Jason Whitten & son,
Nipa ,northern Ireland
By jamie Kelly
Today's loft report is on one of the most up and coming lofts in the nipa over recent years and that is the loft of jason whitten&son from northern Ireland. This partnership is made up of father jason whitten and his young son jay ,this loft races in the portadown & drumcree rpc in northern Ireland and competes in the mighty nipa .the lads have really been on fire in recent years puttin up some fantastic results on land and sea both at club section and open and even national level ,some stand out results from this loft in recent years are ,in 2018 the lads won 1st club 1st open nipa talbenny from 12000 birds and then in 2019 they won 1st club 1st nipa open from a whopping 19000 birds from Gowran park and also to add to them impressive results at open level the lads also won ,1st section e nipa from 5000 birds and then 1st section e nipa fermoy from 4500 birds and also 1st&2nd section e nipa from 5500 birds and again 1st section e from Gowran park from 5000 birds ,they really are top drawer results at open and section level as the section the lads race in been section e of the nipa is wat most fanciers in the north would consider the most competitive section in the mighty nipa and doin all this with wat would have to be classed as a relatively small team of birds in this day and age with the lads only keeping 40 old birds and 40 young birds to race each season and just 12 pairs of stock, the 2020 season was yet again another superb year for the lads winning no less than 10 first and topping the money list in the very competitive portadown & drumcree rpc and also winning nipa section e old bird of the year with there brillaint cock (the new one ) this cock has no less than 4 individual first prizes for the lads so a really special cock he is ,another great achievement in 2020 was winning the bronze award with there super little herman Custer hen blue jay timing her up in the open from st.malo in France in 2018 & 2020 to win the bronze award so a superb hen she is ,the lads were also 3rd open nipa in 2020 from Gowran park from 24000 birds and 5th nipa national from talbenny from 2500 birds so that is another top result from huge birdage in the mighty nipa .another star of this loft is there super racing machine (kind of magic ) this cock over the past few years has won no less than 9 individual 1st prizes and also won the 2 bird club on 6 occasions and many nipa open and section positions so this super herman Cuester cock is without dought one of the best sprint cocks in the country and he has now been retired to the stock loft and a wise move that will be I think as his children are already winning for the lads .now a bit about the system ,the lads pair the birds up on the 26th of December and all race birds will rare a round of young birds and then once sitting 10 days on the 2nd round of eggs they will be separated and then put onto the roundabout system and will race on this system for the entire season ,the lads will loft fly the birds for a few weeks pre season and once fit they will start there road training, once the birds hit the 20mile mark they will stay there for the season and there will be no loft flying here after the first race, with both hens and cocks been trained 3 times a week from 20 mile and they never loft fly once racing starts so Monday/Wednesday/Thursday they will train and will rest Tuesday and Sunday and race every Saturday, jason takes the birds training himself and sometimes his friend john parr will also train them for the lads ,and while jason is lettin the birds go from training young jay is at the loft to call the birds in and will also have them fed and put back in there section also , so a great effort that from young jay with both father and son working great along side each here every day, the feeding here is made up of a few different mixes ,they will get versa laga gerry plus on a Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and then onto 50% energy 50% super widowhood on Thursday and then 100% energy Friday morning, then on Saturday and Sunday the lads will feed a breed&wean mix to the birds for extra protein to repair the muscles after each race ,now some supplements the lads would like is tollimin forte multi vits the birds will get this every Saturday on return from race and also Sunday, now a bit on health of the birds,jason tells me they will treat for most of the basics ie canker/cocci/worms/salmonella/respo before paring up and again before racing starts ,then during the season they will treat the birds roatately every few weeks trueout the season. Now a bit in the winning birds at this loft, more or less all of the big winners I have mentioned above are all bred from or of birds from Wayne Doonan from northern Ireland,jason tells me he first got birds of wayne a few years ago and has got some every year since and said the results from these birds has really took the lads to another level and these birds from wayne are winning nipa opens for the lads and also right out to France winning bronze awards and many birds with multiple first prizes ,so the lads would like to say a big thanks to Wayne for the class of pigeon he sends them up every year and I'm not surprised as Wayne's birds seem to be winning all over the country. The lads would also like to thank c&h beattie for all there help supplying quality food and products to help the lads and they would also like to thank jeff greenway for also helping them out with some super products for there birds .so there you have a great insite into wat has to be considered one of the best small back garden fanciers in the country, well done lads super flying and best of luck for the 2021 season atb. Jamie Kelly.
Winner of 4 x 1sts and no doubt more to come.