Loft Feature - Edward Holden, Cill Cheannaigh

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willie reynolds
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Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:44 pm

Loft Feature - Edward Holden, Cill Cheannaigh

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Edward Holden - Loft Feature

To win sixteen first prizes at club level, three first prizes at federation level, and two first Open Prizes at National level, would be an achievement that most fanciers would be proud to record in a life time, but to achieve that lot in a single season is what dreams are made of.
And so it was for the fancier that I am about to report on in this article.
Edward Holden has kept pigeons of all sorts since his boyhood days and that is over thirty years ago, but it was not until two thousand and seven that he entered the racing game, with no club in his area, he was accepted as a member of the NewRoss club, with whom he competed with, until the formation of the Cill Cheannaigh club in 2013, regardless of which club Edward competes in, he still has a twenty mile drive for the race marking of his birds, and it is that type of commitment, that is also applied to the keeping, rearing, and racing of his pigeons that I believe has brought him to the position that he finds himself in today.
The Lofts. Edward, a carpenter by trade designed and built his own lofts, the old bird loft which has three sections and a corn store with some hen boxes in it measures around thirty feet and houses a maximum of thirty six birds that are raced on the round about system.
The young bird and stock loft also has three sections in there, two of which are for the 50 / 60 young birds that are bred each year, the third section houses the twelve pair of stock birds that are kept, from this description, readers will realise that this is not a huge set up and all birds kept have to toe the line whether it be racing or breeding stock.
The stock birds have been mated up in November for the last couple of years, obviously to have a bit of age on the youngsters come the National races in September. However the mating time can change year on year depending on the previous years experience, an extra four to five months on the feeding bill for young birds each year would have to be reflected in the results achieved. The stock birds are made up of a Soontjen Cock along with seven of his children, five cocks and two hens, most of which have raced to the full before being put to stock. One pair of Billy Cullimore Van Reets, one pair off Roly & Rocca. Two Neuelaert cocks, and the beautiful Louella Busscheart White cock. The rest are from his old reliable Busscheart family, three generations of the hens, including the 2009 National winning hen.

Edward only races the young birds that he has bred from his stock pairs. All of the young birds bred from the racing team, which are mated up in the third week of January are sold, nearly without exception to off set the costs or racing.
Having said that, it’s the feed back that he gets from the lucky purchasers that can determine the next bird to be retired to stock, whilst he is racing the parents, their offspring are being tried and tested by other fanciers. it’s a system that has proven very successful over the last few years.
Training of the old birds starts once they have been parted into their own sections, both cocks and hens are trained hard up to the first race, then probably twice per week during the racing season, usually to about 35/40 miles mostly on the line of flight, the exception to this would be when the birds are disturbed by peregrines‘, in that case they will be rested and moved to another location, he did say however that it is getting more difficult to avoid strikes from aerial predators and that once they have been trained properly up to that distance, he would not mind just racing every week without the need for any more training if the situation persisted.
Young birds are also trained very hard up to forty miles or again until the attacks by preditors get out of hand as they can do during the young bird season, in that event he will race nearly all the young birds each week, none are stopped, they are all expected to complete the programme, and looking at the young bird team after the season had finished, there was quite a number left to choose from for next years old bird team which again will only consist of a maximum 36 birds.
Edward said that he prefers the cocks as they are so easy to manage however it’s the hens that do most of the winning during the racing season, they train around the loft exceptionally well, sometimes for up to two and a half hours, when asked if he thought the edge may be gone off of them with all the flying during the week, he was adamant that the more flying they put in during the week the better they came on the weekend. The hens are exercised once per day the cocks for one hour morning and evening.
Medication. After the initial treatments for cocci, canker, & worms and Parastop as a preventative against Para typhus, also the usual Parvo injection, are carried out before the Breeding & racing season, very little else is given. Fresh grit and minerals are given daily and Edward is a big fan of Homoform for both young and old birds. He used to treat every three weeks during the racing season for canker, but this year the young birds were flying so well that he was afraid he might put them off form by treating, so they had nothing added after the third race of the season. Edward would like to thank Jimmy Hamilton of NerwRoss for all his help when there was any slight problem detected.
Feeding. is all Versela Laga from Henry Beatties through the local agent in Kilkenny.
The one brand, but all the different mixes that are required to keep the birds in top condition the whole year round, whether it be Breeding, Racing or Moulting he never changes either the source or the brand.
Suppliments. Fresh grit, Minerals, and the like all come from the same source, Henry Beatties, again through their agent in Kilkenny.
Cleaning. Is carried out twice per day during the racing season whilst the birds are exercising, then once per week when the season is over, Edward highly recommends the use of a mask when cleaning as he suffers somewhat from the effects of the dust mainly at the height of the season or during the moult.
Racing. The old birds are raced on the roundabout system, the cocks and hens exercised separately but both trap into the same compartment when finished and also when returning from the races. If any of the hens are inclined to mate together they are removed and placed on their own in the Conr store, hence the few boxes in there. Edward maintained that if a hen does mate up and is separated, it has no real effect on her performance that week, they might even race quite well, but again he is adament that the performance of her cock will most likely plummet if he is not getting all her attention when they are left together for a few minutes before being basketed for that weeks race.
The young Birds. For the most part are raced to the perch or at least until the fifth or sixth race, they will then be separated into their own compartment, and allowed to run together for a few minutes on basketing night, they are also left together for a few hours on their return from the races as they all trap into the same section..
Results. I will only give you his full results for this year and some National results over the past few year. 2014. Club 16 x 1st Federation 3 x 1st National 2 x 1st also included in his National results 2014, was. 3rd, 4th, & 10th open from Mauchline. 2nd,3rd,& 4th, Open from Hamilton. 12th Open from Frazerburgh. In the young bird Nationals 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Open from Girvan. 1st & 2nd, Open from Malin Head.
Also from what I can gather, Edward is the Highest prize winner in the Leinster North Road Federation 2014..
2013. 2nd Open young Bird National from Mauchline.
2012. 6 in the top ten Open from Mauchline Young Bird National.
2011. 3 in the top ten Open from Mauchline Young Bird National.
2009. 1st Open Young Bird National from Mauchline.

To finish. I asked Edward for his advice to new starters, he said, tongue in cheek, Soccer is a nice game and only takes up a few hours of your time on a Sunday morning ! He then said that to get started properly they should get in touch with a good fancier in their area and purchase some late bred young birds and not to keep too many pigeons until you learn to look after them and get their off spring to the races, after that it is up to each individual what they would like to achieve with their birds.
He would also like to thank his partner Loraine for all her help in looking after the birds, to Wattie Cullen and Roly & Rocca for the early advice and encouragement. To Jimmy Hamilton for his help with any health problems, and finally to all those that work hard for the pigeon sport in Ireland.
Well that’s it in a nut shell, a very dedicated fancier with a really nice team of both stock and race birds, and with his management I feel he will only get better as the years pass.

Franciscorcoran@alpinelofts.net or 00353599145419.
Punch.

Photos to follow
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