2009 Kings Cup winners
LOFT FEATURE by Bren McGrane
(Q) please introduce your self and tell us how you got started in the sport and when you started.
my name is thomas moorehouse,i started in the sport of pigeon racing at a very young age with my father paddy moorehouse,dating back to 1977 it could be longer,i enjoyed flying with the largest racing organisation in the south of ireland that being the irish south road federation.an amazing 55 x 1st federations opens,yes you read it right ,i was south road fed champion many of times,then in 1999 i moved house to rathnew co,wicklow and did not race for a couple of years,i got back into them as i could not live with out them.i now race as moorehouse & hayden that is my son inlaw john paul.
(Q) what club do you race in and how many members are there in it.
we race in the rathnew club which is very competitive and there is 16 flying members and we are members of the east coast federation.
(Q) how do you race your pigeons and how many do you keep old birds young birds and stock birds,
we race all our birds on the natural system old and young birds,we have about 20 pairs of old birds and around 80 young birds for racing,we also keep around 25 pairs of stock birds.
(Q) can you tell us what are your lofts made from and what sizes are they.
our racing loft is around 40 foot x 7 foot it is made from timber and it has a tiled roof this is for old birds and young birds,we have two garden sheds for our stock birds both are 8x10 foot and they also have avaries on them.
(Q)when do you pair up your pigeons ,stock and racers.
we pair up our stock birds at the end of december and our racers are paired up around feburary.
(Q) young bird sickness ,is it a problem for you,if so what do you use to treat them with and have you any advise.
touch wood it has never being a problem for us.
(Q) how do you feed your pigeons,racers,stock and young birds,do you measure their food.
all our birds racers stock and young birds are hopper feed.
(Q) do you attach any importance to feeding grit and minerald.
yes we do we feel they are most important and feed them fresh every day.
(Q) what do you think of the vacination programme and do you think that it effects them long term.
we have always vacinated our birds and we see no problems with them.
(Q) do you think there is an advantage in having a partnership.
yes it is half the work and makes life a lot easyer.
(Q) do you use any preventative medacation.
yes we will treat them for canker before we pair them and we like the deweerd products.
(Q) do you race your birds every week.
if we think our birds are ok and on form then they go every week.
(Q) are there any special treatments that you give your birds.
no there are no special treatments in our lofts.
(Q) tell us about your best pigeons and performances.
winning rosscarbery twice finishing 1st and 2nd open and winning the open by a clear 8 minutes,remembering that the irish south road federation is predominately dublin based organisation with more weeks than not a trapping match.
i also recorded 29 fed cards within the top 20 of the fed in a combined three week period with over 10,000 birds competing each week,also to many positions to mention,
now to the kings cup,the first time we entered was in 2006 and we were 3rd south section 5th open recording a vel of 1222 for the 396 mile fly winning a nice sum of money of 4031 pounds and the mc cloud cup for the first fancier to time a yearling in the race.
in 2007 the birds had to be brought back after an out break of bird flu.in 2008 due to weather conditions the birds were once again returned to ireland,2009 was the second time we entered what is described as the biggest race on the irish pigeon racing calender,namely the kings cup,champion tommy boy as he is know had a hard prep,he had an unbelievable five channel races in 2009 flying talbennt 94 miles twice,bude 163 miles,the i.n.f.c. yearling national sennen cove 202 miles,before going to plaudren 388 miles for the kings cup,he flew the 388 miles in 7 hours 48 min on a velocity of 1416 winning the most sought after cup in ireland that being the king george v challenge cup.
(Q) is there anything you have not won in the sport that you would like to win.
yes we would like to try and win the yearling national and the friendship national, we have done the rest.
(Q) how often do you exercise your birds ,old and young.
we would exercise our old and young birds every day if possibly but not on race day.
(Q) do you use deep litter ,floor grills or clean out daily.
we do not use deep litter or floor grills but we prefere to clean out daily.
(Q) how far do you usally train your birds old and young.
we start our old birds off at ten miles and work them up to fifty miles and our young birds we start them off at three miles and work them also up to fifty miles.
(Q) what are the main bloodlines that you race.
we race the soontjens and van loons.
(Q) is there any fanciers that has helped you.
well this year i owe a lot to steve fenech,andy gregson,ger delaney,and my very good friends sid collins,tommy mc clean,and paddy snell( the king of the channel).
(Q) do you have a programme for medacation.
we do treat our birds for canker,cocci and respirtory.
(Q) if you could use only two products what would they be.
we would use garlic and vitamin b12 as we think that they are very good products.
(Q) what was the last two things you put in the water or on the food.
in the water we put vitamin b12 and and on the food we put garlic oil .
(Q) do you ever think of competing for averages .
not really as i said before if our birds are not right we dont send them.
(Q) do you race your young birds hard
no we have not raced them hard in the last few years
(Q) do you treat pigeons differently for national racing.
no all our birds are treated the same .
(Q) what do you think can be done to improve our sport and bring young and new members into our sport.
well we do need new members,things are gone so dear,but if we all helped some one out we would get new fanciers into our great sport.
(Q) what do you find more difficult to establish,a team of sprinters or distance birds.
well it is both so difficult as i have always been a sprint man and went on to win the kings cup in 2009.
we would like to wish everyone good luck in 2012 from moorehouse & hayden.
by Bren McGrane.
From (l) John Paul holding YB Fed winner from Tramore 4,500b, Paddy Snell holding 1st Fed Tramore 4,000b, Tommy holding 1st Fed Pilmore Beach 3,900b and Johnny holding "Tommy's Boy" winner of the Kings Cup.
Sire of "Tommy's Boy" Kings Cup winner.
"Tommy's Boy" winner of the Kings Cup.
Moorehouse & Haydens stock birds.
Moorehouse & Haydens stock birds.
Moorehouse & Haydens stock birds.
Tommy Moorehouse and John Paul holding "Tommy's Boy" Kings Cup winner.