Back to Basics Across The Irish Sea
They say that in this works you are never more than 7 people from knowing everybody in the world, it sounds a little crazy but if you think about it then it is fairly easy to get to Barack Obama or even the Japanese President. Contacts in the pigeon world are fairly similar, you know a guy who knows a guy who knows this old fancier and suddenly you are having some youngsters from the top fancier in a Fed or Combine many miles away.
Well, without setting out to do so I have made some excellent friends on the Emerald Isle! Thanks to Jim Emerton and his network of Marathon Fanatics I converse on a regular basis with several Barcelona Dreamers over in Ireland, throwing around ideas and questions that we have floating around in our heads. One of those is a guy called Michael Feeney, Safe Haven Lofts, who is putting together a formidable stock team with some pigeons that are dripping in extreme distance blood. Michael and I seem to be very much on the same wavelength with our single minded goal and some of our conversations have been brilliant. I also have Michael to thank for the chance to compete in the Derby Arona, as part of the Team Bronski syndicate. I was honoured to represent the Team at the Blackpool show last weekend so we now have a photo up on the website, a top half shot of me at the Derby Arona stand is now there for all to see in cyber-space. Another thank you to Michael is needed as through him I have met Martin Dunphy, and that is the real reason for this article. Martin has totally embraced the Back to Basics lifestyle and is thoroughly enjoying it, so much so he wrote me an excellent piece on his experiences so far. I told Martin that people would love to read it so along with photographs to show exactly what Martin is doing in his push for extreme distance racing the Back to Basics way; here is the piece that Martin sent to me, enjoy!
John Ghent represents Team Bronski at Blackpool
"Hi John, Martin Dunphy here,
I am a 45 year old lad living in Dublin, Ireland. I have just recently set up with my own racing team; I will be sending pigeons to Barcelona in a couple of year’s time. My team of birds will be small all the time being tested with ever increasing distances to home from.
I have really enjoyed reading your reports and your thoughts on the back to basics marathon challenge. The last I read you had moved home and loft I hope it all went well and everyone is settled in the birds as well
My journey started with me helping out a friend look after his birds when he was on holiday, this I quite enjoyed. I made little alterations to the loft to improve the birds stay.
This went down well with Willie the owner as he said you're never finished with the design of a pigeon loft, how right he was, but I enjoyed seeing how the birds reacted to the changes, be they new traps with landing board on a hinge or a sighting cage, widening the corridor, different design of parches, a change in nest boxes, it was all good. I then bought a few new additions to see how they would go. Some are still there with a few late bred birds to boost the stock. Some of these later bred ones I used to foster eggs in my new loft. I wanted to catalogue my journey just so I could remember what had happened on the way. It is now December 2015 as I write this but my own journey started in January 2015 when I got setup with my own loft.
The thought of having my own loft
Idea’s of loft grandeur, how best to lay it out. How to suit my situation, the system of flying the birds. Flying the natural way, having their freedom everyday, some nights that’s all I thought about. It was great, I loved it but it was exhausting. Here’s where I’m coming from, I’ve read so much about the practice of racing pigeons and how best to achieve good results. One thing for sure its easier said than done.
I kept birds with a friend and raced in his back garden, tried to use different systems, be it the darkness / widowhood / roundabout /natural, different ways of feeding them, rationed to an ounce of food per day per bird, all they can eat, the same food all year round with grit and minerals. It all depends what you actually want the pigeon to achieve, is it sprinting/ middle/ or the extreme long distance events and what suits you and your mind set
Then the training. How often, how far, how long are they trained before the actual race, are they burnt up before the first race has begun, are they trained for the sprint but you want them to fly the channel. The two systems I think need different approaches.
Yes I think a sprinter will achieve a great distance race, he just needs the right fuel reserves in store and not over taxed in its training. I’m going to try a laid back approach with little training, open loft, feed in front of them at all time, young and old flying together and I don’t think I'll separate them (this isn’t set in stone) . This approach I have come to enjoy. I feel all birds have the potential to race well, I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel as this is how the men of old flew their birds and what ever came back that’s what were bred from.
I now have the use of my dads block shed, it's 16 foot by 10 foot and needed a little love.
I got a lot of help with the build from my dad Patrick aka Paddy, Aidan, Charles, my brother Patrick and my friend and yours Michael Feeney, what a player. I went for an anti cat landing board with the option of leaving the loft open 24/7, hail, rain, wind, snow or good weather they can come and go as they please.
When you come inside it has a 3 foot corridor where I store food at one end and the birds come and go where the window used to be. Its divided into two sections, the main breeding section contains 16 nest boxes each with bunk bed style nest bowel that can be removed, I really like this setup. The two water fountains are raised up to about 3 foot off the ground at either end and I access them from the corridor and replenish them on a weekly basis.
I like the idea of them getting some exercise as they go for a drink, strengthening the lift muscles all the time. The other section contains an array of nest boxes and perches for the young birds to go about their life cycle in relative comfort without rearing anything, just sitting pot eggs. The water fountain is also raised up. They can both be fed from the corridor as I have a trough there and the sparrow /collard dove and feral pigeon join them for a feed.
I have lined the walls with 8x4 sheets of plywood, insulated the floor and ceiling, roof has tiles to the front and felt at the back and using deep litter on the floor, using elephant grass and straw. The ventilation doesn’t work as I had expected, I wanted to have it with the only air coming in through where the birds enter and exiting up into the roof space and out, yea that’s not what happens, I’ll fix it with a chimney straight through, fingers crossed it works.
Now I want to rear my own youngsters here, we have the stock to produce the eggs I need foster parents. My old partner gives me a loan of 12 late bred birds, some are too young so Michael gives 3 hens to complete the pairs all is fine. It turns out the eggs were ready before me so my old partner comes up trumps and he rears my first round in his loft and any other eggs are hatched in mine, its working out fine.
Some of the foster parents have reared 3 rounds and were sitting eggs when I was finished with them. Both the lads said let them out when you're finished as they only live 5 mins away, if they are any good they will come back as they would have probably flown over here when they were ranging, I was very curios as to what would happen, they had all they wanted nice size nest box, peanuts, canary seed, G10 pellets, breed & wean, bread, honey / electrolytes in the water, sitting eggs Y/B’s ready to wean, me talking to them, what happened yep they went straight home.
Ah well I thought, they must love their birth place so strong that no loyalties are shown to me, although I was there when they were born and reared so they would have known me from then, so maybe it's not meant to be, if they had come back I would have some two year olds in 2016 to go a bit further as it is I decided not to even train these birds bred this year as I want them to develop slowly and get used to them here. They have the open hole, all they can eat, the love of home, pair to who ever they chose, pigeon paradise I’m trying to create.
Four to five weeks after I let the first foster pair out I came to say good night and there in the corridor a chequer cock standing there looking at me, to say I was amazed, wow I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t touch him. I stood for a while contemplating what to do thinking this that and the other, I gave him a few peanuts said goodnight smiled and thought this is wonderful. That night I told Willie he was here, let him out in the morning he will come back, he’s not locked in as I have no traps
Next morning sure enough he was gone, ah well I thought, their go all my ideas as to what I had planned, it was nice to see that the bird could think for himself even if he didn’t stay, that night he was with his hen in the Y/B section I was flabbergasted. To think what had happened he had gone round collected his hen and brought her back wow they are still here. Willie was happy for me to hold onto them, I had another 10 foster birds to let out as they finished rearing. I did the same. Yes, 8 foster parents came back in total, to say I’m delighted, (are they any good since they did dessert the home place?? I’ll find out and I will keep an eye on the ones that didn’t hang around) only two of these birds were brought training in there old loft the rest I didn’t want too as they were late bred and I’m so delighted I get the chance to try my method at home with these birds.
I have 25 birds now two are very late bred. I won’t do anything with them until 2017.
15 yearlings, they will go to Penzance and my 8 foster birds two/three year olds, one is a 2013 rung, she would have lived in the other loft at least two seasons, bred young in 2014 I really like this one. A red cheq hen she is on the lines of red fox Janssen’s. They will make the France trip all going well and I make the right decisions on their fitness and motivation, I will aim to have them sitting or feeding very young youngsters. Who ever returns will have pot eggs to sit just to get there breathe back."
I found this such an interesting ready, I hope you did too? Yes it is challenge racing pigeons, even the short distances, some would say it is harder work and I would agree. What Martin has realised is that he has to pick his fights with a busy lifestyle and to simplify things as much as possible is his best solution. Well good luck with it Martin, I'm sure your time will come!
What's your dream? To clock from Tarbes, to time in a Spanish Diploma Winner? To clock from Barcelona on the 2nd day? The main thing is to have a dream, no matter how big! With a dream you can formulate a plan!
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." Walt Disney.
So long for now
John Ghent
