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SAHPA 2016 Year Book Page 8
John Kokalakis - Morundah
I started with pigeons in 1962 in the West
Torrens Juniors with good friends Stef
Orfanos and Moss Polites. I restarted in
pigeons in 1995 after my first love (soccer)
playing days were over. I have raced from
my present address for 20 years.
If nothing is done the future looks a little
bleak as we are a dying lot. I don’t think we
are getting any new recruits. Word of mouth
is not enough so I think the SAHPA could
look at something with our limited funds.
It’s hard but if we don’t do something it is
curtains. I’m almost 70 years of age and at
my club I’m one of the youngsters. Now we
have our own transporter perhaps we could
look at making it more affordable. I am all
for limit flying – more birds for protection
doesn’t wash with me as we have seen many
times the quality of the birds is more
important. Putting rubbish out there does not
improve returns.
I’m a one-man band and I like it that way as
I have no-one else to blame if things go wrong (my wife has her hands full with the grand-
kids). Having said that, my young grandson – John Michael – helps with ringing and feeding
and quite often comes with me to train the birds.
Being retired would be an advantage if you are keen and see to the birds every need – being
retired and lazy doesn’t work. When I was working I still did well. Again if you are keen
enough you can achieve anything. Birds can be put on units the night before etc.
My favourite bird of all time is what I
call the “freak hen”. She was an
outstanding racer and breeder. She has
produced many winners and her
children continue to produce winners.
Her daughter bred 2
nd
SAHPA
Morundah and in turn he bred 1
st
SAHPA Morundah. Her 14 year old
brother bred 5
th
SAHPA Narrandera. All
good management counts for nothing
without good pigeons.
I clean my lofts daily in the race season
and weekly in the off season. My only
secret is hard work on my part. Once the
birds have gone though the moult I use a
slightly lighter mix with the addition of barley. I never starve the birds as I’m looking to the
longer races. I like the birds to work well around the loft but I don’t play with their food
much. Hungry birds won’t work - and having said that, I do watch their weight. I do look at
the eye but I strongly believe in the first foot on the landing board theory!
JOHN'S WINNER