Metropolitan Washington Racing Pigeon Concourse

Auction & Delegates Meeting this Saturday

Auction:
March 21, 2015
1pm

Concourse Auction and Race Rules:

• Paid concourse members in good standing may bid on all bird(s).
• Unpaid individuals may enter bird(s) but will only be allowed to bid on their bird(s).
• Young Bird Auction $20 starting bid. Breeder has first bid option. $5 bid increments.
• All birds sold in auction or carded must be paid for day of auction.
• Birds can be carded for $50 each or 6 for $250. To card birds, one must place at least one bird in the auction.
• Breeder/Handler can bond bird(s) for $25 each or 5 for $100. Payment due day of shipping.
• Prizes will be split 50% breeder and 50% flyer.
• Lost birds can be replaced by breeder by June 30th, 2015.  Returned birds become property of flyer.
• Race 300 mile Lumberton, NC on September 26, 2015:  Any 2015 AU or IF band will be accepted.
• 15% of Capitol prize money will be retained by Concourse.
• All concourse fees must be paid prior to shipping the race.
• All rules are presented and adjudicated by Concourse Race Committee.

Delegates Meeting

A delegates meeting will be convened at 12 noon prior to the start of the auction.

Club president and secretaries please inform your members that don’t have email of these rules and delegates meeting.

Regards,

Drew Lesofski
President

October 21st – 25th 2015

The American Racing Pigeon Union (AU) Convention and Race will be held in Utah in 2015.  It is being hosted by the very capable Northern Utah Racing Pigeon Combine who are committed to hosting the best national convention yet!

Make plans to send your entries now, space is limited, don’t delay!

Can the kids count on you? This auction is our main fund raiser; the auction supports our Loaner Loft Program. We currently have 29 lofts in use and we have 5 in major need of repair. We use the money from this auction for free race shipping and free mediation for when the kids need it. We use some of this money to make repairs to our building at the Cummington fair and some of our races ship from here as well. This also funds our annual pigeon show in August that is welcome to all kids. Our action will be held on Saturday April 11, 2015; both young and old birds can be shipped. Your generosity will be what carries this next generation of pigeon flyers along.

The loaner loft program was started 9 years ago to help junior flyers that could not afford or have the skill to build a coop on their own. If you ever hear someone say that this support is dying or going away they’re certainly wrong. Please come to the auction and see the love and devotion our kids still have for this sport.

The address for this event is, Burgy Bullets Snowmobile club 12 Laurel Rd, Haydenville MA. For more information contact Tim Tessier – Home (413) 296-4359 Work: (413)586-6611 or email florenceprecision@verizon.net

When mailing birds (NOT BEFORE MARCH 31, 2015)

SEND TO:

Tim Tessier
P.O. Box 325
Chesterfield, MA 01012

George LeClere
118 Rockrimmon Street
Belchertown, MA 01007
(413) 323-7183

Moe Litchfield
P.O. Box 444
Hinsdale, MA 01235
(413) 446-7939

We need to know if you are donating pigeons to the auction by March 21, 2015, please call or email Tim by this date! A huge thanks to Ron Seinbrenner from Triple Crown in California and CL Gage from Texas Shootout who will be donating birds for the auction!

P.S. the Kids were asked to help out at the National Pigeon show which is held January 21-23, 2016.

Thank you to everyone that donated last year, and hopefully there will be more people this year that help support this youth program!

Tuesday March 17, 2015, St. Patrick’s Day, started out on a good note and ended with tragedy. Let me explain.

That morning my pigeon and fishing buddy decided to go bass fishing in a private pond a little over an hour from my house in Washington, D.C..  Before I left we discussed a couple of extra pigeons I had that I was not breeding from, some of them we jointly owned. He said bring them down I have room for them. I packed them up and headed south.

Our fishing trip was not without incident, but I did end up catching a couple of nice bass. Before we headed out, I transferred six birds, three hens and three cocks into his crate. He left before me. I caught him about 10 minutes later as he was turning onto the highway and I noticed the crate of birds was on its side so I called him.

He pulled over, corrected the crate one we headed our separate ways.

As I got home I got a call from my buddy with bad news, the crate door had fallen open and all the birds were gone! !@#$%^&*()__)(*&^%$#@

I said they’re in God’s hands now. Only one of the birds had any wing time, the other 5 where always breeders and had never been out of the loft.

Flash forward to yesterday March 24^th. I received a Facebook message from a young man named Timothy GoosDto from Yeagertown, Pennsylvania saying that he had one of my birds, CAP 695. Eureka!

Timothy GoosDto and Drew Lesofski

Timothy and I don’t know each other and he has only been in the pigeon game a short time. He was able to connect with long time fancier John Vance on Facebook who kindly helped him connect the dots that lead to me.

So Huck, my trusty training partner, headed off on a 6 hour round trip to Pennsylvania today to collect 605 and personally thank Timothy for his effort to track me down.

605 line of flight took him almost over my loft on his 185 mile trip.

The interesting thing about 605’s journey was that he almost had to fly right over my loft on his way to Timothy’s. Anybody that’s been in the game knows that pigeons will do crazy things from time to time, I guess it was 605 turn.

Big thanks to John Vance and Timothy!

Drew Lesofski

Hector Vancheir and Bill Ensign

Las Vegas – March 26, 2015 Hector Vancheri, loft manager of the Tournament of Champions, a one loft race in Las Vegas sent an email notifying race participants that Bill Ensign, business and founding partner of the TOC, is no longer associated with the race.

Mr. Vancheri’s email:

Hello,

To All of the Breeders that have given me their support over the past two years I give you my deepest appreciation.  I have decided to pursue other endeavors and wish Hector and Brenda Good Luck with their Race.

From now on I will not be any part of the TOC Race.  Just so that there isn’t any misunderstanding I still own the property and everything that is on it and Hector and Brenda will be renting from me and will be continuing their race in the same location.

Thank you very much,

Bill Ensign
— — –

Thank You for your participation in the
Tournament of Champions,

Hector Vancheri
6500 Ann Road
Las Vegas NV 89130
702-340-9812
ebvancheri@aol.com

The TOC has developed into a world class one loft race but it has not been without a few hiccups. Earlier this year, a one loft race organizer, also located in Las Vegas, filmed the release of the 200 mile race from a location shorter than what was advertised forcing Mr. Vancheri and Mr. Ensign to officially respond.

SPRING FLOWERS & PIGEON POWERS

Old bird’s is upon us and many are racing or about too.  Power building is part of the goal for the long season ahead.  Things to remember with creatine, carnitine & ATP muscle builder products take time to work on the animal so start your system three weeks before the desired time for the 300 mile races to begin.  I have used Gem Flight Fuel and Vydex Jet Stream both excellent products with a proven track record. After a three week program of 4 times a week you’ll notice the body reserve in the handling your birds to improve greatly and continue to give twice a week in your maintenance racing program. Your feeding program is considered when the long races are upon us and added corn and raw Spanish peanuts are another method to help with the body reserves. Amino acids toward the end of the week are also recommended and I use A-Lyte or Amino Stress.

I would Ivomec the birds for the dreaded air sac mite that inhibits form and the birds remain skeletal when handling this is a sure sign, but be sure to give them a treatment for worms such as Medpet worm-out tablets (code med034) I follow up with a two day treatment of baking soda at 2 teaspoons per gallon of water.  Your droppings will firm up and the down will appear on the droppings.

Canker treatments every three weeks are a normal cycle unless you have a microscope to check for this ailment.  I’ve seen the Tri-Coli tablets (VP003) work outstanding and given on the following night of the race, you may use flock treatment products such as Medpet (Med015) or Med037) both are in the Zole families of products and also works very well.

Respiratory is used before the season and during the season if again you don’t have a microscope to do a throat swab, then a normal routine would be every 3 weeks during the season.  If you have a come back race this would be a good time to do this with a full 5 day treatment. Some signs to look for are wide rounded breath hole and actively breathing /laboring hard, color of throat, slime, color of the lower rim of the beak, color of the tip of the tongue. Air bubbles in the outer perimeter of the eye. The body skeletal with no ballooning effect. Mouths open when returning from exercise.  No down feathers on droppings after checking in the morning from a good nights rest.  When handling the birds put there beak into your ear and listen for crackling sounds, sometimes by holding there nostril with your thumb & index finger for about 30 seconds then listening to the sounds is beneficial in determining respiratory ailments. All this is methods without a microscope to verify certain ailments.

Pseudo Malaria is wide spread in the West & Southern areas so I would treat with a 10 day or more treatment with Medpet Primaquin (Med044) I’ve found this enhances my birds overall performances and no negative issues recognized.  I follow up with Formula 72 or Red Cell both is full of Iron and beneficial after treatment.

My recommendation in training is have the birds on a 7 day cycle so if the birds are not coming home from the race, then a 100 mile trainer for the rest of them is beneficial for the longer races ahead.  The birds will be ready physically and mentally for the longer races. The birds will perform and expect this treatment after awhile and you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Breeders & young ones this time of year need special attention so review them, as I know your focus is on the old bird team.  Most of the breeders are on multiple rounds at this time of year so viewing the nest box for any concerns like excess water around the nest bowl or just stressed out parents need to be rejuvenated with vitamins and supplements during this time.  Checking the weight of each bird with a quick handling will give you a read if things are not right. I would pill each one with a Fabry Ideal pill while going thru the breeders and in some cases give them a Spartrix or tri-coli pill.  In some cases separation is a good idea for a week and then decisions to change mates or re-mate the same pair. This will help the stressed out pair.  I use a product from Jedd’s called Breeder Protein Pack a high power protein grain mixture (20.5%) when breeders are feeding the youngsters. The cost is $19.95 plus shipping of $15.50 in a large flat rate priority box anywhere in America.  I mix 30% of this to my standard mix during the feeding time and this helps with the feather growing process.  I use a product from GEM called The-Pax about 3 days a week on my second round of youngsters and was very delighted with the results.  Another product I use from GEM is Impact always on Fridays.  I do this on Friday only because I’m programmed on this day of the week to give Impact.

Personal story from over 40 years ago regarding B-12 vitamin and when hired by Mr. Will Waterhouse of Bekaert fame, one day I was noticing the breeders with what seemed to be a crust on the side of the beak and was concerned what it was, knowing it wasn’t a respiratory problem and all else look well on the bird and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bird eating droppings and thought you got to be kidding me, what’s up with that!  I thought it had to be a deficiency of some kind, so I viewed our personal library of pigeon books and read in one of the Old Hand books about this issue and the result was B-12 deficient, so I added pellets to the mix after making sure it had the added B-12 in the pellet, and the problem was cured.  My understanding is that B-12 is a needed supplement to the birds and it doesn’t come in feed or water, but the birds digest and simulate it and then excreted in there droppings, so that is why the birds were eating the droppings.  Now to this day I give the birds a B-12 supplement one day a week thru-out the year. My advice to you is having this in your program of management!

Your environment is special and it doesn’t have to look like a castle, but when entering the smell and sounds are of joy to the birds and you.  You can hear there contentment with cooing and activity in the loft. They just glow and when handling the bloom is all over your shirt like a round flour bomb went off on your shirt. Smell is clean with no sourness in the loft. The birds like dark little corner areas to relax and to feel secure with no intruders bothering them.  Some fanciers put a shade or cover half of the nest box for keeping the birds in the dark, if flying a natural system.  Some double widowhood flyers even use a curtain to pull down to keep the birds calm during the season.  Air movement is very important with turbulent air with no drafts over the perches or nest boxes.  Creating the proper loft is essential and validation is when you fly well the whole season in any weather conditions and the change of season doesn’t affect your performance.  One trick is when you change your grit container and it comes out in clumps, this means you loft is too damp. Take a cigarette into the loft and watch the smoke pass thru the air and this will give you a pattern to adjust for airflow.

Giving your birds the best chance to win is your part, then it’s up to the birds to perform to the best of there ability. At the end of the season ask yourself if you did every thing possible to achieve victory.  Consider this when your culling the team.

Yours in the sport,

Greg McKnight
gregmcknight92804@msn.com

YOUNG BIRD AND BREEDER AUCTION 

SPONSORED BY:

NORTHWEST JUNIOR FLYER

Its that wonderful time of year again when the kids are having their annual pigeon auction!! The money raised will be used to build more loaner lofts and to make repairs on the older lofts still in use. We currently have 29 loaner lofts being used by Junior Flyers today.  We will use a portion of the money to reduce shipping costs and buy medication in order to vaccinate all 2015 birds. The date of the auction is Sunday April 11^th, 2015, Old birds and young birds will be available. Food served 12-1PM auction starts 1:00PM sharp    

The Loaner Loft Program was started to help junior flyers that could not afford or have the skill to build a coop on their own. By attending the auction you can help kids get the opportunities they deserve. Somebody got you interested in pigeons, so return the favor and come to the auction and help support the next generation of pigeon flyers!!

Address for this great event is: Burgy Bullets Snowmobile Club, 12 Laurel Road, Haydenville, Mass.  It is located one mile from Rt. 9.  Up on the hill; look for the snowmobile on top of the post.

AUCTION BIRD CONTRIBUTORS                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Ed Minvielle, Charles Siegel Pigeon Supply Co. LA, Dr. A. Piaget Fairway loft, NJ., Val Matteucci, John Haggerty, Ma., Grace Mehl NY, Kevin Williams, Ma., Chuck Houghton Ma., Ron Pairan OH., l&l Breeding Station, WA., Ronald Deisher Jr. IN, Frank McLaughlin MA., Jim Jenner from PACO films, Mike the Greek MA., Bob Carney CT., Don Falzone ILL., Bill Hess MI.,  Ed Spitz Calf., Richard Green NY., John Fincel NY., Rick Nanez WI., Bill Hess MI., John Haggerty MA., Ron Steinbrenner Triple Crown Classic., CL Gage Texas Shootout TX., Chuck Lopresti MA., Tom Laduke Ny., Carroll Hoover Pa., Ken Christopher UT., Bill Ensign CA., Salvador Rodriguez UT., John Sponick CT., Drew Lesofski with the Loft Report and others.

Thank you to everyone who helped !!!!

For More info: Contact Tim Tessier  413-296- 4359 home 413-586-6611 Work

Washington, D.C. – It is with great pleasure to announce that the Loft Report, the most widely read pigeon website in North America has acquired Ipigeon, the world’s leading online racing pigeon auction site.

This merger will combine North America’s two most trusted pigeon sites ensure fairness and full transparency in the market place announced the Federal Communications Commission.

“Selling pigeons has been fun but I really want to concentrate on breeding and showing my prize winning poodles and selling Ipigeon will afford my wife and I this opportunity,” said Fred Smelter, former owner of Ipigeon.

The Loft Report, born from the inner genius of Drew Lesofski, protégé of Elon Musk, will own and operate Ipigeon along with his offshore online poker site from his estate in the Caribbean. “I was totally shocked when Fred approached me and said he was really into showing poodles, I mean I was really shocked,” said Lesofski.

Drew, Fred and Mike…known worldwide as the Dynamic Duo admiring one of Fred’s foundation  Birmingham rollers.

In the sale of Ipigeon assists it was disclosed that Ipigeon, Inc. cooperate owner of Ipigeon also owns majority shares in Fred’s aluminum 16’ bass boat, Ipigeon software and several plastic coated dog kennels in addition to a owning a significant stake in Ganus Family Lofts, owned by none other than Mike Ganus of Grander, Indiana.

“I mean, how many times in your life do you wake up and find out that you own 65% of every pigeon Mike Ganus owns? It was like I put all my money on black and won!” said Lesofski. Ganus Family Lofts is known worldwide as the premier breeding loft providing world class pigeons to the Janssen Brothers, Jeff and Luc Houben, Gust Hofken, Gaby Vandenabeele, and Karl Muelemans to name just a few.

To celebrate this new venture, Ipigeon will list all GFL banded bird starting at $1 dollar midnight April 1^st 2086, pre-bidding will guarantee success!

I sincerely hope that you have a safe and blessed day with your friends and family.

Happy Easter!

tLR

A wise pigeon fancier once told me that the “sport of pigeon racing isn’t dying, it’s committing suicide.” Recently I read an Op-ed by the editor of a pigeon magazine who opined that financially supporting the American Pigeon Museum (APM) is a waste of time and treasure.  In essence he is advocating to his readers that our history is not worth saving.  Suicide, indeed.

I, for one, believe that the APM is an institution worthy of our time and attention because it serves an important function not provided by any club, combine, concourse or national union.  The purpose of the APM is to preserve, promote and share the rich and diverse history of our beloved sport.  To ignore this fact is to turn your back on the 3,000 years of our shared history—the heroism and sacrifice of war pigeons like G.I. Joe and Keizer, the invaluable genetic works of Dr. Willard Hollander that have contributed to a better understanding of genetics and genetic mutations, and numerous artifacts demonstrating the importance of pigeons to humanity.

Yes, the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma location of the Museum isn’t ideal, but that issue was settled over two decades ago when the Board of Directors purchased the land where the Museum and American Racing Pigeon Union (AU) headquarters are now located. A beautiful modern building was made possible by thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears on the part of fanciers who set aside their differences and used their power for good and built a museum that all pigeon fanciers can be proud of.

The American Racing Pigeon Union headquarters and the American Pigeon Museum are less than a 100 yards apart.

The Museum is funded in large part by the leasing of software to a pigeon auction website and a two-cent charge from every National Pigeon Association (NPA) band sold. The Museum also continues to receive generous donations of time, artifacts and money from numerous committed fanciers—many of whom wish to remain anonymous—who understand the benefit of their gifts to the sport.

What I am encouraging both the AU and the International Federation of American Homing Pigeon Fanciers (IF) to do is only as much as much as the NPA is currently doing; send a few cents from each band sold to the Museum annually. Any reasonable person can understand that this is a nominal figure when you consider the AU charges $.45 per band, per thousand bands and the IF charges $.30 per band, per thousand bands sold. To be clear, I am not advocating for an increase in band sales or sanctioning a yearly surcharge; both organizations charge an estimated 70% + markup per band that in large part supports staff salaries and travel expenses for board members. Many believe, as I do, that two or three-cents per band is a reasonable and responsible use of member money.  The Museum not only preserves our history, but will help expose our sport in a positive manner to the public and help to recruit new fanciers for decades to come.  I hope you will join me in supporting this effort that benefits every fancier, whether they like it or not.

Drew Lesofski

As most have now heard there have been a  few  confirmed cases of  AVIAN INFLUENZA about 80 miles from our loft  in the Woodstock area of Ontario on some Turkey farms and there are at least 8 farms in the area that are now under quarantine and 12,000 turkeys will be put down   . Although it has not been proven that pigeons carry the virus there is a POSSIBILITY  and RISK that there may be a NO FLY ZONE put on pigeons in Ontario  by the CANADIAN FOOD INSPECTION AGENCY . THIS WOULD MEAN NO LOFT FLYING , NO TRAINING AND NO RACING of pigeons for everyone . This can also affect the movement and shipping of birds across the border from the USA. Right now there are too many unknown possibilities on  how this can affect our race. After much thought and weighing in the risks involved, we have decided that it would not be fair for fanciers to ship their birds here and risk the chance of  losing their perch fees, if the Government or the MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE decides to put our flocks on LOCK DOWN .

So in the best interest of the participants we have decided to CANCEL the 2015 CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL ONE LOFT RACE . This way we can guarantee everyone that No one loses their money and this still gives everyone time to decide what to do with their own birds . This year we were fortunate that we had a later entry date set and we have had no birds entered into the loft yet.  We hope for the best for everyone and there are still many outstanding One Loft races  in the USA that you can ship birds too.

Some of the races that we highly recommend and respect and are great choices is the FLAMINGO INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE in Florida , THE AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE in South Carolina , The HOOSIER CLASSIC  in Indiana. Also the COAST TO COAST.COM is a  FANTASTIC MULTI- LOFT RACE with lofts in New Jersey and New York  with super pay out and you can contact Fred Breezy at 609-351-7897 . I know these are fantastic pigeon fanciers who  run these races and they are of the highest integrity!

Last but not least our Canadian friend  Big Andy is running his first year the BIG ANDY’S INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE down in Florida .We wish everyone the best of luck and want to thank all of you who have been participants of our race .

Tony Alves
tony.alves@sympatico.ca

Submitted by Silvio Mattacchione BA MA
 silvio@silvio-co.com

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to
everything else in the Universe.” ~John Muir

CU-2005-28705 was purchased by the Steacy family in the fall of 2005 from the Le Tour des Maritimes Race auction held via the Alberta Classic website. Many had the opportunity to purchase, (as was the case in the early 60’s when Northern Dancer was up for auction) but no one, other than the Steacy’s, were inspired to complete this purchase. Everyone else overlooked it, or thought they had better, yet it (like Northern Dancer) is one of the best investments ever made, a veritable breeding mother-load. “28705” was bred by Larry Holowkra of Yorkton Saskatchewan. By 2013 CU 2005 28705 had bred the Steacy Family Lofts 9 Club, and 5 Combine winners and 2 Empire Classic winners. “28705” is the sire of the winners of $50,000 so far, while mated to the same hen and his son CU 2009 STEACY 229 who was equal 1^st at the 2009 Empire Classic (and was sold for $1425.00 at auction by the Empire Classic Auction) also bred a daughter that bred the 2013 Empire Classic Winner for Jack Fire Loft and earned them $60,000.00 on a smash race that saw only two birds home in race time. So incredibly the “Phoebe Pair” and their get are responsible for $110,000.00 in winnings. If this had been a European bred bird/pair the PIPA trumpets would have hailed the new conqueror as priceless and the Chinese would have come running with open wallets! Pigeon fanciers are so very fickle always chasing the sizzle and always overlooking the steak!

Some thoughts before I proceed, interesting thoughts given all that I have written on eye sign. Connie Steacy advised when I spoke to her that she selected “28705” based on the photos of this young cock’s eye. There was something that she saw that clearly no one else saw, that inspired that purchase in 2005. Most, at the time, would have scoffed at the idea of an inspiration as a selection basis. Connie had an inspiration or intuition but there is now no questioning how right she was and continues to be!

On November 19^th 2014 I finally tracked down Larry Holowkra in Yorkton and I spoke to him for over an hour possibly more on many topics. He advised that his friend Lain Greer (flew 2005 Le Tour as Greer/Schwartz) stopped by to visit him on his farm on his way to shipping a team of youngster to Le Tour in 2005. Larry handled the birds and advised Greer that one of the birds had canker. Geer asked Larry if he might have a youngster that he could use as a replacement. And so it was that “28705” was chosen to make up the last entry in his 2005 team. Interesting, if Greer had not stopped to visit Larry to handle his entries the sick bird would have been sent and “28705” would never have left Larry’s loft. If “28705” had not participated at Le Tour 2005 he would never have come to be auctioned, the Steacy’ s would never have had the opportunity to purchase him and the history of the 2009, 2010 and 2013 Empire Classic’s would have been very, very different. How odd it is that everything known and unknown is somehow connected. There are consequences to every decision that each of us makes every day. We impact people we know and do not know both in the present and in the future.

Larry Holowkra, a Christian organic grain farmer remembered how he prayed over“28705” prior to turning him over, as a replacement, to Greer for the flight to the Le Tour one loft race. Larry indicated that he remembered the way the pupil of “28705”would immediately constrict (to a pin point) upon exposure to the sunlight. Additionally he advised that when he had purchased the Sire of “28705”  his decision was based upon this same immediate constricting of the pupil to a “pin-point” attribute. Larry’s children had named this cock, “Peas”, that is the sire of “28705”, as it had an obvious preference for the peas at each feeding. Unfortunately Larry got out of the sport last year and is no longer involved in racing pigeons. I was sad to hear this but I was delighted that I could deliver to him personally the exciting news that his “28705” was the sire and great-grandsire to the winners of a total of $110,000.00 in only three races (2009, 2010 and 2013 Empire Classic winners or co-winners).I am truly fascinated as to how the best laid plans rarely work as we envisage, how seemingly unrelated events eventually collide or conflict to make or unmake events. This is really a very unique story! Was an appreciation of eye sign the key factor (just a coincidence?) in the selection in this case, or were Larry’s prayers, over his youngster the key? A great deal to consider for those who are so inclined! Personally I love David and Goliath stories, stories in which the “underdog” triumphs against all odds! “28705” is clearly the David figure!

This is another screen shot from the “2005” Le Tour. Glace Bay is the last race of the series at 500 KM with a considerable distance over the ocean as well. Glace Bay is a deadly release point. I asked Andrew Skrobot some years ago “WHY IS GLACE BAY THE ULTIMATE TEST?”

“Most fanciers don’t realize how difficult of a release point Glace Bay is.  During the winter 100+ km winds are common throughout the Cape Breton Highlands.  Fortunately they are not as strong during the summer months but they still can be problematic. At the release point unfavorable winds exceeding 20 km/h can always be expected. If the birds fly home as the “crow flies” they would fly over 400 km of open water. This is quite unlikely so by flying along the mainland of Nova Scotia the actual distance the birds fly exceeds 600 km.  Just getting off the Island is a challenge.  The first 6 races of the Le Tour schedule are used to condition and build the bird’s confidence for this task.  Getting day birds from this point is always the main goal of the Le Tour series.”

Take a look at the visual above, in 2005 there was only one bird on the day from Glace Bay taking over 13 hours to arrive, 7 birds on the 2^nd day and 3 birds on the 3^rd day and “28705” was 11^th taking almost 36 hours to return. This race was the most difficult from this location ever and the determination shown by “28705” (and the others) was really quite unbelievable. Andy Skrobot said it all in 2005:

 “All these returning birds are Champions”.

 With these words in mind you can appreciate that this same determination, the same courage, the same will to return against all odds allowed the 2013 entry of Jack Fire Loft (*a great grandchild of 28705 from a daughter of his son “229”) to win 1^st Empire Classic against all odds. Whatever superior genetic attributes are inherent in the “nuclear DNA” of “28705” are regularly and in an above average percentage being passed on to his children. Andy spoke a great truth when he called all of the above birds Champions but the reality is that of these 11 Champion pigeons it seems that only one of them endowed their progeny with a superior genetic package that is flowing into and through subsequent generations and that bird is “28705” who has done so with multiple hens. It seems that his (“28705”) children and grandchildren and great grandchildren are following suit.

Figure 1 These two children of “28705” mated to “Dixie Dancer” were the winners of two Empire one loft races.

Almost two decades ago I wrote a series of rules, guides to breeding if you will and Rule# 7 is reproduced below:

Truly pre-potent sires or dams are the rarest of the rare!

“They are to be cherished, and unlike diamonds, they will not last forever. Use them wisely! To find one is truly like panning for gold. You go through tons and tons of rock and dirt to find only a grain-a nugget-of real gold. That is why it has value, because it is rare! Yet once found they are never appreciated nor properly used. This is because people ignorantly believe, “Oh, well, I’ll find or breed another.” Well, good luck because the reality is you rarely will.

So, Silvio, why do you say this? Well, here is why. Let us say, for arguments sake, that a pigeon only had 25 pairs of genes. If this was the case, then each pair of pigeons would produce approximately 33,500,000 different genotypes. You must admit that this is an incredible number. But how many genes does a pigeon really have? Well he/she has 6,000 pairs, which really means that if each pair was heterozygous they would in fact produce 3 to the 3,000th power different genotypes. Do you understand just how big this number is?

So what becomes only too clear is not that variations occur-because this is the norm-but rather that offspring of a pre-potent sire or dam can be so consistent! This is why pre-potent pigeons are so rare and valuable. Go back to Rule 6 and reread it-Nature dislikes order! Only through a well-defined, well-thought-out and executed plan can you seek to thwart Nature’s law. Most people lose. Once the sire or dam is gone, their human owner’s supposed, ability as a great breeder. You see, it had nothing to do with them or their ability; it had to do with chance and blind luck. So it is with so many self-proclaimed master breeders with many, many all-American accolades. Were they really master breeders or just extremely fortunate to have a long-lived pre-potent sire?” Reference: http://www.silvio-co.com/pigeons/breeding.htm

Rule#7 flows naturally towards my Rule#8 that follows:

Rule 8: Cross inbred lines!

“Once you have identified your pre-potent sire, as defined above, and have proceeded to develop a truly inbred line of pigeons, then what? Well, what we seek is always to improve! We wish to objectively improve our stock while maintaining longevity. Always look, never be content! Always seek to modify and manipulate Nature’s odds in your favor.

You must develop a rapport or friendship with other like-minded and multi-talented pigeon enthusiasts who have also produced inbred lines. Cooperate with each other to further develop each other’s families. What I mean is that when two or more inbred lines of pigeons, or livestock of any kind, are crossed, and we then breed the crossbred females back to either side, we should immediately see very big improvements in everything from fertility to livability. All of the advances made in breeding commercial animals over the past fifty years have been based on this one principle. This principle is referred to as heterosis.”

The genetic history of 28705 is superb, actually royalty. 28705 is the son of “25254” a Klak/Smeulders line cock called “Peas” in turn he was a son of a Klak/Smeulders line cock called “Hearst” who was a son of “Jan II” AU 1985 522 who was a grandson of “De Klak’s” Champion of 1976 NL 1974 2398283 who was 7 times 1^st and a direct son of the “DURE”.

For additional info on “DURE” (translated as “The Expensive One”) see the original Janssen book. Jan II by 1993 was the sire of 6 different Combine winners including HEARST who was 1^st 400 mile Combine, 1st 500 mile Combine and 1^st 500 mile Combine as well as 1^st 300 mile club.

Interesting to note that Champion breeder JAN AU 1984 2974 Dam was NL 1979 1653819 who was a direct daughter of Jan II’s sire NL 1974 2398283. So Jan II in fact is an uncle to “Jan”. “Jan” was also a breeder of Combine winners and some of his sons included “Electric” “Artiest” and “Tyson”. Jan was a tremendous breeder and it’s no wonder that JAN II was also on incredible breeder. Both Jan II and Jan are sires, grandsires, and great grandsires to multiple winners. In 1989 Jan bred 1^st Canadian Classic at 300 miles.

The Dam, of “Hearst” was CU 1988 0413 who was a direct daughter of “Showgun”  an incredible  bird bred by Wout Smeulders that in Canada became a super breeder  NL 1984 2133519. “Showgun” was a brother to Oscar who in turn was the Sire of “James Bond”. “Showgun” is a son NL 1980 8095964 winner of 4 X 1^st who in turn was a son of Wout Smeulders great “531” NL 1974 2366531 a winner of 15 x 1^st and 102 prizes. “531” was also the sire of Champion 02 who was 5X1st and grandsire of Eijercamps “Wonderboy 05” and “Wonderboy 06”

“Showgun” as I indicated was a son of NL 1980 8095964 who in turn was a son of “531” NL 1974 2366531 who was the Sire of “Champion 02”  who was 5 X 1^st  and Grandsire to Wonderboy 05 and 06 of Eijercamps. “Showgun” son called “the Pencil”   had bred 3^rd place 1989 Canadian Classic, in 1992 he bred the 2^nd place Canadian classic as well as being grandsire to 2 Combine winners

CU 2005 28705 a pencil, as is evident from his pedigree is clearly the royalty of the Janssen lines as developed by Smeulders and Klak add to these one needs to consider also the addition of “The Godfather” NL 1991 1393719 who was 1^st National Ace W.H.Z.B. of all of Holland Middle Distance 1994 and 1^st National Ace all Holland Middle Distance 1994.The “Godfather” was 12 x 1^st Club and several times 1^st Combine and is from the Van Rhjin Kloeck Family. In 2003 Mike Ganus wrote:

“The Godfather has produced over 40 foundation breeders and is grand sire to over 100 1st prize winners!

I think that many, most especially Guido Madrusan and Carl Loizzi, will find it exceedingly interesting that  the Van Rhjin-Kloeck family of birds, were a  Horemans based  family with Van Den Bosch and Havenith  thrown in for good measure and  its apparent that they make an exceptional cross with Janssens.

I was directed by Guido Madrusan to view an article I had written on “Guido’s Pigeon Empire” that was uploaded on www.choicepigeon.com. I was advised that it was drawing a large number of viewers, in fact (according to Voyo Radoman) more hits than any article previously uploaded on his site. While there, I stumbled onto the “Steacy Family Loft Auction”,that was just coming to an end. I looked at the digital info on their main pair, the “Phoebe Pair” and I was struck by the depth of the pedigree especially given that I had seen and handled a number of the Smeulders ancestors of the “Phoebe Pair” pair.

I personally met Chris Steacy for the first time on November 2^nd at the “Gallo Loft” auction (in Oshawa Ontario) hosted by Andy Laranzakis (Big Andy’s Loft) through his new pigeon auction site www.pigeons4you.com   which is a partnership of Big Andy’s Loft and PIPA.

After the Gallo auction Chris took both Guido Madrusan and I to his car and asked Guido to handle two youngsters bred down from his CU 2005 -28705 the pencil foundation cock and to my surprise one of these two nest-mates was a brick red late-bred cock and the other a blue. It turns out that these two youngsters were inbred to the cock being a mating of Brother X Sister. Brick red youngster? Interesting to say the least? How? Well as I researched the lineage it became very clear as to how and why this was possible. The mother of “HEARST” was, it turns out, a direct daughter of “Showgun” the incredible Smeulders super breeder NL 1984 2133519. I remembered that years ago there were many reports of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of “Showgun” being mated together and periodically throwing these reds. It was clear all those years ago that “Showgun” carried a recessive red gene and that inbreeding or line-breeding would occasional bring it out. If you study “Showguns” pedigree (below) you will discover that his mother is from a mating of a grandson of the “Rooie Appie” when mated to a full sister of the “Rooie Appie”.

So The Red gene is from the most famous of the Janssen reds none other than Vanderflaes reds. If I am not mistaken it occurred many times with inbred and line bred mating’s by Cliff Jones, Dave Ottaway, Ray Crawford (deceased) and many others. It was not long before this fact became common knowledge and it happened regularly enough so I am not surprised that this trait has traveled down the line and is apparent in the genetic makeup of the Steacy pencil cock CU 2005 28705.

I will recount an interesting story that relates directly to the history NL 1984 2133519 later to be named “Showgun” by Gus Tzotzos.

On Tuesday, July 10, 1985, a small group of North American fanciers departed from Toronto, Canada, for a tour of both Holland and Belgium. The tour had been organized by Ralph Vernon Forbes, the editor of the now long defunct Racing Pigeon Fact International Magazine. The tour members were Mr. Randall Berkey of Pennsylvania, Mr. Jim McCabe of Colorado, Mr. John Marles of Ontario, and Mr. Karl Winterstein, also of Ontario, Canada. The group’s translator, guide, and nursemaid was Mr. Joop Ekstijn, (a long-time friend whom I spent 2 weeks with in Holland in 1996 and who spent time with me in Canada that same year) a fancier of some thirty years at the time. Mr. Ekstijn of Grave, Velp, was the principal of a Dutch school and he had a great personal interest in both art and music and additionally wrote wonderfully informative pigeon articles under the pen-name “TEACHER”, the group visited Ponderosa/Greenfield Stud, and the lofts of Martin Van Gestel, Gerrit Spanjaards, Wout Smeulders, Toon Geurts, Jan Koolen, and many others (a total of almost thirty lofts). Through Joop Ekstijn so many Americans, Canadians and Asians etc. were introduced to some of the greatest pigeon fanciers of that generation. Giants like “Smeulders” “Klak” “Spanjaards”, “De Pruit”, “Borgmans”, “Koopman” etc. who’s blood is still producing champions today.

Mr. Karl Winterstein formerly of Claremont, Ontario who is now, I believe, about 94 years old and living with his daughter in the Nippising area of Ontario during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a perennial threat at both the club and the combine level. Karl was, as a result of this 1985 trip to Europe, was able to purchase a direct daughter of “13” (NL-82-1322713), called “03”. “03” immediately impacted on Karl’s loft and his performances. But why would I bring Karl’s name up in relation to this subject of the “Steacy” Foundation pair? Well it turns out that in 1985 Wout Smeulders and Karl really connected on many levels. They both loved music (Smeulders was an accomplished music conductor as well as a lover of art) and art.

They hit it off and so as a special gift from Smeulders to the oldest member of this North American group, Smeulders selected for Karl Winterstein a wonderful cock and that cock was none other than “Showgun” NL 1984 2133519. After quarantine there was some confusion as to what Mr. Smeulders intended and Ralph Forbes believed that this Smeulders gift cock had been intended to be shared by both Karl and Ralph. Well   when the cock finally came out of quarantine the cock, it seems, was immediately used in the breeding pen by Ralph Forbes. Somewhere along the way Ralph, it was alleged, sold the cock to Fred Goodchild in western Canada, but then somehow turned it over to Karl Winterstein, who on realizing the bird had been (unknown to him) sold to Fred Goodchild turned it over to Fred and years later Fred traded the “519” to Gus Tzotzos ( JoJos Loft) who renamed   NL 1984 2133519 “Showgun” and breeding history was eventually made. So I found it really very interesting that this same incredible breeder is an important component of the genetic heritage of this “Steacy cock” CU-2005-28705 now called the “Phoebe” cock. The Phoebe cock is a great, great, great grandson of Smeulders “Champion 531.”

The “531” is also the great, great, father of “James Bond” and Gerhards (Schlepphorst) of Germany still has sons and daughters of the “531”who is a 74 bred pigeon and went on filling his eggs much longer than we normally expect from our pigeons. The “531” won 102 prizes including 15 x 1sts and is from the “Olympiad 08″ and the “De Klak” lines. These lofts have a good line of the Janssen family that has been maintained in the old tradition of the Janssen Bros themselves.

“Gerhard (Schlepphorst) took photos for more than 30 Dutch lofts that had a fantastic success with this pigeons. Also Berti Camphuis and Suijkerbuik have breed their famous ” 05″ from “Oude Schalie” out of original Smeulders pigeons and the “James Bond 007″, which have been bought by Hans Eijercamps & Sons later. As a result of this in the 80’s Gerhard bought nearly all the important breeding pigeons from Smeulders, like the “Oude Schalie”, the grandparents of the “James Bond” and with the legendary “531” the g.g. grandfather of the “James Bond” and grandfather of “Wonderboy 05 & 06″. With this he got the complete base of many of the most famous Dutch lofts! With more than 70 originals of the world famous base since 1974 till end of 1980, which have exclusive at the Smeulders lofts successfully brought youngsters and all the directly youngsters, that have been bred by Gerhard, he’s world -wide the undisputed No. 1 and the unique archive for this old successful Smeulders base, that brings big success to many international lofts today!” Reference http://www.elimarpigeons.com/GerardSchlepphorst101011.htm

The hen of the “Phoebe Pair” was bred by Tony Alves (and given as a gift to Connie Steacy) in 2008, her number is CU 2008 17495 and is officially called “Dixie Dancer” though many refer to her as the “Phoebe Hen” she is a direct daughter of Tony’s “Northern Dancer” CU 2005 SCBR 521 who was 1^st Champion Young Bird for The Up North Combine, additionally 1^st CU Award of Excellence 51 lofts and over, plus best young bird all of Canada. Her dam named “Jesse”(deceased) CU 2003 30099 bred the 2007 Empire Classic $51,100.00 winner for Mike and Wally.

The following graphic is the “531” Line of Smeulders Chart from www.silvio-co.com

This pedigree clearly represents a very pre-potent genetic package.

The “Phoebe Pair” bred the 2009 and 2010 equal 1^st place winners of Empire Classic and $50,000.00 in winnings. The Mother to “Dixie Dancer” (also called the “Phoebe Hen”) named “Jessie” bred the 2007 Empire Classic Winner named “Lady Alves” who walked away with a very cool $51,100.00 in winnings. In that 2007 Empire Classic final she was 15 minutes in front of the 2^nd place bird on a day that saw the birds experience strong headwinds! A Daughter of “Lady Alves” bred the 2^nd place Average Speed winner at the 2012 American International Challenge. Still another daughter of “Lady Alves” bred 1^st Average Speed and 3^rd Champion Point Bird in the 2014 Canadian International One Loft Race. In 2008 “Green Emerald” a sister of “The Phoebe Hen” bred the 10^th place at Empire Classic, 2^nd at the Empire 420 and 1^st average speed. “Green Emerald” is the grand- mother to the 2014 1^st place winner at the Edmonton Classic One Loft Race 380 miles. Finally Jack Fire Loft bred the 2013 Empire Classic Winner and $60,000.00 in winnings out of a great grandchild of the Phoebe Pair on an impossible smash that saw only two birds return in race time. Four Empire winners in the past seven years, against the finest racing pigeons in North America is indeed a unique accomplishment.

This Steacy pair represents an exceptional genetic resource and I love the fact that it is “A made in Canada” natural and renewable resource. The fact that a back yard flyer, namely Steacy Family Lofts can achieve this level of excellence, working with locally cultivated genetics should put a great deal into proper perspective. Proper perspective, what do you mean? The simple message is that you do not need to be wealthy to be successful, you do not need to spend mega dollars to be successful, you do not need to be forever purchasing the latest European pedigrees on international auction sites to be successful. Think modestly, be patient, bide your time, study local bloodlines carefully, evaluate performance realistically and calculate percentages of success versus numbers bred and raced. Do not allow your emotions to run rampant with your wallets and hard earned cash! Once you find this type of unique genetic talent do not “piss” it away! Develop a sound inbreeding/line breeding program to consolidate these unique genes. If you do not, in a few years, you will find that the genetic spark is lost.

Figure 2 Chris and Connie Steacy enjoying the day.The motto of the Steacy family has never been to win at all costs but rather to enjoy the sport as a family. These sentiments are summed up in a quote recently from Chris:

“I have never decided to win at all costs. I love the wins and competing but the birds are most important to my wife. I love seeing her happy and we all get a huge thrill out of our backyard racing. At times we have had 4 generations here watching for the return of our birds on race day.”

Connie Steacy a woman’s touch!

“I stopped for my usual visit with our mentor Leo Blakey and his wife Poppy. For the last 20 years Leo had been the champ of our club and even after he got sick the final time he was still unbeatable. Leo looked at me and said if I wanted to race MY OWN birds, he would supply me with some pretty birds to start me off and teach me everything he possibility could about racing pigeons in the time he had left (he was almost 90 then). I was a woman and that was Very high praise and the best complement I could ever and likely ever will receive in the sport. He knew after years of doing my men’s birds, with them home and taking over, that I was now lost and drifting but with the pigeon bug. Our Tuesday and Thursday visits turned into classroom sessions, complete with notebooks and homework assignments. ‘Steacy Family Lofts B’ was born. I only had a good year or two with Leo’s teachings before he was called to fly in the sky but I will never forget were I got my start. Leo was still with us when I flew my first old bird series and although he had clocked much earlier, he held the 600 mile race until race time ran out, hoping to give me time to clock. It wasn’t to be that year but we went on in the future to win it 3 times… With tears in his eyes at the very end, he said he wished he had started teaching me years before but had always thought Ladies were to be pampered. Thanks to me helping him out with his birds after he got sick and even carrying his bags of feed when he no longer could, he now felt Ladies could be pampered and still be strong enough to get the job done.”

Chris on “The Phoebe Cock and Dixie Dancer”

“The Phoebe Cock- raced in the Le Tour young bird 1 loft 8 race series in 2005 and was placed in their auction after the races were completed. I had picked 3 blue bars out as possibles to bid on. And then I passed it over to Connie to make the final choice using eyesign. I was going away on business and told her she could bid up to $140.00 for one of them. She chose ’05 CU 28705. I called home near the end of the auction to be told she had been outbid by $20.00, so I said if you really wanted it- go one more bid.”

Chris on the “Phoebe Hen aka: Dixie Dancer ’08 CU 17495.

“In 2008 while attending an auction near Barrie, this bird was donated to a fundraiser auction and bought back by the owner, Tony Alves himself. I was walking out to my car when Tony called to me. He said he had told Connie he was going to do something nice for her because she was always doing nice things for others and helping the sport. He said “I owe your wife a bird”. So he gave me the auction bird that he had just bought back, to give to Connie. He asked that she name his gift  ‘DixieDancer’ due to it’s lineage and then in the spring he said to mate it with the best cock bird we had.”

 The decision is made

“When I got home with the hen, Connie said “then we will put it with the LeTour auction cock in the spring”. To be honest at the time, I did not really care for that idea because the cock had already proven himself but the hen, although from a very well-known proven family, was an unknown. But by the spring the hen had turned into a real beauty and that is how we mated them together. Our oldest grandchild at the time, our 9 year old granddaughter Phoebe was the first to name babies that year and that is how the baby came to be listed in the Empire Classic one loft race as ‘Phoebe Bird’”.

Breeding approach

“We use both Line and Inbreeding to some degrees. I breed around 2 pair of birds. One pair is the Phoebe Pair which I breed birds off them to other birds off the pair. Cross her daughters with my 2nd best set of birds. I mated brother X sister for breeding purposes only. Then in future mate their babies back to their aunts X uncles. I would also bring in pigeons from a very good breeders’ line and cross them into my Phoebe line.

The second pair I breed in the same manner. She is a Red Fox Janssen BB hen off CU ’00 GUELPH #355 that we had bought after its breeder, Clarence Oosterveld, had to leave the sport. When Clarence returned to the sport years later, Connie even though she was a great breeder and we had bought her, Connie gave him back #355.”

 The cream always rises to the top!

“We knew they were a special pair after the very first year. We had mated the Phoebe hen and the Phoebe cock together in 2009 and their first young bird hatched from this pair won the biggest One loft race, the Empire Classic that Canada has. Then their baby won it again the following year. I started to focus more on breeding the line together for more concentrated breeders. In 2011 we had one of their children in the SAMDPR that completed in all the races and sold in their auction. Word back from the SA fancier who bought it is that it is a great breeder too.

We knew the cock bird of the Phoebe pair was a good breeder long before we were gifted the Phoebe hen. Among other winners in 2007 he produced 2 winners, #7082 & #7084. In 2008 from the long distance National at Fraserdale we were 43, 46, 47, 48, and 49th and in the drop of 4 birds, (208 lofts/ 2673 birds/ 731 kms) were 2 of his offspring. The top flyer in our area, Joe Splinter, and John Wilson came for a visit in 2007. John walked around with Connie while I showed Joe about 100 birds. When we came to the Phoebe cock Joe got all excited and even called John over to handle the bird right away. He would have bought him on the spot for good money. Joe is another of Leo Blakey’s students in the RP sport and had been virtually unbeatable in our area for over 20 years. Steacy Family Lofts has done it a few times now though. One year we won all the long distance races in the club. I felt if Joe liked the Phoebe cock, then he had to be special so I started putting him to a couple different hens each year. To date the Steacy Family Loft is the only loft we know of that has won “The Empire Classic One Loft Race” two years in a row with back to back wins. About 80% of our birds now have the Phoebe cock in their bloodlines and 60% have the Phoebe hens.

But can they win for others?

“Other flyers have had pretty good success while flying our birds. Two that come to mind were brand new first season YB fliers. John Funnell had an unbelievable first season while flying our babies or birds off our breeders that he bred. He took the first 9 places with his winning bird in one race and if he had not pulled that winner off the team and put it in his stock loft, it would have earned him the Club’s Champion bird award. Greg Hendron is another new flyer who has won a $ race with one of our birds. Jim Towes won ‘$’ with a couple of our birds in different years. Over the years other people who won with our birds that we know of are Dan Horner, Gord Strader (2 more in 2014), the Brown Bros of Bowmanville, Marten Harvey and Paul Brown. This year Paul liked the bird he got at the Auction so much that he called to ask if it would be OK if he didn’t send it to the $ race as he wanted to put it into his stock loft., which forfeited any winnings for us, as the breeders. There are more wins but we have never kept detailed records of that.”

2014 – A year to remember.
Of our 8 young bird races in 2014 our SFLS birds won 7 races; 4 by us, 2 for Gord and 1 for John.

In The Champion Bird Category for The Golden Triangle Racing Pigeon Club for 2014 the Stacey Family Loft was 1^st through 6^th , 8^th through 12^th , 14^th, 16^th, 18^th and 20^th  through 25^th .In point of fact the top 25 birds were either Steacy Family Loft birds or birds bred from Steacy Family loft birds.

John Funnel is our newest club member who flew only SFLS young birds and young birds off the SFLS breeders we gave him to start in the sport…(7, 15, 17, 19th) Racing SFLS birds he had a great first season. John’s winning bird is from the SFLS ‘Phoebe Pair’ line.

1. Strader said this bird (13th) is a young bird off SFLS breeders that we gave him.

WinSpeed-3 Golden Triangle RPC
Champion Bird Report Page 1
Open Category
Young Birds

Champion Bird includes: Hens & Cocks A & B & C Releases
Calculated on Short & Middle & Long Distance Races

1. 14466 CU 14 GTR BB 221.0 Pts 6 race(s) 1724 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
2. 14446 CU 14 GTR BB 182.0 Pts 4 race(s) 1167 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
3. 14431 CU 14 GTR BB 174.0 Pts 4 race(s) 1348 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
4. 14472 CU 14 GTR BB 167.0 Pts 5 race(s) 1437 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
5. 14434 CU 14 GTR BB 159.0 Pts 5 race(s) 1513 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
6. 14433 CU 14 GTR BB 151.0 Pts 4 race(s) 1007 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
7. 14353 CU 14 GTR BC 146.0 Pts 3 race(s) 507 Kms         J. Funnell
8. 14424 CU 14 GTR BB 144.0 Pts 4 race(s) 1167 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
9. 14391 CU 14 GTR BB 143.0 Pts 4 race(s) 1045 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
10. 14436 CU 14 GTR PENB 142.0 Pts 4 race(s) 1157 Kms Steacy Family Lofts
11. 14135 CU 14 GTR BB 140.0 Pts 5 race(s) 1151 Kms     Steacy Family Lofts
12. 14420 CU 14 GTR SMKY 132.0 Pts 4 race(s) 1112 Kms Steacy Family Lofts
13. 14100 CU 14 GTR BLKP 128.0 Pts 3 race(s) 1070 Kms  G. Strader
14. 84700 AU 14 ARPU BP 128.0 Pts 3 race(s) 643 Kms      Steacy Family Lofts
15. 14454 CU 14 GTR DC 124.0 Pts 4 race(s) 923 Kms        J. Funnell
16. 14455 CU 14 GTR R 123.0 Pts 3 race(s) 834 Kms          Steacy Family Lofts
17. 14453 CU 14 GTR MLY 121.0 Pts 4 race(s) 844 Kms    J. Funnell
18. 14130 CU 14 GTR BB 120.0 Pts 3 race(s) 1040 Kms     Steacy Family Lofts
19. 14439 CU 14 GTR BC 120.0 Pts 4 race(s) 837 Kms        J. Funnell
20. 14464 CU 14 GTR BB 118.0 Pts 3 race(s) 504 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
21. 14133 CU 14 GTR BB 115.0 Pts 3 race(s) 909 Kms       Steacy Family Lofts
22. 14426 CU 14 GTR R 114.0 Pts 3 race(s) 710 Kms          Steacy Family Lofts
24,  25, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37^th and so on.

31. J. Funnell 34. J. Funnell

So between 3 flyers SFLS birds took the first 25 best spots.

WinSpeed-4                      Golden Triangle RPC

Champion Loft Report              Page 1

Open Category

Young Birds

Champion Loft includes: Hens & Cocks   A & B & C Releases

Calculated on Short & Middle & Long Distance Races

1. Steacy Family Lofts Total accumulated points:  4605.0 for 133 clockings

WinSpeed-2                      Golden Triangle RPC

Average Speed Report                      Page 1

Open Category

Young Birds

Average speed includes: Hens & Cocks   A & B & C Releases

Calculated on Short & Middle & Long Distance Races

There are 8 Lofts Competing.  There are 8 races that meet the criteria

1. Steacy Family Lofts Average speed: 1203.272 MPM      ToWin:  00:00:00
2. J. Funnell Average speed: 1169.296 MPM      ToWin:  00:48:13

SFLS won the Young Bird Average Speed in 2014.

1. Funnell racing SFLS birds took the 2^nd spot.

Flying fifty (50) kms farther than the winner and we lost by less than a second.

Important Lesson all roads lead to Rome!

Steacy Family Loft using locally available genetics at extremely reasonable prices are now the owners of what is most probably the most financially successful pair of pedigreed racing pigeons in Canada. The lesson in all of this is clear a small back yard family loft can compete successfully with the most well financed operations in North American and win! In short a $160.00 purchase mated to a gift hen sets one loft record that may never be beaten. I love it! Well done Connie and Chris Steacy as you are the proud owners of a “World Class” breeding pair of exceptional racing pigeons.

©2014 by Silvio Mattacchione BA MA

Finally we can bring these Auction Pigeons Home!

After years of unsuccessful attempts we finally have the approval from the USDA to bring the auction pigeons from South Africa back through USDA quarantine. On Monday we received this approval from the USDA. As long as we follow the guidelines provided we can import the auction pigeons to the United States in about two months. This is a very straight forward import.

I asked the Million Dollar Race to give everyone one week to decide on which or any pigeons they want to bring back to the US. If you have instructed the Million Dollar Race to sell your pigeons you can change your mind and have all or some imported back to the US.

The only consideration is the cost of the import. These auction pigeons have accrued many expenses from endless blood testing & vet checks, vaccinations for each possible export, documents, multiple quarantines in South Africa along with custom made wooden airline shipping boxes. We are not even counting the time and effort.

We must now start the import process over and repeat all testing and quarantine. We estimate the price per pigeon for import will be $500 each. I must pay the USDA quarantine space in advance so I will need a check for $500 per pigeon by Thursday April 23rd. By agreeing to import your pigeon(s) the Million Dollar Race is no longer responsible and will not provide any credit on these pigeons in the future. We have the definite OK from the USDA but let me state, with any import there is always the chance something can go wrong. Rest assured we have done our due diligence.

Please email me by Monday on which pigeons you want to import. Feel free to leave your least favorite pigeons in South Africa to be sold by the Million Dollar Race. I need email verification by April 20th from each buyer and I will forward to South Africa. I have the master list if you are not sure on your auction pigeons band numbers.

Send checks for $500 per pigeon to Frank McLaughlin 395 Whitman Street Hanson Massachusetts 02341

Please email any questions.

Thank you,

Frank McLaughlin
frank@mclaughlinlofts.com

Editors Note:

I’d like to thank everyone that worked on this issue behind the scenes to ensure that this day would come. It would not have happened without the leadership and drive of Frank McLaughlin – everyone owes him a cold one!

I’d also like to thank all the folks that I contacted and worked with on this issue including the airlines, U.S. and foreign consulates, USDA attorneys, U.S. State Department Nevada U.S. Senators Dean Heller (R) and Harry Reid (D) as well as Delaware Senator Chris Coons (D) and every other Tom, Dick and Harry in D.C. I engaged in on this issue.  I can tell you that in all my years working in D.C., explaining this issue to policy makers was a treat!

Drew Lesofski

Cindy and Alex Bieche

By Alex Bieche
acbieche2@gmail.com

In one of my earlier articles I mentioned the Beijing Airwaves International Pigeon Club’s One Loft Race. This race had a little different twist to it. Rather than sending youngers from all parts of the world to compete against each other, one breeding pair representing their own family was sent to China.

I could write a full page of well-known flyers from all parts of the world that were represented by I feel this is not necessary for interesting reading. Gijs Peters the Breeder of Super 73, along with Jos Thone, were two of Belgium’s representatives.

Youngsters from these pairs would then compete in a Worldwide competition for a three year period. This would cut the cost of sending YB’s every year and also have all the youngters bred under the same conditions.

As fast as a blink of an eye, the 3 year period has come and gone. The final race results are in, so I can now report the results and also see how our 50 American breeders placed among the superstars of the world.

Going over the race results by breeders names I want to first point out that my BIECHE Breeding Pair in fact represents a cock 99/Bieche 9100 down from my DC Baron and DC Gommaire Blood line and a Hen 98/WEF 0872 From Roger Mortvedt’s Van Hee/Janssen Blood line. Roger was kind enough to replace my hen I sent due to her dying for no apparent reason just before being shipped to China.

The first year 2000 these select breeding pairs bred 3 rounds for the one loft race. One or two extra rounds were also bred and offered for sale to cover the next year’s entrée fees and expenses.

The 300 km warm up race placed 8 birds from approximately 800 birds entered on the first drop.

Two weeks later in the final 500km race it was a different story. No day birds clocked and very few birds reported after 3 days. The overall winner clocked the next morning went to Liu Wei Kai of China.

The American team placed 4 birds in the top 20 spots. First American bird and 5^th overall went to me, Alex Bieche. The second American bird placed 16^th and owned by Steve Miner. Taking the 18^th sport was Frank Zielinski and rounding out the 20 place was Gene Hearl. Not far behind with No. 23 was Ed Lorenz and 25^th spot went to Crazy Al and Tony Melucci.

The second year, 2001, a three race series was adopted. The first leg being a 300 km race followed by two 500 km races, the first overall average speed winner wetnt to Liu Zhan Peng of China. Frank Zielinski from Wallingford CT. had a fantastic bird in the first leg of the 500 km race. His bird was first overall and 15 mintues ahead of the 2^nd place bird. The American team again placed 4 birds in the top 20 in the overall average speed races. First American bird and 5^th overall was bred by Ralph Wilcox. Second American breeder and 13 overall went to me, Alex Bieche. Third American bird and 15^th overall went to Dan Shonwalker. Forth American bird was bred by Wall Sabell.

The American team did quite well placing ahead of the Belgium team that placed 7^th overall. The breeder in this case was Louis Ceyssens.

The third, 2002, and final year Beijing Airwave decided to go back to a couple of warm up races an than have a grand finally with the main 500 km race. The American team couldn’t have asked for a better showing taking 9 out of the top 20 spots. And, yes, starting out with the No. 1 spot bred by Rollie and Carol Jacobs. Thrid overall went to the father and son Team The Jones Boys of Utah. Eighth place went to Van-Robins Loft. Tenth place went to Bob Kipper, 11^th place was Bob Kinney of Silverado Loft, 12^th was me, Alex Bieche, 14^th was taken by Deb-Ray Torres, 17^th was Luis Oropeza and 20^th was won by me. The highest prize went to Rollie and Carol Jacobs.

As you can imagine the interest in purchasing the top American breeding pairs went up a few notches after this last race. Frank Zielinski with his world class Delbars was proud owner of the highest priced breeding pair. Congratulations to all the American winners.

This article originally ran in 2004

Belgian Super Champion Ulrich Lemmens, Utah fancier Sal Rodriquez and Drew Lesofski at
Estiatorio Milos Restaurant at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

Hi guys!

After a fantastic time with Drew Lesofski in Las Vegas last year we agreed I would start writing a blog for his website. It took me three months to get started, but here we are!!

www.ulrichlemmens.be

I was born 10^th of February 1987, I’m an only child and son of Jef Lemmens (’52) & Greet Van Meensel (’62). My grandmother Julia Geys has also a special place in my life.  I wasn’t the best student, because I started traveling early for pigeons, when I was 15/16 years old I already did several trips to European pigeon shows and visited fanciers in Portugal, UK, Germany and many more. When I was 18 I did my first big trip, on my own to Thailand, for pigeons. Because of the people I met through the Internet and the fact my father took over the pigeons of my grandfather I got hooked in the pigeon sport and became obsessed by it.

Ulrich with his father and grandfather waiting for the birds to come home.

The pigeon blood is in my veins, as my grandfather Gust Lemmens (now you also can image were the name “GUST” for my best pigeon comes from) was an unbeatable speed racer in the 90’s. He was in direct competition with Staf Van Reet.

Basic breeder for Ulrich’s grandfather, “De Blauwe Van De Witte”

My grandfather’s basic breeder was “De Blauwe Van De Witte”.

He was father of “De Stille” 17x 1° Prize, “Primus” 13x 1° “Den Elf” 11x 1° prizes and many more super pigeons.

If you look carefully in the pedigrees today of “De Gust”, you can still find this bloodline in it.

“De Gust”, absolutely the most sought after bloodline in Belgium today!

“De Gust” has distinguished himself as a top race by chalking up some fabulous wins such as:

1st Provincial Bourges 2,009 pigeons.
6th National Bourges 16,023 pigeons.
1st National C Limoges 2,569 pigeons.
16th National Limoges 11,995 pigeons.
1st National C Limoges Derby 1,000 pigeons.
11th National Derby Limoges 6,016 pigeons.
2 – 273 Momignies
7 – 155 Nanteuil
9 – 307 Momignies
6 – 930 Pithiviers
6 – 200 Chateauroux

Too bad my best friend and grandfather passed away in ’97. My father took over the birds and the first years were still good, but then the results dropped and we were only a shimmer of what my grandfather was. So time to rebuild, I took over from my father in 2002 with my one plan for success.

First of all I got rid of all pigeons we had, I kept one from my grandfather, a hen “Isabelle”. And with my savings I went to Theo Yskout to buy a pigeon, 125 EUR back then, BIG MONEY for me at that time, my father even said I was crazy to spend that kind of money on a pigeon. This was the first pigeon I bought and this one paired to Isabelle gave me “Bettini” & “Leonie”, the people who already know me a little bit, know what these two birds have meant to my colony and my professional career.

Quickly I figured out, I wouldn’t be just a pigeonman, I wanted more, I wanted to reach the top. So I planned everything carefully, had some luck here and there (pigeon people always need that) and became the champion I am today. Whole my life is dedicated to pigeons, always looking to improve the system, the quality of the birds, the lofts and many more.  In 2009 when I graduated as a salesman from school I started my own company and became one of the first professional pigeon fanciers in the world and for sure the youngest one.

“THOR” has won:

1 – 89 Momignies
1 – 100 Momignies
1 – 49 Momignies
1 – 105 Momignies
1 – 183 Momignies
4 – 260 Momignies
5 – 380 Momignies
6 – 313 Momignies
6 – 92 Momignies
9 – 254 Momignies
10 – 157 Momignies
12 – 139 Momignies
16 – 433 Momignies
41 – 562 Momignies
51 – 1323 Marne
74 – 1154 Pithiviers
4/4 on the young bird nationals !

How did I do it in such short notice? Well very simple, you must have open eyes, a clear vision, studied a lot, and I did a lot of research and tried EVERYTHING and afterwards made my conclusions. And I’m a man of statistics, in this sport anything can happen, but if you follow the statistics, you have a better chance to succeed. The biggest lesson in this story is the fact that you can learn from everybody, all over the world are good pigeons and good ideas and methods. My system today is a combination of things I learned in Portugal, USA, Asia etc … From the moment you THINK you KNOW IT ALL, it’s OVER, you won’t anymore!

Utah fancier Sal Rodriguez, Vegas poker card shark Dan Michalski, Ulrich “PP” Lemmens and Drew Lesofski on the Las Vegas Strip.

I think that’s a nice one liner to end my first blog for you guys. If you have any questions or subjects you want me to write about let me or Drew know about it. You can reach me at info@ulrichlemmens.be and I’m also always available for a chat on Facebook.

Vaarwel voor nu,

Ulrich Lemmens

Editor’s Note: 

 For more in depth information about Ulrich and his world class birds, please follow these links: 

 Ulrich Lemmens wins 1st National Champion KBDB Long-Middle Distance Old Birds 2014 

PIPA Article about Ulrich Lemmens

“One Team, One Heart”

I’ve confirmed that Ulrich Lemmens, winner of 2014 KBDB Long-Middle Distance Old Bird Champion, will be speaking at the SnowFest auction this November in Illinois.

The SnowFest auction is a live auction hosted by the Rock River Racing Pigeon Club (http://rrvpigeonclub.org/) located in Sterling, IL and has hosted some of the biggest live auctions for the past two decades and this year is shaping up to be just as big.

Hot off the press….The RRV big $10,000 raffle winner is….you guessed it, Ulrich Lemmens (some guys have all the luck!).

Contact Auction Chairman Doug Harms at 815-535-5205 for for additional information on this year’s SnowFest Auction.

PASSION-PREDICTIONS-PERFORMANCE

By: Greg McKnight
Anaheim, California

In the mid 1960’s as I called it the “Golden Era” was a great time for learning about pigeons with the old veterans of World War 2 and the stories from the past and the old masters of Europe.  Many of the greats already passed on by that time such as Mons. Stassart died in 1940 and the great Paul Sion who died in 1946 and L. Bastin, but there legend and families survived even till this current day.  Charles Heitzman the famed American was very active with the above families at this time. Other champion’s names such as, Maurice Delbar, Havenith, Grooter, Van Riel, K. Hermans, Cattrysse, and Vandewattyne.  New names were being circulated such as Bekaert, Gennette, Devriendt, Peppermans, Vinois, Coudou, Fabry, Dordins and others. A big thank you to Paul Veegaete the importer who sold many of these birds for a fair price to the American market. The English birds had there time in America with the Osman, Marriott, Barker, Wescott, Logan, Kilpatrick, Soffle, and Toft and later of course the George Busschaert which dominated the U.K. for years.  George was the loft manager for Mons. Vereecke who was a champion at the time.  George brought his know how and his birds to England and dominated the competition.  Many of the early English imports had a thick quill feather, which was a good water shed, but not well for our dry climate of California.  I found out early that a dryer or less quill thickness was better for our region of flying.

The birds in general started to change in type and appearance to a more steam line type with longer sharper primary flights and less wattle with buoyancy and a sharper look, like a bird racing when standing still. The evolution had started. Eye-sign always was a topic of conversation and only a few fanciers had the ability to read and show you the qualities needed to create a family of winning birds for generations to come.

I mention these above names as they were household names at the time, and I had the privilege to handle many of them over the years.  I had the pleasure to hold many of the great birds coming into California and believe me each year 30 to 40 baskets of birds would arrive just in the San Fernando Valley for fanciers who could afford them.  The passion of these fanciers to win was at the highest level.  I would travel to many lofts and handle the best and listen to the stories of each and always returned with new knowledge to apply to my own birds. My passion was also to be the best and to achieve a winning family.  I was hired by Mr. Will Waterhouse of Bekaert fame in the year 1969 to take over the day to day management of the birds, mostly because he was a very successful business man and his passion was divided between Business and Pigeons, so I was recommended to him from his former loft manager George Derby. I was Mr. Waterhouse’s loft man for 5 years and I knew the birds past & present better than he did.  I could recite the pedigrees for generations to him with his surprise.  When I would see him I would discuss certain issues with him and we would devise a plan and if I needed, would go out and purchase any birds needed for the program.  This sometimes would put me on the spot, but as it worked out we would win, so I became a great predictor in his mind. Mr. Waterhouse would have me, his daughter Nancy and himself write down which of the 35 pairs of breeders would be best in the upcoming young bird season with each one not knowing the pair chosen then each one selected pair would be written down and put in to an envelope and sealed and not open until the end of the season to see who predicted the best, as it was again I predicted the best pair.  Mr. Waterhouse died much too young at 57 years old from a Cerebral Hemorrhage in 1975.  At the time of his death we purchased all the breeders from his widow and predicted by many, as my best move of my pigeon life, it proved to be correct one.  The Waterhouse Bekaerts were the ideal pigeon to learn my methods and theories with being an already line bred family and winning from short to long in all types of weather and speeds. There colorful eyes, the length of wings, the head expression, supple buoyant muscle, and continued winning ways long past Mr. Waterhouse’s years with them.

In the mid 1960’s the famous Piet DeWeerd was viewing birds in California and I was present at some of his grading sessions and as I remember for a few dollars a bird he would tell you about the birds. Now I watched closely and I would have to say he was a salesman too by his response to the owner of the bird.  He was exceptionally good about pairing up birds or compensation mating.  He did look at the eyes and in most cases the real good ones had full colored painted eye-sign with a heavy glossy shine to them.  Another admired pigeon man who learned his craft by handling thousands of winners and breeders. No doubt anyone could learn from this great mind. I began to check the vitality in my own birds at that time and found out you can do it without pulling the beak and in most cases the head expression is the key.

In the late 60’s two giants of the West were Jack DeWolf and Dan Lepre from Los Angeles they then moved to where the money was in the San Fernando Valley Racing Club. I was a friend of both and closer to Jack than Dan because he was the hauler of our training and race birds for So. California.  I remember Jack saying to me “we haven’t scratched the surface with pigeon racing” and so correct he was with the light & dark flying systems and the DNA now that can be used and don’t forget the drug issues. Any way you couldn’t mention one name without the other, both legends and passion at the top of the list.  Jack had some of Waterhouse’s Bekearts that won out of turn and one day I handled a multi winning grandson of the foundation #1045 cock that won over $4,000 in pools and I was blown away with the money at that time. He would show me how to set up birds and condition with seeds and feed.  He had at least 15 barrels of different seed mixtures in his garage, so I began to learn how to feed for different races. Jack would show me how to peak the birds with grains at the right time. Dan Lepre was more closed mouth even up to the end of his life, he learn the hard way and wasn’t going to give up to much information fore it might come back to take money out of his pocket. He was a bone, muscle & throat man and wanted a large wide roomy throat with big veins in the back of the throat and he would also squeeze the birds for checking there resistance.   Years later Dan Hinds became a partner with Jack DeWolf and I remember a FVC futurity race they invested $2400- and won $2420- we all had a good laugh. Dan showed me in the late sixties how to detect blood disorders such as malaria while inspecting the throat of the bird. Thank you gentleman!

Mid to early seventies I partnered with a local fellow to do an auction each year for 7 years and my job was to get the best bird or two from the most famous winning fanciers of the time such names as Art Hees, Jim Calia, Jack DeWolf, Ernie Rydingsword, Will Waterhouse etc. and I would obtain about 60 birds for the sale and we would retain 25% share for handling the sale.  It was a tremendous success over the years with Hall of Fame & Futurity winners & future foundation birds from these birds sold at auction. This also benefited my ability to select top birds in the future for my loft of breeders with that imprint on my mind of these quality birds.

I can remember an early goal of mine was to get on the first page of the top 50 combine race report every week for the entire season.  I achieved this and beyond.  You need to start with a goal in mind and attempt to do it.  Over the years I would win out of turn and of course rumors would start and in one race after the birds were loaded on the race truck the combine and federation secretary would stop and check all my birds to see if there on the truck and if the countermarks matched.  I guess you know you got them talking to them selves when this happens.  They would toss your birds to make sure they were settled at your loft location; also they would take your clock for inspection purposes.  All was well and we just had to laugh about it, knowing we’re getting to them.

Passion is needed to proceed to do the best you can and predicting the outcome long before actual results is a gift from all that you learned over the years from previous conversations and time tested methods to give you the edge it takes to win.  Performance is the validation from all the hours spent and dreams admired to be the best.

You fanciers if you can get into the top lofts of your area always ask to handle the best birds and proven pairs to get that feel and expression in your mind to help guide you in the years ahead.  Especially the hit pairs to see if you can learn from the compensation method.  I remember when I handled the famous #2004 of Bekeart fame made famous by Ernie Rydingsword and after inspecting this super bird I described the eye color and sign, wing length and grouping to him of the mate #1717 before I inspected her and was dead on.  He was impressed with my ability and I was delighted to verify my study over the years. Pigeon’s is like playing poker, play the percentages.  You won’t always be right, but over time you’ll be a winner.

I’ve learned my craft from many over the years.  As a matter of fact I’m still learning to this day working at Jedds Bird Supply from the day to day bird problems and giving my best suggestions for the treatment learned from my field doctoring over the years.

Thank you all for this great sport.

Sincerely,

Greg McKnight
gregmcknight92804@msn.com

Dear Friends,

My name is Tim Behm and I am the Sec./Treas. for the North Platte Flyers. I am sending out this letter for those that would like to help support the Powell family in this time of sorrow.  As most of you have heard, we lost a wonderful member of the racing pigeon world and for any of those who knew him because of pigeons, became a friend of Marvin’s not just because of pigeons but because he was a soft spoken, wonderful, caring man who got along with anybody and was always willing to help.    Marvin had sent 3 pigeons to the all-to-one, as he has for many years to support  the combine. But for Marv this was not enough as he was also the HHC race secretary, regional secretary and did many others jobs in love of the sport. Marvin had paid for those birds in the all-to-one,  but due to the circumstances and Marvin being in the hospital over a month,  his family would like to start paying many of the medical bills to come.  So what I am asking is if anybody would be interested in helping to pay for this entry fee.  Any money received above the cost of the entry fee will be given to Marvin’s wife and the family.  Anybody that would like to help no matter the amount may send it to:

Tim Behm
8502 South Hayes
North Platte Nebraska 69101
tcbehm@charter.net

I don’t know if pigeon racing is on the top of the list in Heaven, but if they have anything to do with it we are hoping that Marvin’s birds may have an advantage in the two final races and all the winnings will go directly to the Powell family. Also I will be attaching a link to an online fundraising web site that has been set up to help the family with expenses.

http://www.gofundme.com/MarvinPowell

Thank You to all members in the sport and I am looking forward to another wonderful year in the HHC.   Tim Behm

Belgian Super Champion Ulrich Lemmens, Utah fancier Sal Rodriquez and Drew Lesofski at
Estiatorio Milos Restaurant at the Cosmopolitan.

Hi Guys!

Thanks for the warm welcome of my blog, me and Drew got a lot of positive response!

It seems like we are done with the small talk and just go over to business.

Most asked question was off course which secrets I had… Well, be gentle to me, we work it true the next weeks and then come to the ‘climax’, I know it’s difficult for men but just try… (hahaha)

Another question to pop up a lot is how to feed pigeons and let that just be one of the things I definitely wanted to write about and which I’m going to put more time in during my lectures in the States.

I have done several loft visits in several states and I must say, the way of feeding is what shocked me the most. I learned a lot of motivation and training in the US, but the feeding … It’s a whole different world than in Belgium/Holland/Europe.

What I have seen so far in the US: ‘chicken pellets’ (TO RACE!!!), a lot of barley and a lot of peas and no decent balanced mixes. And most off all, nobody that could give me a serious answer on why they were feeding like that. Only the champion that was winning big races with ‘chicken pellets’ he was honest to me and said: “Ulrich, you’re more than right, I have seen the feeding in Europe, but what should I do? The man with one eye is king of the blind … If I can win the first 10 on a race with my pellets, why would I chance? As long nobody else chances there system, I keep on winning”.

So about the food, well it’s very simple, in Belgium we are top of the sport, many professionals and big glory/money to win. So everything is evolved to the top of the sport; and there are lots of guys who are specialists. So I have a specialist on the medical part (Raf Herbots), I have a specialist for the food (Beyers), I have a specialist for the loft etc… Those guys have their whole life committed to that one aspect of pigeon sport, so please don’t think you know it better than those people. If so … biggest mistake ever…

So the only thing I do is, speak with those people, what I need, what I have noticed and what should change and they make it happen.

My food mix is a work of many years but the last three years its 99% right and now I feel like it’s the best mix I ever had. This mix is called ‘Galaxi Lite’ of the company Beyers.  It’s a private mixture, only made for my loft. It’s fabulous to work with those people, they test everything, calculate the sugars, calories, fats, … they search for the best possible seeds and buy those … Awesome! And many may think I went totally nuts now, but let this make 1% difference on my total system … This could be the difference between 1^st or 2^nd National … And let’s be honest … Who talks about second place…

Well let’s start from the beginning.

August-October the birds are in moult and they get ‘Galaxi Moulting’ it’s a very rich mix with all kinds of seeds which I feel gives them the best moulting. Then I change to my basic mix the ‘Galaxi Lite’, end of November we pair up and I keep on giving this mix, I only change to the ‘Galaxi Breeding’ when the first eggs in the loft are hatched.  Than the babies are weaned, we keep on giving them the breeding mix until they moult the “small feathers”. So when they’ve moulted these small feathers I change to the basic mix, but be careful here, I learned it’s better for their digesting if you change this slowly, so I add every two days 10% of the basic mix to the breeding mix and this until we are at 100% basic mix. You’ll see when you’re feeding this basic mix, they get into condition and they start flying and exercising very well.

The ‘secret’ of this basic mix is; that it’s not too high in fats, but not too high in protein either, it’s so well balanced and easy to digest and leads to big success.

Galaxi Lite feeding mixture

For the races up to 5 hours (or 6 hours tail wind) I only feed this ‘Galaxi Lite’ no problem, the mix is strong enough to win weekly. From the moment the national races start in Belgium, 500km 6-10 hours flying I feed on Wednesday and Thursday (basketing day) a high energy mix, with a lot of fats in it. This is what you need to win those races and especially what you need, to keep on wining those races, because when the battery is empty and not reloaded, it’s over and out.

So feeding in the national race season looks like this for me:

Of course this is no exact science, you have to ‘feel’ what the pigeon needs are … If it was an easy flight with tail wind or a very hard cold wind on the nose, or high temperatures during the race you have to adapt to this.

If they give hard weather and many hours to fly, I add on Thursday extra peanuts and walnuts to the mix and also pealed sunflower seeds.

The peanuts I buy are pealed once and are tested by the food agency. The peanuts you buy in big bags unpeeled can contain moisture between the peal and the nut and this could damage your pigeons.

Please also remind digesting is everything and that only can happen when you give enough grit. What I do for this, I buy every possible kind grit on the market, seaweed, red-stone, and mix it together I also add some ‘P40’ pellets to it. This is maybe the most important of feeding in general.

P40 Pigeon pellets

Than the quantity of food during the racing season … Well very simple … I feed 1,5 soup spoons to a pigeon, when they finished this, they get a full box of food which I take away after 15 minutes, I do it like this in the morning and the evening. I always feed my pigeons 1 soup spoon before they go training and after training the 1,5 soup spoon. A pigeon that is raced hard or trains hard you cannot feed enough, keep that battery full. Of course in beginning of the year you maybe need to feed a little bit less to get them going, but from the moment they fly and hour: FEED THEM !!!!

Galaxi Breeding mixture

So that was it for this week, like always any remarks or questions contact me true Facebook or info@ulrichlemmens.be or contact Drew Lesofski with the Loft Report!

I also have an additional address for this blog: info@beyersbelgium.be you can email all your questions about food there, just put as subject “Dick De Leeuw” and they will answer all your questions about food, mixtures etc.

Greetings from Belgium!

Ulrich Lemmens

P.S.

I got some nice news from the Philippines, my friend Rey So wins the big national race there and the father is a DIRECT SON of our super breeder ‘DE GUST’! And the best part is, that it was a very hard OVERNIGHT race, to this really shows the all-round qualities of ‘DE GUST’-line !

BE2011-6171491
Father to:
1° National Mc Arthur Classic Philippines
Released 6:15 AM
Clocked: 5:51 AM the next day
Most prestigious race of Philippines!