ESSEX & KENT AMALGAMATION

E. J. SAINS

Wetherby - Saturday 1st September 2012

Saturday the 1st of September had been reported all the previous week by the weather stations to be an exceptionally good day, plenty of sunshine and a south west wind. But when Saturday arrived it brought with it a lot of heavy cloud, particularly in and around Yorkshire, which led to the birds being held until 11am when they were finally liberated in to a west south west wind. Certainly no one was expecting the result that followed, with the far west of the amalgamation not only clocking all of the early positions but with unbelievably outstanding velocities achieved in a south west wind. Once the birds had been liberated they must have been instantly away and really pushed on for them to have achieved such a performance, possibly flying above the cloud where they may have found some helping wind.

Mr R Fenech & son - 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th & 6th open Essex & Kent Amalgamation Wetherby velocities 1424 1423 1422 1419.6 1419 1409 ypm. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th & 6th County of Essex Federation 3719 birds.

What a fantastic performance. Living to the far west of the amalgamation flying against all the odds in a west south west wind, then not only timing the first six but putting 16 ypm between the first bird and the next competitor. How is it done? Well here are a few pointers to this performance from the man himself Mr Bob Fenech.

First of all you need the right birds for the job, in this case Bob's birds without doubt excel at middle distance. They have proved they can fly extremely well at 500 miles, but the family has been bred and honed together over the years by Louis Cooreman to win out of turn in big competition with large amounts of birds at short middle distance races.

Secondly the birds have to be sharing a very healthy disposition. Bob says that it is very important to have the birds and their dropping samples checked prior to racing. Bob used to have to go to Belgium to visit a vet, Mr Johan Vander Crussen, which made things very awkward having to drive over to Belgium at the beginning of the season in order to have this done. But this year all this was done by Henk de Weerd, which made this so much easier.

Bob asked if a thank you could be mentioned in this article for the excellent job that Henk de Weerd had done for him at his Colchester practice in checking out his birds out for him prior to the racing them.

The third thing you have to do, particularly with young birds, is to train them. When you start you need to train them to stick to a straight line. To do this you need to get up very early each morning and get them up the road. When several birds become really fit you will start to experience multiple drops straight off the line during a race and that’s when you know all your hard work is coming together.

To give you an idea of what needs to happen, in the first race the birds were sent in the North London Federation to Peterbough winning second federation then taking the next ten positions. The second race they were again sent with the North London Federation winning third federation and again taking the next ten positions. The next race they won 2nd & 3rd federation. Fourth race sent to the County of Essex Federation, winning the first five. Then last week they took the first 11 positions in the federation out of Wetherby. Then of course this week the first six in the Essex & Kent Amalgamation from Wetherby.  

The base mix for the young birds is V.L. junior. When they return from a race they are fed a good strong mix which is usually made up from a third V.L. junior, a third breeding mix and one third depurative. Sunday and Monday they are fed much lighter with diet added to the junior mix.

Pigeon origin

Bob's amalgamation winner is a blue Cooreman cock, with the next five pigeons being hens - three Cooreman hens and two Adrian Demonter hens. 

Bob Fenech under his trapping system with blue cock 1st open Essex & Kent Amalgamation Wetherby.

 

Mr & Mrs Steven Fenech - 7th 8th 12th & 13th open Essex & Kent Amalgamation wetherby. 7th 8th 9th & 10th County of Essex federation. Velocities 1408 1407 1399 1397 ypm.

Steven and his brother Bob share very similar successes as one week Bob will top the federation and another week Steven will top the federation. The reason to this is probably because they train similarly, often going training together although the birds are always liberated separately as their lines of flight are different. Their methods are very much alike but certainly not the same. The pigeons are of the same origins as both Louis Cooremans the origin of Bob's birds and Denis Sapin the origin of Steven's birds compete against each other in Belgium and both recognise the ability of each other’s birds, regularly swapping their best birds with one another.

Steven tells me that a lot of work is put into training the birds. He and his brother go out as far as Peterborough on a regular basis at the latter part of their training programme. He feels that the interest his son has in the pigeons gives him a big advantage when training, because Joe is always there to feed the trainers in on their return from a toss as if they are coming from a race.

Steven Fenech playing with one of his young hens.

Again like brother Bob, Steven has got his race birds in tip top condition with them flying out of their socks from the word go. For instance on the 4th of August they lived up to their fast reputation winning 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 6th 7th 9th 10th 11th & 12th federation from Peterborough, then last week again taking the first 6 in the County of Essex Federation with 11 birds being placed in the first 13. Steven practises the darkness system. He also has the birds and their droppings tested prior to racing.

Pigeon Origin

The first two birds in the clock, a blue & a blue chequer hen, were both of Denis Sapin origin.

Fourteen year old Joe Fenech feeding the young birds.

   

Mr Eric Guinchard - 1st 2nd & 3rd Havering North Road Federation. 9th 10th & 11th open Essex & Kent Amalgamation Wetherby. Velocities 1405 1404 1401 ypm.

One, two and three in the federation, another exceptional performance for Eric Guinchard. His y/bs are in super form this year, having multiple drops in most races, with 8 in the federation result last week. In the last few weeks Eric has been racing mainly hens. He sent 32 birds to the Essex & Kent Amalgamation from Wetherby having 31 on the day and one early next morning.

Pigeon Origin

Eric’s first three pigeons were all bred by Eric’s partners Tim & Jan Rodwell from Kent. The first bird timed was a Soontjen, second bird timed was a Busschaert, with the third bird timed being another Soontjen. 

Eric Guinchard outside his lofts.

 

Dave Hunt & son - 1st & 2nd West Essex Federation. 15th &16th open Essex & Kent Amalgamation Wetherby velocities 1391 1390.8 ypm.

Dave has heavy business commitments, so when he has some spare time he likes to relax and race his pigeons. So far this year, his birds have been flying extremely well, already winning 6 x 1st federations plus 9 x 2nd federations.

Mr Allan Green - 1st Essex Central Federation Wetherby velocity 1374 ypm.

Allan’s Braspenning pigeons have been very flying exceptionally well this season. A few weeks ago Allan topped the federation from Berwick winning 9th open in the Essex & Kent Combine with one of his Braspenning widowhood cocks. Once again he has topped the Essex Central Federation only this time with a young Braspenning hen.

Allan tells me that his 2012 team of 23 young birds were without doubt one of the best teams he has bred. Right from the start they have done everything right and really looked the part. Then he had a hawk strike and then another. The birds would not fly and everything came to a standstill, with the birds putting on a little weight. So Allan then started to train them as much as possible. The condition started to return and the birds began to find form, with the Wetherby amalgamation birds coming straight off the line, from the race point.

Pigeon Origin

The first bird a blue chequer hen, was sired by a cock from Firefox, who in turn was a son of Compass, Compass being a son of De Fella. The sire of Allan’s Wetherby federation winner is known in Allan’s loft as a bit of a bully. He is a big pigeon and if he has chance he is in every body’s box. It's lucky he flies extremely well as he finds himself flying well up the road in order to keep the peace in the loft.    

 

Lee Fribbins - 1st & 2nd Stour Valley Federation 1376 1375 ypm.

Lee, who races to the far east of the amalgamation, spotted two pigeons racing each other high in the sky, so high they seemed to take an age to get down. They were early for the wind that was predicted. Flying the 174 miles from Wetherby in 3hrs 43 minutes, normally birds that high would be coming in from a helping wind. So perhaps the birds did get some help at a very high level.

These two birds, both blue white flighted cocks, are from his Leo Van Rijn family of pigeons. They are related by the fact that the first bird number 33 is a full brother to the sire of the second bird. The sire of the second bird is a two year old blue pied cock that has already won 7x1st.

Lee Fribbins and Dr Henk de Weerd giving Lee's birds the once over.

This year Lee has been racing 20 darkness youngsters, that were paired together specially for the young bird race season. In the last three Stour Valley Federation races, these 20 young birds have been in top form winning 2nd 4th 5th & 6th federation 1st 2nd 3rd & 5th federation 1st & 2nd federation.

Lee would like to congratulate the Fenech brothers on their fantastic performance in taking the first eight between them in the Essex & Kent Amalgamation.  

Lee Fribbins' Blue pied Leo Van Rijns cock, The 44 cock, winner of 7x1st, brother to his federation winner 33 and sire to 2nd fed.

Provisional result
 
Liberated 11am. West Sth west wind. Approx 3719 birds.
 
1    R FENECH & SON, COE 1424
2    R FENECH 1423
3    R FENECH 1422
4    R FENECH 1419.6
5    R FENECH 1419.0
6    R FENECH 1409
7    M/M S FENECH, COE 1408
8    M/M S FENECH 1407
9    E GUINCHARD, HNR 1405
10  E GUINCHARD 1404
11  E GUINCHARD 1401
12  M/M S FENECH 1399
13  M/M S FENECH 1397
14  M WALLACE, HNR 1395
15  D HUNT & SONS, WE 1391
16  D HUNT, 1390.8
17  R WORTHY, WE 1390.6
18  R & R NICHOLLS, WE 1390.5
19  A BAJNOSKI, WE 1389.9
20  M/M T CALVERLEY, WE 1389.3
 
ESSEX CENTRAL FED
 
A GREEN 1374 (RAYLEIGH)
I WALLIS & DTR 1371
M BROWN 1368 (STAMBRIDGE)
 
STOUR VALLEY FED

Lee Fribbins 1376