East Down Combine News

with Clifford Browne

COWAN & McCARTNEY 2015 EDC FANCIERS OF THE YEAR

The 2015 EDC Fanciers of the Year were the Dundonald partnership of Cowan & McCartney .

The Dundonald club has a great record at Combine level and in 2015 won the club points championships for both Old and Young bird racing in the Combine .
So just after Christmas I made the short journey from Bangor to Dundonald to visit this year’s Fanciers of the Year at their loft in Ballybeen . Although both Rab Cowan and George McCartney have been racing pigeons for many years it was only in 2011 that they formed this partnership and for the first few years they raced mainly with the Dunedin club which is affiliated to the NIPA and in fact 2015 was the first season that this partnership raced the full season with the East Down Combine and this certainly paid off for them .

THE LOFTS

The loft is in Rab’s back garden with a nice view of the surrounding Castlereagh hills and I say loft because there is just the one L shaped timber built loft which is divided into 3 sections ,2 for Old birds in the 12’x8’ portion and a 14’x4’section for young birds and this has an aviary attached . From the photo you can see that this is indeed a back Garden loft where no space has been wasted and many houses are in very close proximity and a passage way to other houses which runs just outside the Back of the Garden but the partnership said that this did not affect hoe their birds trapped .

THE BIRDS

Around 70 old Birds are housed here and one feature of these is that in this total there are only two pair of Stock birds . The bloodlines kept are 95% bloodlines from Stephen Brown & Sons also of Dundonald and who were East Down Combine Fanciers of the year themselves in 2006 and 2012 . The basis of this family of birds are from Ann and the late Frank Tasker and what can one say about their results over the years other than simply Fantastic These birds from the Taskers were from his Filmstar & Willy Thas Families . In addition blended into these birds are birds from Jeff Greenaway . This family as I said accounts for around 95% of the Cowan & McCartney team with the balance of the team coming from Roy Bothwell, Winkie O’Boyle and John Abernethy and all these birds kept are of medium size .
Each Year the partnership have a team of about 70 Young ones some of which they bring in directly from Stephen Brown .

THE SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT

The season for Cowan & McCartney starts on December 18th when the birds are paired up and are then let out to exercise freely after having been closed up during the Moult .
Prior to pairing the birds up the lofts are thoroughly cleaned and blow torched . During the closed season the birds are kept in a deep litter of “All Bed” which is changed every 4 weeks and this is found not only to keep the loft dry underfoot but also to keep the dust down .
About a month before the first race the birds start to be exercised in earnest ,racing Roundabout throughout the season the birds are flown in the afternoon from lunchtime cocks and hens being exercised separately and they fly themselves fit around the loft . At about 2 weeks before the first race training commences with George taking them around 30 miles every day if the weather is suitable up to the first race with Rab seeing the birds in on their arrival .
Young Birds are darkened from the 21st March until the 14th June and the partnership says that they fly extremely well around the loft flying up to 2 hours per exercise session ,then about 3 weeks before the first young Bird race roadwork begins starting at 9 miles and increasing it to 30 miles and again up to the first t race it is every day which is suitable . Foe timing from races the Partnership use the Benzing ETS system .

FEEDING

During the winter period the birds are fed on Beattie’s No Bean Mixture with the birds allowed as much as they want each day .
During the racing season the old birds are broken down until Tuesday on a widowhood mix and then fed for the rest of the week on Versele Laga with the last feed for a Saturday race being on the Friday morning early when they have a full feed of 1 ¼ ozs per head and a similar system is operated for Young Birds .

Medication &Supplements given

Birds have a ready supply of grit and Minerals and allowed a bath at least once and often twice per week . The birds also get lettuce and Broccoli by way of green stuffs and sometimes a little grated cheese . Garlic oil is also used on the corn . By way of medication all birds are vaccinated against both paramyxo and paratyphoid before pairing up and are treated for canker prevention when down on their first round of eggs .

Top performances of 2015

Among the top places won in the Open in the East Down Combine in 2015 were :

Old Birds 1st open 2nd Tullamore from 5361 birds
1st Open 1st Clonmel from 4144 birds
10th & 13th Open 2nd Pilmore Beach from 4615 birds
2nd & 3rd Open 1st Talbenny from 2082 birds
8th Open 2nd Talbenny from 1691 birdsYoung Birds
9th &11th open Pilmore Beach from 3501 birds
3rd Open Talbenny YB Derby from 449 birds
5th open 2nd Skibbereen YB Derby

Finally , Rab and George asked me through this report to thank the following for their help and advice , Stephen Brown , Roy Bothwell, Winkie O’Boyle and Robert Kirkwood .

The partnership’s advice for anyone starting up was to operate a system which is simple and stick to it . It has certainly worked for them and I wish them continuing success in 2016 and beyond . My thanks for the hospitality shown on a day which was far from ideal being the day after storm “Frankie” had left the country waterlogged and it was still raining during most of my visit.

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Ballylesson New Year show

Ballylesson h.p.s held their New Year show on Saturday 2nd January 2016 with the following results :

Through the wires

1st C&D Smyth & sons

2nd C&D Smyth & sons

3rd John Kirk & sons

4th John Patterson

reserve Gillespie bros

v.h.c Mackey & Lockhart

h.c John Patterson

commended H Ballantyne & son

Old Cocks Handled

1st John Patterson

2nd John Kirk & sons

3rd Gillespie bros

4th John Patterson

reserve K & B Mc Conaghie & son

v.h.c John Kirk & sons

h.c H Ballantyne & son

commended P&C Johnston

Old Hens Handled

1st Mackey & Lockhart

2nd C&D Smyth & sons

3rd John Patterson

4th John Patterson

reserve John Kirk & sons

v.h.c John Kirk & sons

h.c John Kirk & sons

commended John Kirk & sons

Young Birds

1st John Kirk & sons

2nd John Patterson

3rd John Patterson

4th Mackey & Lockhart

reserve C&D Smyth & sons

v.h.c Mackey & Lockhart

h.c John Kirk & sons

commended Mackey & Lockhart

Eye sign

1st C &D Smyth & sons

2nd John Kirk & sons

3rd J&S Albert

4th John Kirk & sons

reserve John Patterson

v.h.c Gillespie bros

h.c Mackey & Lockhart

commended John Patterson

B.I.S. Mackey & Lockhart

B.O.S John Patterson

The club thanks the judges Dolan Croskery & Mickey Croskery on a job well done .