My friend Stan is right on. Box birds do not suffer from plucking. However, a Columbaire may pull a few feathers from his bird to cause erratic flight. The feathers I have seen Columbaires pull from a pigeon would not cause much if any pain. In my opinion, it is more for the mental effect on the shooter than it is for the flight of the bird. My Dad used to tell me about "handling" birds at my Grandfather's ring, but I dismissed it as just "folk talk". My Dad's birds were homing pigeons and I doubt that they handled them much at all. After all, they had to use them again if they were missed. Murphy
Last edited by eightbore; 12/17/12 06:50 PM.
