A tribute to a legendary Lemon breeder
(This blog was written a few days after Mayor Juancho Aguirre, the famous breeder of the Lemon Guapo passed away in August, 2017)
In 2004, tasked by Pit Games Magazine, I went journeying to the mountains of Negros to see the Lemon right at its vaunted haven.
As I have written in the original article, it was at this time that I heard the various stories behind the Philippine lemons -- the origin, the history, the future, as well as some myth.
Also I have come face to face with the remarkable gentlemen that breed them. From these master breeders, I gained deeper knowledge and wisdom that will guide me as a breeder of the lemon.
Moreover, from some of them,, I also got beautiful specimen of the lemons to breed. My thanks to Mayor Juancho Aguirre, Mr. Paeng Araneta, Mr. Lance de la Torre, Mr. Choy Ampil and, Mr Joe Laureño for granting me interviews and lessons in the art of breeding and cocking.
The ultimate maneuver of a cock is back pedaling at the same time ―nagiiwan ng paa or counter striking effectively. ―The lemon can do it, can do it in style.” ---- Mayor Juancho Aguirre in an interview with Rey Bajenting for Pit Games. (2004)
The Lemon Guapo
The following is a portion of the full article “The Philippine Lemon.”
This account on the different lemon strains was first published in a regular issue of Pit Games Magazine, then as a separate edition of Legends of the Pit, and finally in a compilation of the Best of the Legends of the Pit. Original article was written in 2004.
Another strain of lemon that has been around for more than 30 years is the lemon guapo of Mayor Juancho Aguirre. According to mayor Juancho in the sixties and the 70s Negros was full of so-called lemon lines. There were the 84, the batchoy, the togo, the massa, and the hinigaran, to name a few. The 84 was Paeng’s creation. Batchoy and massa were name of the breeders who originated these lines, while Hinigaran is the place of Freddie Yulo, who had been the Negrenses’ foremost source of hulsey lemon cocks.
At that time most Negros breeders, including the group of Mayor Juancho, did not have the technical knowledge and support that present day breeders enjoy. For them, it was, almost always a hit and miss affair. Thus, they really had a hard time producing good birds, much less maintain their winning lines. Indeed, it was the reason, mayor Juancho said, that they sponsored the Duke himself to stay in Negros for a while to teach them the rudiments of breeding and fighting. Because of this lack of scientific knowledge, coupled with the fact that the breeders also failed to assess accurately the value of these lemons, most of these lines either went to extinction or took the back seat. The 84s and the batchoys are still around. The massa and togo are no longer heard of. The hinigaran has reincarnated as the Guapo line.
Here is the story:
At about the time, Paeng’s 84s were making waves, disaster hit mayor Aguirre’s stock. Avian pest wiped out his flock. Among, the very few survivors were a lemon brood cock and a baby stag that was suffering from a limber neck as result of barely surviving the epidemic. Discouraged and decided to take a leave from breeding, the mayor gave the brood cock to his brother-in-law Bob Cuenca who had a lot of the same lemon strain- the hinigaran variety. Mayor Juancho also gave the surviving limber necked hinigaran lemon baby stag to a kumpadre who peddled chickens. After a year, the mayor casually asked his kumpadre about the limber necked stag. To his surprise, the limber neck was not only fine but indeed was a very beautiful specimen of a cock. They started calling it guapo. After a while they fought guapo. It won four fights practically unscathed. On its fifth win guapo was badly wounded.
Mayor Juancho, whose interest in breeding had been slowly revived, decided to breed guapo. He bred the erstwhile limber neck to some cecil hens and some hatch hens. He kept breeding the best pullets back to guapo, at the same time employ some brother-to-sister matings, until he was able to set the strain he called lemon guapo. ―I continued to play around with many inbreeding variations of the guapo line, always keeping in mind absolute quality control, Mayor Aguirre told this writer. Eventually the line with the infusion of the cecil blood was discontinued because according to him the cecils tend to produce oversized offspring. (The cecils referred to were not of Cecil Davies bloodline but a line of Duke Hulsey which Duke called as such. They were reds with white under hackles.)
Read in full the Philippine Lemon, the story of the different lemon families and varieties in Negros.
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