The Brno enthusiast has been breeding carrier pigeons for sixty years Company News Brněnská Drbna
Jaroslav Novotný, 69, knows literally the first and lasting about carrier pigeons. Not to mention that the former employee of the agricultural institute has been working on an unusual hobby for more than sixty years. Even though he is retired today, he is definitely not going to nail the unconventional hobby that has been inherited from father to son in the Novotná family for several generations. The graduate engineer still remains the president of the Czech-Moravian Association of Carrier Pigeon Breeders and is looking for his successor.
Jaroslav Novotný In Brno, he has been breeding carrier pigeons since childhood, just like most breeders in the Czech Republic. This is a challenging hobby, especially in terms of time and money, so it is difficult to start with it on your own. In addition to the aviary, you need to buy a car to transport the two-legged pets to the races and enough food for their livelihood. At the same time, it is necessary to devote almost all free time to the non-traditional hobby, because feathers require intensive care all year round. “Even though one has a love for nature and a relationship with animals, it is difficult for him to start. Maybe that’s why we have been drastically declining in recent years, ” describes the breeder.
Pigeon breeding is an expensive hobby
Pigeon care, which includes food, medicine and vaccines, costs tens of thousands of crowns a year. To this must be added the cost of the races and the electronic system through which the animals can race. “Every pigeon has an electronic chip on his leg, thanks to which he can register for races, without him he would not be able to participate in the competition at all.” explains the man who currently owns about forty pairs of birds.
The feather racing season is from the beginning of May to the end of August. Competitors must first register for the competition. At the set date and time, the birds will be picked up by a car, which will load them all and take them to the starting point. These are usually about two thousand pieces. From the time the pigeon arrives back home and the distance it had to fly, its speed is calculated and the winner is determined.
It will fly up to a thousand kilometers
“They compete on short, medium and long distances. The shortest is a hundred kilometers, it will fly here in an hour and a half. On the contrary, the longest is a thousand kilometers, that is from the coast of Belgium, and it is usually flown overnight. We train them, but we didn’t have the stress to get used to the transport. There is a lot of speculation and scientific study about how they know where to fly. We know it’s mostly weather, but no one knows how it works. ” says the 69-year-old, who is also a passionate cactus grower.
Pigeons are trained using motivational methods. One of them, which is currently almost exclusive, is the so-called widow. The bird is burned, then its partner is taken away. The male then only sits for a week and does nothing, only occasionally flies and feeds.
“Only before the race will we show the male a female, but she must not start anything with her. He just looks at her, and then we send him to the start. He then knows that he will have a partner there when he arrives, so he hurries back terribly. So that’s such a sexual whip for him, “ states Novotný.
Novotný currently has forty pairs of pigeons
One piece for a million
Pigeons all have the same genetic background. Thanks to many years of breeding, many races have emerged. Only the post office already have the ability to return home. The price for one such bird is usually in the order of ten thousand crowns, but it can reach up to a million. At the same time, they live to be twenty years old, but they are productive for the plant until about the eighth year. After that, they are often allowed to spend, because space must be created in the aviary for new promising pieces.
There are also situations where some pigeons do not return from the race. They will roam or be eaten by a predator. Predator attack is one of the most common reasons for losses. Sometimes it also flies to a foreign birdhouse. In that case, they usually eat and fly back home after a few days. But sometimes dishonest breeders keep them with them and don’t let them go. “It happened to me that one ward returned to me after seven years. He was thirteen when he arrived. I still wanted to keep him for breeding, but I found out that he was already infertile. Someone took advantage of him when he gave birth to him and then fired him. ” recalls an enthusiastic breeder who has no follower for his hobbies yet.
In addition to the races that Novotný and his pets take part in in the summer, they also take part in exhibitions over the winter. I’m retired at the moment, so I have more time to take care of the animals, but at the same time I feel that I would like to help him. His sons are not interested in his breeding passion yet, so the future of his pigeons is currently in the stars.
In winter, instead of racing, pigeons take part in shows