Lesley Wright of The House of Aarden Stud

JIM EMERTON TALKS TO

LESLEY WRIGHT OF THE HOUSE OF AARDEN STUD

Steve Wright

Kindly describe the nature of the stud and its inception.

The aim of our stud is to breed top class long distance pigeons. We started the stud in 2002 while we were looking to transfer our sport into a hobby that paid for itself, at this time not realising what this would lead to!

The first pigeon we bought was a double grandson of Louella’s ‘Son Dolle 800’ at Blackpool in January 2002. In the spring of that year we went to Louella and bought a direct son of Marijn Van Geel’s ‘Vlekje’ and the ‘Kuif Vlekje’ who was a daughter of ‘Verreweg de Beste’. Over the next two to three years we bought direct offspring off ‘De Smaragd II’, ‘Invincible Spirit’, ‘De Barcelona’ and ‘De Schlangen Barcelona’.

All these Louella pigeons are now getting on in years, so we decided to bring in new Dutch long distance bloodlines namely Jan Polder pigeons. We have the finest collection of these outside of Jan’s lofts. We will name just a few of the latest Dutch Barcelona bloodlines acquired: a full brother to the 2005 Dutch National winner, 2nd International Barcelona; a direct son and daughter and a full brother to the 2006 Dutch International Barcelona winner; two direct sons of the 1st Dutch National winner 2008 and 5th International Barcelona; a direct son and daughter of the 2009 International Barcelona winner; a direct son and two daughters of the Dutch National Barcelona winner 2010 and 5th International, and last but not least, a brother to the 2011 International Barcelona winner.

Are you great believers in quality standards, and how do you maintain them?

Quality standards at the House of Aarden are maintained by only bringing to the stud the very best handling sons and daughters and brothers and sisters of long distance National winners and sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of long distance International ace pigeons. We believe this is the way forward for our stud.

What makes the stud different?

What makes our stud different? Well, we don’t think our stud is that different to any other. The only thing which makes us different is that we concentrate only on long distance stock, particularly on Jan Aarden-based pigeons. We are now expanding our bloodline of Dutch National Barcelona winners. It is our ambition to be able to offer our customers the very best we can to enable them to win the marathon races.

Will you expand your operations in the future?

The House of Aarden has expanded every year since 2002, by building new pens, individual breeding compartments and new lofts.

How do you source the pigeons for breeding?

For our breeding stock we are regularly in contact with our good friends Jan Polder and Piet de Vogel in Holland and our other good friends Nikolaas and Thomas of Pipa. Through these friends we are able to bring to the stud top quality marathon distance bloodlines.

Please describe some of your favourite birds at the stud.

We regard all our pigeons as favourites but a few do stand out either because of their racing and breeding achievements or character. For example, ‘Champion Padfields Invincible’ – six times 600 miles and once 750 miles. I know he is one of your favourites Jim! Another pigeon that stands out is ‘Champion Bonte Beer’ – four times 600 miles and 6 times 500 miles. He is now producing top National pigeons in the UK and Holland. One of the characters of the stud is a pigeon called ‘Black Rico’, a full brother to Gerard van Tuyl’s ‘Rodico’ – the 2006 International Barcelona winner. He is a real character; when you enter his own breeding compartment he flies right to your shoulder and starts pecking your ears and hair, and when bent over doing the food pots he will land on your back. This pigeon has everything – character and breeding.

What steps are taken to ensure optimum health/condition of the pigeons?

The health and condition of our pigeons is very important. We will start with old birds. Once a year we use Ivermec on the back of the neck; this will delouse and deworm them for twelve months. We use paratyphoid treatment in the water once a year and a canker treatment twice a year. For young birds each section is 12ft by 12ft, and as we wean off the babies they receive Ivermec on the neck. When the section is full and they are all eating and drinking properly they have a canker treatment and a paratyphoid treatment. They receive nothing else. It is not only important for the birds to be looked after, but also the housing in which they are kept. Each loft will be scrubbed down or painted inside and then disinfected every twelve months. The outside of the lofts gets wood stained every twelve months.

Is a family/personal approach adopted for sales?

We have and will always run the House of Aarden with a personal and family approach. For us this is the only way to run our business. Many customers are now good friends.

Will you continue to introduce other top birds?

We are always on the look out for top stock pigeons. If they sit in the hand perfectly and have the right bloodline they will be at the House of Aarden.

Honesty and integrity are vital. How are these maintained?