George Rankin & Son ( Gareth) Part 2

[1967]

In 1972,myself my wife Marcia and our family of three,Richard,Sharron and Gareth who was then 15 months old moved to Scotland in the month of June.Lofts were soon erected end of August and 12 of my own birds were installed for the 1973 breeding season.I then became a member of the Cambuslang & District Club,Lanarkshire Fed.Lanarkshire Social Circle and the Scottish National Flying Club in 1974 the BBC3 bird club was formed ie Burnbank,Blantyre and Cambuslang and i duly joined and later i added yet another club to my list in Lanarkshire West 5 bird club.

 

FAMILIES KEPT Our family of pigeons are based on a combination of W&M Wilson of Larkhall,Andrew Deans Bothwell,Owen McIvor,Carnwarth Andrew S Hamilton of Netherburn,and Eddie Newcombe,Macmerry all crossed together with introductions from Hugh Brown of Stonehouse and Jim Hannah of Blantyre,plus the odd pigeon purchased at charity sales.

 

PRIZE-TICKETS In 1984 we moved from Cambuslang to Blantyre because my youngest son Gareth became intrested in the sport and between the above clubs to date the number of prize cards won to date is approx since 1973,66 1sts 41 2nds 54 3rds,in Lanarkshire Fed 1st Open 10,874 birds,three times second Open.In West section 8 1sts,5 2nds 6 3rds plus 69 other fed tickets in the first 15 in section I won 29 SNFC certificates in the Nationals.We prefer the National races from France as it is a great thrill to time in pigeons after flying up to 16 hours on the day of race,or clocking early next morning from Sartilly 500 miles Noirt 673 miles.We have won lots of club averages in clubs,championship clubs etc etc but nowadays we prefer the distance racing stopping our best old birds around Stafford,Worcester to grt them set down proper for the channel races.We like our channel candidates to have approx 700/800 miles of racing in the club each year before going to their chosen channel race with the SNFC.

 

MATING We pair up our yearlings and stock birds around the middle of February and our channel birds around the 10th to 17th march.Seldom do we pair two channel birds together as we like to a stock pigeon or a late-bred from our top channel birds of the year previous as it can be very dissapointing if you do pair distance birds together and loose one three to four weeks before the event.

 

RACING We breed 50/55 youngsters each year and something like 12 to 15 are destined for charity and club sales leaving us with about 35 to race by the time the first young bird race comes up.All young birds are raced the full fed programme,which takes it up to 160 miles.Six youngsters are sent to the young birb National a distance of 260mls worcester or Cheltenham 284 mls always sending our very best.All yearlings also get the full fed programme to Dorchester 364 mls, this test out their ability and staying power so they are well qualified for the channel when 2 years old,this is the method used even with all incomers from other lofts or sales as we do not believe pigeons need to become acclimatised to the loft,good pigeons will always win from the start for you if they are going to be any use,making excuses for them will never win you anything.

 

FEEDING We have used all types of feeding and mixtures over the years and have done well on them all but this last three years we have cut down on the amount of beans we feed.Feeding more no bean mixtures for racing.Pigeon racing has changed quite a bit as you now find that out of 500mls plus leading pigeons can do about 40mph even in a light head wind,so they must be bouyant in the hand,not heavy and ready to move from the start when the panniers are opened.

 

OUR LOFTS Our lofts are (1)16'x7,(1)10'x7,(1)8'x6,and one small stock end at end of sitting hut 6'x5, in the big loft there are 32 nestboxes 24''square but only 20 pairs are kept in here in the 8x6 there are 12 widowhood boxes but only 8 pairs are kept in this one,most of them are yearlings,I DO NOT RACE WIDOWHOOD The 10x7 loft is for our youngbirds the small stock end houses 4 pair.We keep a total of 32 pairs usually.

 

TRAINING Training takes place about 3 or 4 times a week from Coalburn and they do this in about 23 to 25 mins As we get in to June we train our channel birds from Peebles,Walkerburn,which is to the East of us and also from the Forth Bridge were it takes them 50 mins to the hour according to the wind plus we flag them at night for 30 mins our pigeons are quite good at flying themselves for long periods about the loft.

 

ADVICE TO NOVICES

1.Purchase late breds if possible from about three top National pigeons in your area and cross them,race them hard to find the best ones

2.Your loft must be dry

3.Dont tolerate unhealthy pigeons

4.Be good to your birds at all times

5.Dont purchase old tired out pigeons at sales

6.Dont keep prisoners as pigeons like flying out

7.Go to sales,quiz nights,visit lofts,be a good listener at all times then make up your own mind.

8.Loft and drinkers must be kept clean at all times.

9.This is the most important one.Dont over crowd your loft this seems to be the biggest fault with pigeon fanciers,give them plenty of room and they will repay you,by better health and happiness in the loft and winning more cards.10.Be prepared to accept disappointments at all times.

 

GOOD LUCK TO ALL FANCIERS

 

 

George Rankin Aug 1990.

[andy Burgess]

another good read

[Ian McKay]

Yes another blast from the past well done Steven :emoticon-0137-clapping:

[THE FIFER]

good well done, nice to read those articles , well done

[Delboy]

G.Rankin & Son ,have been top fanciers for many years.I had the utmost respect for the late George Rankin and I miss him very much. He was a true gentleman in the world of pigeon racing.Gareth has continued scoring at the highest level since his dads passing and will undoubtedly continue to keep the name at the very top.

[walterboswell59]

G.Rankin & Son ,have been top fanciers for many years.I had the utmost respect for the late George Rankin and I miss him very much. He was a true gentleman in the world of pigeon racing.Gareth has continued scoring at the highest level since his dads passing and will undoubtedly continue to keep the name at the very top.

well said del