Any Eye Sign Specialists

[NeilA]

Dave isn’t saying he believes it all King and I am not either
But we have shown interest in it so we have some knowledge on the subject

[Andy]

Unless a fancier is actually buying a bird on it's eye, judging your own birds on eyesign is a little pointless. If you haven't got the colour eye in your loft you are after, you aren't going to breed it by chance. Eye colour like feather colour is genetic. You can only breed what colour genetics allows. If you have 2 nestmates one you view with a 'good' eye colour and the other without, BOTH birds are still able to produce the same eye colour.
And any fancier racing I would expect to pair his birds on performance and not on their eyes?
And whilst this tread is interesting for views, history has proven that the vast majority of 'eyesign' experts are known for eyesign rather than actual racing.

I agree with what you’re saying on eye colour being genetic. Yes 2 nest mates with the same colour will produce the same colour. But if one has a good eye and the other not it will be the one with the good eye that will produce the better youngsters.
I agree performance comes first but I think it’s a useful tool when selecting pairs and my best ever producer had a cracking eye for breeding but was useless at racing. Her sister who’s eye wasn’t as good was a good racer and won Lerwick 650mls. She never breed anything to talk about.

[Andy]

Brilliant Andy - every day is a school day!!
So, saying that Neils picture is ok as a breeding eye, what sort of eye would you be looking for to compliment it and moreover, what would not compliment it.
I appreciate that the whole thing is much more complex than what you are posting but I would like to understand
the basic principles to check out my own birds.

The type of eye I would put the last one of Neil’s too would be one with a nice wide inner circle with no shading.
By coincidence this is the one that Neil had thought of pairing to it, which in my opinion would be a good match.

[Andy]

There’s no reason why it couldn’t go to a yellow, old gold etc as long as the inner circle was good and it had a bit of room in the iris.

[Andy]

I never used eye sign King but it’s handy to understand how to stop your family going downhill by having a bit of knowledge to prevent it
If your pairing and in two minds over a pair and say have two hens you rate equal then eyesign might be something that would help decide the pairings if you can’t decide
I can’t say of it works as I have never used it once

That is my view on using eyesign.

[Andy]

I would say Neil the best way to assess if a family is going downhill is to look at the result sheet on a Saturday night

The rest of it, not just eyesign - is all pretty meaningless really

I agree Mike. Although as I’ve already stated my best ever breeding hen was useless at racing.

[MIL]

Yes results first I totally agree I just wondered how it all worked as our mutual friend (NB) is bang into eyes and I have no knowledge what so ever

When I go catch my flight on Wednesday i've gotta pick him a hen out

Grizzle no doubt

No, I can guarantee it'll not be Grizzle

[Andy]

Andy could you explain breeding lines as I think I am confusing them with shade
There both in the inner circle are they ?

The breeding lines are within the inner circle. They are different from the dark shading. The dark shading is an area where the colour of the inner circle is covered by an area of black. The breeding lines are ripples of almost the same colour as the inner circle colour. I tried finding a photo that easily shows it bt can’t find one that’s clear enough. They aren’t very common.

[MIL]

Not at all Mil, you can say that of all the "theories" and you probably do, but all of us have our own little fads and fancies which go towards making the sport more enjoyable for the individual.
May not be anything in it but unless you look into it for yourself I dont see how you can dismiss it. Thats just the way I look at it anyway mate - each to thier own.
The reason I want to know about it so that I know what others are looking at when they look at the eye.
I have to agree with King about the colour being genetic but would like to know a bit more about the format and principles of eyesign which could also be genetic and therefore it could confirm or even take the place of a pedigree. It certainly has the potential to be more reliable than a written pedigree in the current light of affairs lol.

I agree, we might all have our little "quirks" that we might like to see

But at the end of it all, these "quirks" are meaningless if you're getting your arse kicked every week

I never met a good eyesign man that I couldn't beat 9 races outta 10

That tells me everything I need to know about eyesign

[Andy]

Not at all Mil, you can say that of all the "theories" and you probably do, but all of us have our own little fads and fancies which go towards making the sport more enjoyable for the individual.
May not be anything in it but unless you look into it for yourself I dont see how you can dismiss it. Thats just the way I look at it anyway mate - each to thier own.
The reason I want to know about it so that I know what others are looking at when they look at the eye.
I have to agree with King about the colour being genetic but would like to know a bit more about the format and principles of eyesign which could also be genetic and therefore it could confirm or even take the place of a pedigree. It certainly has the potential to be more reliable than a written pedigree in the current light of affairs lol.

Dave I raced over 50 years. Went to many eyesign evenings. I met several of best known experts. Only one did I find interesting. That was Brian May, he was one of the most knowledgable men I have ever met. He talked of both pigeon eyes & human eyes. He explained what the eye could tell us? Most of what it told us was about health, NOT ability.
The eye will NEVER take the place of a pedigree. A pedigree written by a honest man, will be FACT.
Eyesign will ALWAYS remain theory. Many birds when sold or photographed often have a picture of the eye on the pic or pedigree. If it was so important why doesn't the eye pic come with any explanation?

I don’t like the photos of the eyes that are put beside the photo of the pigeon. Both are airbrushed and not true reflections of the bird. The photos of the pigeons are all within the same template.