Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present

KEN WISE OF ISLEWORTH

This week we are in London for a premier loft report, featuring the Isleworth loft of Ken Wise, which is sited in the shadows of Twickenham Rugby Union Stadium. He has been in pigeon racing all his life, coming from a premier Middlesex pigeon family and Ken tells me his father, Vic Wise, is still racing successfully after moving to Wales a few years ago. Ken raced with his dad as A. Wise & Son when he was a lad and their best performance was 11th open NFC Nantes (11,444 birds) in 1982, but his pigeon story really started in 1988 when he purchased some Hermans from Mr & Mrs Basil Beebe of Horncastle and bred a family of sprint pigeons. The loft's record in recent seasons is outstanding and since obtaining Hermans from Basil Beebe and Bill Ward, of Ward Brothers from South Elmsall, he has won over 50 x 1sts in sprint racing from 1991 to 1996, lifting many trophies and averages in club and Federation. In 1994 Ken decided to have a go at Channel racing and, on obtaining stock from the very best long distance lofts, has never looked back.

The club's longest old bird race is from Bergerac (458 miles) and the Isleworth loft is the only one ever to win the West Middlesex Federation three years on the trot from that race point. Ken recorded: 1994: 1st and 2nd Club, 1st and 6th Federation, 2nd and 15th Open Amal (winning two Royal Pigeon Racing Association awards); 1995: 1st and 5th Club, 1st and 8th Federation, 1st and 9th Open South-East Combine; 1996: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th Club, 1st, 4th, 14th and 19th Federation; 1st, 15th and 35th Open South-East Combine (winning a Royal Pigeon Racing Association award); 1997: 1st Club, 4th Federation, 9th Open South-East Combine. A wonderful performance!

In the early days he was also very successful in the London & South-East Classic Club, winning 2nd, 6th and 7th Open Alencon, 19th Open La Ferte Bernard, 21st Open Nantes, 26th Open Bordeaux, 12th Open Guernsey, 32nd Open Bordeaux and 27th Open Nantes. In the National Flying Club he recorded: 50th Open NFC Nantes (11,412 birds), 15th Open NFC Vire (old hens), 50th Open NFC Sartilly (10,072 birds), 82nd Open NFC Sartilly, amongst many other premier positions.

Ken has won five RPRA Awards in all, two being won in the 2008 season and has put up a string of major performances over a lot of years. In the last three seasons he has won the young bird average in the Three Borders Federation twice and been runner-up once, and 2008 season saw him win the average, plus 1st Federation twice. He set new records in the Three Border Federation in 2008 and in one young bird Yeovil race won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd open with 1,644 birds competing. Brilliant pigeon racing! The Federation winner was Ken’s handsome Willy Thas blue chequer cock, ‘DE 049’ and he was raced to the perch.  Ken told me one of his biggest thrills of the season was when he won the Federation in the longest young bird race from Yelverton (177 miles), with his good blue hen ‘DE 130’ and she won by 5ypm and was disadvantaged by flying against the wind. This game little hen is a M. & D. Evans / Vandenbeele, being a grand daughter of ‘Benneton’ and was sent to Yelverton showing to young cock. In 2008 Ken won five of the seven young bird races in the Isleworth club and was second in the other two. He lifted the RPRA London Region Award, in the form of the ‘C. H. Kellaway Trophy’, for best single young bird performance on the south road in 2008 with his beautiful Stewart Knowles / Lindelaufs blue pied hen ‘DE 113’. Some of Ken’s 2008 old bird racing high lights were: 256th open NFC Tarbes (only one bird entered), 345th open NFC Fougeres, 281st open L&SECC Alencon, 258th open BICC Alencon, 50th, 124th open NFC Angers, 117th, 139th open NFC Angers, 29th open L&SECC Guernsey (old hens) and 10th open L&SECC Guernsey (old hens).

Ken’s 70 young birds go on the ‘darkness’ system from weaning until the 21st June each season and says his birds are not in total black out when on the system, but maintains the loft is light enough to read a news paper. The babies are trained ever day as soon as they begin to run and are still on the ‘dark’. Training is intense for the youngsters, but once they start to race, training is kept to three regular 30 mile tosses per week and they race the full young bird programme, as Ken thinks they need races to educate them for later life. His young bird feeding system has been the same for years and told me they get no more than 1 ¼  ounces each per day, ¼  of depurative in the morning and 1 ounce of young bird no maize mixture in the evening, with the mixture being changed to widowhood once racing starts. He treats his birds for all the normal things when necessary and once racing starts he treats on the Travipharma BV system, which he is well known for as he has been their agent for nine years, and works on their stand at the BHW Blackpool Show every year.

Ken has a very smart loft set at his home in Isleworth and was built by local carpenter, Mick Sutherland, to Ken’s own spec about four years ago. He says the days of a closed in loft have long gone for him, as he now suffers with the dreaded pigeon fancier’s lung and now has to have an open loft, backed up by regular use of a loft coat and mask. The 32ft structure has a full length corridor, three sections for his 32 widowhood cocks, two sections for his young birds, grilled floors and self cleaning nest boxes to keep down the dust. The loft has open door trapping, but now that Ken is fully on the ETS system, a wire door is used on race days, so the birds walk though a trap and across the pads at floor level.

The 30 pairs of stock birds are housed in a separate structure, which is made with two nice spacious lofts with a 12ft aviary in between. The loft is fitted out with the German style up and over nest boxes, with trays for easy cleaning and grilled floors to keep the dreaded dust to a minimum. All the old birds, racers and stock birds are paired up at Christmas and the first round of eggs from the breeders are floated under the race team. The stock birds are fed on a good winter mixture during the rest period and are fed a Natural mixture three times a day when breeding. When bringing in a new stock bird Ken looks for outstanding performance in the parents and their family, but must also conform to the type of pigeon he likes. He likes all round families of pigeons, that win from 80 miles through to 450 miles and is not in to the eye sign method. He was persuaded into trying eye sign once and maintains it was his biggest mistake ever, with his performance going down hill rapidly. He maintains eye sign is rubbish! His method is pair good pigeons to good pigeon and let the basket sort them out. The main families kept are the Willy Thas and Busschaerts from Gerry Clements, Gaby Vandenbeele from M. & D. Evans, Ray Horton and Dave Hawkins, and the old family form Ken’s good friends, Ries and Gerard Schalkwijk of Holland. One of Ken’s best stock birds is the blue hen, ‘DE 238 Stock Hen’, and she was a gift bird from his good friends, Ries and Gerard Schalkwijk of Holland, and she has bred winners with different cocks every season for the Isleworth loft. She is the dam of one the best racers in the successful 2008 young bird team, in the form of the blue cock, ‘DE 085’, winner of 2nd Three Borders Federation Yeovil.

The 32 widowhood cocks are paired up at Christmas and rear one nest of babies before being split from their mates sitting six to eight days on their second round of eggs. They are then on the system being flown out around the loft for one hour every day and are trained two weeks before the first Federation race. They are never trained during the racing season and are raced, including the yearlings, through to Bergerac (458 miles). The cocks are never broken down, being fed twice a day on a first class widowhood mixture and the hens are never shown to the racers on marking nights, just get the nest bowl turned over. The cocks are allowed to go in the nest boxes during the week and perch on the turned over bowl. The time which the cocks get their hens for on their return from the race depends on how hard the fly is and normally this can be fore a long time, as Ken is only really interested in racing from France. Although he likes Federation racing with his young birds, the old birds are mostly lined up for the National and Classic event, and repairs his widowhood cocks for the longer races. In the 2008 season he raced two hens, which were sisters and one of them, the Vandenbeele blue hen ‘DE 160’, scored twice in the L&SECC, winning 29th open Guernsey (old hens) and 10th open Guernsey (old hens).

Ken says he enjoys the ETS system, but messed it up the first couple of time he used it and never clocked in. He gives full credit to his friend, Gerry Clements of Manchester, who he says is his mentor. Gerry is a brilliant widowhood racing fancier, winning 1st open Combine, 1st open North West Classic and 1st open MNFC twice, and has always given Ken the very best pigeons and advice. Ken told me he recorded 7th open L&SECC Tours and 17th open NFC Fougeres on the same weekend with Gerry Clements’ Busschaerts.

I hope you have enjoyed this little insight into Kenny Wise’s brilliant performances in the 2008 season! My phone number is 01372 463480! See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.