flying over a German town might show certain type factories or other military targets for bombing.
Spies on both sides used pigeons to carry information and sometimes the birds were asked to fly the English Channel between Great Britain and France. The English and the Germans developed their own falcon program to intercept birds but they were just as likely to intercept one of their birds and stop the intended communication from ever arriving.
WWII came to an end and in 1956 the US Army shut down the Pigeon Corp. The service of the homing pigeon went dormant until the 1970’s when the US Coast Guard started using them again but in a different way. During the 1940’s pigeons in a Tufts University lab had proven the exceptional ability to pick out certain shapes and colors in exchange for food. The US Coast Guard decided the same abilities could be useful while searching for men and equipment in open waters so they set up some testing using a small observation bubble on the bottom of some their helicopters stationed near San Francisco. This project called Project Sea Hunt used three pigeons that faced 120 degrees from each other so that they covered the entire 360 degrees under the helicopter. The pigeons were 92 percent reliable in finding the test subjects or objects where humans were found to be in the 30-40 percent range. The project never got out of the testing phase and was ended in 1983 due to federal budget cuts so the birds did not get a chance to actually save any lives.
(Excerpts taken from the History Channels production called Animals in Action, and Jerome Pratt’s book titled Courageous Couriers.)
GimpyMonday, Feb. 24, 1941 From the day he got his feathers Gimpy was a superior bird. Master Sgt. Clifford Algy Poutre, the lean, leathery boss pigeon man at the Signal Corps pigeon lofts on the Jersey flats at Fort Monmouth, liked to say that the Army would hear from Gimpy some day. His breed was right. His father, old red Kaiser, captured in a German trench in the Argonne, is still the oldest military pigeon in the business (24 last month), and his Scotland-hatched mother had good blood in her.
Related ArticlesSince Sgt. Poutre gave Gimpy the job of instructing younger pigeons last fall, he has turned out 150 graduates, trained to fly back to the trailer lofts as straight as a crow. Taken farther and farther away each day from Monmouth, he led them back unerringly to the loft, showed them that a pigeon can fly with a message capsule on leg or back. Last week, on his twisted right leg, three-year-old Gimpy stumped among a new class of 52 youngsters, fixed them with a hard eye.Gimpy got the game leg that named him before he was two years old. One wintry day he was released in Trenton, got lost in a snowstorm, went over Brooklyn just over the housetops, finally ran out of ceiling. He cracked up in a backyard and broke his leg. Set by a man named Somervell (who had pigeons of his own), Gimpy's leg turned out badly, but within two months he was back on the job with a name instead of a number. Last spring Gimpy worked in the maneuvers in Louisiana, lost three of his 17 ounces in the fierce heat, but always came in with the tissue-paper message that front-line men had put in his capsule. And in the fall, when the Signal Corps started breeding and training 3,600 new birds, Gimpy was promoted to an instructor's job.
Among the 1,000 Army pigeons in the Fort Monmouth lofts, Gimpy is as monogamous as the next old soldier. His mate is a three-year-old hen named Matilda. He ran her out of his nest four times before they settled down. Today, like any suburban pigeon, he sits on the eggs six hours a day while Matilda gets a rest.
Gimpy's only fault is that he likes to land on the way home, sometimes leads his recruits into a grassy plot for a rest and stroll, while he stumps around, gabbling officiously. But no one in Fort Monmouth's pigeon company will admit that these fine feathered soldiers ever hitch rides on Army trucks.*
-As Major Leonard Nason charged last fortnight in a denunciatory book, Approach to Battle. "Dependence on pigeons as a means of signal communication," said he "is leaning on a broken reed." Week the book was published, Major Nason was ordered to active service.
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Vaccination adviceThe paramixo-vaccination is obliged for all pigeons every year.The choice is what vaccine to use, The most obvious is Nobilis paramyxo ; which is the cheapest and the only one prepared from the pigeon virus and it therefore creates a large resistance.Comparable is Colombovac, which is a bit more expensive, Colombovac also provide a combination with pox (Colombovac PMV Pox).Against paratyphoid Salmo pt Van Der Sluis vaccine can can be used as well as Colombovac Paratyphoid, both give a pretty good protection and are especially important for risk-bearing lofts.Never vaccinate within a period of three weeks before pairing or The racing season.Young birds can be vaccinated from weaning (3!/2 weeks old) on.Never vaccinate when the birds are sick.