behind the scenes at louella

[kraftykev]

Hi all

 

i was wondering if anyone on here has been behind the scenes at louella.

I buy a lot of pigeons from them mainly older stock birds but have never been further than the show room. if anyone has i would like to know what its like.

 

Cheers

 

Kevin

[pjc]

Hi all

 

i was wondering if anyone on here has been behind the scenes at louella.

I buy a lot of pigeons from them mainly older stock birds but have never been further than the show room. if anyone has i would like to know what its like.

 

Cheers

 

Kevin

 

friend of mine used to work there, you don't want to know about behind the scenes!

[mac1]

he does thats why hes asking so do i mate

[rick]

so do i

[BLACK W F]

why not get a job there and find out for yourself

[REDROCKET]

 

friend of mine used to work there, you don't want to know about behind the scenes!

 

would'nt talk like that my freind  :-/ :-/ :-/

[david]

Krafty kev.

 

I have purchased one or two older stock recently from louella and this has restored my lost faith in the establishment .

I have spoken to one of their sales team a couple of times( Natalie )

She has delt with my enquirys and to be honest between the quality of the birds i have received and the information she gave me i am well chuffed .

she was delectable and most helpful on the phone.

The birds were dispatched quickly and in top notch order .it gets the thumbs up from me..KEEP IT UP LOUELLA!!

 

DAVID

[Guest Davy Fleming]

Very interesting statement from pjc mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[BLACK W F]

there you are good comments for a change

[pjc]

Very interesting statement from pjc mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Information told to me by a very good friend of mine who used to spend time there and take evening sales calls!

It is not information i would put on open forum or repeat to anybody i don't know but would not doughbt my friend one little bit!  

[maxwell]

Myself my cousin and two  mate,s have all had trouble buying old stock birds,  5 to 6 yr old stock priced from £300 to £1350 each. Out of 6 birds 3 only layed or filled 1 egg 3 did,nt fill at all. To me it,s not worth the hassle then as you get a replacement that you don't really wont and 1 replacement also failed to fill so i put it in the bin rather than return it for them to check that it was infertile. And go through it all again so i wont buy any more of there older stock bird,s in the future. Not knocking them this is just our experience and 3 friends of buying there retired stock birds.

[Guest pigeon82]

louella get a thumbs up from me my dad bought 6 youngsters last year i had a young pharoah bred for me this year my first racce in 10 yrs and the pharoah got me 1st lub 6th fed and 10th sect i have nothing againest louella :)

[blaz]

a friend went down to Louella's a few years back to buy some birds for stock .looking through the birds he seen one he liked and asked to look closer at it .then he asked what strain he was told the strain i can,t mind now.he then asked the price and was told £250.then he said but this is a bird that belongs to a member in my club as it had a midlothian registered ring on it and was lost the year before and it had been bred recently .my mistake the man said i think that is a strag that has not long came in. my friend still bought stock and yes they bred some winners he also brought the strag back up.how many will be buying yb,s next year bred from their new strain stragsrus

[Guest redwhiteblue]

a friend went down to Louella's a few years back to buy some birds for stock .looking through the birds he seen one he liked and asked to look closer at it .then he asked what strain he was told the strain i can,t mind now.he then asked the price and was told £250.then he said but this is a bird that belongs to a member in my club as it had a midlothian registered ring on it and was lost the year before and it had been bred recently .my mistake the man said i think that is a strag that has not long came in. my friend still bought stock and yes they bred some winners he also brought the strag back up.how many will be buying yb,s next year bred from their new strain stragsrus

 

100% sh**

[sammy]

a friend went down to Louella's a few years back to buy some birds for stock .looking through the birds he seen one he liked and asked to look closer at it .then he asked what strain he was told the strain i can,t mind now.he then asked the price and was told £250.then he said but this is a bird that belongs to a member in my club as it had a midlothian registered ring on it and was lost the year before and it had been bred recently .my mistake the man said i think that is a strag that has not long came in. my friend still bought stock and yes they bred some winners he also brought the strag back up.how many will be buying yb,s next year bred from their new strain stragsrus

never read as much crap in all my life and hope louella see what yi have written think its disgracefull making comments like that when you dont buy pigeons from them

 

[Guest strapper]

this is one reason why i think some birds that come from louella are good(albeit not directly from there)

one friday afternoon while down the club basketing, the wife phones me to say she,s got a blue yb in and put it in a small ali...basket.

there is no way this bird has vision to see out into the garden.

when i got home i phoned the owner ,it was agreed that i would sling it out on sunday when i visited louella,s.

this bird was from wolverhampton.

we arrived at louellas as planned. halfway down the drive i remembered about this yb stray(not far off squeeking)

so out it went ,lib at louellas.

we got back home laster that day and i was sitting down having my tea.

this bird landed on the loft ..so i went out and got it in..yes....it was the same bird i liberated at louellas.

 

well i transffered this bird over and in its yearling season topped the welsh north road fed beating 2nd place by 22yrds...flying natural.a few thousand birdage.

 

so in theory..not all bird that come from louellas are bad ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

but like any where else they ALL cant be good!

[pigeonpete]

this is one reason why i think some birds that come from louella are good(albeit not directly from there)

one friday afternoon while down the club basketing, the wife phones me to say she,s got a blue yb in and put it in a small ali...basket.

there is no way this bird has vision to see out into the garden.

when i got home i phoned the owner ,it was agreed that i would sling it out on sunday when i visited louella,s.

this bird was from wolverhampton.

we arrived at louellas as planned. halfway down the drive i remembered about this yb stray(not far off squeeking)

so out it went ,lib at louellas.

we got back home laster that day and i was sitting down having my tea.

this bird landed on the loft ..so i went out and got it in..yes....it was the same bird i liberated at louellas.

 

well i transffered this bird over and in its yearling season topped the welsh north road fed beating 2nd place by 22yrds...flying natural.a few thousand birdage.

 

so in theory..not all bird that come from louellas are bad ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

but like any where else they ALL cant be good!

 

that was funny for you :-)  ;D

[Guest mick bowler]

When you selling as many birds as they do theres going to be good bad and mediocre. Over here this year i've heard 3 horror stories of ill babies. I've also heard of 1 pair thats bred 10 plus winners in 3 years.

 

But the one that sticks out is this.

 

Six YBs ordered from Van De rhee family (with peds). They turn up and although the family is mainly blue and cheq (couple mealies), 3 of the birds are red, 1 is a mealy and the others are cheq. On ringing to query the fact, the young lad on the phone says it don't sound right, checks it and says that on his paperwork he's down for 6 van reets without paperwork! He says he will check out and get back to him. Three days later he gets a call asking for ring numbers and colours. Another call then to say the rings are not Louella's! Another call saying it was a mistake and peds on the way. Being a bit cute the guy gave the wrong colours for the ring numbers they asked for, and was he right, a couple of the reds were apparently bred from blues, the cheqs were bred from mealies and the mealy bred by 2 cheqs!

 

Come to any conclusion you wish on this one!!

[Guest strapper]

 

that was funny for you :-)  ;D

 

i do have my moments   ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[T_T]

Going back 50+ years I always bought stock in from Louella and continue to do so if I see something I might need.  This year was the only time I have been let down, I bought a lovely Bl C an 01 pigeon and he hasn't filled an egg so it's money down the drain and of course the cock is no longer with me.

[Guest Owen]

It's not buying birds from Louella or any other stud we should worry about, it's the fact that it increases the percentage of useless pigeons that are being kept. To me it is fantasy land. If anyone looks at the likelyhood of breeding good pigeons from several generations of untried stock, they must be supreme optimists. Obviously there will be some that make the grade, but the vast majority are not much good. How could they be?

My other problem with the Studs, is the fact that they suport the myth that there are pure strains of pigeons. And all we have to do is to pay the money and the birds will automatically shine at the advertised distance. If anyone takes the time to look properly they will see that the so called strains are no more than a collection of pigeons from all over the place. They are probably kept pure and bred within the family at the studs but their origins are crosses. Most , and I would like to say all, major breeders of the winning pigeons are skilled at buying stock and pair winners to winners. Performance always being the deciding factor. And selection being the driving force.

Then of course there is the practise of inbreeding, which is great for producing farm livestock and show stock, but where energy and vigour is concerned, it is not the best way to breed. I know the theory of hybrid vigour and how it is obtained by crossing two inbred families, but the chances of two dedicated inbred families with pigeons would be very impractical. It might look impressive on paper but not a practical way to breed by any stretch of the imagination.    

[joe61]

thats one way of looking at it

 

oh happy days

[Guest ROCKYandRAMBO]

i think its a mixed bag when you come to louella have had some gd birds and bad birds but thats the case with all studs . i brought a old hen hen last year a daughter of compass but she didnt lay but at least louella exchanged it but by then most of the breeding season was gone and i missed out on a lot of young birds from the cock this hen was paired to . but one of my mates brought 30 babys this year and all 30 went in the bin along with some he bred so dont think he will be going back next year not saying what they had as we carnt prove it came from there

[Guest]

Owen,i must have been one of the lucky ones,bought 5 from ponderosa stud all bred winners up to 1st fed with over 3000 birds compeating,plus have won over £6000 in breeder/buyer races still winning to this day

[david]

Hi Owen ..

 

I thought your post was a sensible one, and heavan knows we need posts  

that show some sense along with good debate .

However, i believe fanciers on the whole know that when buying a kit of louella's six , some half dozen generations away from the tree they are taking a gamble ,not a a big one as the kits are relatively cheap enough for the working man's pocket ,but a gamble none the less  ..The fancier's who buy these kits are praying for that dominant recessive gene that every now and again rears its head of quality ,..we hear of amazing birds coming from kit's of six and are inspired to buy, but many many hundreds of these kits leave louella on a regular basis throughout the breeding year ...not a good strike rate i think!!

You spoke of inbreeding more tuned to the show inclined contingent ,farm stock' show dogs etc"etc"

POPPYCOCK!! sorry ,This inbreeding is heavily practised with animals from

the working arena as well and is practised to try and find and hold onto that dominant recessive gene .Inbreeding  can produce animals of superior quality ,and it can produce animals of extreme insanity  .. in the case of racing pigeons it will be the extremely nervey mad doo' or the doo that cant home from 3 mile ..but this pigeon's nest mate could be another story.

When louella breed two pigeons of close lineage together to sell ,they advertise the proginy  as likey holders of these dominant quality's( not in their words)

Darwin preached that like will breed like ,not always but eventualy like will happen somewhere along the line (recessive gene)

I wont buy kit's of six because of the bad strike rate (just what you were saying) but i will buy closely bred sons and grandsons from the champions

as the likelihood of getting a better deal is much greater .

I can only hope that what i am buying is what it say's on the packet?

But this is another story!!

 

DAVID