Glyn Cousins of Newport

[retired]

Any info on fancier or birds ?

 

Is anyone off to the sale on Sunday?

[Guest tom123]

i`l be there for a nose

[retired]

Tom is the Queens cup winner in the sale do you know?

[Guest asha]

IS THAT ,THAT GUY WHO DID THE ICE SKATING? :

[Guest tom123]

not has far has im aware

i donr think its there anymore but you would have to confirm that with glyn himself

[superstar]

IS THAT ,THAT GUY WHO DID THE ICE SKATING? :

 

Yeah that was him mate lol

[PATTY BHOY]

ALEXANDER THE GREAT  CONQUERS THE TOUGH GERMAN ROUTE

 

GLYN COUSINS

 

 

 

Glyn (Left) with Alexander's breeder, Wayne Smith, one half of the Crook & Smith partnership of Caerphilly.

 

In July 2004 a small  black chequer yearling cock was liberated, along with more than a thousand other Welsh pigeons, early on a Saturday morning in the German town of Kassel to race the 540+ miles back to his home loft in Newport. The journey was always going to be a difficult one as, apart from the distance to be flown, the weather conditions on the west coast of France and across the English channel were far from perfect with torrential rain and thunder storms forecast for late afternoon and evening.

 

Nevertheless, it was anticipated that with an early morning liberation, some birds would make it through on the day. Thus it was that hundreds of Welsh eyes were looking skywards from late evening in anticipation of an arrival.  All except two eyes were to be disappointed that Saturday evening as at 21.35 pm Newport fancier Glyn Cousins sighted a single bird racing fast from the east, dead on line for the loft. The bird swooped and entered the loft to be quickly clocked. After more than 50 years in the sport Glyn instinctively  knew that he had a “good’un†but little did he think that his yearling cock was to be the only bird on the day in Wales from a convoy of more than 1,000 birds all flying over 540 miles. As a result this supreme effort Alexandra was subsequently awarded the Queen’s Cup for most Meritorious performance over 300 miles achieved by a Welsh pigeon in the 2004 season.

 

Thus it was that I travelled to Newport to visit the home of Glyn Cousins and compile a loft report on this remarkable pigeon and his owner. Glyn has been winning races in the Newport area for longer than most fanciers have kept pigeons and this, despite various moves and a constant battle with ill health. Indeed, at the start of the 2004 season Glyn was diagnosed with yet another serious illness and actually thought of packing the birds in. Fortunately he relented and carried on with the above marvellous result.

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, Glyn has been winning for years but it was after a visit to the legendary Planet Bros lofts at Noak Hill  in the early 1990s that the Cousins performances went onto another plain. Following the visit some of the very best Planet Bros Van Loons and Aliens were introduced and these started to win from the off at all stages to Thurso 480 miles north and Pau 580 miles south. They won as young birds, yearlings, two year olds and right across the board in all types of weather and at all velocities – truly versatile all round pigeons. Descendents of these birds are still in evidence in the loft today They came into the hand really well, being medium sized and apple bodied with wonderful silky feathering.

 

However, as a result of continuous bouts of ill health, Glyn decided a couple of years ago to develop a team of birds specifically for long distance racing. This would reduce the day to day “hustle and bustle†entailed in sprint and middle distance racing. With the help of fellow Newport fancier Glyn Picton, the highly successful Caerphilly partnership of Crook and Smith were approached and a kit of six young birds were purchased from the partnership’s Hansenne x  Westcott family of long distance racers. Four of these were sent over to friends in Ireland and two were kept by Glyn only for one to be lost off the loft. However, the one remaining baby proved to be “Alexandra The Greatâ€. As a youngster Alexandra was put through his paces and was raced weekly through to Lillers 240 miles. This year, as a yearling, he had every inland race followed by every channel race i.e. Lillers 240 mls; Brussels 330mls; Liege 380 mls; Bonn 440 mls in the build up to his final race from Kassel 540 mls. On basketting he was feeding a 26 day old hen youngster and sitting eggs 10 days. The channel races mentioned above were set at two week intervals and in the intervening period between races, the channel team was trained two to three times a week from Swindon some 50 miles. As you can see, the Queen’s Cup winner, although only a yearling , had amassed a wealth of race experience in a very short time. His numerous trips across the channel obviously left him with no fear of the water. Even when faced with storm conditions on reaching the French coast he unhesitatingly “went for it†and in all probability crossed alone before ploughing on into England in pursuit of the westering sun. If asked to describe him, I would say that he was typical of the great English family of long distance racers developed by Norman Southwell. Just a little above small in size with plenty of muscle and wonderful silky black velvet feathering – he was what we call here in Wales a “small big ‘un†- bijou but perfectly formed.

 

 

 

Not surprisingly, Glyn has now built a team around this big hearted performer. Various bloodlines have been brought in to cross with the Hansenne based originals. Some of the most impressive of these are two hens, a mother and daughter ,from the successful long distance Hansenne based loft of David Evans of Gelligaer. Other introductions are Van Wanroys, Van de Wegens and Westcotts .All long distance based, as Glyn’s aim is to develop an ultra distance family that can compete in races out to Barcelona 740 miles.

 

Perhaps now I should give more insight into the methods employed at the Cousins loft. The 24 old bird racers and 4/5 pairs of stock birds are mated in early December. Once all have layed the pairs are separated and then re-mated in mid January. This method ensures that all pairs lay quickly on re pairing as they are by now acquainted with each other and their boxes. The racers with few exceptions are allowed to rear the stock birds youngsters before being separated once more in March. They are then repaired in early April and allowed to go about their business on the Cousins “natural†system. I did notice that Glyn only had 7 race cocks and “approximately†14 race hens. I will leave the reader to make of this what he will ! When racing, the old birds are allowed to do as they like during their exercise periods as Glyn does not believe in forcing them to fly. They are kept in trim by weekly racing and plenty of mid week  tosses at 40 – 50 miles. All feed is mixed by hand to Glyn’s own specifications. The morning feed is basically a top class super diet mix to which Glyn adds cracked maize, Hormoform and other small grains as he feels fit. This mix is usually laced with cod liver oil and is fed lightly at a rate of approximately ½ oz per bird. The evening feed is usually a good  mixture of beans,  wheat, barley, chicken layers pellets and maize with various additions as the season progresses and the  race distance increases. A deep litter of rough sawdust and dried droppings is used on the floor of all sections and the perches and nestboxes are rarely cleaned, but because of the dryness of the loft any droppings soon dry up and crumble so that there is no discernable build up of droppings. The birds certainly looked and handled well on this back to nature system. The loft can be summed up as having “a place for everything and everything in its placeâ€. Very neat, tidy and efficiently managed.

 

 

[retired]

Thanks Interesting read - Seems like some decent birds will be in Wales let alone Doncaster

[Guest tom123]

i think it will be well supported

[Guest strapper]

i think glyns well respected

[Guest asha]

I remember him now,he could not do the figure 8,and lost the gold because of it. :'(

[Guest tom123]

ye the man is seriously ill i dont think taking the p*ss is on do you lads

 

the man has internet access and to read people taking the p*ss isnt nice is it

[PATTY BHOY]

theres always 1??

[Guest tom123]

yea true

[BLACK W F]

thats what some guys think this forum for  if they had half a brain they woud relise  that another guys leaving the sport but more important its because of ill health  can only hope his health improves  if you have not got your health you have nothing

cheers Alan

[superstar]

thats what some guys think this forum for  if they had half a brain they woud relise  that another guys leaving the sport but more important its because of ill health  can only hope his health improves  if you have not got your health you have nothing

cheers Alan

 

Just humour him hes more to be pittied than blamed

[PATTY BHOY]

well said BWF

[Guest tom123]

i kmow this person personally and if you knew what hes been through and what hes suffering from it would hit home really hard to a few

im sec to the club he was flying in

[BLACK W F]

i know what he needs pity  NO  something else  like A BRAIN TRANSPLANT

cheers alan

[Guest strapper]

i hope glyn has a big turn out and all goes brilliantly for him, a nice send off on his sad way out of the sport...all the best glyn.

[retired]

I never put this thread on to get stupid comments about the man - I would like a little info as i noticed the advert and credit where credit is due, everything appeals - The crying shame is that the advert doesnt contain lots and details of each lot as it means people like myself have to go in totally blind however with illness we have to accept thats the way it has to be.

 

Thanks to everyone for the positive ' On topic comments'

[Guest]

I don't know the man personally, but for any one who is forced to give up his birds is hard enough but to do it through ill health must be heart wrenching. I hope the sale goes well, and wish Glyn all the best.

[OLDYELLOW]

please keep to thread  

[gooner]

yeah all the best glyn, hope he gets well soon, its a shame there isd always someone out there that takes the p*** no matter what the situation

[Roland]

ye the man is seriously ill i dont think taking the p*ss is on do you lads

 

the man has internet access and to read people taking the p*ss isnt nice is it

 

Or less than a full one eh!