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Old German Owls – Page 32 – Purebred PIGEON
B
reed of
the
I
ssue
- O
ld
G
erman
O
wl
Now the Adventure Begins...
By Dennis FitzPatrick
H
ello everyone, my name is Dennis FitzPatrick and my
friend Baskar Anjappan asked me to write about how
Syndi and I got started in Old German Owls. But I think we
should start from the beginning. I was living in Dexter, Michigan
and moved back to California in 2017. I purchased a 10-acre
property with many outbuildings that had been neglected but in
decent shape. So the idea of getting fancy pigeons and showing
them again seemed like a great idea.
I had raised fancy pigeons when I was in my early teens (Dan-
zig Highflyers) and decided now that I was retired and had some
buildings I could remodel, why not get involved in fancy pigeons
again? At the same time it was a project for me. With the help
and guidance of a couple of friends, Vicke and Bill Casey, I started
remodeling the old poultry building on my property.
Having zero experience in construction I relied heavily on
youtube and Vicke and Bill to move the construction aspects along.
Let me say, it was a huge growth experience and not without its
frustrations and a few swear words! But we managed to move
forward and finished the project in about three months time. After
all the hard work and frustrations, it turned out fairly nice and
hopefully the new residents would appreciate it as well.
Now that the loft was
complete, time to find the
right birds to enjoy it. Vicke
had given me a number of
books and the NPA standards
to look through to help find
the right breed for me. After
a number of lengthy discussions, I decided that my two favorite
breeds were Long Faced Clean Legged Tumblers and Antwerp
Smerles. Vicke also suggested that we attend the local northern
California pigeon show in December. Seeing it was just a couple of
weeks away we made plans to be there, hoping to make connec-
tions with breeders of both breeds.
So December 2nd arrived and Syndi, my friend Mike and I
went off to the show. I hadn’t been to a show since my teens and
was quite excited to see how they had changed and whether we’d
get lucky enough to meet up with any breeders of the breeds I was
interested in seeing.
Met up with Vicke and Bill (they had their Chinese Owls
in competition) and was introduced to John DeCarlo Jr., who
amazingly had an Antwerp Smerle in competition. Additionally,
Above are the lofts before renovations. Below the loft after renovations.