Pigeon Talk by Alex Bieche

 Quest Syndicate Lofts    Selection of Breeders.

    A few years back I was asked to do my seminar for the Texas Center Convention held in Houston Texas. My Wife Cindy and I had a fantastic time and over all this convention was one of the best organized conventions I have taken part in. Everything ran smooth without any short comings. One of the highlights was going to the greyhound dog races. The Dog Track (Forgot the Name) even dedicated the winning Dog in the fifth race to the pigeon flyers. We even had the privilege to take a picture of us with the winning dog.  One section of the grandstand was roped off for all the pigeon flyers with all the food that one could ask for. Never having attended a dog race before we received all kinds of tips on which dog to bet on. One guy being very serious told us that the dog you want to put your money on is the dog that takes the biggest crap when they first come out of their kennel. It may be just a coincidence but Cindy walked away with close to a hundred dollars that day.  While at the track I ran across a pigeon flyer that was doing a lot better wagering on the greyhounds than I was. So wanting to know more I introduced myself hoping for another great tip. The gentlemen turned out to be a roofing contractor by the name of Don Barker. Being a pigeon enthusiast himself the conversation quickly turned from Greyhounds to pigeons. Over the next few months we both exchanged several ideas on racing and Don seemed to like the breeding part of our Hobby as much as I do. We really had a lot in common because we were both on the same path wanting to breed a better pigeon. For me having one or two quality pigeons out of a pair in one year is just not good enough. If one settles for that then you sure won’t reach a higher level because you have already reached your goal. Don Barker several years back formed a partnership with 3 other pigeon flyers. Butch Shoop, Fred King and Richard Cass.  Each Partner having different skills and background so for that reason alone have a lot to add to the total group. Be it in pigeons or pigeon skills, Don Barker is the main breeder housing 90% of the breeders. Don also is on the cutting edge when it comes to trying new bird feed or natural performance based products. He has studied nutrition and formulated his own racing and breeding mix. In this years old bird races Don had one of his best years ever. Looking for a name that fights the need Don came up with the name Quest, striving for perfection and always searching to improve what you already have. He feels more and more of the money races will go to the 3 or 4 separate races rather than just the one race. This race format just like the German birds takes a special bird that can handle the back to back race schedule that some birds just can’t handle. Racing in the over all combine level he wants the same bird to go to every race from 100m up to the 600m station. Having this type of family you don’t need as many birds.  

    Butch Shoop from Denton Texas is a Major Game Warden with 37 years of experience in the Fort Worth area.  Butch has a few of the Key breeders at his home and is one of the two main flyers that test the birds each and every year. In this years O/B AU results Butch had the No.1 Bird of all America in his class. Fred King lives in Grand Prairie Texas and is the other Top Flyer that tests the offspring from the Quest breeders. Fred has his own counter top Construction Company serving large home improvement stores such as Lowes and Home Depot. Richard Cass joined the Quest team in 2006 and lives in Las Vegas. Richard was previously associated with Desert View Lofts of Arizona. He has enjoyed success on the international scene with a win and another top prize in South Africa. He also won the Int. Derby-Tenerife- Canary Islands race by 3 hrs. Richard has also written many articles for several pigeon magazines. The website www.questsyndicatelofts.com  is also managed and operated by Richard as well. He has also imported several key birds to add to the collection, but not being able to have pigeons on his property they are housed at the main breeding station.

   Last year Don had asked me to come down and grade all the breeders. Having my calendar completely full for that year I had to decline. Close to a year had passed and Don was not going to give up on me and this time how could I say no with all my expenses being paid and a chance to grade several hundred. pigeons. I asked Don how many birds they had put aside for me to grade, He said about 800. At first I thought he was kidding but as he pointed out this is a collection of 4 flyers not just one.

 Wanting to bring the breeders to an even greater level, Quest Syndicate Lofts were determined to get the numbers down and wanted an outsider for a second opinion. Sometimes the picture looks different from a stranger looking in rather than having all 4 guys always looking out from the inside. Don picked me up from the Austin Air port and with in minutes we were at his home. The airport is so close that you can see airplanes coming and going during all parts of the day. No sooner we stepped out of his truck he put me right to work. Before I started to grade I explained my 6 Common Denominator Grading System and what I was looking for. I also explained the strength and weaknesses that are shown on every bird and how truly important that this is to elevate your family to new heights. Being very critical there are very few birds that are perfect in every way. Looking for the strengths and weakness of thousands of birds graded I have only found a handful of birds that have received an excellent score on all of the 6 Common Denominators. As a grader myself I truly believe that all graders or selectors of breeders should also be graded on what they do or have done for others. If he himself can not show you what he has done for himself racing and breeding or what he has done for his clients why would you retain this person. It’s sad to say but I have seen graders that can’t win a race but feel very comfortable telling others this is a good one or that one is a bad one. That being said there are several good graders in America. A good grader or selector of breeders can save you years of time and bring you to the top in a short period of time.

Handling and grading the first Quest bird I couldn’t imagine getting all the birds graded that day. With all the help I received we out did our selves and graded all the birds on the property that same day. The following day we took a 2 hr. ride to Denton where Butch Shoop had the remainder of the breeders and some of his own birds. Butch being a very light hearted guy himself loves to play pranks on his fellow partners once in a while. Don Barker decided that this was a golden opportunity to get even with Butch once and for all. Don new that Butch would be more than elated if his birds graded even better than Dons birds. So this was our game plan. The first 3 birds that Butch handed me to grade would all receive excellent marks all the way across the board. I told Don that not having a poker face myself I would probably give it way after the 2^nd. Bird. To my surprise Don caved in before I did. After the first bird graded out perfect across the board Don couldn’t hold off laughing any longer. Butch at that point being very sharp new exactly what was going on and laughed right along with the rest of us.

    Don told me that they have spent well over ½ million dollars on birds over the last 10 years. In most cases the birds that were brought in were hand selected rather than just getting a bird from so and so.

   Listed are just a few of the money races won by Quest Syndicate Lofts. Bred down from his famous Vegas Pair 1^st Champion Bird in the Vegas Race. Winning $184,000 bird sold for $25,600 Texas Center Convention $7,000  e 1^st 2003 Vegas Classic $52,000 Bird Sold for $9,000

  After grading the birds I picked 3 birds. Two hens and a cock that were as good as any that I have ever graded including the birds graded over seas. Many birds were graded Very good to excellent but these 3 were excellent in every one of the 6 Common Denominators tools I use. From all the birds graded about 90 birds were not the quality that would elevate the breeding stock so they were eliminated.

My No.1 pick out of close to 900  birds was “ Mr Perfect “ 00 GFL 005 BB/ Cock  “ a direct son of Hercules 94 Belg 6203344   1^st. Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance Antwerp 1996   Don later told me that about  90 % of his top breeders that win in the money races all go back to this one cock. A good example.

 “ The Vegas Hen “ is a direct daughter of “ Mr Perfect “ When the original Dutch partnership of Luk Vanerweyst / Ganus partnership split up Don hand selected 6 birds from the very best. These 6 birds made such a huge impact in Dons loft that Ganus later purchased 4 of the 6 birds back for a large some of money. “ Mr Perfect ‘ was one bird that was not for sale for any price. 

The 2 Hens were also special in every way.

 04 GFL 517 BBWF/ Hen   Golden Mattens X Lucky Star out of Hollywood and Breeders Best

 “ Solid Gaby “04 Belg 3230909 Bloodline of Wittenbuik, Wolfgang and Piconal