Hello Everyone
I would like to talk about racing in North Carolina. Our area Has some of the best golf courses around we have a coast with some of the best fishing you can ask for. To the West we have the smoky mountains with sites that are just breath taking. Not to mention the Blue Ridge Parkway. Talk about a scary drive your knees get weak but the sites push you on to the next turn.
The pigeons here have to deal with weather that may change before the weatherman or woman can report the change.
Some of the races here start with tail winds only to have the pigeons return into head winds. Along the way patches of fog that have not burned off from the sun. We don't talk much about the drag of the flock because there is none. Our concourse is comprised of fliers from the Virginia boarder to the South Carolina boarder. The temp at the start may be 60 degrees and at the end be 90 plus. Pigeons here Just have to be smart. They will encounter Hawks, Clash with birds from Florida and some of the larger combines from the North east. Than just when you think they are about to arrive a thunder storm pops up. I have seen them return with hail beating on them.
I sent my brother pigeons a few years ago. We fly the same family of birds but I sent him young birds off the pigeons I raced here. While the pigeons were related on a hard day it was the pigeons I sent him that clocked. He won 1st and 2nd on a 500 mile race. Guess what he raised them out of.
I raced pigeons on Long Island New York. Some of the races were hard at times, but let me say this compared to this area they were blow homes.
Pigeons here Just have to have Heart not one week on one race but each week. They just must be strong and they must be healthy and they must be smart. Anything less they will be gone.
I know we all like to think we have very good pigeons. And I would guess we do. But when you race In the GNCC they have to better then just very good.
How good? Well, let me say it this way I myself have raised about 500 pigeons in the nine years of living here Of these 500 birds I culled maybe four only because they were hurt. I gave away or sold about 30. I have in my loft about 15 that have raced and are still here. Where are the other 450? Lost...
Among them were combine winners and concourse champion birds. Yes, very good pigeons but none of them making it four years of racing to earn a breeding perch. Only two pigeons that have been able to earn a spot on the breeding roster both winners and both champion birds. I only mention this because the pigeons lost were part of the same team and only two have made it.
True some of the others were very good and a few still have a chance but they have yet to prove it.
This is not the case in my loft alone. We have some very good pigeon fliers here. Ask any of them about racing here they will talk about the winners. But then ask if the pigeon is still in his loft. Most will say NO. Its not that they pushed the pigeon to far. They understand the nature of our area. Winning one week could be a fluke or having a pigeon race as a young bird or yearling and doing well may not hold up in the breeding loft. Our Area calls for pigeons that are a notch above very good. I feel as some others do race them and race them hard let 2 , 3 or 4 years of racing prove it then and only then do they go into the breeding loft. This may or may not work out. But ask My brother if he wants more pigeon off my fliers or the two in the breeding loft.
I will stop at this point but send a follow up to OUR AREA.
In a news letter.
If you have any comments I would love to hear from you.
THELOURACE
Danny
Hello Everyone
In My last news letter ( Past_news_letters ) I said I would talk more about our area. I will again but before I do. I think I might be wise to talk about myself. After all the most of you never Heard of Daniel Macchia and anyone that flies pigeons under the loft name of "Street Rats," ( Well, He Just can't be right.)
I am 59 years old. I have a GREAT wife Phyllis we have been married 36 years. I have a son Daniel and a daughter Sharon. They all put a smile on my face and I love them very much.
I was born in New York City (It's not my fault My parents Lived there) I moved to long Island New York when I was 13 and then moved to North Carolina in 1993.
OK, So now we know I am a real person. But I talk of pigeons and I have the NERVE to write about them on the Internet. Well, ether I am fool or maybe I know a little something about them. ( Lets Check that out)
I started with my dads pigeons He had a flock of Flights on a six story building. I was 6 at the time when I picked up that bamboo pole and he let me chase them. I knew right then and there at the age of six this was for me. When My father explained to me about catching stray pigeons and what a pigeon war was. I was ready to go on adventure that would last a life time.
I learned a lot in the early years as I watched them mate and breed. I soon learned I could make them do tricks if they were hungry and trusted you. Dad was not to pleased the most of his flock was becoming pets
.
As the years rolled by my father got some racing homers. My eyes got wide when he explained what a pigeon race was.( WOW a race in a young boys mind.)
He had Wegges they were mostly blacks with white specks around face and head. To this day I can close my eyes and see the pigeon He called Chesty.
He was big. He was wide and he was always first to the loft (Well not always 1st but most of the time he was)
I was about 10 when my dad would let me have my own pigeons. He made me and my brother John a small coop and we had them on the building we lived in.
My brother and I had 18 pigeons in a 5' by 5' coop. All the pigeons had names we had a black flight with one leg we called him Peg Leg. we had a roller and called him tricks. I learned a lot from this small flock. Each summer when school closed we would go to Long Island. There was no way that the pigeons were going to stay in the City so we build a coop on the Island in about two weeks we had them all settled in and were flying them. When fall came and we went back to the city. "The birds too." It was interesting we let them out the next day and it was as if they never were on the Island. We did this for two years and never had a problem.
It was 1957 when we moved to long Island. It was about this time I told my father I wanted to race pigeons. He knew He didn't Have time to train them so he told me. He if I build a loft. He would get some racers. He knew There was no way I could build a loft. Where would a 14 year old boy get the lumber?
Well, that house they were building around the block had plenty of lumber. So I got my friends and that night we worked hard. About two weeks later when I started to build it. He found out how I came across the lumber. (I was so sore It was a week before I could work on the loft.)
Well, Dad did get me some pigeons. It turns out the man he gave the Wegges to Now had too many and I was now the proud owner of Chesty along with some of the blacks. He also got me 12 young from Riverside loft in the Bronx.
Well, I trained them as far as I could by bike. But soon My father was training them in his car.
Our first race we were late very Late like an hour late. This was the story for that whole 1st year. Late Late And later.
In old birds as yearlings the story was the same late late and later.
But then I got a brake. An old timer Gave me a book "Keep Your Pigeons Flying" By Leon F. Whitney. It was from that book I learned.
(If you think I'm gonna tell you what I Learned your nuts. Read the book.)
But I will say this I mowed lawns to get the money to buy the things I needed.
The 3rd year of racing. Was much Different then the past. We won!!!!!!!
That Same year we won the Red White and Blue Race. We won a lot of Money that day. (I never seen a dime of it. Turns out Dad wanted and needed it more then I did.)
My brother and I raced the pigeons for a few more years we had our ups and downs. Then I met Phyllis and its was NOT racing I was interested in.
I always had pigeons if not in my yard at my dads house.
To this day I am that same 6 year old boy."WOW a Pigeon Race. Lets get it on."
And the bigger the better.
PS. Street Rat... Only in New York City Is a common Called a Street Rat
Danny
Hello Everyone
This years race looks better everyday.
PIGEONPLACEMENT
When I sent that e-mail about my childhood I got some request do another like it.
I must be getting old because I sure like talking about my pigeons.
My dad raced Wegges when we lived in New York City. I guess it was 1954 when he caught a blue bar tippler hen. She was just over squeaking and trapped in with the young homers. He did not take her out of the loft thinking she would get lost the next day when he let the young homers out. Well, he did let her out the next morning and she did go up with the homers and flew with them for over an hour. But to his surprise she returned with them. He let her out everyday and each day she would trip with them. This was OK with Dad He liked smart pigeons, but this changed when training started. No matter where he trained them she came home. The problem started when he put her on the training truck and they would go out 100 mile or more.
this little blue tippler hen was always and I mean always with the first birds on the drop. I think it kind of pissed him off after all he spent a lot of money on his Wegges and was not pleased that this tiplet was just as fast as the best Wegges. She was not banded and he could not race her. So he never did find out just how good she would have been in a race.
I know he was upset about it because he sold her. Not once but about 25 times. But just like any good pigeon that you don't want she retuned. In 1957 we moved from the city and moved to Long Island New York. Took the pigeon with us and settled her on the island. This was not easy she took off and was away for 4 days. I guess she went home. But with no loft to trap into she returned to the island. It was sad to see her I knew her sprit was broken. This was a pigeon that was full of life before we moved. Now she moped around and was listless.
One morning I let the birds out (my flights and a few tiplets) they were just sitting around when a group of homers passed over tripping. The blue hen was off lot a shot. I never seen a pigeon move so fast in a few seconds she was up and into the flock, about an hour later she returned and it was like a shot in the arm. She was sharp and keen. It was short lived in a day or two she was just mopey again. About six week later she died. Broken heart I would guess.
Many years have passed and I often think about my youth and I soon think of the little blue tiplet hen. She was one of many pigeons that make our hobby more than just a hobby.
Danny
Any comments please reply.
