The Racing Pigeon Enthusiast
~ Newsletter ~
Table of Contents:

About this newsletter   by John Vance, editor

Welcome to the sixth issue of the Racing Pigeon Enthusiast, This newsletter is sponsored by RacingPigeonMall.com and it is hoped that many more issues will follow.

A many of you know, I made the move to California in November, and within a month of getting here, my mother had a fall that kept her bed=ridden for two months. Besides the stress that comes from moving and moving your birds, the fact that I was here for her has been a real blessing for me and her.

I did have one bad situation: I found a partner to fly with down here and spent quite a bit of time with him and his family before deciding to move my birds to his property. I finished a new 6 x 16 ft. breeding loft in December and moved the breeders into their new quarters only to find that my new partner has domestic problems and I needed to move the birds again. The stress of taking care of my mother and having to build a new loft was to much and I made the tough decision to sell the birds.

Fortunately, I had two friends step up to the plate and offer sections in their lofts to house some of my birds. I did sell some and I farmed some out until next November when I will make the final decision about being able to keep the birds or finish off a complete sell-off of the birds.

One hidden gem in all this chaos has been the fact that my colony of birds has shrunk from 160 birds to 38 birds. This meant selling HOF winners, race winners, imports, breeders of winners and the cream of my youngbird team. It has also meant that I was able to accomplish what few ever get done. I made a committment to a small core of birds upon which I hope to build my breeding program.

In the midst of all these goings on, I imported 19 birds from Europe. Nime of which were per-sold and 10 that have been incorporated into my own breeding program raising my total colony to 48 birds. Yes, I am still breeding, only from the donated sections of my friends who are kind enough to loan me a section to keep my birds in. Isn't it strange, you have one pigeon guy go flaky on you and two more step up and help out. Wouldn't the sport be better off if more of this selflessness were prevelent?


The Best Youngbirds in the World?   by John Vance

On February 7, 2004, German flyers placed 5 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th) of the top 10 birds in the South African Million Dollar Race, There were 3,703 birds entered in the race. Of that amount, about 2,368 birds were basketed for the race with 2106 of those birds being activated ($1000 USD payment). Let us now look at the German results statistically; the German fanciers entered 16.92% of the birds sent in for the race, they had 19.54% of the birds basketed for the race, 23.60% of the birds making the race sheet and finally 50% of the birds in the top 10 positions. This was no fluke as they had 5 birds in the top 10 last year and 3 birds in the top 10 the year before that. In 2000, they placed four birds in the top ten, as well. Over the past five years, German birds have won this most prestigious race three times!!!!

Though one should not jump to any conclusions based on these results (as more years will tell the story even better), nonetheless over the past five years, the numbers are pointing to a conclusion that the Germans are consistently sending better birds to this race than the other competing countries, even better than the flyers of the host country, South Africa.

Here is some information on the winning bird DV 08071 03 58 "Cisco", bred by Jammer-Reinhard.

-- sire is a blue-pied breeder of old Desmet-Matthys blood-lines

-- mother is a blue check hen of pure Mattheuws, (Belgian sprint family)

A sister to the South Africa winner is also a big winner in Germany and is considered a bird of quality and character. Now the above breeding pair has produced two world class daughters!

The 2nd place winner DV 06297 03 484 "Pajou", was bred by Bernd Wichmann. This bird is mainly Janssen strain x Wouters x Desmet-Matthys. The father of the 2nd place winner has produced several race winners, and the brother to the father was 2nd Provincial Ace Cock, having four 1st Union wins against 2,000+ birds per race.

The rest of this article will try to familiarize our readers with the German style of racing as this might help us realize if there is a link between the type of bird needed to compete in German competitions and the type of bird needed to compete in the Million Dollar Race.

To read the complete article go to:
http://www.racingpigeonmall.com/loft/articles/german-birds-better.html


Gerrit Lahuis Champion Flyer   by John Vance

First of all, this is not going to be a typical report of some top European racing loft. To tell the truth, when I read those kind of reports, I can hardly get through all the list of race results. Instead, this will be a report concerning what I find interesting about Gerrit Lahuis and my own experiences with his birds.

When I first got into the sport, in the fall of 2000, I imported four late hatches from Gerrit. Unfortunately, one of the four died soon afterwards but I have had success breeding from two of the others. This year, a son off one of these imports was 3rd club Champion Old bird and a son off another was send to Larry Fouts in Ohio and this bird won 1st Champion Young bird of the Combine against 48 lofts.

Isn’t that the way it goes, for three years you breed and wonder if there is anything worth keeping from a mating and then Wham Bam, lightning strikes twice. I blame myself most of all for it taking three years to show results from these birds as I made many rookie mistakes and lost a lot of my young birds in those first years I bred the birds. In 2003, I didn’t fly young birds as I was preparing for a move to California.

The third Lahuis bird I imported has not been properly tested. For the last two years she has been mated to two different “old” Janssen cocks and I only got four youngsters off of those matings. I sold two and lost two. Like I said, I made some rookie mistakes.

In the meantime, I have kept in contact with Gerrit and have shared in his excitement over the past few race seasons. 2003 turned out to be a banner year for Gerrit. Remember, I am not going to list column after column of race results because I do not want to bore you, but here are the highlights:

NL 03-5342842 ~ 4th best youngbird of the Netherlands
NL 03-5342873 ~ 24th best youngbird of the Netherlands
11th Champion Loft Youngbirds of the Netherlands
14th Champion Loft Vitesse of the Netherlands
1st KeizerGeneral North East Region ~ 2400 lofts

Click here for more information and a special offer:
http://www.racingpigeonmall.com/loft/articles/lahuis-2003.html


Club Code of Conduct:  

A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER...

Don't come late.
Don't bring personal grievances.
Don't be afraid to voice your opinion
Don't wish you had spoken when it's too late.
Don't criticize judges after the show, do it at the time.
Don't accept responsibility; then not work at it.
Don't sit back and let others do the work.
Don't hold back a suggestion. It might be a good one.
Don't think your club is run by a "CLIQUE". You can help.
Don't try to carry on a conversation with the fellow next to you during the meeting.
Don't forget to pay your dues.
DON'T FORGET THAT NEW MEMBER.
DON'T FORGET THE NEXT MEETING.
Don't misrepresent a bird to make a sale.
Don't have your "SAY" after the meeting.
Don't repeat anything you hear unless you know it to be true.


The Store  


Since I am not flying this year, I will have more time to do research on health for our racing pigeons. I already have several products I have developed including the "Super Creatine" product announced in the last newsletter. "Oxy-Toner" the perfect tonic to prepare your birds for tough races and to bring them back to peak performance after a tough race. Also, my complex liquid vitamin suppliment that is two - four times more concentrated than other liquid vitamin products on the market,

I received many phone calls about the "Super Creatine" product. Most from flyers who were already using creatine successfully in the races and wanted this superior product. It was most rewarding to get positive feedback from these experienced flyers about their success using the product.

DADT also known as "Golden Drops" or "Futurity Drops" are continuing to be shipped out including an order just the other day from Portugal. This product is pre-ordered and often takes week to fill as the scientist that produces it for me does so only in small batches when needed

To visit the store click this link:
http://www.racingpigeonmall.com/loft/products/index.html


In the Loft - Health Tips

Golden Crumble:

Below are two recipes for "Golden Crumble" a treat for your breeders that helps them with nutrients they might need when rearing young, You can try it if you like and let us know how the birds liked it!

Recipe #1
Steal cut Oats or Groats
Fortified calcium powder
Sugar water
Cod liver oil

Recipe #2
1 x 500g bag of Steal cut Oats or Groats
1 teaspoon of Vit C powder
4 teaspoons of Fortified Calcium
2 Eggs

Mix up and leave to harden overnight, then about 1 egg cup per ten pigeons after main meal per day.

Steel-cut oats or groats, are the whole grain that have been chopped into small pieces. They're chewier than rolled oats, and grain aficionados often prefer them for hot oatmeal cereals and muesli. Substitutes: rolled oats OR whole oat groats.

This recipe can be augemented with other powders, grains, herbs or suppliments if you like. For example you could add some potato powder and / or a sprinkling of finely chopped parsley or chives.

In lieu of the fortified Calcium and Vit C powder, you could use a mineral mix or a complex liquid vitamin like the one we sell at racingpigeonmall.com which is very high in Vitamin C and Calcium along with Vitamins A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, E, Biotin, Folic Acid and Niacinamide.

What's Happening at RacingPigeonMall?

As mentioned above, I recently imported 19 racing pigeons from Europe. I have imported 75 birds for myself and friends during this period and it has always been most rewarding, except for my experiences with the import agents. I have used the USA agent and two Canadian agents and have found only one of them to be up to my level of customer service and honesty. It is a shame that we are forced to use these men to import our birds as we are always being exploited by two of these agents while the other one does seem to be a good and honest person.

Though I cannot speak high of the import agents, I can speak very highly of the breeders from which I have imported birds. Also, I can speak highly of relationships I have deveoloped over the years with my own contacts in Europe. I can honestly say, that I have imported many of the best record birds to come to America, including National Aces, Provincial Aces, winners against 8000+ birds and children of International long distance winners.

I have formed a partnership with one particular contact who works out of Germany, speaks good English, has written for the British Publications and has had a business supplying top European Record birds including National and Regional race winners against 30,000+ birds.

I am pleased to announce this partnership and to encourage anyone interested in owning the best birds of Europe at reasonable prices to contact myself at loftmaster@racingpigeonmall.com or my partner:

Winners Mall
Munich-Town, Germany
email: pedepimk@compuserve.de

Please remember there is a seven to ten hour time difference between here and Germany.


On the Auction Today!

There are about 12 birds on the auction this weekend including a nice group of Staf Van Reets and some Tranquillity Loft Imports.

Click Here to Visit the Auction


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