How to make a pigeon pedigree, step by step

Collect the details first

Start with the facts, not the layout. For the pigeon and every ancestor you want to show, have these ready:

• the ring number, copied from the ring or the papers, not from memory
• the name, if the bird has one
• colour and sex
• the breeder, especially for bought-in birds
• the best results, with position, race point and number of birds

Take results from the official result lists of your club or organisation. Then a buyer can check them too.

Build the pedigree in the right order

1. Put the pigeon itself on the left, with ring number, name, colour, sex and its own results.
2. Put the sire top right and the dam bottom right. The order is the same everywhere, so stick to it.
3. Fill in the grandparents: the sire's parents at the top, the dam's parents at the bottom. Again, sire above and dam below every time.
4. Go as far back as your details allow. Four generations on one A4 sheet is usual. Leave a box empty rather than fill it with something you are not sure of.
5. Add your name or loft name and the date at the bottom, so it is clear who drew up the pedigree.

Write results the way fanciers read them

Write every result the same way: position, race point, number of birds, and the level where it helps. For example "1st Bourges 4,120 birds" or "3rd Nat Argenton 2,736 birds". That way anyone can compare them at a glance.

• Choose the best results, not all of them. Three strong results read better than twenty ordinary ones.
• Put a bird's results with that bird, not with its parents. Results of relatives go in as "brother of ..." or "sister of ...".
• Always give the number of birds. A position without the entry count tells a buyer little.

By hand, in Excel or with software?

By hand on a pre-printed pedigree form is quick for one bird, but every copy has to be written out again and you cannot search them.

In Word or Excel you can copy and adjust, but the layout shifts easily, and you retype the same grandparents in every pedigree they appear in.

With pedigree software you enter each pigeon once. When it comes back as a sire or granddam, it is there straight away with all its details. A good tool also turns it into a neat PDF. What to look for when choosing one is in pigeon pedigree software.

Honest is best

A pedigree is a promise to whoever buys or breeds from the bird. Only include results you can show and do not fill boxes in by guesswork. That is why every PigeonVault PDF carries the name of whoever made it and a reference number, and you can add a certificate of authenticity.