EDWARD HOLDEN

of Leinster North Road Fed

by Francis Corcoran

Edward and friends

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 lifetime, 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 2007 that he entered the racing game. With no club in his area, he was accepted as a member of the New Ross club, with whom he competed 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 roundabout 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. 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 cocks

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 year’s 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 offset the costs or racing. Having said that, it’s the feedback that he gets from the lucky purchasers that can determine the next bird to be retired to stock as 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, and 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 predators get out of hand as they can do during the young bird season, and 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 were quite a number left to choose from for next year’s 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

The initial treatments are for cocci, canker and worms and Parastop is used as a preventative against Paratyphus, also they have the usual Parvo injection. This is carried out before the breeding and racing season, after which very little else is given. Fresh grit and minerals are given daily and Edward is a big fan of Hormoform 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 New Ross for all his help when there was any slight problem detected.

Inside one of the sections

Feeding

This is all Versela Laga from Henry Beattie’s 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. Fresh grit, minerals and the like all come from the same source, Henry Beattie’s, again through their agent in Kilkenny.

Cleaning

This 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 corn 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 adamant 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 week’s race.

The Young Birds

For the most part they are raced to the perch or at least until the fifth or sixth race, then 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.

On guard!

Results

I will only give you his full results for this year and some National results over the past few years.

2014. Club 16 x 1st Federation 3 x 1st National 2 x 1st. His National results for 2014 were 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 and 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 they learn to look after them and get their offspring 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, Wattie Cullen and Roly & Rocca for the early advice and encouragement and Jimmy Hamilton for his help with any health problems, and finally all those that work hard for the pigeon sport in Ireland.

The overall set-up

Well that’s it in a nutshell, 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.

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Elimar - October 2014