My name is Tony Boyle I live in the centre of Dublin,I started racing pigeons in1982 with
birds from here and there,I quickly realized that to get to the top I needed better pigeons
for which I went to Louella pigeon world in England and bought some Janssen pigeons
then I had to build a better loft which I did (pictures later)I needed a system, in 1982 most
fanciers were racing natural so this is how I raced I had 15 pairs I had very little success
In 1988 I decided that if I wanted to do well I had to go to Belgium the home of the sport,
October 88 I went to Belgium on a trip from England there I visited a fancier called
Denduyver who was the sprint champion of his region for 10 years,these birds were magnificent mostly blues and cheq pigeons theses I had to have.
I bought 4 to go with these from Robert Venus I bought some pepermans and Hofkins
these are the base of my loft today I also have some Frans van Willdermesh which I cross.
I had the birds now I needed a system to race them on my visit all the above fanciers were
racing widowhood so this was the system for me.
Talking to friends who had tryed this system and had very little success I think that they
did'nt give it enough time,so I gave myself 5 years to succeed or give up,at the end of each
year I would keep only birds with a 1st,2nd or 3rd the rest would have to go,and in 3 years
I was the best flyer in the club with 28 members.
I have been the top flyer in the club for the last 5 years in races upto 200mls(300kms)
these are the races I specialize in with oldbirds I race 20 widowhood cocks the best is
my (IHU 96s 120717) who has 5x1st prize,all the cocks two years or older have won at least one 1st prize
or bred a 1st prize winner or they were gone.Youngbirds I race on the darkness system
I started this system in 1995 one of the first in Dublin,in 1995 in my club I won the youngbird
averages also winning in the Irish Nat Flying Club 2nd,17th,106th Nat(penzance)
Three birds three prize with this system I thought I'd cracked it(silly me).I find that as yearlings
they d'ont preform as good.
My loft are built of wood doubledeck top for the widowhood and the bottom for the youngbirds
the widowhood loft is five metres long and 1.5 metres wide I have 24 boxes but only ever fill
20.The youngbird loft has two sections one has 30 perches and the other 16 nestboxes I race
the youngbirds by keeping them seperate till the end of the week,then on friday afternoon
the central door is opened and then can do as they like.I have just come back from Belgium
for some photos see my results page.
I have visited Holland in the last couple of years and have found very good sprint flyer from Utrect named Van veggel he has sold me 12 birds from his stock which I will race in 2002.