Mangile's Pigeon Pages

American Pigeon Journal
August 1987, page 28.

Cross-filIng Your Pigeon Record Book

by Robert J. Mangile

 Grabbing one of my 300+  pigeons, a visiting pigeon fancier asked: "...Do you know which birds this one is out of?"

Quickly scanning the 'band-list', I found the Pair Number from which it came, turned to the Pair Number in the record book and held it up for  him to see.

 "How did you find that information so quickly?", he asked in  amazement. "Simple... !",  I replied.  First, make a 'band-list' of all the bands intended for use.  It can be a continuous list or an annual list and should be in numerical order.  After recording a squab's band number in its record, then go to the 'band-list' and enter the Pair Number - from which it came - opposite the band number.  Look at this example:
 

* Band List for 1985 *
Band-Number:	Pair-Number:
NPA-85-B-2150	67a
NPA-85-B-2151	79b
NPA-85-B-2152	lost-band
AU-85-PHP-1900	86c
AU-85-PHP-1901	91f
etc.	etc.

"That looks simple enough, but why are letters following the Pair Numbers?", he asks. That is yet another coding method to quickly locate a birds' record after you find the Pair record.  Always try to assign a 'letter' to every egg you intended to hatch.  If the egg hatches and the squab gets banded, the egg or clutch 'letter' is added to the Pair Number when entered on the band-list.

 When eggs fail to hatch and squabs die or go unbanded, they still have a record number.  For example: Using the Pair records shown (below); 79a ... directs you to the Pair Number '79' and to the egg/clutch letter (a).  Notice that the bird was not banded but the information is still available for tabulations.  If a non-seamless or irregular sized band is used, simply add the band number to your band-list. (No duplicate numbers allowed).

***Exercise: Using 'band-list' (above), find records for the following band numbers:  NPA-85-B-2151 and AU-85-PHP-1900.
 

Year 1985                         Open Loft - Nest F                                       Pair No. - 79       From John Doe                 Grizzle Blue Check                                        Cock       June - 1983                        Racing Homer (blind in one eye)                  IPB-82-GX-2568       Pair No. l4c                        Ash Red Bar                                                  Hen                                                  Racing Homer (crop frilled)                          AU-82-ORC-258

(a)  Hatched Feb. 10?, 1985_ ---       Not Banded              ---         Grizzle ___   _ _   __---    Hen  (Accidental hatching, failing to destroy eggs.)  February 21, 1985, found about half-grown and well feathered, estimated hatch date at Feb. 10th., plumage looks blue grizzled, could not get seamless band on leg.  This bird should be a hen, (sex-linked mating), no signs of crop frill or blindness. (b) Hatched Feb. 10?, 1985    ---        NPA-85-B-2151       ---          Ash-Red Check     ---    Cock  Accidental hatching - (see nestmates notes.) Managed to band with  seamless band, plumage looks like a Red Checker and should be a cock, no signs of crop frill or blindness.

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Year 1985                         Open Loft - Nest A                                        Pair No. - 86       Stray bird                           Blue Check T-Pattern                                    Cock       Oct. - 1981                         Racing Homer (white patch on crop)             IF-81-COL-2804       Pair No. 24a                      Grizzle Blue Bar                                             Hen       Roller-King Hybrid          (white tail and flights)                                     AU-83-PHP-493

(a) Destroyed June 13, 1985    ---   Failed to hatch, dead embryo.  (b) Hatched June 11, 1985_________________________________________________________ Bill of squab totally flesh color, probably a recessive white.  June 15, 1985, squab found dead for no apparent reason. (c) Laid July 4, 1985 --- Hatched July 22, 1985  ---  AU-85-PHP-1900  --- Solid White -- - Hen?  Squab has totally flesh bill when hatched.  July 30, 1985, incoming plumage appears to be solid white, apparently both parents carry the recessive white gene.  October 23, l985, bird acts like a hen, plumage is solid white, could not find a single colored feather in plumage; but has one orange eye.  Recessive whites always have bull-eyes; therefore, parents DO NOT carry the recessive white gene and this birds white plumage is likely due to an accumulation of other pied or whitening factors. (d) Laid July 6, 1985 --- Hatched July 23, 1985 _______________________________________ Squab has a blackened bill and blackened toes.  July 26, 1985, cut-up during a fight for nextbox, forced to kill this squab.

 It is really simple once you put it into use.  You could modify things to meet your needs and desires without loosing the basic format of the system.  I prefer the Mylar reinforced edge, three-holed, unlined loose-leaf notebook paper.  Allowing about two or three inches for each birds' record removes the restrictions of line paper and notes could be squeezed in anywhere.

When Pair records grow beyond a single sheet, simply code the pages as 'sheet 1', 'sheet 2', etc.  Or just alphabetically add a capital letter after the Pair Number for each additional page.... 79-A, 79-B, 79-C, etc.  Everything can be compiled in numerical as well as alphabetically order in a loose-leaf notebook.

Descriptions and elaborations are endless!  Study the records presented here.  The system does, in fact, work.  Its principals have been in use for decades.  It will never exhaust itself, whether you keep one or several breeds.  A lifetime of records are kept within the framework of one system which could be used selectively or cumulatively, depending on your needs.  If everyone installs this system, data could be gathered from any number of fanciers quite easily and perhaps some of the mysteries of pigeon breeding may be uncovered for all the pigeon fancy to acknowledge.

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