Amanzimtoti Racing Pigeon Club takes flight
"In 1974 I started racing the birds and have never looked back,” said the 72-year-old.
Pigeon fancier and chairperson of Amanzimtoti Racing Pigeon Club, Doug Fry encourages the younger generation to take up the sport. The Toti club is run under the Durban Pigeon Racing Federation.
“For my sixth birthday, my father brought me a pair of racing pigeons and I named them Tarzan and Jane. I had a love for birds and he built me a loft, where I kept pigeons of every form. I went to do my military training and set the birds free but they came back. When I came back from training there were 16 birds still there. When I got married I took the birds with me to my new home, In 1974 I started racing the birds and have never looked back,” said the 72-year-old.
He believes that the sport is rewarding since he can do it in his back yard and keeps him busy.
“The birds get to know me and are comfortable around me. During the six months of the year that we race, in the winter period, the birds are prepared and sent off to the race and then come back home. Meeting other people who have the same interests is incredibly rewarding. It’s particularly interesting that we can try to create the perfect athlete of the sky. I try to breed the best birds from a genetics point of view. I take two birds with good attributes and they create a superior bird. It takes about a year for the complete process.”
Once a hen and a cock accept each other it takes 10 days for the pair to lay an egg that will hatch 18 days later. Thereafter 28 days later, the bird will be ready to leave the nest and will learn to fly.
“KwaZulu-Natal has a high number of predators against pigeons, so unfortunately a lot of the babies are hunted. But that is natural. Once the other birds are orientated and start to fly together, they move to greater distances. As they get older, the birds start exploring more and once they come home, I train them to land straight into the loft. They learn the process within a matter of days. On race days, we have a specially made truck that provides us with training and racing transport. Initially, we put the birds into carrying baskets and drive them out 50km away from home and let them out. It takes them a few minutes to pick up the direction and they will eventually find their way home. The next day I would do the same thing and the birds would be able to get home before me. I keep doing this in various directions until they can get home quite quickly, gain intelligence and build muscle.”
Each of the birds has an electronic ring put on their legs which is registered to the bird on the club computer, the ring has a chip that has a unique number, the federation velocity calculator goes to each property to take a GPS reading from the front of their pigeon lofts. They take the GPS reading from the point of liberation to each loft. Once the bird enters the loft, its time is marked.
For more information on the club, call Doug on 082-412-8978.
ALSO READ: Amanzimtoti Racing Pigeon Club kicks off the season with good pigeon racing results
DID YOU KNOW?
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics.
To receive news links via WhatsApp or Telegram, send an invite to 061 694 6047
The South Coast Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram– why not join us there?
Do you have more information pertaining to this story?
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.
(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)
