By Adie McCormick
http://www.pigeonnetwork.com
CONSISTENCY
By R. Goudy
The following story was written by the famous Bertie Goudy of Muckamore Co.Antrim, N.Ireland following his success from Beauvais in 1970 when the loft finished 1st Irish Section Vaux-Usher. A former Kings Cup winner in 1964 Bertie will remain always one of the top fanciers ever to fly pigeons in Ireland.
LIVING IN close proximity to some very outstanding pigeon fanciers it was only to be expected that at a very early age I should become influenced by some of these fanciers. My brother Campbell and I used to go down to the local railway station on marking nights and watch the Muckamore H.P.S members marking their birds for races. So once left school and working we decided to build a loft, and like the great majority of fanciers we obtained birds from Tom, Dick, and Harry, and as often happens these ‘Dolly Mixtures’, didn’t race at all well. We realised that these birds were not going to get us to the top so in 1950 we purchased birds from the late Wm Ball of the Ormeau Club in Belfast. These were late breds of the Osman strain and tow years later were responsible for breeding our first Club winner. We raced reasonably well in club racing until 1956, but in this year we also had our first taste of success from France. The birds responsible were a Black Putman Hen NU-54P-8225 kindly represented to us by the famous McCabe Br of Antrim, which won 12th Open Rennes and a Red Cock NU-55P-26216 which won 69th Open N.I.P.A. Derby from St Malo. The Red Cock was presented to us by W.A Smart of Bangor in exchange for one of our Osmans, we clocked him again in 1957 to win 30th Open Redon I.N.F.C., he was our first introduction to the Stoddard Strain; we introduced more of these birds from Mr Smart, they were descendants of Stoddards Champion ‘Dandy Boy’ and ‘Air Mail’. Around this time we also introduced Brutons and Jarvis birds fram Ref Barker of Chadwell Heath, these have also proved very successful through the years, my Black Ch Beauvais winner containing some of this blood.
A young Bertie Goudy pictured here holding 1st Irish Section Vaux-Usher Beauvais in 1970. A former winner of the INFC Kings Cup Bertie recorded many top performances from the Channel over many successful years.
Some of our major wins up until winning the Kings Cup from Nantes in 1964 are as follows :- 1958-3rd Open I.N.F.C YB Nat Milford Haven - £184 , 1960-3rd Open I.N.F.C YB Nat Milford Haven - £225, 1962-3rd Open N.I.P.A. Ch Club Haverford West - £84, 1964-11th Open I.N.F.C YB Nat Milford Haven and of course, 1st Open Nantes and the Kings Cup with ‘Dandy Lass’ she is a half sister to the 3rd Open YB Nat winner in 1960, and the 11th Open YB Nat winner of ’64 is a son of the 3rd Open winner in 1958. Everything seemed to be going well for us but tragedy struck in November 1964. My brother Campbell died just two weeks before we were presented with the Kings Cup.
I carried on with the birds and in 1965, and ’66 clocked a Blue Hen, kindly presented by my good friend Syd Montgomery, from Dinard N.I.P.A. Derby, her wins read ’65 – 5th Sec 9th Open, 1st Ulster Com, 1st Antrim Comb Dinard. 1966 – 1st Muckamore Club from Wexford then 9th Sec 25th Open, 1st Ulster Comb, 1st Antrim Comb Dinard and her total winnings £826.0.0. In 1968 I again clocked from Dinard this time with my only entry a Blue Ch Krauth Hen, she was 2nd Club Okehampton prior to going to this race to win both the Antrim and Ulster Comb, also 5th Sec 10th Open N.I.P.A. Dinard and approximately £400.0.0. You may have noticed that from 1956 where we first won from France that the wins form a pattern i.e. every other year with the exception of 1965. There is no reason that I know of this but it has happened again in 1970 with my winning 1st Open Irish Sec International Beauvais Race and 2 weeks later winning 8th Sec 20th Open Dinard, the latter positions being won by a Red yearling cock and half brother to the ’64 Kings Cup winner, both birds being from the same sire, my old Red Cock when mated to his own G/Daughter, a hen I have kept for stock purposes. I have brought you up to date with my National and Derby performances and will now endeavour to outline my methods.
My stock birds are mated up the last week in February but the racing birds are paired according to the race programme and the races which have been selected for individual birds. This I do to ensure that the bird is sent to its selected race in its best nesting condition, nothing less will do if one wants the best results. The birds which have performed best for me in the distance races have nearly all been sent when feeding a small YB from 4 days to about 10 days old. Training: During the racing season the OBs are flown for ¾ of an hour at 6 a.m. and again for ¾ of an hour at 6 p.m. They also get one mid week toss from 30-40 miles. Like the rest of my methods, feeding is simple and straight forward, no fancy stuffs, they are fed on a good sound mixture twice a day during racing and once per day during the winter. The birds also receive a liberal sprinkling of Linseed. The water is changed prior to feeding the birds. Drinkers are sterilised once per week because I am a great believer in cleanliness. My wooden loft which has 5 well ventilated sections is kept spotlessly clean. The ventilation and cleanliness certainly keep down disease.
The Black Cheq Hen, winner of 1st Irish Section Vaux-Usher International race from Beauvais, winning £110. Bred and Raced by G R Goudy of Muckamore.
I am often asked by visitors to my loft, ‘Tell me your secrets, what do you give the birds before they go to the National and Derby races?’ and many more questions. My answer to these questions and, what could be termed advice to novices is: I have no secrets and I give my birds nothing but good food and clean fresh water, furthermore, I don’t think there are any secrets to be revealed because I believe that for the distance races the bird must first of all be bred for the job. Speaking of our Irish birds I would divide them into three categories, (1) Sprinters that cannot be beaten up Ireland, (2) The birds that will win from Haverford to Penzance and (3) the type of bird that I am interested in which wins from France and has to cross two channels. I believe that category three is an entirely different type of bird from the first two. In other words, I believe that unless a bird is bred for the distance, bred to cross the two channels from France to N.Ireland, it does not stand a chance in these races. My Beauvais Hen is bred from a full sister to my 10th Open Dinard winner of 1968 and on the sire’s side contains the blood of the Reg Barker birds. Prior to Beauvais she had 4 races, 2 from Arklow, one from Wexford where she was clocked and one from Haverford (3) where she was clocked again. She was sent to Beauvais feeding a YB one week old. When she returned after being on the wing for 13 hours, 40 minutes she was so fresh looking that I had to check her ring number to make sure it really was her. She was so fresh that she looked as though she could have flown another 100 miles.