Kastle Loft

Home is where the nest is

David Stephenson — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:52:44 +0000

Thought I’d share a few photos of my birds on a fine spring afternoon as they made scores of trips to the yard to gather nesting material.

Homing Pigeons flying – Images by David Stephenson

A thrilling finish in the Gulfcoast Homing Club

David Stephenson — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 00:47:13 +0000

Jimmy Combs, who handles our birds in the Gulf Coast Homing club for the Classic race, has scored a big win in old birds with 2012 AU Kastle 11. He finished 2nd place, 150 miles, 1084 birds with a blistering speed of 2094 ypm. Congratulations also to Jim, as the first place bird was also his, but flown by another loft.

Kastle 11 is by Waddy, our son of Kannibaal’s Gold, and out of Widow’s 20, a double grand-daughter of Black Widow. Kastle 11 was our best finisher in last December’s Classic race, finishing in the money and the top 10%. Clicking the image below will take you to the complete results.

Another science fair, another win!

David Stephenson — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 01:29:33 +0000

Congratulations to Tory for another outstanding science fair – her second of two award-winning projects involving our racers. This year, she won first place at her school and just yesterday she won 7th grade district champion. We are very proud of her and wish her the best at regional competition.

This year, her project was comparing diets high in fats and carbs to see if they affected the flight speeds of our birds. She tested them at pretty short distances, but the results were still very interesting. Below is an excerpt from her abstract.

What is the effect of a diet high in fats or carbohydrates on the flight time of a homing pigeon? My purpose is to help pigeon racers like me decide what types of food make the pigeons perform better. My hypothesis is that the pigeons that ate the high carbs diet are going to be quicker because carbs give you energy quicker, whereas fats are a more long-term energy source and don’t burn off fast. From the results of my experiment, I learned that a diet of high fats makes the pigeons fly 0.45 miles per hour faster on average than on a high carb filled diet.

2012 wrap-up

David Stephenson — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:49:08 +0000

We added a son of Eisenhower x Joint Venture, pictured above, to our breeding program in 2012 and expect he will have an immediate impact in 2013.

We’ve wrapped up 2012 here at Kastle Loft. We were happy to add a total of six first place wins in club racing during the young bird season.

Our biggest win of the young bird season, however, came in the Gulf Coast Classic. Our handler, Jim Combs, did a great job with our birds. AU 2012 Kastle 11 finished the Classic race in 204th place. Out of 2052 birds and 101 lofts, that finish was good enough to get us in the top 10% and in the money in some of the toughest competition in the country. We plan to send more birds to Jim in 2013.

Kastle 11 is a daughter of Waddy (a direct son of Kannibaal’s Gold) and Widow’s 20 (a double grand-daughter of Black Widow and Aviator).

We also enjoyed finishing up Tory’s 7th grade science fair project where she compared flight speeds of our birds on various carb & fat diets. We wish her the best in upcoming competition.

Here’s looking back to a fun, although sometimes frustrating 2012, and to hopeful success in 2013.

Central Ohio Combine release from Lexington

David Stephenson — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 03:06:43 +0000

The Pigeon Talk Classic, hosted in 2012 by Mr. Walt Conditionfreak, had 16 birds in this release in Lexington, Ky., on Sept. 16 at the Wal-Mart parking lot (results here). Our Kastle bird is still in the mix and finished 8th out of the 16 today.

Going along for the ride with his 16 birds were another thousand or so from lofts across southern and central Ohio. It was quite a rush to see such a flock released. Beautiful sight.

The Dizzy Pigeon

David Stephenson — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:53:29 +0000

I saw this scene on a barn roof at Churchill Downs while working on a video for a client. If we could all have the guts to be a little different, we might just have a little more fun along the way.

Results from our first young bird race of 2012

David Stephenson — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 01:41:30 +0000

We had a good drop in our first race this year. Short, but sweet. It’s been tough beating those veteran flyers who live about 40 miles to the west. We’re striving of course for more similar performances this season.

WinSpeed-1                         Bluegrass RPC                 08/19/12-18:30
                                 Weekly Race Report                      Page 1
                            Open and Junior Category
Name: ONEIDA                       Young Bird Race            Flown: 08/19/2012
Release(A): 07:45  Birds: 178   Lofts: 12                    Station: ONEIDA TN
Weather (Rel) Overcast, 0 N, 64 degrees  (Arr) sunny, NE 2-6 mph, 77 degrees
 
POS NAME          BAND NUMBER        CLR  X ARRIVAL   MILES  TOWIN      YPM  PT
  1 Tory Stephe/9   74   AU 12 KAST  GR   H 10:17:29 104.240 00.00 1203.160 100
  2 David Step/31    3   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:17:30 104.240 00.00 1203.029  99
  3 David Stephen    1   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:17:31  2/ 31  00.01 1202.898  98
  4 David Stephen    9   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:17:32  3/ 31  00.02 1202.766  97
  5 David Stephen   10   AU 12 KAST  BCH  C 10:17:32  4/ 31  00.02 1202.766  96
  6 David Stephen   39   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:17:34  5/ 31  00.04 1202.504  95
  7 David Stephen   33   AU 12 KAST  BLK  C 10:17:36  6/ 31  00.06 1202.241  94
  8 David Stephen   41   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:17:38  7/ 31  00.08 1201.978  93
  9 David Stephen   29   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:17:39  8/ 31  00.09 1201.847  92
 10 David Stephen   24   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:19:10  9/ 31  01.40 1190.024  91
 11 Tory Stephens   54   AU 12 KAST  GR   C 10:21:21  2/  9  03.51 1173.405  90
 12 David Stephen   44   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:21:25 10/ 31  03.55 1172.905  89
 13 Tory Stephens   12   AU 12 KAST  BC   C 10:23:39  3/  9  06.09 1156.394  88
 14 David Stephen    1   AU 12 BLG   BKWP C 10:23:41 11/ 31  06.11 1156.151  87
 15 Tory Stephens   77   AU 12 KAST  GR   H 10:24:42  4/  9  07.12 1148.791  86
 16 David Stephen   48   AU 12 KAST  DC   C 10:25:50 12/ 31  08.20 1140.696  85
 17 David Stephen   34   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:25:57 13/ 31  08.27 1139.869  84
 18 David Stephen   46   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:26:06 14/ 31  08.36 1138.808  83
 19 David Stephen   35   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:26:07 15/ 31  08.37 1138.690  82
 20 David Stephen   45   AU 12 KAST  BCH  C 10:28:22 16/ 31  10.52 1123.007  81
 21 David Stephen   28   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:30:26 17/ 31  12.56 1108.978  80
 22 Simeon Par/31   79   AU 12 BLG   BBAR C 10:50:43 115.178 17.13 1091.517  79
 23 Ken Driske/10  438   AU 12 BLG   BBAR C 11:12:17 128.459 19.22 1090.718  78
 24 Tory Stephens   42   AU 12 KAST  DC   C 10:34:17  5/  9  16.48 1083.757  77
 25 Simeon Parker   91   AU 12 BLG   DC   H 10:52:38  2/ 31  19.08 1080.368  76
 26 David Stephen   14   AU 12 KAST  RC   C 10:36:51 18/ 31  19.21 1067.570  75
 27 Ken Driskell   432   AU 12 BLG   W    C 11:16:57  2/ 10  24.02 1066.703  74
 28 Ken Driskell   431   AU 12 BLG   W    H 11:17:13  3/ 10  24.18 1065.363  73
 29 Ken Driskell   410   AU 12 BLG   RC   C 11:17:48  4/ 10  24.53 1062.442  72
 30 Simeon Parker   97   AU 12 BLG   BCH  H 11:00:33  3/ 31  27.03 1036.630  71
 31 Jonathan Du/3   53   AU 12 LKY   BC   C 10:45:53 106.338 25.19 1034.750  70
 32 Fred Dunawa/3   52   AU 12 LKY   BC   C 10:46:32 106.338 25.58 1031.045  69
 33 Jonathan Duna  109   AU 12 LKY   BC   C 10:47:02  2/  3  26.27 1028.213  68
 34 Fred Dunaway    18   AU 12 LKY   BC   C 10:47:19  2/  3  26.44 1026.616  67
 35 Jonathan Duna   45   AU 12 LKY   BC   C 10:47:54  3/  3  27.19 1023.342  66
 36 Joe Penn/26    356   AU 12 BLG   BCH  C 11:35:11 132.968 35.40 1016.685  65
 37 David Stephen   36   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:48:50 19/ 31  31.20  997.980  64
 38 David Stephen   61   AU 12 KAST  DC   C 10:49:08 20/ 31  31.38  996.354  63
 39 John James/32  123   IF 12 LKY   RC   C 10:52:15 105.292 33.13  989.665  62
 40 Jonathan Ja/5  121   IF 12 LKY   GR     10:52:16 105.292 33.14  989.577  61
 41 Elliott/9      136   IF 12 LKY   GR   H 10:52:26 105.292 33.24  988.697  59
 42 John James     136   AU 12 LKY   GR   C 10:52:26  2/ 32  33.24  988.697  60
 43 John James     112   IF 12 LKY   BCH  C 10:52:32  3/ 32  33.30  988.170  58
 44 John James     197   IF 12 LKY   BKP  C 10:52:38  4/ 32  33.36  987.643  57
 45 Tory Stephens   13   AU 12 KAST  BB   C 10:51:17  6/  9  33.48  984.854  56
 46 David Stephen   38   AU 12 KAST  BBAR C 10:51:18 21/ 31  33.48  984.766  55
 47 Tory Stephens   51   AU 12 KAST  GR   H 10:51:19  7/  9  33.49  984.678  54
 48 Elliott        143   IF 12 LKY   WH   H 10:55:31  2/  9  36.29  972.696  53
 49 John James     184   AU 12 LKY   GR   C 10:55:37  5/ 32  36.35  972.186  52
 50 Elliott        133   IF 12 LKY   WH   H 10:56:34  3/  9  37.32  967.364  51
 51 Tory Stephens   53   AU 12 KAST  RC   H 10:56:12  8/  9  38.42  959.529  50
 52 Ken Driskell   411   AU 12 BLG        H 11:41:37  5/ 10  48.42  955.502  49
 53 Brina/2        422   AU 12 BLG   BCP    11:42:19 128.459 49.24  952.684  48
 54 Elliott        176   IF 12 LKY   RCP  C 10:59:37  4/  9  40.35  952.204  46
 55 John James     176   AU 12 LKY   RCP  C 10:59:37  6/ 32  40.35  952.204  47
 56 Tony Horn/17   505   IF 12 LKY   BLS  C 11:22:16 116.284 47.09  941.977  45
 57 Joe Penn       353   AU 12 BLG   W    H 11:53:32  2/ 26  54.01  941.620  44
 58 Joe Penn       341   AU 12 BLG   BLS  H 11:53:40  3/ 26  54.09  941.115  43
 59 Simeon Parker   71   AU 12 BLG   BBAR C 11:20:34  4/ 31  47.04  940.373  42
 60 Simeon Parker   65   AU 12 BLG   BBAR C 11:20:38  5/ 31  47.08  940.082  41

2012 Out of Area Races

David Stephenson — Tue, 29 May 2012 17:51:21 +0000

Kastle Loft’s birds will be competing in more races than ever this year. We look forward to seeing how our birds fare in other lofts around the country.

This fall/winter, we will have birds flying in:

Gulf Coast Classic – handler Jim Combs
Dixie Southern Convention – handler Bob Tavares and Fred Wagner
Pigeon Talk Classic OLR
John James OLR

Hopefully we will get some great information about our birds that will help us assess which birds and where to send birds in 2013.

Pigeon Breeding Cycle and Calendar

David Stephenson — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:11:39 +0000

Here is a little pdf that may help you plan out your pairings by the calendar. You could select a pairing date and it would show you approximately when the pair would lay, have 28 day babies, lay again, etc. etc. It is extremely helpful when using it in reverse. If, say, you wanted to send a baby off to a one loft race or futurity on March 1, you could instantly see when to pair your birds in order to have 28 day babies on March 1.

Special nod to Flapdoodle of the Pigeon Talk forum who created the first one of these I used last year.

Download Homing Pigeon Breeding Cycle and Calendar

Flash of the wing

David Stephenson — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:28:58 +0000