Racing Pigeons

Award winning Goldstar Racing Loft, winner of the AU National Loft of the Year
picture contest 2003 Big Loft Category
Picture taken by G. Goeken in July 1999.

Click on the buttons below to move to different pages on the site!

This site is dedicated to the sport & hobby of racing and breeding
Racing Homing Pigeons!
This site updated 5/1/13
Young bird kits: We may have a kit ready to ship late May, inquire for info.
No Breeders for sale at this time!

Goldstar Racing Loft was actually founded in 1973 but the strain is more than 3/4 century old. The birds, a strain I have named and developed
over the last 38+ years in my loft had been bred in part by the late Gene Goldschmidt of St. Louis Mo. The combination of his decades of
breeding and several key birds I blended into them over the years has created a family of birds I call the "Goldstars". The Goldstars are a quality
breed of birds which excel at the distance and or on hard weather races as well as any distance race from any direction. Everyone who obtains
them wins with them and observes how smart these birds are in racing home or just in the loft. Not only smart they are some of the most beautiful
birds you will ever handle. Read on and check out all the pages on the site. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Goldstar Racing & Breeding Lofts

Home Page

To the right is a photo of my old loft
(before we moved) where I bred and
raced birds for 35 years. Goldstar birds
are now flying in Hawaii, Alaska, Taiwan,
Texas, Delaware, Washington, Oregon,
Florida, North & South Carolina,
California, Connecticut, Arkansas,
Louisiana, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois,
Washington, Wisconsin, Nevada, Utah,
Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Indiana,
New Mexico and other states. Including
Canada, Mexico City, Mexico and now
the Philippines. If you want beautiful,
smart birds that when races at all
distances (especially long hard races)
and want to win shows as well try some
of these Goldstar birds. You will love
them!!!!!!!

This site is for the purpose of promoting the sport of Racing Pigeons. We want to show everyone our beautiful birds, the lofts and express the enjoyment we have in caring
for these wonderful creatures. For those of you that do not know, THIS is the ultimate hobby.
It involves not only caring for a living thing but much more, such as in interacting with fellow fanciers in pigeon shows and competing in races. In order to do these things
there is much more involved than simply "caring" for them. There are club memberships, meetings, outings, visiting, auctions, and a whole list of other happenings that will
keep you busy all year long outside of just caring for the birds at home.   However, the efforts of this hobby include loft building and re-modeling, breeding the birds which
can involve hours of studying which birds to mate together (if you so desire).   Feeding the birds, giving supplements, cleaning, banding babies and settling them to the loft
not to mention training them to home and to race home, all this is only a pittance of this hobby.

There is so much to learn about these wonderful birds! They are individuals that are extremely smart and all have their own unique personality. Even after 40 years I am
amazed by the birds and learn something new about them and working with them all the time.    People in my life have came and gone but once you acquire the love for
these birds and this hobby you instantly have many brothers (and sisters) as you will feel that kinship with other people who enjoy the same thing, which is the BIRDS.
For those people who are not involved in a pigeon hobby, especially in the Racing of them, you have no idea what you are missing!
It is unexplainable the excitement and satisfaction we get from this sport and the birds. I feel I am the luckiest guy in the world to
know this and enjoy this hobby and that I was born to do this, and thankful for it.

Here (left) is a picture of the inside of the OB flying loft. Against the north wall is 15 hand made nest boxes.   I made the
boxes myself custom made to fit etc. Each box has a second shelve for the birds to start another round of eggs in. Of
course I only let them raise one round (or one baby) prior to race season. After this they fly to wood eggs
There are now 3 more nest boxes on the south wall. This gives me 18 boxes or an old bird team of 36 birds.

I still have more work to do in this loft like putting a vent near the floor in front of the loft.   This is what I will do for more
ventilation in the OB loft. I also need to make the loft more easy to catch the birds in. It has too much open space so it
is hard to catch the birds right now.
I am sure my yearling's next year will be less wild in this loft as well.    I have had as many as 15 Ybs in my lap as I sit on
the floor feeding them by hand. They seem much tamer than the late hatches I spent no time with.   Get the hint, spend
time with your birds and watch them. Especially when they are 30 to 60 days old. Handle all of them every day!

At the right is our Goldstar racing loft. Picture taken July 2011.   Notice the pond in back of it now. I had it dug
last summer and now is full and stocked. You see, when the birds come home from a race they can get a drink
before they trap in. This way it gives others a chance to beat these great Goldstar birds (LOL the problem is it is
true and I do have a trapping problem from time to time). The loft in total is 24' x 8' plus an 8 x 10 breeder loft in the
back. The young bird section is on the left and old birds in the middle with a small hall way storage on the right.
One big advantage to this loft is having one landing board & trap instead of two. I no longer have to re-train the YBs
to the OB board and trap. There is a box inside where I can direct them to either loft. I have learned over the years
that having only one drop hole for the birds is the best way to go when racing OBs around here.   This loft is more
than 28" off the ground. High and dry is better for sure. The roof is slanted front instead of back so I can see the
birds. Other buildings are far enough away that they will land on the loft (mostly). The aviaries are all 1 x 1 welded
wire which is perfect for pigeons.    I have over 60+ YB perches but my normal team will only be 50 birds to start.
The roof is white metal with insulation R board under it so as not to transfer heat or cold into the loft. Even when it is
very hot out it stays nice inside. I am still perfecting it & landscaping it so it will get better with time.

"Superior Long Distance Racing Pigeons"
(read on to see why they deserve this title)

Loft news and update: Around the Goldstar Loft. =====>5/1/13: Time flies by and already OB racing has started. We have had
only 3 races (two 150's and a 200) Still little training due to rainy weather but we won the 200 (220-miles for us). All 3 races we
have done well and to date, at this point we are winning Combine Ave. Speed, have the Champion bird, are second place Champ loft
and 3rd place Master Loft. So not bad so far but things could change weekly and drastically. We have just started so things can go
down hill fast, we will see and let you know. I have lost 4 yearlings which is unusual and yet it was the yearling's that shined on the
last 200 and is winning Champion bird. This is what happens as yearling's, some get lost while others rise to the top. The weather
looks bad once again for the 200 this weekend. After this it is all 300's and 500's with one 250 and one 600 at the end.

Good luck to all, enjoy the birds and have fun racing!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summary of 2012 YB racing: We had 8 Combine Young Bird races and won 3 of them in the club (more than any other loft in the club) One was 176-miles
& two 284-miles PLUS we won club YB Average Speed!! With a 15 bird limit we sent a total of 115 entires & ONLY lost 6 birds the entire season racing!
We started racing with 37 and ended with 28 (the hawks took a few before and during the races. We did lose 5 or so training prior to season.   The
Goldstars just seldom if ever get lost, even though we seldom train more than once a week and then only from about 30-miles if that far.   These Goldstars
just don't get lost PLUS they don't need much training at all.   You have to have birds left at the end of the season and THEN you have a GOOD chance at
winning the last race and especially the Average Speed Award (which we did once again).

Remember, one of the secrets of racing young birds is to control them with feed management. Fat pigeons do not race well so keep
them lean & in shape. However, you must give them supplements (but do not OD them or it will take them down and out of
competition).
If you want to have FUN watching your birds score at the top of the sheet (especially on long hard races) you might try some of these Goldstar birds!

These are pictures of my Goldstar young birds from the race team in taken
2010. Have other pictures I need to change up once in a while.

These are not only beautiful birds they are superbly smart and very calm
birds. Most all eat out of my hand and climb all over me as I sit on the loft
floor and feed them every day about 5 PM for their evening snack.

They do not get lost and they can fly ALL DAY. Excellent at 400-miles as
young birds (won Average speed 2010 &2012 and Champ Loft YB 2010)
and they are great at 500 & 600-miles as old birds.

Here is what you will find on this website.
1. Pictures of lofts inside and out plus pictures of our racing pigeons.
2. Race records of our birds in club and Combine competition.
3. Hints and tips on health care of the birds, breeding, training and racing techniques.
4. History of the Goldstar birds and how they came about.
5. Testimonials of others who have had success with the Goldstar birds.
6. Pigeons and other items available for sale.
7. Info on how to contact me plus links to the AU and the IF.
Many have told me that this is one of the most informative pigeon sites on the Internet -
Thank you all for your positive comments about the site and the birds!