Origin of My Stock

See July 2002 Update

Although living on a small island is not the ideal situation when you want to race pigeons, I decided, after a hiatus from the sport, to do it anyway. I am on the short end and off the main line of flight, so it is a good challenge and needs good birds.

I have known Carl Blumensaat for a number of years; we met at the annual Derby Race organized by the Capital City Club in Victoria here in British Columbia. I have judged his birds at shows, liked the type and knew that he did well in the races. When I phoned him about getting some stock he offered me some late breds at a reasonable price and I purchased ten. The pedigrees show that they are founded on birds from Karl Von Gardony the great Ontario fancier, Raymond Hermes the German champion, Russ Burns of the U.S., Joop Beumer of Holland and Hans Grosch a good long distance fancier from Summerland, British Columbia. Strain names that appear are Janssen and Jan Aarden.

When the late breds matured I found I was short of hens and in the meantime Willie Halpern, who lives across the road from Carl, phoned me and offered me some hens. Willie is now specializing in American Show Racers and needed loft space for them. I knew that the stock he offered me would be of excellent quality. I went to Willie's loft to pick up the hens and while I was there he introduced me to Lois Gast who raced in partnership with her husband Art. Lois also offered me some stock which I graciously accepted as I knew that Art and Lois were successful fanciers.

Before I left for home I was given a British type wicker training basket, a stall trap, two sputnik traps and a pigeon clock. I refused to accept all these free so we came to a deal.

I raised young from the new stock which raced consistently and helped me get into the winners' circle, including winning the Combine in the longest young bird race. Now it is up to me to help them perform well in the old bird races.

I must add that my breeding stock was further enriched by two birds from Bob Paulsen, a very successful long distance flier from Victoria. The birds were given to me in payment for judging the annual show of the Capital City Club. These birds are of the Van Loon-Groendelar families down from Campbell Strange of Texas stock.

July, 2002
I really didn't need any more birds, but when good quality stock is available it's hard to resist. The Capital City Club of Victoria held an auction of birds at their annual show in January 2002, to raise funds for the club. I've written before about Bob Paulsen's expertise as a long distance flier, and Bob had donated a pair of 2002 young birds to the auction. I couldn't attend the show so I asked someone to bid on the birds for me and the bid was successful.

I received the young pair a few weeks ago along with an extra bird. The family names appearing on the pedigrees are: Jan Aarden, Groendelar, Van Loon, Desmet Matthis, Cathrysse and Janssen. These will complement the two Van Loon-Groendelar hens I acquired from Bob Paulsen last year. These two hens are responsible for breeding some of my best 2001 young birds.

In addition I acquired four young birds from Bjorn Bjornson also of the Victoria club. One is a Van Loon-Groendelar from stock which originated with Oak Haven Farms in Texas, another is also a Van Loon-Groendelar which bred top placed birds in the Alberta Classic one loft race over three years. The third youngster is from stock bred by Janssen Bros. of Arendonk and the fourth is a Janssen-DeCroix.