Our Barker colony are of the “Croston” Barker origins which hail from the Lancashire are of the UK, having originally come down through the Edmonson Barkers that arrived in the UK around 1900, with the principle birds coming down the line of “Strinsdale Queen”.

Tuplin, Orrett, Hogg, Roanes, Eastham, Baldwin, Blackstone and Bullen were all flyers of derivatives descended of this family and they excelled from 70 to 700 miles on the UK racing circuit. Our specific family of Barkers are descended from the Kenny Hogg lofts – he competed with that list of fanciers above and was the most winning of them all, particularly at the distance from France.

This bird is predominantly a Barker based pigeon, containing all of the old Croston Barker lines through Kenny Hogg / Martin Healy lines, including the famous “O2” Cock – responsiible for many French pigeons into Northern Ireland over the past 20 years. Known to be competitive over both short and long distance races, these birds prefer it when conditions are not in their favour.

The Dam is a Daughter of Martin Healy’s 2010 French Hen, timed into Derry from St. Malo on the night, at over 500 miles. The best of the old Hogg Croston Barker lines.