Keith Mott's

The Champions of Yesteryear (Part 69)

A few seasons ago I made a video tour of the Midlands with my ol' mate, Albert Taylor, and this week I'm going to feature one of the premier lofts that we visited.

STEVE LUBELSKI OF MANSFIELD

Steve Lubelski of Mansfield has enjoyed great racing with his widowhood cocks for many years, topping the very strong local Federation at least once a year since 1989. His local club sends 300 plus birds most weeks and in 1998 he had a brilliant season, winning many firsts and, in one race from Little Rissington, 369 birds, took the first six positions in the club.

Flying in the mighty Derbyshire Federation in 1998, Steve won 1st. Open Sartilly Championship race (1,812 birds), 12th. Open Rennes Championship race (1,754 birds), 3rd, 4th, 15th, 20th, 23rd and 32nd Open Salisbury (5,139 birds), 1st, 18th, 19th, 25th, 27th, 30th and 31st Open Marlborough (4,622 birds), 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 10th Open Little Rissington (5,065 birds), 2nd, 11th, 20th and 33rd Open Weymouth (2,965 birds), 8th and 14th Open Little Rissington (2,846 birds), 16th, 22nd, 27th, 33rd and 35th Open Salisbury (4,177 birds), 7th Open Woodhouse West End, Sheffield Gold Ring race from Weymouth (580 birds). The highlight of Steve's 1998 season was when he sent 15 young birds to the Midlands N.F.C. race from Thorness and recorded 4th, 19th, 49th, 61st and 76th Open (5,617 birds). Brilliant pigeon racing!

His outstanding success continued into the 1999 season, winning 10 x 1sts. in the very strong Mansfield Central F.C. Steve's performance in the Derbyshire Federation in 1999 was once again outstanding winning: 6th Open Marlborough (3,325 birds), 13th, 18th Open Marlborough (5,661 birds), 12th Open Nantes (1,414 birds), 14th, 15th and 19th Open Weymouth (3,152 birds), 2nd, 6th, 11th Open Warwick (3,444 birds), 8th Open Salisbury (4,431 birds), 5th Open Picauville (2,188 birds), 2nd, 3rd, 5th Open Warwick; 1st, 4th, 6th, 11th Open Warwick (3,645 birds), 5th Open Exeter (1,215 birds).

I had a nice chat with Steve and he gave me a run-down on his management through the year. When the young bird racing had finished, he put the young cocks in the old bird section to get them used to the nest boxes and they were fed on a heavy mixture because they had been on the darkness system. It gave him a problem when he paired up because the hens were a little overweight but his priority was to get them through the moult. He usually paired his 10 pairs of stock birds and racers in late January, so he could float the eggs from the stock pairs under the racers and have two quick rounds from the main breeders. He parted the hens from the racing loft when the youngsters were around 14 days old. He did this for two reasons, the main one being that the cock concentrated on feeding the young birds as, if they were left together, the cock would drive the hen and would not feed the youngsters. Secondly, with the cocks only feeding, they lose most of their body weight and this will make them easier to get into condition for the first race. The young birds were weaned between 21 to 28 days, then the old birds were treated for canker and the nest boxes were completely cleaned out.

The cocks were put on depurative and their exercise was slowly built up to one hour morning and evening. When Steve said one hour, the cocks were locked out of the loft for one hour but they fly around for about 35 to 50 minutes, longer when they hit form. When he thought they were fit, he took them training and tried to have at least six training spins up to 30 miles before the first race. He always showed his hens before training and racing. He said he knows a lot of fanciers train really hard for four to six weeks before the first race and they are always there or thereabouts in the first few races but quickly fade away. He tried to keep his widowhood cocks fresh and never trained after the first race.

He fed a standard widowhood mixture, adding peas if the weather was cold or if they had head winds. Steve gave multi-vitamins once a week and they had salts in the water on race days. On weaning the youngsters, they were put straight on the darkness system from 5p.m. to 9a.m. up to the beginning of June or if, after three or four consecutive days, they have not dropped any body feathers. He liked the darkness system because you can fly the birds in good body and wing condition and, if they meet a bad race, they won't have a fret mark. He always got them to fully moult in the year that they were born. Steve found it makes no difference to the following year's performances, as nearly all his yearlings scored. He said he must point out that he didn’t have any lights or heating in his lofts and trained his young birds every day for six weeks before racing and every weekday through racing up to the 30 miles mark. Steve said pigeon racing management must be kept simple but some fanciers make hard work of it and constantly change their birds and methods. He said the system has worked for him and he had been highest prize and money winner for many years.

One of the very best widowhood lofts in the Midlands, this week! If you need to contact me, you can telephone: 01372 463480.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT

24/9/07