|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Just like most Pigeon Flyers I got my start catching commons down by the coal docks and under bridges, at the mouth of the Fox River connects with Green Bay. At the age of 9 I lived in a rented house with my mother and father, 2 brothers and a sister. I can remember holding about 20 birds in the back room of that house. No, not in a cage they were loose in that room. To this day I do not understand why my parents allowed this to happen. It didn’t last long though because we moved to a different rental and this time the pigeons had to be hidden because the landlord lived next door…the commons had to go. After that I was able to get some friends interested in pigeons and helped them build small lofts and in turn they would let me raise a few of my own birds in their lofts. I had the freedom to go in anytime to handle my birds. It was then my friends got me interested in fancy pigeon Modenas, Powders, Helmets, and Fantails. This went on from friend to friend…loft to loft…some were not even lofts; some were cages no bigger than a rabbit cage. I guess we pigeon flyers do what we can to enjoy our birds. My interest in pigeons continued until I was 13 and my attention soon shifted to girls, dating, holding hands at the roller skating rink. All thoughts of pigeons were put on hold temporarily. In 1981 at the age of 26, my bride to be and I bought our first house and of course first things first, a loft had to be built. When the loft was completed my next dilemma was, what kind of pigeons do I want to raise? I spent many hours driving around town looking for pigeons circling around their lofts. I was told of a pigeon flyer that lived on the East side of town that raised homers. I located…are you ready for this…Mr. Bob Pigeon. What a coincidence. He was a long time pigeon flyer in the Green Bay area. After meeting Bob and purchasing my first 3 pairs of birds, he told me of two flyers that were in my neighborhood. I contacted them immediately, Charlie Starich and Floyd Johnston. Two great guys that took me under their wing and answered all my endless questions. They told many pigeon stories and allowed me to sit with them as the birds returned from races. Both Charlie and Floyd have since passed away, but I will never forget them or their words of wisdom. I flew my first young bird race in August 1982 and have done pretty well in the next 25 years of flying. Winning races is not easy here in the Green Bay , Wisconsin area. The competition here is tough. There is not one flyer that dominates a season of old or young birds. If a flyer wins 4 races in a year, he is doing great. It took me until 1984 before I won my first race; I actually captured 3 first place wins that year. My first win was a 300-mile race on June 2, 1984. The following week I won a 500-mile race with a resettled bird. Now I won two races in a row, I thought this is getting easy, nobody can beat me now. Well Jack Kellerman a very good pigeon flyer said to me “ in this game you fall just as fast as you rise” and yes he was right I fell and fell hard. But I did manage to win a 200 mile young bird race that year and that also was the first time I won a young bird race. Since then I have won 55 club races. Seven con course races, two concourse avg speed over all, two young bird avg speed concourse, and concourse champion loft four times. I feel my best improvement has been my breeding the last five years. Others that got birds from me have been winning races. Winning club races or specials. Just some of the achievements in my breeding here at Lindys Loft:
2003 was a great year for me in the N.E.W open as well but all my results from that year are missing. Old birds I fly the natural system with hens 10 to 14 days on eggs. I think my cocks work well on three to five day old eggs and driving to the 100 and 200 mile races. Basically I feel a good home and good health are also keys to motivation my birds to come home. Young birds I first started the darkening system in 2005. I prefer the natural over the darkening! But if you want to keep up with the other flyers you better darken. I would like to help explain the darkening system to those that would like to try it. But I am still at the learning stage and so far the two years that I have been on it, “darkening” I still have a long way to go. As I mentioned before good health is the key I like to follow the Frank Mclaughlin 365 health program. It seems to work pretty well for me. Last and the most important to you new flyers. Find a mentor! Preferably from outside your club if possible. You can get good advice from a club member but remember they are your competition. You can get a good bird or two from some of the members of your club but I will bet they will not come from some of there best breeders. You can go to out of area auctions or you can get some very good birds on the online auctions thru the internet. Also going to an out of area auction is a great way to meet new friends. That’s how I met my good friend John Michalski from Milwaukee, WI. He has been a good mentor for me for the last 20 years now and a good friend as well. Finally I feel we as pigeon flyer have to do whatever we can to encourage others in our fine sport. We need to offer assistance and advice when asked. Follow up with interested flyers in important. We need to be mentors to others, visiting and trying to lead them in the right direction my philosophy is that the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person. Thanks for reading, John (Lindy)
|
|
Contact: LindysLoft@aol.com |