While I have been packing the cases, John has been sorting out the pigeons, we will be away for 24 days, so he needs to make sure that the automatic drinking system is working okay and the feed hoppers are full. Richard will be in and out every day and will keep a watch full eye out to make sure everything is running okay, in past years everything has worked to perfection and nobody has had to go into the lofts while we are away, so fingers crossed for this year. We are taking my laptop with us this year as I hope to be able to use the internet while we are away to book hotels on route.

We will be travelling about 2,000 miles by road all told. Tuesday night we are booked into the Ramada in International drive, this is only a short drive from Orlando airport. When I booked our flights way back in April, I had booked the early flight out of Gatwick. The reason for this was so that we would land in daylight and be able to drive 60 miles up the motor way on the Tuesday night, before stopping overnight in a hotel, which would have meant we would have only had 350 miles to drive on the Wednesday and 150 on the Thursday morning. To get to Spartanburg in the North West corner of South Carolina for the Dixie Southern Pigeon convention.

Then in July we got a letter from Virgin airways saying the early flight was cancelled and we had been transferred onto the later flight, at that point, we decided to book the Ramada in International drive for the first night and make an early start on the Wednesday. Then a week before we left we received our tickets and low and behold we were back on the early flight, but as I had already booked the Hotel we left things as they were and intend having a good nights sleep before we start our journey.

It is now December and we are now home safe and sound, after what was the most unusual holiday we have ever had. Where do I start? We had not even left England before we had a problem. We had an evening meal in the hotel before retiring to our room, by 1am I am up being sick and this went on all night, thankfully, it had stopped by the time we had to go to the airport, but both of us were shattered having had no sleep. After an uneventful flight we arrived at the Dollar car hire site in Orlando airport to pick up our hire car that had been booked and paid for including there top insurance policy, way back in April, only to be informed that the all inclusive insurance no longer included any problems with tyres or AAA cover. Of course if we wanted to pay another $132.They would insure us. John decided not to pay the extra fee, as it seemed unlikely that we would have a problem with the tyres. Wrong. After a nights sleep we were up early, ready to start our drive to our first stop, which was at St George 410 miles.

I decided that I had better text our Son’s to let them know we had arrived, that was when we realized that the new mobile phone that we had brought only weeks before did not work in the USA, yes it was a tri band, we had made sure of that before we brought it. then we discovered that we could not use our computer either because although we had been assured in the UK that the Dongle we had brought only needed a US Sim card which we could buy from Best Buy no problem, except we had not been told that we would need to sign up for two years. So it is now 10am and we have no phone or email, so we buy a new phone and think that is the end of our problems.

Back on the motor way with the sun shining, we thought we would be at our hotel by late afternoon. Suddenly in front of us was this metal thing on the motorway, there was no hope of John avoiding it, the front tire went bang, by the time we got to the hard shoulder there were two other cars in the same state as us. The tire was beyond repair, so John changed the tire and put the get you home tire on, luckily for us our Sat Nav worked and we got it to show us the way to the nearest garage, which turned out to be Sears. Of course, they did not have the same make, but a similar one.

We decided that we had better ring Dollar car hire and see if it was okay to use this similar one. An hour later, we were told no it had to be a Firestone tire. According to Sears computer base there garage in Daytona Beach had one so as it was sort of on route, we set of there. Yes, you guessed it, same number wrong make. Help, it is 2pm. and we have only completed about 50 miles of our journey.

The salesman said look across the complex, there is a Firestone unit there, with grateful thanks we drove across to Firestone and thankfully they had the right tire, so at 3pm. with a new tire and being $145 out of pocket, we set of for St George and a nights sleep. One thing to be said for there motorways is you do not get the hold ups you get at home, at one stretch we went 18 miles without seeing a motor in front or behind us. M25 eat your heart out.

Next morning we both felt shattered, but after an early morning breakfast, we set of on another 150-mile drive, with the help of the SatNav we made it to the hotel for the Dixie Southern Pigeon Convention, with out any more problems. We had only just got to our room when Derrick and Denise Humphreys were at the door; they hale from Manchester but have been living in Atlanta for the past 22 years. They had put pigeons for us in the one Loft race and the convention race in our name. When they first arrived in the USA Derrick called everyone, he met Mate, as we do in this country.

With his strong Manchester accent, people thought he was called Mate, and now he is know by everyone as The Mate, he even flies under the name The Mate. He races the same Mark Evans GabyVandenabeele as we do, the only difference is we brought ours direct from Mark and his came from Mark Evans, but was brought from his USA supplier so of course John and Derrick have a lot to talk about, they discussed the possibility of sending some top Gaby Vandenabeele over to Derrick.

Denise and I had a catch up on our families. As more and more people arrived for the convention, they kept asking where Carlos and Judy were, being the Queens Loft manager everyone wants to meet them, so there were a few disappointed fanciers, as Judy and Carlos could not make it this year. Most of the old faces were there, but the one we missed the most was our old friend Carroll Smith. He died after a short illness last summer, most fanciers knew he had died but some did not and it brought tears to my eyes every time when someone asked me where he was. The two oldest members were there, Walter and Edd are both 92 years young.

Edd is still working as an auctioneer and is the auctioneer for the Dixie. Also there was one of the youngest members four year old Daylin Lee and his Dad Stanley, what a great Lad he was, I am sure he will be racing on his own one day. All the pigeons for the race are brought by there handlers to the hotel and put in show pens so that anyone can see and handle the birds before they go to the race. There were two races “a one loft race “with prize money of $15,000.00 where all the birds are sent to the one loft. The same as we have here. And another race where the pigeons are sent to the host club, which this year was the Spartanburg, flying club.

Then the members of that club who wish to take part are given a batch of pigeons to treat as there own. If you send birds to the race and wish your birds to go to a certain loft you can request that, if not they are split between the members. This race had prize money of $21,000.00. It is while the birds are on show that the fanciers decide after having a good look and maybe handling the birds which ones they are going to pool. A lot of money changes hands on the Thursday night. On the walls around the room are lists of the birds that are in the race.

Against each bird there is a space to put x from $1 to $100. Pooling starts by the breeders being able to pool there own birds first; they get 30 minutes to decide. Then the handlers get the chance to put x against any birds that they had in there lofts that the breeder has not put a x in. after they have had 30 minutes it is a free for all and anyone can fill in the remaining free places. They then start marking the birds for the race. And while this is going on Edd starts the auction, you are not buying the pigeon you are buying the position the bird comes in the race.

Say my bid of $90 was the highest bid, and John was the under bidder at $80, I would have to pay $90 and John as under bidder would have to pay $80. Still with me? Should this pigeon come in first I would win the $90 pot and John would win the $80 pot. Next, they auction the Breeder and then the Handler the same way. Therefore, as you can see a lot of money is spent. The organising club takes a percentage of the pool money, to help cover there costs.

The pooling gets everyone going and with the odd pint of beer, it has been know for some to run each other up. It is all good fun and can go on until late in the evening.

The race was a 250-mile race from Lebanon Tennessee this meant that the birds would have to come across the mountains, something that most had not done before. Friday morning and there was not a cloud in the sky a brilliant blue sky, the only worry was the fact that the Moon and Sun were visible. The Convention race birds were liberated at 7.30am and the One Loft Race birds were liberated an hour later at 8.30am. Each participating loft lays on food and drink and you can go to any loft you wish to see the birds come home.

We went with Derrick and Denise to the lofts of Billy and Lenare Johnson; there was quite a few of us there being well fed and having a good time sitting out in the sun. We were given a tour of Billy’s loft and then it was time to get down to the serious business of watching the sky for what would hopefully be the winning Pigeon. Billy’s loft is designed so that everything is as easy as possible, it has grilled floors, and about 12inchs under the grilled floor is a thick tarpaulin sheet so when cleaning out is required, a hinged flap the full length of the back of the loft is lifted so that the tarpaulin can be pulled out and easily cleaned and hosed down.

At the front left hand side, note the bolting wires, where the training crates are placed for loading the pigeons. In addition, the wire frames at the front lift up to form an aviary. Nine lofts had sent 158 birds and they were liberated into a variable wind with clear sky it was not that warm as it was 35 degrees. Billy had sent 35 birds, so we were all expecting to see a good few birds dropping in, the expected time came and went and by 2.30pm. People were beginning to think it was not going to be an easy race after all. Just as people were beginning to think there might not be any day birds three birds were spotted in the sky, relieve all round they dropped on the loft and two went in first through the trap was a BB Hen at 15.25. 16 the breeder of this bird was Dave Donnelly. The second bird a BB Cock was timed at 15.25. 38 this one was bred by Bob McCarty.

The third bird sat on the loft and in the end, it flew of in the direction it had come from. The phones started to ring as the news went around that Billy had birds and it soon became clear that Billy’s birds were the only two home. Billy had another bird at 16.10.42.the breeder of this bird was Skip Cason. and they took the first three places in the race. In fourth place was King Loft, fifth and sixth places went to McDonough lofts. 7th. Davis Lofts and the last bird home on the day to take 8th. Whiterock loft. He timed in at 17.05.09. By then it was almost dark. After we had seen the Billy’s birds come home we went over to the one loft race to see if they had any birds home, and it was there that I got a good photo of The AU Exetitive Director Karen Clifton and Alvin Petty who hales from Chattanooga doing there interpretation of the birdie dance. I did warn them I would include it in my article. We were at Alvin’s loft in 2006 when he won the Dixie Southern convention race.

We have promised Karen that we will go to Oklahoma next November for the AU Centenary Celebrations. Karen is a great lady who works very hard for the American Union. Over at the one loft race, it was even worse with no bird’s home on the day. They had one bird home at 11.45.11 next day and one home on the third morning at 07.18.30.

No one knew what to do, as there was prize money for the first 20 bird’s home in both races. In the end they decided to leave the races open until the 20 positions had been filled. When we left on the Sunday morning, they had still not been able to fill all the places so the race was still open. It was so sad as many good birds were lost. We were told that this happens sometimes the birds just do not come across the mountains. We have the same problem sometimes when the birds do not come across the channel. Therefore, we felt for the handlers who had spent all season getting these birds in the best possible condition for this one race, it was heart breaking for them.

Since we have been home, we have had an email from Derrick saying that the pigeon he had put in the one loft race in our name had been reported in Pigeon Forge. which is in the Smoky Mountains and would you believe it when we left the convention we went to Pigeon Forge for a week, so we were there when our Pigeon was reported. The Banquet went ahead on the Saturday evening and a good time was had by all even though no money was paid out to the winners. It turned into a late night for a few of us. Next year the Dixie Southern Convention is being held in Tennessee.

We left Spartanburg on the Sunday morning for the 150-mile drive to Pigeon Forge. We had decided to use the motor way as that was quicker and shorter than driving through the Smoky Mountains on the scenic route. We were doing okay until we were stopped in our tracks by a mayor rock fall that had completely closed the motor way. The diversion took us back through the Smoky Mountains scenic route. It is very pretty so we did not mind too much it just added a couple of hours to our journey. As we were coming down the mountain into Pigeon Forge we stopped and looked at this trickle of water slowly running down the mountain over the rocks it looked very peaceful.

It was warm and sunny. Pigeon Forge is the home of Dolly Parton and country music. It is a very pretty area with plenty to do. With the Dolly Parton theme park and plenty of shows in the evenings. In both Pigeon Forge and the next town of Gatlinburg, they had the main street lit up with the Christmas lights. On the television, they kept talking about Hurricane Ida that was causing problems in Atlanta where they were having flooding and trees down, but as we were about 150 miles away, we did not think it would affect us. Wrong. by Tuesday the heavens opened and it rained all day, we had booked a show for the evening so we had to go out but it was not raining so hard by then. There were many empty seats because many coach trips from out of town had not been able to get there. We were lucky because our hotel was very close by.

By Wednesday, it had moved on and we were shocked when we went out to see the flooding and the little trickle of water that we had seen on Sunday was now a raging torrid of water pouring down the Mountain. What a fantastic sight. and one we could not take in, I took lots of photos and as I am writing this I have just looked at them and I still cannot believe the power of the water and how the scenery can change that much over night, with trees that were on dry land now bending over with the force of the water rushing past them. If you want a slightly different holiday from the theme Parks in Orlando, and you like scenery, as well as entertainment, you will enjoy Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg in Tennessee.

Derrick and Denise had offered to put us up for a few days after we left Pigeon Forge. As we could have gone through Atlanta on our way to Orlando, but because of the bad weather they had in Atlanta we decided to go back the way we had come and miss Atlanta, so we stayed a few extra days in Pigeon Forge and did not move on until Saturday. We had a 300 mile trip back to St George, where we intended staying the night, once again we were driving along the motor way when we again came across the rock fall we pulled into a parking lot and the women there gave us a map showing the diversion. Unbelievably it was a 161 mile round trip to miss these rocks.

Luckily she suggested that we go on the old route that the locals still used that went through the mountains and that would only take us an extra two hours and 65 miles of mountain roads. In the end, it was so pretty that we were glad that we had gone that way. We made St George just as it was getting dark, booked into a hotel had a meal and went to bed.

Next morning John’s cold had got worse but we still had to drive 200 miles to St Augustine. Next day we made it to Orlando and by then John was not at all well and he needed to see a doctor. He saw the doctor and was put on a nebulizer machine and given antibiotics and steroids the cost $320. Thankfully, that made him feel a lot better and we managed to enjoy the rest of our holiday in Orlando without any more mishaps. On the way home, we were given a free upgrade on the plane so at last something had gone right. Roll on next year.

When we arrived home, we had a chat with our son Jonathan about Derrick’s suggestion of sending some pigeons over to Atlanta. He thought it was a good idea and contacted Derrick Humphreys (The Mate, as he is known), he has now had a

Number of conversations with Derrick about the M&D Evans Gaby Vandenabeele and the Ron Williamsons birds and they have decided to set up a partnership loft in Atlanta. Formula 1 lofts are going to be sending brothers/Sisters sons/daughters of there multi national winning stock birds to Derrick to both race and to sell young birds, from these top bloodlines in America. The first batch of pigeons is scheduled to leave for the USA in early 2010.

Pam Gladwin. Tel 01702 542019 or email pamelagladwin@yahoo.co.uk

He remembers flying with Johnny Tucker, Peter Sadler, Alex Ward and Ron Bennett, Ron is still going strong, he was not as old as the rest, must have been a young lad at that time, the others are sadly no longer with us. John remembers all of these old fliers. John used to fly in the Prittlewell club in the 1950s with his Dad as H Gladwin & Son, and remembers all the people Paul mentioned. Ron Bennett is still racing pigeons; I think he is about 75 now. We used to race with Ron in the Southend club.

Prittlewell club became Southend club, then when Southend clubhouse was burnt down, the members mostly joined Stambridge club. Now, for the very strange thing. We brought Pauls Granddads white dowelled loft, which John thinks, was about 12 ft. long. Way back in the 1970 times. Pauls Granddad was related to Harry Warden the secretary of Prittlewell club and Harry Warden’s Daughter Hilda Married John’s Mothers Brother. What a small world. I myself remember Peter Sadler, Johnny Tucker Alex Ward and of course, Ron, Ron won a race about two years ago, and I took his photo and it was published in the Racing Pigeon. Paul said reading my column brings back the good old memories of when he was a child racing pigeons in Southend.

Basildon TNEC was at Poole on the 10/7/10 they were liberated at 8am. It was the last old bird race of the season. Joe House was first with a grizzle 06 hen and second with a yearling chequer hen. Meg Murray took the next three places.

Colchester Inv RPC Poole 10.7.10 5 sent 54 birds Being pushed all the way the Red Daniel van Reets of Mr & Mrs K Turner and Ritchie Ryder partnership managed to hold on to top spot, they also claimed 5th & 6th positions, Tony Beagrie still maintaining form having another decent race taking 2nd, 3rd & 4th.

Stambridge club were also on there last old bird race this being Thurso. It turned out to be a very hard race with only three birds home Paul Devoto 1st. 2nd. Trevor Chadwick 3rd. more about this race next week, when I will have been to see Paul.

Thames North and Eastern Counties, Poole 10/7/10 35 Members sent 527 Birds South West Wind.

Mr. & Mrs. H. Marler, from Buntingford 1st 2nd. open and west section.

Mr & Mrs T Robinson from Goffs Oak 3rd 4th. Open and West section.

Vic Shaw & Son from Harlow 5th. open and west section.

B Fenech & Son from Epping 6th. 7th. 8th. Open and west section.

Smith & Pennell 9th. open and west section

Bruce McAllister 10th. open and west section.

D Wilton and Son 1st. East section.

First young bird race will be 24th July. So a week off.

In last weeks, article a mentioned about our pigeons not coming across the Thames where we would like them to. In reply, I received this very interesting email from Eileen and Deryl Adams from Sheerness.

We live near the cliffs at Minster, on the north coast of Isle Of Sheppey, and whilst waiting for our pigeons we see many flying along the coastline.  The bottom line is that in our opinion the pigeons will NEVER cross the water at this wide point. We were told some years ago, that the usual place for them to cross is Gravesend, where the break is quite slim across from Essex to Kent.  We live high and can see Southend front very easily, especially on a lovely clear day. When The NFC race from Folkestone they will come along the coast line in their hundreds, and when they race from Maidstone, they come across country again in their hundreds, get to the coast line and do a direct left turn up river.

Sheppey is not a big island, and all our fanciers live on the northern half, which is the populated side, and these pigeons, mentioned above, can be seen flying along the island at varying places, i.e. if our club members at Leysdown see them, after they leave that area, they can fly either along the coast,   or slightly inland, and those fanciers inland will see them, when we don’t about 3-4 miles further along the coast.   The pattern is somewhat erratic to say the least.

I know this is not what you want to read, but these unfortunately are the facts.     There are the very odd occasions when we might see  2, 3, 6?  and they sometimes will fly straight out across the water.

But having said that, we never know if the tide is in or out, as we lay back from the coastline, and if the tide is out, maybe they still fly to the water line and then turn.  Who knows, We wish you well with your racing and our good wishes go to all your members.

We are both aged 75 now, and are well past our “best times”   but still enjoy our hobby. Eileen (and Deryl) Adams. Sheerness Club.

This is such an interesting email that I thought all fanciers should see it. Our Son Michael lives on the highest point in Benfleet Essex just across from Canvey Island and Higham. Moreover, on any given Saturday, he also sees the North road pigeons doing exactly the same thing; they will not go across the Thames at that point.

He says you may see a hundred going along towards Southend pier and then they will turn and come back and head towards the Dartford Tunnel, Gravesend is straight across from the tunnel. It just goes to show that once the birds are in the sky we have no say in what they do.

Talking about that I have written to the head office of the RSPB regarding releasing pigeons on Canvey Marshes. In addition, have had an email back saying they are looking into it and will get back to me shortly.

Thank you to Stephen Holmes who rang them last week after my article appeared in the Homing World and got things moving. Will update you all, when I hear from the RSPB.

Pam Gladwin

Phone me on 01702542019 or 07958463095
Email: pamelagladwin@yahoo.co.uk

That night John walked me home and told me he had just had his birthday and he was sixteen. He talked about his hobbies, cycle Speedway, Football and Pigeon racing. I had no idea what he was talking about.

I had never seen a racing pigeon, knew nothing about cycle speedway, or football and on our first date, he took me to see Southend united play football. Well I have never seen another game of football but I have certainly seen a lot and learnt a lot about Racing Pigeons.

His Father and his Uncle both kept pigeons before the Second World War, but these were all taken away for the war effort when the war started. Therefore, it was not until 1953 that John and his Dad built another loft out of an old pre war shed and got a few pigeons and started racing.

We married in 1961 when we were nineteen and in the garden of our first home John built a pigeon loft and we have had pigeons ever since. We had three boys all of them spent there childhood in and out of the lofts and by the time our eldest two were at secondary school they were racing from there own lofts as Gladwin Bros. As they got older, they found girls and for a while, Pigeons took a back seat. Our youngest son Jonathan took over his Dads birds at a very early age and John used to let him pair them up as he wanted and the only thing he was left to do was pay for everything.

What was I doing all this time, my job was to train the pigeons, we were racing on the north road then and flying with the Essex central fed and the Rayleigh club. Our eldest Son Michael still has pigeons, but because of his work and young family, he does not race them much. Whereas Jonathan has never had a break from the pigeons.  He married Theresa who was a daughter of a pigeon fancier so she knew what she was taking on. She helps Jonathan with the pigeons, which enables him to be able to race as well as travelling up to London each day to work.

Jonathan is also a Partner in “Formula 1 lofts.”  I retired from work due to ill health. It was at this time that I became secretary of the Leigh Club for the first time, when they were flying with the Mid Essex Federation. About this time, I also started writing for the Pigeon Sport. In 1999, we decided to try South road racing and turned the Leigh Club South as well. It was then that my life was taken over by the pigeons. A few of us got together and brought an old transporter.

Had it sign written “Leigh on Sea Racing Pigeon club” I became secretary and John was President. The first year we grew to fifteen members and I started writing for the Racing Pigeon. We had a lot of fun that year. John and I have travelled all over the world meeting pigeon fanciers. Where ever you go if you look up in the sky and see a group of pigeons flying there will be a fancier close by.

Many a time we have met people that way. In America, Spain, Australia and they have become friends. We met a fancier called Carroll (a man) in America, he came over and stayed with us, and we took him to see the Queens Pigeon Lofts. That was a day he never forgot and neither did we.

During my time as secretary of the Leigh Club we did a lot of fund raising, selling pigeons on line and at the phone to enable us to buy a new transporter in 2008. We were also one of the first to embrace ETS; we use the Unikon System and would never go back to a T3 clock. Last year 2009, we had 45 members.

Having written articles on a regular basis for a good many years for the Racing Pigeon I decided to have a change and now write for the Homing World. Last year I was asked to become the Press Officer for the British International Championship Club. That entails a lot of hard work but at the same time, I have met a great many nice people.

Therefore, although pigeon racing is a hobby it can also become a full time job. Pigeon racing is a fascinating sport and one that can be enjoyed by all the family.  We have 8 year olds and 80 year olds in the sport. If you are just starting out then my advice to you is to go along to your nearest club and chat to the fanciers first, offer to help, show willing and you will find fanciers will help you. If you do not know where your local club is. Go on line to www.rpra.org and they will help you, or if you are in Essex, I might be able to help. We meet every Friday and Saturday evening from about 6.45 until 9pm. during the racing season. At the Basildon Football club. We would always be pleased to see you.

Pam Gladwin email me at pamelagladwin@yahoo.co.uk

It’s best to give this extra light in the morning. Personally we give more light during 8 days before the pairing and this between 6 and 9 o’clock in the morning that’s about 2 hours extra light. We don’t do so in the evening because we have the possibility to do all the needed care in the morning. This lightening happens till the couples laid their second egg and during the broad-period this will stop. Now the pigeons will get the chance to prepare to the feed-on period. Only with the breeders we make an exception because their eggs are put under feeding-couples. In fact I only try to give the reader some tips but beware and be careful with the racing-birds because there the light can have some influence on the moulting.

Why is it that the breeding period is so important and why does this form the base of the colony?

Striking of a loft with successful youngsters, is the succession of the ring-numbers. During an excellent breeding-period, the old animals must be in a super condition and at that time they have everything they need and of course they pass it on to the young birds. So many good youngsters will be born at that point. Take a look at the ring-numbers and you’ll notice that these good ones will be born almost at the same period. This proves once more that the extra preparation and the support of the old animals before the pairing most certainly has an effect on the impregnation, the making of the eggs and afterwards with the feeding of the youngsters.

About 14 days before the pairing, the hens must have grit and minerals at their disposal because that’s necessary to make the eggs and it’s the hen that provides the young bird with their first food. Also the cocks have to get enough of vitamins and albumen to come to a proper seed-production of a high quality because he’s the one that has to take care of the impregnation. So five days before the pairing our pigeons get liquid vitamins in their drinking water and besides they also get Zell-oxygen, Optimix or some other condition-powder mixed with their food. The most important aspect is that the birds have the right condition and a super health to be in the mood for the pairing. Another factor is the weight, when the pigeons are too fat, it will be more difficult to impregnate well and the hen will get in trouble when it comes to the lay of her eggs. So the pigeons should have an ideal weight and then they won’t get in trouble when it comes down to the “sex”. This is the aspect that is forgotten very often although it’s important too.

More about the sport

As a person I like to visit several pigeon-clubs as well during the season as in winter. To drink a cup of coffee and talk about the pigeons, which is also a kind of relaxation that is part of our sport. Many times you can hear people talking about the fall of the pigeon sport and they look for all kinds of reasons. Among other reason they blame the strong-playing lofts that take over the whole game and think more about the commercial side of the sport. But let’s be honest and think about it; everybody can go as high or as far as they can and I’m sure that each and every one of us try to reach the top. In fact I think that everybody is able to reach this top but we have to specialise and claim a certain purpose. It’s not the quantity but the quality that counts and we can only reach the top with well-motivated pigeons. What do they mean with the “ Great ones” in our sport? Are these the colonies that arrive with the many pigeons in their basket to leave for the provincial or the national flights or are they the real champions who go for the titles? This is the most important to us fanciers, the one thing we enjoy and must come before everything else. From the moment we would be able to bring this over to other fanciers, we can talk about a good P.R.. To look out to the results of the pairing, the youngsters that are born and the way they grow. Next watch them fly out and learn. Watching the cock in condition when he’s training or the widower at his arrival from a flight. We should be able to promote our sport as a family happening, where every member of the family can do his or her own task. Every weekend again they all look out to watch the birds come home and have a nice comfortable family-weekend. But sad enough we often like to tare each other down and talk about the commercialisation of the sport, which belongs to a certain group of fanciers. After all we have to move along with time and take a look to other sports where this commercialisation is a necessary aspect to keep the sport alive. In the earlier days the fanciers didn’t buy more than 20 or 30 rings but nowadays they talk more about 70 till 100 pieces. It all has to do with the time and the conditions we live in, more chances create more possibilities.

Our sport got more possibilities too in the last few years. The pigeon is still the most important matter but the game, the breeding, the inspection, the loft and the care all became very important aspects too. Besides the training and the food got also more important because of the human impact. The preparation of the athlete, the medical world and the different by-products like vitamins, oils, amino acids, etc. Also the professional information is better in the many different pigeon-papers, which all try to give the best and most modern information in a beautiful “outfit”. This all became part of the pigeon sport. Here we didn’t talk yet about the one-loft races, the possibilities to build out our lofts or the artificial manipulation and the evolution of the clocking-systems.

We always get more possibilities and may be this is the way to give more opportunities to the newcomers. They always talk a lot about having less fanciers but in the earlier days there was one fancier on one loft but nowadays there is more to it then one loft only. More people get involved with our hobby; we have the combinations of friends or relatives, who all take care of one and the same loft with more pigeons and each and every member has his own task. One of the nice things of our sport is that everybody can do this one thing he likes the most. Of course I still admire the older fanciers when I see them pass with their basket on their bicycle because he still has the will and the power to ride for several kilometres with his feathered friends, to give them their private training. This is still a part of our sport, which deserves a lot of respect.

All about the moulting

At the end of September the so-called “resting-period” starts for our pigeons but in fact it isn’t a period of rest. All they can do is recover of the racing-season although they have to work on their new “outfit”. The moulting is working on their future, so we have to do all we can to support our feathered friends and help them to get beautiful, new feathers. The pigeons must be in a super condition so the moulting will happen without problems. After the moulting the pigeons should look at their best because at this time the results of the following season are separated partly. On our own lofts we always take care that the birds get everything they need and they are able to chose from a mixture that contains many different oil-keeping seeds. So since some years we like to use a mix of diet-mixtures, wild seeds and candy-seeds. This lot will go together with the usual moulting-mixture. Besides the pigeons also get on 5 days out of 7 a mix of beer yeast powder, wheat germs, milk powder and vitamins over the food. First we moisten the food with garlic-oil, about one soupspoon per kilo of food.

Almost every day the pigeons get a natural product, based on herbs, in their drinking water. Sometimes we also use tea or apple vinegar to keep the intestines in balance.

Next to this we think it’s also important that the birds get the chance to take a bath once a week because in the moulting-period, the pigeons get more flakes so they start to itch more. At that moment the pigeons like to take a bath to keep their feathers cleaner too.

Once and a while we also go around with a drop against the feather-louse and other parasites. At the same time I also control the poison against the mice because this is the time when they look for warmer places and more food so it’s best to prevent these little animals.

Peanuts: I like to use these nuts and once the pigeons know the peanut, they are very fond of them. In fact these peanuts take care of a reserve of fats that can be used very well during the racing-season. At first the bird will get her first energy out of the sugar but these will be used up very soon, already after some kilometres. Afterwards the pigeons will be able to use the fats and with this energy they can stay in the air for several hours. I must say I don’t know everything about this aspect but I do know that the oil will support the pigeons with reserves, which can be used after some time. Soon after the weaning, the young birds will get to know these peanuts and this for about two months.

Afterwards I continue to give the nuts but not that often anymore. When the racing period starts, the nuts will be given more again and I can assure you that they like it very much. Last season we even add some peanuts to the food of the breeders when they were feeding the young ones. Those peanuts, containing these oils, also take care of the feathers of the birds and our youngsters had beautiful, fat feathers. The only thing that wasn’t that good was the manure, here we saw that the pigeons ate more oil-containing products.

Another advantage of these nuts is the digestion-process, the birds don’t need water to digest the food. Because of the oil they contain, they are softer and more digestible. But I must say that you have to be careful with the nuts because they have to be of a very good quality or else they can be like poison in their body and their results will go down during the racing-season. When it comes this far, the liver has to work much harder so the body will not be able to do heavy efforts.

In fact I know some fanciers with this problem and they didn’t know what to do and at the end they visited the vet and after a long examination at the lab, they concluded the intoxication of the mouldy peanuts. So here we have to be very careful! It’s best to taste the peanuts yourself first and when you think there’s something wrong, you best don’t give them to your birds.

Yours in sport, Hilaire

I would love to share with you, my methods of feeding over the year. I have quote different feeding practices for each season.

The first thing you should know is that I grit my loft often and throughout the year. Without fail! I always grit the loft. I do grit more during the breeding times. I always mix with rock salt and some vitamin minerals too. It is so important to keep your loft gritted in my opinion as it helps the birds to digest their foods properly. A trick my father used to use is to smash up old oyster shells and add them to the grit; this means the pigeons can take the calcium and other vitamins from the shells when they eat the grit.

Before I get into my methods, I will also say that every two weeks I add a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to 2 litres of water. This acts as a mild ant-acid and helps to keep the pigeons healthy.

Right, now onto my feeding methods.

Through the winter period, I feed the birds well. They will usually get

• 20% Beans
• 20% Maize
• 20% Wheat
• 30% Barley
• 5% Oats
• 5% Sunflower Seeds.

During spring, in the pairing up/breeding time they will get.

• 25% Beans
• 5% Peas
• 10% Linseed
• 20% Maize
• 20% Wheat
• 5% Barley
• 5% Sunflower Seeds
• 5% Rapeseed
• 5% Hempseed

During Racing season and throughout summer I will feed

• 10% Beans
• 10% Peas
• 10% Tares
• 5% Linseed
• 20% Maize
• 20% Wheat
• 5% Indian Millet
• 5% Sunflower Seeds
• 5% Rapeseed
• 5% Hempseed
• 5% White Dari

And then in the moulting period of autumn I use:

• 20% Beans
• 5% Peas
• 5% Linseed
• 25% Maize
• 20% Wheat
• 10% Sunflower Seeds
• 5% Rapeseed
• 5% Hempseed
• 5% White Dari

Obviously this is a rough guide and it suits MY birds. Not all fanciers will agree with me here, and I am sure we all have very different methods of feeding at different times of the year – but this is my idea of good feeding.

I hope this helps you out, especially the younger or more inexperienced fanciers.

Thanks,
The Joker

Please discuss using the comments below…

Hello folks and hope you and the birds are doing what they are supposed to be doing. After the first Open race in the I.S.R.F. from Waterville near Velentia, we rang the winner Billy Harris (Dublin North East) and asked him to send over a picture of the bird and a few details.

The following is what he sent, a comprehensive report of both the race and in Billys own words his set up and history.

I hope you enjoy the report as much as I have, so here we go Billy Harris by Billy Harris.

I have been in or around pigeons all my life as my father is a life long fancier. When i moved into my own house in 1993 an old shed in the garden was quickly converted into a loft with many many changes made over the years.

The first club i joined was the Malahide & Dist and i was lucky enough to win the ECF Open from Oakhampton in 1997.

I have been a member of the Dublin North East for 12 years now and hold the position of Secretary which i enjoy.

The first good pigeons i had were given to me by my near neighbours the Daniel brothers. They allowed me take my pick from their 1994 young bird team, the 3 i picked bred me pigeons to score from every race point right out to the Kings Cup.

A lovely blue hen turned out to be one of the best pigeons i ever owned, she was the dam, g dam & g g dam to many good birds over the years, the best being my fathers Miller Gold Cup winner only pigeon into Ireland on the day from France.

She really was some hen with an eye to macth.

My loft at is an L shaped structure one side is 20ft x 8ft with 3 sections and the other side is 18ft x 6ft also with 3 sections.

I have 10 boxes in the stock loft and two sections with 12 boxes in each for the old birds one small hens section and i can keep about 80 young birds in the other two sections. The roof is a bit unusual as it is 100% perspex letting in plenty of light.

My racing methods for old birds is Roundabout the cocks are out at 7am and again at 5pm six days a week. The hens only get out once a day usually around 7pm. No two Fridays are the same one week i will show the hens the next i wont. Somtimes i will turn the bowl and somtimes i will let a spare hen into the cocks just before i basket them.

I use 2 different widowhood mixtures mixed together and the birds are not broken down at all this year.

One thing i did differant this year was i gave the birds 10 private tosses appox 25 miles before racing started. Each time i let the hens up first so they would be there for the cocks arrrival, then just seperate the pairs when i got home.

I have tried the young birds on darkness in the passed and must say i liked it, but for the last few years i keep them natural.

I think in this day and age your birds must be in tip top health without abusing them. All birds were treated for Canker, worms and respiratory in that order before traning started. After that i would treat them every few week for one or two days.

I am a big fan of Ironxcell a horse iron tonic and i am also useing the Osmonds products for a few years now especially for young birds.

All my stock birds were paired up on the 1st of Jan 2010 and they were let sit their own young. All stock & young birds are feed a no bean mix.

The racer were paired around mid Feb and the hens were removed when the young birds were around 14 days old.

At presnt i have 10 pairs of stock birds with seven of these pairs being of the Willy Van Herck family of pigeon, all comming from the lofts of P & J Boal of Dromore co Down. I also have one very good Frank Sheader Soonten cock and two Willy Jacob cocks comming from Ernie Goodyear.

I first came into contact with the Van Hercks by accidant when a club mate pointed them out on a small stand at the Dublin show, he had noticed how well the P & J Boal partnership had been flying over the last few years, they were in fact flying so well that they lost very few birds in 2006 so sent 20 hens down to Dublin as they were far to good to cull. I had no intention of buying any pigeons that day but because of the quality and class of the birds i bought two, both were bred and raced by the brothers and had good open positions within the NIPA.

Both these bred me a winner with one being the dam of my open winner.

I was so impressed with theses hens that i made contact with Philip Boal to see if we could do a loft visit, thankfully he agreed and we went up in early 2007.

Its fair to say we were very impressed with the birds but most importantly i was impressed with the man behind the birds.

At the moment the best bird i have is a Willy Jacob hen bred by Ernie Goodyear she is dam to 3 x 1st & 4 x 2nd clubs ect, with 12 fed card to her credit.

One son from this hen has 5 club and 5 fed cards winning an ISRF meritorious award in 2007, another son has 5 club and 4 fed cards.

This year the Van Herks have really stepped up to the plate with 7 races down they have won me 18 club cards and 14 fed cards. Without a doubt my best performance is winning the 2010 Valentia open with a yearling Willy Van Herk cock flying just under 5 hours for the 200 mile trip.

The sire was bought direct from Willy Van Herck by Philip and kindly given to me as a gift in 2008 the dam was bred and raced by Philip and is also a Van Herck.

This hen is bred from one of the original Van Herck cocks Philip got in 2002 ( DE 47 ) I noticed this cock poped up on many of Philips winning pigeons so i asked if i could buy him, Philip said no way as he was one of the first Van Herck he had and was still breeding good pigeons.

On my way to the 2008 Belfast show i popped in to see Philip, and when i was leaving he handed me a box with De 47 in it as a gift.

Testament to the mans character.

Firstly i would like to thank everyone who sent their congratulations on my win with a special mention to the members of the DNE, who are having a great year with many fed prizes each week, not to mention the super performance put up in the Open.

Without question a big thankyou must go to the wee man from co Down, Philip Boal who has not only supplied me with top class pigeons but is always at the end of the phone with addvice and encouragment. The amount of winners that have come out of this modest back garden loft not just for him but for others is remarkable. Philip has had a hand in breeding the winner of the INFC, NIPA, East Down Combine, Ulster Fed and can now add the ISRF to his CV.

Yours in Sport Billy Harris.

Steve outside his lofts

Looking at the photo it’s a good job he can fly a good pigeon as I told him I were coming to take a photo of him at his lofts.

One would have thought he’d of put his Sunday best on so here you have the Terminator, nothing special here you might say well most will agree but Steve’s name is the most talked about here in the pennines flying in the North East Lancashire Fed, some words and rumors are not so nice as you can imagine when one is a successful fancier there is bound to be jealousy, and each year there are rumors of Steve doing this and that to win only recently he was randomly drug tested in 2009 and is now a proud owner of a negative certificate.

Now a little about Steve’s lofts and birds as you may think he’s a massive set up and all mod cons well by looking at the photo I’m pretty sure Steve would agree that he needs to get the paint brush out.

There must be something right about the lofts as these lofts hold multiple fed winners not a loft full of your average Joe pigeons but a team of widow cocks that win and win almost every week not just dominating the club positions but also the fed week in week out.

Steve only races cocks and prefers to race inland only saying he feels channel racing to him now is boring, young birds are trained and raced the first few weeks but after a couple of races Steve is quite happy to shut up shop and have a break ( I believe this is to keep the wife happy shopping ).

Now onto some of the recent performances by the terminator no results from yesteryear but one’s I feel needed to be put down on paper to the fancier out there.

Results:
Here is a small selection of Steve Gilbert’s results from 2006 to 2009:

• Fed results only:
• Out of 40 races entered
• 34 x the 1st fed
• 21 x the 2nd fed
• 26x the 3rd fed
• 20x the 4th fed
• 101 xs in the first 4 in 40 races
• 1,2,3 Amal Swainswick 184m 3241 bids

I don’t like to read boring long lists of results myself so I won’t bore you.

I would just like to finish on the last result 1,2,3rd Amal as this was something special flying in the North East Lancs Fed as part of the Border Amal we are not expected to even figure in the top 20 result due to terrain i.e. : flying over the pennine hills and some 20 miles further than most Border Amal flyers.

With results like these and flyers like Steve we have some of the best sprint flyers, fanciers here in the U.K. How much would you be expected to pay for young of fanciers from Belgium? Holland etc?

I would like to thank you all for reading this my first article on a fancier that is on top his game today and if anyone else locally feels they would like a article doing contact me on:

Paul Taylor 07815322886 or email: gr1ngo@hotmail.co.uk

Earlier this year we shipped a box of pigeons to Florida for the A U Convention race. We live in North West Washington so our little champions were going from corner to corner of America. Quite a journey. We always ship early in the week and we always fill our birds with water before we ship. This turned out to be a life saviour for our birds.

Our birds left our local post office Tuesday night and went through Everett to Seattle WA. Ready to go out of Seattle Wed. morning. Guess what? Big earthquake Wed. morning. Sea-Tac airport was shut down. The U. S. Postal service had contracted North West Airlines to fly the birds to Tampa. And the ground crew for North West being contentious of the bird’s welfare put them on the first flight leaving Seattle after the airport reopened, to Detroit. They were thinking Detroit being a major hub for North West; the birds could easily get transferred to a flight going to Tampa. Problem number two. Detroit got a big snowstorm and it was shut down for two days. OK so here you have a box full of live birds sitting in Detroit at the North West depot. It’s now Friday and the North West ground crew like Seattle’s puts the birds on the first flight they can going out of Detroit when the airport opens, which happens to be going to Miami, not Tampa. So we now have another delay. Our birds finally arrive in Tampa at our handlers Saturday afternoon. They were hungry, thirsty, and really upset, but after some food and water were just fine. That’s Tuesday afternoon to Saturday afternoon in a box. Our handler said that filling them with water before shipping them is what saved them.

Ever ship a bird to someone and never hear if your bird has arrived safely? Several times we have had to repeatedly try and call the person receiving our bird to find out if it arrived safely. Come on people, show a little courtesy and let the shipper know you got their bird. Or have you ever received a bird you weren’t expecting. Some people will ship birds with our first contacting the receiving people to make sure if there going to be there to receive the birds. You don’t know if there going to be home or maybe out of town. A couple of times I have got a phone call saying “I shipped the bird yesterday, did you get it?” The shipper just automatically assumed you were going to be there to receive the bird.

We have a plastic syringe with a short length of soft plastic tubing we use to fill the birds with water before we ship them. This only takes a few seconds and will really help the bird if it gets held up.

And please, before you ever ship birds contact the people receiving your birds to make sure they will be there for them. When you receive birds let the shipper know you got them so they won’t be worrying about their birds welfare. Always ship early in the week so if a glitch does happen they won’t get stranded over the weekend.

Express shipping of our prized little Champions is a gift we can’t abuse. It’s only common courtesy to our fellow fanciers to be in contact before and after shipping. And most of all, we owe it to our birds.

By Steve Joneli, Red Rose lofts

Pat won the young bird averages and the combined averages in 2009 he was also club champion in 2006 and 2008.

If there was such thing as a pedigree for a pigeon man Pats would be a top one his father is non other than Padner Byrne who is quiet simply the best flyer in the club for the last forty years and was overall club champion as recently as 2007 Pats brother Tony races in the club and is no slouch winning three races in 09 and topping the fed.

Pats two uncles Mick and Mattie also race in the club with Mick toping the fed in 09 as well. and lastly his uncle Shaymo has raced in London so as you can see pigeons are in his blood and as a man who races against him his dedication is second to none Pat has never stood still were pigeons are concerned and is always on the look out for good birds and has no problem travelling for them.

What also helps Pat is his friendship with Gerald Delaney of the Oroory Hill Stud with Gerald’s help pat has got some fanatic pigeons including in recent times the super Willie Jacobs pigeons.

Pat has won many races with these birds against very strong oppisition at club level he is competing against 500 to 1000 birds weekly and over the last couple of seasons winning on average five to six races I can tell you as a man who races in the club this is great flying. But if you were lucky enough to get a look at the stock birds which are pure class its not hard to see why he fly’s so well. time to see if we can get any information out of him.

Breeding
pat pairs up around the 26 December stock and racers at this time they are feed a combination of Irish mix and gem breeding with homoform and vitamins added pat likes to give them all the help he can at this time

Racing
Old birds are split in two teams one on widowhood and the other on roundabout the birds are given six tosses before the fist race and if they fly well around the house after this training stops but if their not flying well enough around the house he doesn’t hesitate to train at this time the birds are feed on merimans variamix and Gerry plus

Young birds are raced on the darkness system and are also split into two teams fifty in each team the young birds are trained twice a day everyday they are feed depurative of a morning and Irish mix of an evening

Treatments
Before breeding the birds are all cankered the next treatments are given prier to racing worms canker coccidiosis and finally respitory.

Stock
The main stock are from Gerald Delaney Willie Jacobs and Grondelaers and bird from his fathers loft but as I already said he is always. On the look out for good new birds

Thank You
Pat would like to thank his father Padner and his good friend Gerald Delaney and his family for all the help.trought the years.

FRANK Mc ENROE
OLD BIRD CHAMPION 09

Since joining the club in 08 frank has fitted right in with all the lads in the club and always enjoys the crack on Saturdays after the race win lose or draw.

He might enjoy the fun side but I assure you he is a very serious pigeon man and in 09 he had a great season four wins three old and one young bird and Frank won a hotspot race in the Wicklow hills one loft race and then went on to win the one loft race with his pigeon redmac which was co owned by him and Andy “redser” Shortall a first for the club.

What I like about frank is he has ago at every race.

I also have he has one of the best setups I have seen in the fed and any time I have been up to Frank it is always spotless a credit to him and although he is in the club a short time he already established himself as a danger man every week and I sure he will have a great 2010 that’s if he keeps his hair cut.

Let’s see if he will give anything away.

Breeding
The stock are paired the end of jan and the racers the middle of feb at this time they are feed on paloma breeding from the corn store with plenty of grit and minerals this is all Franks feels they need at this time.

Racing
Old birds are raced on the roundabout system with 30 cocks raced to 15 hens they are trained every day weather permitting from 10 miles some times twice if Frank feels they need it at this time they are fed on red sport mix from the corn store.

Young birds are raced on the darkness system and are trained once a day from 10 miles and are feed on junior o.

Treatments
Treatments are only given coming up to racing with the birds done for the usual suspects worms canker coccidiosis etc.

Thank You
Frank would like to thank his good friends Jimmy Roberts and Bobby Traynor for all there help over the years and his two daughters Emma and “Peanuts” and finally his partner Antoinette who makes his life worth living and gives a great hand with the birds.

CHANNEL AVERAGE WINNER
Mr & Mrs A and B PHELAN

Tony had a quite season by his standards but still managed to win our old bird Derby with his good blue hen who has been across the water nine times now and he had a good year of the water and with his new loft coming in to it first full season I am sure we will here a lot more from Tony this year coming

Thank to all three lads for there time and wish them all the best in 2010.

Yours in sport Tucker Daniel.
I.S.R.F. P.O.