Keith Mott writes about

Winning fanciers past & present

JOHN BYNG & SON

of Portsmouth

Although I didn’t race in the 1995 Nantes National, it gave me a great buzz to learn that a natural hen had won, what has become a N.F.C. race for widowhood cocks. The winner was a class looking blue pied hen of the Busschaert bloodlines owned by the Portsmouth partnership of John Byng & son. After several phone calls John junior invited me down to video their National winning loft set up. The weather was freezing and my good mate, Kenny Wise, came along for the one hour ride down the A3 from London.

On our arrival at the very smart loft, the first bird we were given to handle was Champion ‘Janet’s Gem’, the Nantes National winner. She was as classy as she looked, being medium long cast, silky feathering and with a wonderful rich eye. This great hen looked and handled as you would wish a champion National winner to handle, real class. She won the Nantes National with 11,663 birds competing, sent sitting eight day old eggs and had one race from Sartilly in her build up to the National race. She is down from the ‘Parkside Superman’ line, and flew Guernsey as a youngster and smashed herself up on wires as a yearling. Her sire won 5th. open Solent Federation Nantes (4,000 birds) and her grandsire which was mostly kept for stock, won 1st. open Federation.

The partnership of John Byng senior and John Byng junior was formed 20 odd years ago, when Busschaerts were obtained from J. Crowder and Busschaert / Cattrysse from A. Cogman. John senior’s father was a good fancier many years ago and won 2nd. open Nantes National to a house only six doors up from where the partners race today. From their outset in the sport the Byng have been successful winning, 1st. and 2nd. club, 10th. and 13th. Federation, 23rd. Amal. (3,000 birds) Saintes, 1st, 2nd. and 4th. club, 1st, 3rd. and 6th. Solent Federation young bird Guernsey (4,000 birds), plus many other premier positions through the years.

John’s first loft was 12ft. long, quite different to their very smart present day set up. The father and son partners are both bricklayers by trade, having to travel great distances to work sometimes, so they fly only Natural, which fit in well with the erratic work hours. Despite only racing the natural system they prefer and excel in races up to 300 miles. Although they have never raced widowhood, they have the right families for sprint with Busschaerts from J. Crowder, J. Soderland and K. Moger, topped up with a few Janssens from K. Hurst and J. David in Wales. The Byng’s very smart racing loft is 26ft. long, plus stock loft and flight and this consists of two sections for old bird racers and two sections for the young birds. The loft houses 24 pairs of racers, six pairs of stock birds which are paired up on 14th. February and about 45 young birds are raced every year. John senior’s main job is stock birds and youngsters, and he told me, the loft should have plenty of sunshine on the front and a good flow of fresh air through it. He also maintains it is important that the stock loft should have a flight so the inmates can get into the weather, rain or shine. The partners race in the Purbrook Park R.P.C. and Hillsea I.H.S. and fly the west to east route.

Apart from winning 1st. open Nantes National (11,663 birds) the Byng’s had brilliant season that year, winning many other top prizes including, Old Bird: 1st, 2nd. & 3rd. club, 3rd. Solent Federation Newton Abbot, 1st, 2nd. & 3rd. club, 6th. Solent Federation Newton Abbot, 1st. & 2nd. club Plymouth, 1st. club Dorchester, 1st. club, 2nd. Portsmouth Federation, 8th. open S.M.T. Combine Rennes, 1st, 2nd. & 3rd. club Sartilly, 1st, 2nd. & 3rd. club, 1st, 2nd. & 5th. Portsmouth Federation Plymouth, Young Bird: 1st. club Guernsey (three times), 2nd. club, 2nd. Federation Exeter and 2nd. & 3rd. Romsey & District Open race. A brilliant loft performance! One of the partner’s top racers is ‘The Hartog Hen’ and she was bred by local aces, Wearn Brothers of Portsmouth. This nice natural hen won 1st. club, 6th. Federation (4,633 birds) Exeter, 1st. club, 19th. Federation (4,217 birds) Sartilly. The Byng’s 1st. open Portsmouth Federation Plymouth winner was a Frank Aarts / Janssen blue hen and she also won 5th. Salisbury Open from Plymouth as a young bird.

John senior’s wife, Janet, helps out around the loft when the two Johns have to work late or are tight for time. Any bird that scores well in races up to 300 miles are never sent to the long distance events, yearlings are sent up to 250 miles and all the young birds go across the channel to Guernsey (113 miles). T he whole loft is fed on a top brand mixture and are trapped with Red Band. The Byng’s use Gem Multivits, once a week, on the day before a race. They also use Strike every Sunday, which they consider a must, and say in their opinion it is the best specific on the market for pigeons, and maintain it works over night. The loft gets the usual treatments before pairing up in February. The old birds get as much training as possible before the first race, then two 25 mile midweek tosses through the season. The partners mostly train from the New Forest, west to east route, which is about a 25 miles fly. The babies get all stages up to 35 miles before the first race and then as much training as possible through the season.

John senior showed us his main Busschaert stock bird, a nice blue hen, and she was closely related to ‘Janet’s Gem’, the Nantes National winner. This stock hen had bred many good winners for the Byng loft and her sire won 1st. club, 4th. Solent Federation (4,000 birds). John recommended that novices build a loft that lets in the maximum amount of sunshine and fresh air. All the best fanciers they know are very dedicated and say this is the main factor for consistent success. The partner’s very smart self built loft has open door trapping and is scraped out every day.

Well there you have it for this week! My phone number is: 01372 453480. See yer!