By Noel
Winston
Hello again and finally I have
managed to complete the loft report on Derek Cummins. Those of you who have
been reading the results for the Finglas RPC and the Irish South Road Fed will
be aware of the results obtained by Derek. He has been involved with the pigeons
since he was 10 years old and started racing them when he was 18 when he joined
the now defunct Finglas North Road Club. All told he has been involved with
pigeons for 35 years and lets hope he will be still there in another 35 years.
Derek along with myself and other lads were the
founder members of the Finglas South West Club and it was with this club that
Derek started racing the birds. He then joined the Finglas RPC where he is the
Treasurer today. Derek’s present birds are based on the John Gerard Hartog
pigeons along with the Davy Hutchinson birds and over the years these have
performed very well for him.He races with the Finglas RPC,
Irish South Road Fed, IHUNFC and the INFC.
Derek has always been a very
consistent flyer and like a good wine just keeps getting better with time. His
results over the last few years are very impressive and here are some examples.
1999
Highest prize winner in the Fed.
1st, 2nd, 3rd, Fed New Ross with
9000+ birds competing, 14th, 23rd, 26th, 30th & 38th Fed Youghal again with
9000+ birds competing. 7th, 11th, 21st, &41st Fed Marybank, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, club, 27th, 28th, &29th Fed Talbenny.
In all in 1999 Derek won 37 Fed
cards and most points in the first 50 in the Fed plus the Old Bird, Young Bird,
and Combined Averages in his club.
2000
Derek could not find all his
results for 2000 but it was more of the same excluding the channel racing which
was banned due to foot & mouth disease. Derek still managed to win the Old
Bird averages in his club and also best old bird. He had 4 x 1st clubs that
year together with 31 Fed cards. There was a twenty-bird limit in his club at
this time and as I have mentioned before the Finglas Club is a very Strong club
and one of the top five in the Fed.
2001
This year started were the last
one left off with 2nd, 37th, 84th, & 85th Fed New Ross, 2nd, 9th, &
40th Fed Youghal, 7th, 18th & 44th Fed Youghal Y/Birds, and 10th, 13th,
18th, 27th, 35th, 58th, & 59th Open Barley Cove Y/Birds.
Altogether he had 35 Fed positions
in 2001.
2002
The wine is getting even better in
this year as Derek had a wonderful year with some of the highlights being 1st
& 9th Club (20 birds limit), 5th, 50th, 63rd, 65th, & 95th Open Barleycove. 1st, 6,7th, & 8th Club, 18th, 47th, 55th,
&61st Fed Mallow. If you add to this 1st and 5th Club, 1st & 10th Fed Thurles, 2nd, & 3rd Club, 18th & 24th Fed Mallow
and 1st Club 3rd Open Penzance (1) plus 1st & 6th
Club, 2nd and 78th Open & 2nd IHUNFC National Penzance
you can see why he was well pleased. Altogether he had 41 Fed cards in 2002.
2003
Still going strong and the results
are getting better. A small example being 12th, 25th, 40th, 42nd, 49th, 52nd,
56th, 66th, 69th, 77th, 84th and 85th Fed Barleycove
Open Young Birds and this against a head wind.
He was also 1st Club, 2nd Fed
Mallow and 1st, 2nd & 7th Club, 5th, 7th &33rd Fed Mallow. On to the channel and he was 3rd, 4th, &
7th Club, 6th, 7th and 9th Open Sennen Cove followed
by 2nd & 6th Club, 11th & 51st Open Young Bird
Derek won the Fed Channel average
in 2003 and had 4X1st clubs and 42 Fed cards.
2004
To date it’s more of the same with
Derek still improving with each year. This years Old Birds season was no
different and the highlights take some beating. To start with he was 1st Club,
5th Fed Mallow and 2nd Club 5th
In fact on the day of the race
John phoned Derek just as the birds arrived and Derek let John clock his bird
first (please don’t shoot the messenger John, just phone Derek)
Loft
Management
Derek Races to two lofts set in an
L-shape with a separate stock loft. He winters 24 widowhood cocks and breeds
about 70 young bids each year although in previous years not all could be
raced, as there was a 20 birds limit in his club. He
keeps 20 pair of stock birds and most of his young birds are bred from these.
Widowhood
system
At the end of the season the old
birds are allowed to rear a young bird or two and when these are weaned the old
birds are separated. They are kept in for the entire winter and are given
plenty of baths in the loft. During this time they are fed on Versa Laga Junior ‘O’ and
are not fed a moulting mix. They are also given Naturaline in their water 2-3
times per week all through the winter.
The birds are paired after the
Blackpool Show and allowed to rear young birds with the hen and y/bird taken
away after 15 days. The cock is left to rear the remaining young bird. Derek
has no fixed ideas about re-pairing as he said he has tried not re-pairing the
birds and won and has done the opposite and still won so he is not really
concerned about the nest state before racing.
Feeding
Old Birds
He feeds Versa Laga
widowhood mix with no breaking down but this year tried another mix with good results.
The birds are fed twice per day either in their box or in a hopper and they
have as much as they want. There is no variance in the feed for the channel
birds.
Feeding
Young Birds
The young birds are fed on Liege
High protein when weaned and are also given a seed mixing that Gerard McCourt
gave him. They stay on this until training starts when they are given widowhood
mix. They are fed one and a quarter ounces per day and are fed once per day.
The feeding times are adjusted depending on the amount of training tosses given
per day.
Training
and Racing
The old birds are raced on
widowhood and are trained each day to 20 miles and on return trap directly to
their box where they have a small amount of trapping mix. The birds are given
their 1st daily feed early in the morning before training. The young birds are
trained each day working up to 20-30 miles and may be double trained each day
if Derek feels that they need it. The young birds are allowed to run together
and may lay and rear their own young bird if they wish. As with the old birds no young
birds are allowed out in the winter.
Medication
Derek treats for canker and
respiratory disease before pairing and continues this throughout the racing
season with treatment every four weeks. He also uses Naturaline in the water
twice per week. He does not treat for cocci, as he
has never had a problem with it. The birds are wormed after the moult and only when samples prove positive. Grit and
minerals are hand fed once per week. The only other supplements that are used
are Gemtaplex twice per week and cider vinegar in the
water on occasions.
When asked about his thoughts on
the sport in general Derek said that he would like to see a league system like
the one at present being run in Sandy hill Stud being introduce by clubs and in
this way perhaps we can attract more younger members (the league mentioned by
Derek is being run by Paddy Martin to support one of his many charity causes. I
have mentioned it before and I can only agree that it would benefit our younger
members if it were introduced into the clubs).
Derek would like to thank all
those fanciers who over the years have helped him with good advice and top
quality birds. He would like a special mention for Dave & Annette
Hutchinson, David Hunt (The London King), Brian Claybourne,
Brian Keogh and Pat Holmes for all their help. He would also like to give a special thanks to John Nash (the main man) for being the
driving force behind him and last but not least to his friend in
Well what more can I say, Derek
keeps things simple and has astounding results year after year. Not only have I
myself benefited from Derek’s advice and birds but others like Paul Jones in Skerries, Shaun McNally in Balbriggan and Brian Hoey in Ballymun have all won
with birds supplied by Derek and he is always available to help and advise if
requested.
Now I could not finish this
article without mentioning Derek’s lovely wife Collette.
One because she would never give
me another cup of tea and two because she would probably kill
me. So Thanks very Much Collette for all the tea and cakes and more importantly
for putting up with all the visitors to the house at all times of the day and
night.
Well that’s it for now and
remember to keep smiling.
Noel Winston
E-Mail: dublin_view@iolfree.ie