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Q & A Session With Delboy


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would like to thank Delboy "Mr Derek Hay" for agreeing to do a Question & Answer session for me.

 

1, when did you first have pigeons ? were you introduced to them by family or ? what age were you ?. when did you "really learn" to fly them and what changed at that point when the penny dropped and you new what you were doing ?

2, how happy are you with your loft ? is it large enough , do you have many sections ? is it enclosed or open , what changes would you like to make ?

3, what families or strains have you kept , and are they the same now ? where would you consider looking to improve your stock ?

4, Oldbirds ,do you have a set plan before the season starts ,regarding which races they go to, how often do you train or send before a National ? do you think resting is as important issue ? what distance would you suits you best ? do you change the feeding as the season progress, if so how ?

5 , systems , do you adhere to any systems ? Natural or ? have you developed your system to suit you ,if so , how does it differ from the norm ?

6 , youngbirds ,natural , darkness or early bred ,whats your choice and why ? how much work do you expect of your youngsters both training and racing ?

7, do or would you consider sending yearlings to the longest races ? if so what do you look for within them ??

8, general, you've had some great performances and races .how would you advise a novice to start to achieve somewhere near your level ?

9, could you tell me more about "spider" your old favourite , was he bred by you ? if so how did you choose the breeding that made him ?

do you think you will ever find another to take his place ?

would again like to thank Del for taking the time to answer some questions .hope ive not missed anything ? :animatedpigeons:

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1, when did you first have pigeons ? were you introduced to them by family or ? what age were you ?. when did you "really learn" to fly them and what changed at that point when the penny dropped and you new what you were doin

 

I started keeping racing pigeons in 1973, aged 7, with my grandfather Wull McCrae. We flew as McCrae & Hay and raced in the Kirkintilloch & District RPC which boasted 63 members at that time. My grandfather was a well respected pigeon man within the area and his endeavour to do well at S.N.F.C races was unsurpassed as he managed to clock a bird in race time 40 years in a row from the Gold Cup Rennes race, which was a distance of 550 miles. He was definitely the biggest influence in my goals within pigeon racing; unfortunately he passed away in 1991 aged 81, he was at the loft sitting with his dog and his beloved pigeons. Although I thought I knew everything about pigeons when I flew with my grandfather, the truth hit hard when I had to fly and keep the pigeons by myself.I couldnt hide behind his success anymore.I suppose thats when the real learning started.Having a small family and business at the time, I was run off my feet trying to keep to his standards of racing pigeons.

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2, how happy are you with your loft ? is it large enough , do you have many sections ? is it enclosed or open , what changes would you like to make ?

 

We moved to our present address in September 2001 and immediately on viewing the house I was out in the back garden pacing out for where the lofts were going. Initially the old bird loft was 30 ft by 8 ft with a 2 foot corridor running the full length of it. All the lofts have a sloping roof with profile sheets on top. I feel they do not need tiled roofs on the lofts as the airflow is managed well in the bounds of them all. They have standard widowhood boxes along with some up and over fronts used in certain sections. There are three 8 foot sections and one 6 foot section for hens, which has v perches and a fence in front of them to stop them mating up.

The young bird loft is 10 foot by 8 foot kitted out with home made pipo boxes and box perches. Both the old birds and young birds have access to the same aviary, so they can get a bath without going outside. The stock loft is 7 foot by 6 foot again with a small aviary. The nest boxes are 2 foot by 2 foot with a shelf in each nest box so they can build their second nest away from the babies in the other nest. The air enters through louvres on the doors and escapes via the eaves at the back of the lofts. The ventilation seems just right to me with no draughts and I believe ventilation is the most important item in every loft. Heaters/humidifiers are used when needed in the lofts to keep temp/humidity at the correct levels . The lofts are cleaned by scraper, twice a week in the winter and twice a day in the racing season.

Throughout the season the lofts are washed out with virkon S.My previous loft location was in the middle of a field and I did not get bothered with many hawks but now that I stay in a housing scheme, my birds are terrorised with them on a daily basis. These raptors nip in between the buildings, ambushing and scaring the life out of the pigeons. The sparrow-hawk population here in Scotland is becoming totally out of control and there are so many that they could honestly now be classed as a back garden bird.Now we have peregrines everywhere as well. Back to your question, my loft isnt big enough for me, its built into the odd shaped garden I have and has sections off sections, like a maze lol.I have to work hard to keep the conditions in it right because its not the ideal shape.If Colin Greave gave me his field I would remedy all this. :emoticon-0140-rofl:

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3, what families or strains have you kept , and are they the same now ? where would you consider looking to improve your stock ?

 

I started with my grandfathers own blue family which were responsible for alot of fanciers success.We introduced a pair of birds from Peter Van Eiden through Jimmy Malcolm.One of these birds crossed with my grandfathers blues bred me my first champion pigeon, Lady Linda, she was 3rd section F Sartilly, 2nd section F Sartilly, 3rd section F Beauvais, 2nd section 7th open Sartilly and also had several prize cards in club and federation racing.She would fly through a brick wall on a hatching egg .She was responsible for countless winners and was g.dam to Peggy who in turn basically founded my loft.She won 1st west sect Gold cup but more importantly was responsible for 60 SNFC diplomas.

My family is the same although I bring in crosses regularly to try. To improve my stock I would go to local fanciers who are scoring out of turn at the distance, but believe me, almost every single loft has a decent pigeon in it.

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4, Oldbirds ,do you have a set plan before the season starts ,regarding which races they go to, how often do you train or send before a National ? do you think resting is as important issue ? what distance would you suits you best ? do you change the feeding as the season progress, if so how ?

 

I make a chart that contains all my individual plans for each pigeon, not ever has my predictions or forecasts went 100% to plan.I basically change my routines/feeding , training almost weekly to suit the weather, race type and health of pigeons.It all comes down to experience I suppose.I try and get my national candidates 3-4 races before their main event BUT that all depends on the time on the wing theyve had.I think peaking the birds for each race is the key and thats where the expertise and system comes in.Saying that, some birds just fly in spite of pigeon men but on the whole, good doomen have longevity and arent a flash in the pan.I see myself as an all round flier but up until recently all my pigeons were distance bred.The last time I had all round pigeons I was in the Kirkintilloch club and won 12 x 1sts 8 x 2nds, 3 x 3rd , 9 x 4ths and 22 of the 26 trophies. As for feeding, in the last 7-10 days before a national I give plenty of fats to the candidates.The carb loading must increase as the season goes on.Every pigeon is different, observe what they want and take advantage.

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5 , systems , do you adhere to any systems ? Natural or ? have you developed your system to suit you ,if so , how does it differ from the norm ?

 

 

This is a basic look into my systems, it changes every year to suit different conditions but this is what I start with.

All birds are paired up 2nd week in January, I float eggs from the stock pairs under the yearlings. When the young birds are 16 days I take the hens away and leave the babies with the cocks. A form of roundabout starts now and both the cocks and hens feed the young birds, cocks in the morning and hens at night. When weaning I vaccinate all my birds, old and young against paramyxovirus. This is now time to get the birds into a training routine. The cocks go out in the morning for an hour then in and fed then the young birds are let out for exercise. The hens are only fed lightly in the morning as I need to be able to control them in the afternoon as they would fly all day if over fed when I let them out; after the hens come in the cocks get out again. No forced flying at this time of year, just free to do as they please. They fly well anyway, especially the hens and that is why they only get out once a day. During this time I like to clean my birds up, by this I mean treat them all for the usual stuff - canker etc - and get them internally right for the racing starting.Feeding is barley or maybe depurative.

 

'One week before the first race I re-pair my birds up and let them sit eggs for 7 days. During this time I train both cocks and hens to 25 miles during this fortnight of driving and sitting. After the 2nd race I then separate them again and put them on to roundabout.After all this,they all get mated for the race theyve been primed for. As stated, all my birds are mated in January therefore I don’t need to fully darken my young birds as they will go through the body moult naturally. I have a naturally dark young bird loft anyway so they seem to react to these conditions, without putting undue stress on them. I have kind of tweaked my young bird system over several years and I feel if you can get a balance with the darkening of the young birds then it will pay dividends. The last couple of years I have bred about 60 young birds for myself. Before this I only bred about 40 but I thought I needed to increase my numbers. At the present time I have 30 pairs of old birds for racing and I have to say this is about 10 to 12 pairs more than I usually raced but I felt I needed more depth in my team to compete in the Scottish National Flying club programme as well as the LSC races which takes its toll on the team. I think it is very important to give your pigeons enough room. I don’t think mine have enough space and I feel I will have to address this very soon. My garden space is limited so I will have to cut back on the breeding over the next few years. Normally I breed from my top national winners at the end of the season, however this will have to stop because of the lack of space.'

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6 , youngbirds ,natural , darkness or early bred ,whats your choice and why ? how much work do you expect of your youngsters both training and racing ?

 

As already said, my ybs are in a dark loft but have access to an aviary.Some take to the dark system and some dont, these throw more flights and arent as suitable for the longer races.The ones that hold their flights have just put themselves forward for all the bigger races.I send all my ybs to at least 4 of the 6 races or 5 of 7, whatever the race program is.I then pick a few out for the yb national. They get trained once or twice a week during the season and a couple of tosses for the yb nat. I dont encourage them to mate up anymore,as most fanciers do, the downside to ybs mated is they dont train or eat the same.Keep it easy, I would say.

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7, do or would you consider sending yearlings to the longest races ? if so what do you look for within them ??

 

They must go to at least 260 miles but preferably 400 miles, thats plenty really, imo. The odd one to 500 miles but very seldom although ive won 1ST OPEN West Coast Combine Sartilly 510 mls into a north wind with a yearling cock.Timed 9.15pm.My main pool bird .This particular pigeon had scored well in 2 x 300 mile races before it went. Incidently, all his races were in north winds and this pigeon wasnt raced as a yb :emoticon-0138-thinking: .It flew over 2000 miles in its first year racing.At this time I only flew 12-18 pigeons so they had to go, lol.They have to be right on the boil before I would send them to 500+ miles. Billy Holland once had me over looking at his Chenoise ( 600 miles )candidates, he showed me them and I said I only fancy one pigeon in his loft,not his candidates but a cracking blue pied hen.He said, thats a yearling and I said, its the best by a mile.He sent it and was 2nd west section, ( ps.A schaerlacken too lol)

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8, general, you've had some great performances and races .how would you advise a novice to start to achieve somewhere near your level ?

 

Distance racing.

Take your time, be patient and listen to as many top pigeonmen/women as possible, then make YOUR OWN mind up.Get latebreds from these fanciers and put them together and let the gene pot boil. Youve got 2 ears and one mouth so listen twice as much as you talk.Distance racing is very, very hard and their are always cranks ready to have a go at you when you arent firing on all cylinders.People forget that distance pigeons are like hens teeth and its very difficult to constantly get on the results. All top distance fliers have lean years but the best of them come back, eventually.So dont listen to the cranks because they are usually jealous and usually couldnt fly a kite on a windy day anyway.Focus on your own loft and be patient. Always remember,any sport is all about timing.

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9, could you tell me more about "spider" your old favourite , was he bred by you ? if so how did you choose the breeding that made him ?

do you think you will ever find another to take his place ?

 

Spider was lost this year from Wetherby, expletive remove it was like a death in the family.I bred him myself from a son of Peggy x a daughter of my Jock Allan hen. He was a small insignificant wee yb , I think he was raced as a hen, but he was at the Midland fed yb Open disaster when only 1 bird made it on the night, ( at 8.30 pm ) Spider came the following afternoon and he had flown 100s of miles.The following year he was my 2nd in the clock from SNFC Eastbourne.This was the first time he was in the clock until as a 2 yr old he was my timer from SNFC Falaise.He missed the result by 10 minutes although he wouldve been 4th sec f. As a 3 yr old he went to Andrezel and landed at the back of 7 in the morning, as fresh as paint, I actually thought it was an Ypres pigeon because of his bright look.He was 8th sec 30 th open.As a 4 yr old he went to Reims where he timed at 5.30 am to be 11 sect 63rd open, I doubled him back to Clermont and he was 12th west sect WINNING HIS SILVER AWARD..The following year he went to Messac and took 6 days.The next year I thought their might be a problem with him because he was late at training, but only when coming from the east?? I reckoned he had a bop attack out that way and was taking a detour when training.I was hoping it was that anyway,as he was acting great and was bouncing. So I sent him to Alencon, IT WAS PI ZZING DOWN AND I TIMED HIM AT 9.30 PM AFTER SITTING ON NEXT DOORS GARAGE FOR 20 MINUTES.I dont think Ive ever celebrated a pigeon scoring as much as I did that night.I was still drunk the following afternoon lol.He was 99th open and it felt as if he had won the race lol.So that was 4 section E prizes but wouldve been a Gold Award in sect F .I doubled him back to Clermont to try and get the Gold but he was my 2nd pigeon and an hour out it. This wee pigeon couldve been a legend with 3 x 1st sect F , 1 x 2nd , 1 x 4th and 1 x 6th sect f wins but all this was taken away from him by political crap. I hope to breed Spiders like again but if I dont, it was a great pleasure owning such a pigeon.

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8, general, you've had some great performances and races .how would you advise a novice to start to achieve somewhere near your level ?

 

Distance racing.

Take your time, be patient and listen to as many top pigeonmen/women as possible, then make YOUR OWN mind up.Get latebreds from these fanciers and put them together and let the gene pot boil. Youve got 2 ears and one mouth so listen twice as much as you talk.Distance racing is very, very hard and their are always cranks ready to have a go at you when you arent firing on all cylinders.People forget that distance pigeons are like hens teeth and its very difficult to constantly get on the results. All top distance fliers have lean years but the best of them come back, eventually.So dont listen to the cranks because they are usually jealous and usually couldnt fly a kite on a windy day anyway.Focus on your own loft and be patient. Always remember,any sport is all about timing.

 

What an excellent piece of advice.

 

What a super session!!!

Thanks Andy and Derek.

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