The Story of Bart

Bart is the only Homer I own that has a name... He is special to me because he was the first Homer I ever raised. He was exceptional as a squeaker.. Tony (the Terminator) would take him all over NYC and let him go.. he would always go home... in my Loft there was hardly a bird that could not be traced back to him...

The day I left NYC for Waco, it was hectic.. I had sold or gave away over 400 birds in a short time, and found that I still had to get rid of another 50 literally minutes before I was to hit the road. I quickly pulled out 50 birds, sold them and hit the road about 1PM.. The trip to Waco was an adventure in itself (another story) and when I arrived, I really didnt take notice of what birds were there..

After I had built my loft, went and got my birds, the first thing I noticed was I was missing a Blue check that I had high hopes for his youngster next race season, then I saw Barts mate, but no Bart. I had done the unforgiveable. I sold my bird.. the one bird I would NEVER sell..

About 4 months later I got a call from Willie in New York.. He said "Howard, you didnt get rid of Bart did you?".. I told him I had accidently sold him with the last batch I took out quickly and didnt pay attention when I did it.. He than said "I saw Bart down on Grand Ave in Queens, I'll go back and get him tomorrow.." He also told me Bart had a bad eye.. and he was was under weight... so Willie kept him for the next couple of months putting him back in shape..

Wille was sending Bart to Texas the first week of april, and it just happened that Rubin in Manhattan was also sending me a white bar and two other birds, so Wille sent Bart along with a Silver Opal bar to save on shipping cost.

When Bart and the birds arrived, I put them in the loft.. Bart was stand offish... and mainly stayed on a pearch near the screen.. I walked over to get him and he took off to the back of the loft, and landed next to his old mate (who is mated to another cock now)... he looked at her, and went buggie.. he started cooing like mad.. and chasing her all over the coop.. I had to lock Bart in a nest box because he was fighting and it was not helping the healing of his eye... I'm going to put Bart back with his mate later this summer and get his youngster reestablished in the loft.

I don't know how to thank Wille for what he did... It was truly a sad moment when I realized Bart was gone... and I was elated when I got him back...